Stranger, Bear Word to the Spartans We...

At the end of the story, in the art room, he sees unmistakable confirmation that he is indeed in his old school: his own handwriting in chalk on the blackboard: Stranger, bear word to the Spartans we...

The unnamed first-person narrator begins the story in a truck and is transported through a partially burning city that he cannot identify, and is also unable to accurately gauge the amount of time spent traveling.

In the art room, while waiting for the doctor to come, he asks one of his companions where he is, and learns he is actually in Bendorf, his hometown, but is still uncertain that he is indeed in his old Gymnasium, named after Frederick the Great, in which he spent eight years as a pupil.

Both of these questions are answered directly after one another: he sees his own handwriting on the chalkboard, containing the quote "Stranger, bear word to the Spartans we..." – from three months ago – truncated because his lettering was too large to fit on the board.

In German, the full distich reads: The historic context thus praises death while defending the Vaterland and had in fact therefore been specially selected to prepare the young men for war.