“What should he do if word went around that in his throne room hung a magic picture that only the highborn could see, but he couldn’t? Of course there was no picture there, it had been one of the fool’s jokes, but now that the canvas hung there, it had developed its own power.”

“What should he do if word went around that in his throne room hung a magic picture that only the highborn could see, but he couldn’t? Of course there was no picture there, it had been one of the fool’s jokes, but now that the canvas hung there, it had developed its own power.”

— Daniel Kehlmann