Michael Ende, the grand master of fantastic literature, captivates with his stories young and old readers from all countries. With the eight stories in this edition, the great storyteller takes the astonished reader into the world of fantasy, into a world full of wonders and signs. In the collection "The Prison of Freedom," Michael Ende tells of the corridor of an imposing Roman palazzo whose end can never be reached, of a stately villa that can never be entered through its wide, inviting portal-and the story of one who set out to learn how to wonder. Eight astonishing stories full of adventures and fantasy - magnificent, tender, sad and cruel. And even if the magical places where the fantastic stories are set do not exist in reality, we recognize them: they lead into the inner world of each of us who, with the adventures gathered here, embark on an imaginative journey to ourselves.