In Franz Kafka’s parable Vor dem Gesetz (Before the Law), a man from the country asks a doorkeeper to let him into the law. The doorkeeper says: Ich bin mächtig. Und ich bin nur der unterste Türhüter. Von Saal zu Saal stehn aber Türhüter, einer mächtiger als der andere. I am powerful. And I am only the lowest doorkeeper. But from hall to hall there are doorkeepers, each more powerful than the other. The man waits for the rest of his life. At the end the doorkeeper tells him that this entrance was meant only for him. Ich gehe jetzt und schließe ihn. I am going now to close it. The parable was first published in 1915 and is part of Kafka’s novel Der Process (The Trial).