cry in the room where the Scotsman and Mr Conrad, the head of the delegation, were staying. Conrad jumped out of bed and asked his roommate what had happened. It turned out that he had left his Adidas bag with the priceless gift of a sheepskin from the statue on a bench in the park. Conrad got up and woke the interpreter in the next room and explained what was going on. He said that the square with the statue was not far from the hotel and one had to walk straight ahead towards the huge mill building on his right. He was prepared to go along if necessary, but the Scotsman told him not to worry, he could find his way. He hurriedly got dressed and left the hotel. It might take fifteen minutes at the most to get there and back, but half an hour had passed and Jones was still gone. The interpreter regretted letting him go alone. He went back to Conrad, saying, ‘Well, Jones is still missing…’ All the members of the English delegation were already on their feet. The interpreter and Conrad had thrown on their coats and were about to go in search of them when Jones appeared, soaked, tired and dejected, mud splattered up to his bald head. ‘I couldn’t find it,’ he blurted out, out of breath. ‘How could you not find it?’ ‘I must have got lost. ‘My God,’ the interpreter exclaimed, ‘You don’t want to get lost here. You go straight through two streets and you can see the factory. Did you see it?’ ‘Yes.’ ‘Well, how come you didn’t see the statue that stands in front of the mill?’ ‘No,’ Jones assured, his eyes widening with horror. ‘There was no statue.’ ‘What are you talking about? How is there no statue?’ ‘That’s how it is. The factory is there, but there is no statue.’ ‘Ah,’ laughed the interpreter. ‘You must be on the wrong side of the mill. Come on, you two, let’s go and have a look.’ When they approached the square in front of the factory, they stopped dead in their tracks, unable to believe their eyes. Everything was there: the plinth, the flowers, the floodlights in the bushes, but the figure of the tanner itself was not there. The interpreter and the foreigner looked at each other in bewilderment. Then, as if on cue, they

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