A Picture from the Fortress Wall

This is a very short tale, just a little tiny morsel of a thing and it reads more like a slice of life, nay, a slice of moment kind of thing.

A prisoner, apparently one of many awful, hardened criminals that inhabit the prison, sits in his dark cold cell when he's visited by a ray of sun and a little chirping bird.

" A ray of the sinking sun shoots into the bare cell of one of the captives. The sun shines upon the good and the evil. (...) A little bird flies towards the grating. The bird twitters to the wicked as to the just."

The prisoner's mood starts to improve, noticing what is good and pleasant in the world outside, a small part of which seems to momentarily slip into his uncomfortable cell. And, even when the sunbeam and the bird are gone, and he's left with a cold dark cell again, he is somehow changed by the memory of that moment.

Now, what does this mean? That good deeds will improve one's heart, bit by bit, like water against a hard rock? That if we treat everyone with kindness and respect, even the evilest of humans will be touched by our behaviour in some small way? That our mood and tendencies are heavily influenced by our surroundings? By how we're treated? By the beauty and kindness we experience? Or perhaps this tale is about redemption? About how the possibility of redemption is available to everyone and anyone who sees "the light"? Knowing how religious Andersen is I wouldn't be surprised if it were simply this last one. Or might there be more depth to it?

What about you? What do you think this little tale is about?