In the new city, long after it had ceased to be new, when it had grown to be the greatest city in the land, there lived a man named G__w. Now, this city was larger than any mortal man, and longer than any lifetime. A generation of families could live and die within its borders and still not know all its secrets. But G__w loved the city, and the city loved him back, and for this reason it revealed many of its secrets to him.

This being the case, it was not strange for G__w to find himself wandering through the maze of the city’s streets. One morning, as dawn was touching the sky, saw G__w passing his time in just this fashion, crossing the third bridge of the great river on which the city was built. By his timepiece it was the fifth hour after midnight, and he heard bells tolling to verify its precision. As the first bell tolled, a mist rolled up from the river and crossed the bridge, and as the last tolling faded, the mist fled, and G__w found himself standing on a bridge not at all like the one he had stepped onto but a moment before.

Because he was used to the strange paths of the city, G__w continued across the bridge, which now seemed to lead into the courtyard of a great castle. He looked about the courtyard, but though its condition was pristine, he saw not the slightest sign of life. He looked all throughout the castle, and still saw no one and nothing but stones which appeared to have been set the day before, stables that seemed never to have held horses, and earth in which his footprints looked to be the first and only it had ever held. But as his eyes continued to roam, he glimpsed a flash of movement in one of the battlements.

G__w found his way to a door which seemed to lead into the castle proper and, once inside, he wandered its halls without urgency, until he found the only battlement with a locked door. Presented with no better ideas, G__w knocked, and presently the sound of a bolt being drawn back was followed by the inward movement of an opening door. Behind this door was the most beautiful woman G__w’s eyes had ever beheld, her expression mixing curiosity and fretfulness in equal portions. Yet again, having no better ideas, G__w did what was only right and proper, and bowed to the lady.

“Greetings, lady of the castle. Forgive my intrusion, but I was not even expecting myself here, and it seems there is not another soul about to whom I may present my courtesies save yourself. All the same, I confess I can think of no lovelier a vision to whom I may make my introductions. My lady, I am G__w, and I would be honored if I might be a guest in your home for such time as you will have me.”

Well, G__w had always been elegant of speech, and the lady of the castle was charmed and captivated. “You are welcome to stay, kind sir. Though this castle is not mine, you are free to rest within its walls, and I will offer you what repast I am able, for the ruler of this castle does not begrudge guests in the least. If I am not mistaken, by your speech you came to this castle at the tolling of the five bells, did you not? You shall be my guest for at least a night, as it is only at the fifth hour that you may cross to the castle or return from whence you came.”

The lady took G__w by the hand, and they spent the day in the castle. She showed him its many secrets, and they dined on it stocks of wine and cheeses, and beheld the rolling countryside surrounding the high stone walls. When night spread her cloak across the sky, the lady of the castle led him, with a touch of her hands on his cheek, to her chambers.

As he prepared to return the next morning, G__w asked the lady come with him. “You have shown me so much of your land, but there are such marvels in the new city that I would delight in bestowing upon you each day. Cross the bridge with me.” But the lady demurred, and explained she could not, for she belonged to this land, and the land belonged a giant wolf with two heads, which had no heart, and therefore could not die or be killed. “Yet surely he would let you spend a day exploring the new city, for think of the wonders of which he might learn upon your return!” said G__w, thinking to free her from the wolf. She found it unlikely, for the wolf had no interest in anything more wonderful than she (and G__w secretly felt there was some merit in this opinion), but she would walk with G__w as far as the bridge.

There, as the lady warned, stood a wolf as large as a house, with two fearsome heads atop its shoulders. “Mortal,” said the wolf, “you may pass, for you are not of my lands, and I hold no claim over you. But the fair lady of the castle belongs to me as does all else you see before you. You will cross the bridge alone, or not at all.”

G__w saw there was nothing to be done, and he crossed the bridge alone. As the five bells finished tolling, he found himself on its opposite shore in the new city’s dawn. G__w vowed to return the next morning, and the morning after that he would not walk alone to the new city. Thus G__w made his way to the greatest library of the new city, and said to the librarians, “Find for me the greatest work of the greatest philosopher.” The book was located in no short order, and the very next morning G__w returned to the bridge with the greatest work of the greatest philosopher tucked beneath his arm.

The five bells tolled, and the fog rolled in, and G__w crossed once more to the castle hidden by the mists. Of the wolf he saw no sign, but barely had he set foot in the courtyard when the lady of the castle came running out to greet him. The reunion was tender (as such reunions always are), but tinged with melancholy. “I had not dared hope for your return, good sir,” she said, “though it grieves me that you will depart.” At this G__w smiled and promised her that today they would both cross the bridge, for he had with him a weapon against which even the most fearsome beast could not stand.

Another day was spent idyllically enjoying the fruits of the castle, but G__w insisted they wake earlier than necessary and arrive at the bridge well before the tolling of the bells. Once again the wolf barred their way, but before it could speak, G__w brought from under his arm the book of philosophy. “Hold, great wolf, for I may be able to convince you my cause is just and my request is reasonable.” The wolf seemed uninterested but, as there was some time yet before the tolling of the bell, he simply shrugged and waited as G__w opened the book of philosophy and began to read.

In only a few minutes, the wolf had fallen into a deep slumber, and when the bell was due to toll, G__w had to gently awaken the lady of the castle as well. They tiptoed quietly across the bridge, but there was no silencing the bells, and as the last bell tolled a mournful howl echoed across the new city. “Alas,” said the lady of the castle, “I fear he will come for me at the tolling of the fifth hour tomorrow. I am grateful for even these few hours of freedom, good sir, but surely he will kill you for your actions!”

“Let us enjoy my city,” said G__w, “and see what marvels we can. We will wake tomorrow and face what will come, and do what we must, for the morning is wiser than the evening.” Thus G__w presented his two beloved ladies to one another, and their company was sweet, all three of them together.

The next morning, before dawn touched the sky, G__w took the lady of the castle’s hands. “My good lady, do you not think we belong with one another?” She nodded. “And would you consent to be my own betrothed?” She allowed as that she would do this instantly. “Then is it not the case that between us, we need but one heart, for we will share it eternally?” Again, she agreed. And as the five bells rang out, G__w gave his heart to her, and she gave hers to him, and so each shared the other’s heart.

The tolling of the bells ceased, and the same howl echoed over the city. In less time than the howl took to fade, the wolf battered down G__w’s door and prepared to tear him to pieces. But before he could close his terrible jaws about G__w’s neck, G__w thrust the lady’s heart into the wolf, and passed his sturdy knife through the wolf’s body. The wolf, now having a heart, died instantly.

“My lady, your heart and my heart are now but one, not two, and you are of both worlds, and you may come and go as you please.” In this way G__w and the lady of the castle spent all their days happily between the castle of mists and the city of secrets, and if they have not died, they are still alive today.