"The Statue" is an allegory about a bronze statue of a naked woman, protected by a local tradition that says it prevents strife. When "moralists" and "wolves," deeming it shameful, secretly throw the statue into a well, the town immediately descends into chaos, violence, and moral decay. Years later, a solitary young hero, ignoring widespread mockery, sacrifices his own life in the immense effort to excavate the statue from the mud and restore the lost ideal.