The beggar

Author's name: Fernando Pessoa

The Beggar and Other Stories includes twelve previously unpublished texts by the writer and poet Fernando Pessoa, which constitute a small portion of the author's imaginative prose. These are philosophical or intellectual stories—as Pessoa himself calls them—and paradoxical because the situations they present conflict with common sense. Some take the form of meaningful anecdotes, others in a different form. These stories offer philosophical dialogues through the mouths of wise men who take on various faces and disguises, such as the beggar, the ascetic, and the drunkard, offering their wisdom to those they encounter along the path of learning and self-development. For example, it might be the path of a traveler who encounters a man in black, or the path of a sailor who engages in a dialogue with a stranger on the quayside. These narrative texts present a different side of Pessoa and may surprise the reader with their philosophical depth and boldness in addressing the various topics that occupied the writer.