Among the anecdotes that my paternal grandmother used to tell me about the thousands of «incredibilia» she had witnessed on long Transatlantic voyages to America, the one which struck me most of all was the story of «the girl buried alive»: «They thought she was dead. They had already shut her in the coffin and were about to throw her into the sea, when the man lifting the coffin heard a noise of fists against the wood. He stopped and opened the lid: the girl had woken up… she seemed dead, but she was only sleeping!»

I shuddered from head to foot every time I heard this story: I thought of the danger that girl had been in, but also of her courage at not giving in, of fighting to go on living… hoping that someone would hear her… Of how much of the life in life is due to a chance encounter…