In one of German writer Herman Hesse's books, Journey to the East, the central figure is man named Leo. Leo accompanies a party of travelers as their servant doing menial chores, but he also sustains them with his spirit and his song. He is a person of extraordinary presence. All goes well for the travelers until Leo disappears. Then the group falls into disarray; they abandon their journey.  Without Leo they cannot make it.

The story's …