In "Le parole e l'anima," myths and legends represent various stages of meaning in human existence. When Ulysses, the paradigm of the hero, returns to Ithaca and readies himself for living a serene old age, he realizes that until he settles his debts with the gods, he will have no peace. Therefore, he orders an army of artisans to build a second horse... But it is Zeus’s son Perseus who is forced to swallow the bitterest pill when, after having conquered his nemesis, he is persecuted for the rest of his life. In the meantime, singular characters, mysterious preachers and rabbis resurrected from the shtetls restore the comfort of faith and ancient wisdom to humankind who has failed, by other means, to solve the great existential enigmas.