The Magic Flight

"A friendly ferryman took me across. I will go to him. My path once led from his hut to  anew life which now old and dead. May my present path, my new life, start from there!...How he loved this river, how it enchanted him, how grateful he was to it!...Yes, he wanted to learn from [the river], he wanted to listen to it." (101)

When Siddhartha is taken across the river, he begins to understand the importance of it. The physical trip across the water, is his own magic flight. It not only contributes to his rescue from without, but his freedom to live. The line "Yes, he wanted to learn from [the river], he wanted to listen to it." (101) is foreshadowing this, and will be later discussed. Though he is not actually taking a trip home per say, this magic flight will still send him on his way to Nirvana, which is what he is trying to achieve. The fact the water is beginning to make him happy, and peaceful it also makes his journey easier. Not only does this make the trip easier on him, but is what will actually end his journey. Which again, will be discussed in later steps of Siddhartha's hero cycle.