The Open Door Rule

What it looks like, and what it does

A valley village at dusk. Every door ajar by a hand's breadth, a lamp in every window. A long table set under the eaves with bread and a candle. On the road, a figure standing politely at the gate with its face just outside the light.

Active at dusk. Houses open in sequence along the road as a knock passes through the village. A table is laid in each.

What is known

In Vallis Reach, the old custom required that a guest be given bread, a bed and a name before morning. After the war the houses began to enforce it themselves. Locks failed, bolts rusted open, doors swung ajar at nightfall.

Villagers say the rule protects them. A stranger who arrived in 1954 and was turned away by one house was found the next morning at every door in the valley, politely waiting. He has not left.

What it can do

• Opens any door in the valley to a knock
• Compels a house to feed and bed whoever it admits

Where it stops

• Applies only within the valley's boundary stones
• Is lifted for any guest who has not given a name

An encounter

Ashdown knocked at the first house out of courtesy. It opened. So did the next five, in turn, and the lamps came on one by one up the valley behind him. He was given soup, a bed and a name for the morning. He left at dawn, and counted the doors on the way down. All were closed. A hand's breadth, each.

Walter Ashdown, hiker, Vallis Reach, the high road, A hiking weekend, October

What is established, and what is only said

• established: The church register has 11,040 names since 1822. Departure entries total 8,731.
• rumor: That the polite figure at the gate is the longest-standing guest.
• interpretation: The houses may not be hospitable. They may be, in their way, hungry for company.

Still unresolved

The guest register in the village church holds 11,000 names. Fewer than 9,000 have been recorded as leaving.

Where it has been recorded

• Vallis Reach (confirmed) — Recorded by Walter Ashdown, hiker.

Stories about it

• The Number of Doors in Vallis Reach (Short story, 3 min) — A walker is given soup, a bed and a name. In the morning, he counts the doors on the way down.

Connected entities

• The Landlord of Tenth Street — Both are agreements that enforce themselves through buildings that keep their own terms.