The Little Hat – A Pilgrim Short Story from the Camino

An invented short story from the Camino: Wolfgang Janowsky tells of a man in the middle of life who sets off in the Pyrenees with far too much luggage and ambition – and who, in the heat of Spain, comes across a cheerful little hat.

Once upon a time there was a man who, in the middle of his life, set out to walk the Camino in Spain. Out of practice and full of romantic illusions, he set off in classic fashion on the French side of the Pyrenees with far too much luggage.

The weather was kind to him, but the far too heavy backpack, the constant steep climbs and his lack of mountain experience made his life hell at first. He slept badly at night, he walked badly by day, with pain, blisters and nonetheless the firm will to reach the goal he had set himself – despite all his first doubts as to why he had let himself in for such an undertaking.

So he held out for quite a while. The blisters healed, the backpack was cleared out, his shoulders got used to the remaining load.

Forcing the way

But now came the hot Spanish sun.

He wanted to force the way. And walked from morning till evening. The midday sun burned mercilessly – but who would take a siesta of several hours, like the lazy Spaniards! He drank too little; the big water bottle was too heavy for him, after he had only just reduced his luggage so far! And – who knows whether you can drink from the Spanish fountains.

On a particularly hot day, when he wanted to tackle a particularly long stage, he just barely made it to a pilgrim albergue in the afternoon – far short of his goal. He sat down in the shade in front of it and fell into a deep, delirious sleep – and only woke again in the night: desperate, weakened and with the ripened conviction that he should give up this murderous nonsense.

A star and a hat

But when he opened his eyes, a big bright star winked at him kindly – from exactly the direction in which he wanted to go, was meant to go? It was a wink that said: come! It was a sign of encouragement, of joy, indeed of relief for him. And he fell asleep again.

He dreamed of a cheerfully dancing hat that walked along the way ahead of him.

He woke with the first pilgrims. Encouraged, he picked up his backpack once more and set off again. After 2 hours in the cool morning air, a cheerful little hat appeared ahead of him – was he dreaming?? He walked a little faster; he still had strength. The hat sat on the head of a young, cheerful pilgrim!

He spoke to her: where to and where from? And so a good conversation unfolded. He hardly noticed how they were making progress! But suddenly she said: let’s take a long break, it’s getting too hot. At first he objected: we, no, at least he had to keep going – he thought of Santiago, the star, but also of the hat from his dream, how cheerful it had been! And so they rested in the shade by a lake. He went for a swim, they drank plenty of water and had a strong coffee in the next village, and set off once more in the late afternoon.

How easy the walking was! The air grew fresher and they made good progress. That night he dreamed of Santiago, the star, the sun and the hat.

This is one of three pilgrim short stories by Wolfgang Janowsky. The other two are Camino 2024 and Santiago’s Canary.