Fantastica

The Neverending Story

1997 Dutton edition cover
Author	Michael Ende
Original title	Die Unendliche Geschichte
Translator	Ralph Manheim
Illustrator	Roswitha Quadflieg
Country	Germany
Language	German
Genre	Fantasy novel
Publisher	Thienemann Verlag
Publication date	1979
Media type	Print (Hardback & Paperback)
Pages	448
ISBN
OCLC	7460007
LC Class	PT2665.N27 U5

The Neverending Story (German: Die unendliche Geschichte) is a German fantasy novel by Michael Ende that was first published in 1979. An English translation, by Ralph Manheim, was first published in 1983. The novel was later adapted into several films.

The book centers on a boy, Bastian Balthazar Bux, neglected by his father after the death of Bastian's mother. While escaping from some bullies, Bastian bursts into the antique book store of Carl Conrad Coreander, where he finds his interest held by a book called The Neverending Story. Unable to resist, he steals the book and hides in his school's attic, where he begins to read.

The story Bastian reads is set in the magical land of Fantastica, ruled by the benevolent and mysterious childlike Empress. A great delegation has come to the Empress to seek her help against a formless entity called "The Nothing". The delegates are shocked when the Empress's physician, a centaur named Cairon, informs them that the Empress is dying, and has summoned a boy warrior named Atreyu, to find a cure. To Atreyu, the Empress gives AURYN: a powerful medallion that protects him from all harm. At the advice of the giant turtle, Morla the Ancient One, Atreyu sets off in search of an invisible oracle known as Uyulala, who may know the Empress's cure. In reaching her, he is aided by a luckdragon named Falkor, whom he rescues from the monster 'Ygramul the Many'. By Uyulala, he is told the only thing that can save the Empress is a new name given to her by a human child who can only be found beyond Fantastica's borders.

As Falkor and Atreyu search for the borders of Fantastica, Atreyu is flung from Falkor's back in a confrontation with wind giants and loses AURYN in the sea. Atreyu lands in the ruins of Spook City, the home of various wicked creatures. Injured by the fall and stranded in the dangerous city, Atreyu finds the wolf Gmork, chained and near death, who tells him that all the residents of the city have leapt voluntarily into the Nothing. There, thanks to the irresistible pull of the destructive phenomenon, they have become lies and delusions in the human world. The wolf also reveals that he is a servant of the Nothing who wishes to prevent the Empress's chosen hero from saving her. Gmork then reveals that when the princess of the city discovered his treachery against the Empress, she imprisoned him and left him to starve to death. When Atreyu announces that he is the hero Gmork has sought, the wolf laughs and succumbs to death. However, upon being approached, Gmork's body instinctively seizes Atreyu's leg in his jaws. Meanwhile, Falkor retrieves AURYN from the sea and arrives in time to save Atreyu from the rapid approach of the Nothing.