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How is it possible to transcend vengeance? Actions of any kind tend to spread from one person to the next through a sort of sympathetic contagion. By killing, one spawns the desire to kill; by forgiving, one spawns the desire to forgive; by giving, one spawns the desire to give. The person who forgives must refrain from doing what the other person did, but he can hope that the other person will do what he does. When the hero of the tale analyzed here allows his parents’ killer to live, the latter pledges in turn to let him live. Thus, the renunciation of vengeance presents itself as a gift; forgiveness is immediately situated within a framework of positive reciprocity.