9 Giovanni's Ticket (2/3) (1)

by Kenji Miyazawa

As Giovanni watched, the man was vigorously waving a red flag. But suddenly, he lowered the red flag, hid it behind him, and raised a blue flag high, waving it intensely as if he were an orchestra conductor. Then, a sound like rain echoed in the air, and many dark objects, like rifle bullets, flew across the river. Giovanni instinctively leaned halfway out the window and looked up at the scene. Under the beautiful bellflower-colored sky, he saw tens of thousands of small birds flying one after another, chirping busily.

"The birds are flying away," Giovanni murmured outside the window.

"Indeed," Campanella also looked up at the sky.

At that moment, the man on the tower again waved the red flag. Then, the flock of birds stopped flying abruptly, and at the same time, a squashed sound like "pishaan" echoed downstream. After that, silence continued for a while, but the signalman in the red cap again raised the blue flag and shouted.

"Now cross, migratory birds, now cross, migratory birds!" His voice was clearly audible.

In response, tens of thousands of birds again soared straight through the sky. The girl who had her face out the window looked up at the sky, her beautiful cheeks glowing.

"Oh, there are so many of these birds. Oh my, how beautiful the sky is!" The girl spoke to Giovanni, but Giovanni, though thinking she was impertinent, silently looked up at the sky. The girl sighed softly and quietly returned to her seat. Campanella, looking a little sorry, pulled his face back from the window and was looking at the map.

"Is that person teaching the birds?" the girl quietly asked Campanella.

"I'm sending signals to migratory birds. It's probably so that a beacon will rise from somewhere," Campanella replied, looking a little anxious. Then, the inside of the train became quiet again. Giovanni wanted to pull his head back in, but it was painful to show his face in the bright light, so he silently endured it, standing there and whistling.

(Why am I so sad? I must have a cleaner, bigger heart. Far beyond that shore, I see a small blue fire, like smoke. That is truly quiet and cold. I will look at that closely and calm my heart.)

Giovanni pressed his hot, aching head with both hands and looked in that direction.

(Ah, is there really no one who will go with me all the way? Even Campanella is talking happily with that girl, and I'm truly suffering.)

Giovanni's eyes filled with tears again, and the Milky Way appeared only as a faint white blur, as if it had moved far away.

At that moment, the train gradually moved away from the river and began to pass over a cliff. The opposite bank also had black cliffs that gradually grew higher as the riverbank descended downstream. Then, a glimpse of large cornstalks appeared. Their leaves were tightly curled, and beneath them, beautiful green husks emitted red silk, and pearl-like kernels were also glimpsed. They gradually increased in number, now forming a line between the cliff and the tracks. When Giovanni instinctively pulled his face back from the window and looked out the window on the other side, those large cornstalks were planted almost entirely across the beautiful sky-field to the horizon's edge, swaying gently in the wind, and from the tips of their magnificent curled leaves, they were covered in dew, like diamonds that had absorbed much sunlight during the day, burning and shining red, green, and sparkling. Campanella said,

"That's corn, isn't it?" she said to Giovanni, but Giovanni couldn't shake off his feelings and just looked at the field gruffly,

"I suppose so," he replied.

At that moment, the train gradually quieted down, passed several signals and electric lights, and stopped at a small station.

The pale blue clock in front showed exactly two o'clock, the wind died down, the train stopped moving, and in the quiet, quiet field, its pendulum ticked precisely, marking the time.

And from between the ticks of the pendulum, a faint melody flowed like a thread from the far end of the field.

"It's the New World Symphony," the sister in the opposite seat said quietly, looking at him as if to herself.

Indeed, inside the train, even the tall young man in black and everyone else seemed to be having gentle dreams.

(Why can't I be happier in such a quiet, nice place? Why am I so lonely? But Campanella is really awful. Even though he's on the train with me, he's only talking to that girl. I'm really hurting.)

Giovanni again half-hid his face with his hand and gazed out the window opposite.

A clear whistle sounded, and the train quietly started moving. Campanella also whistled the "Star Tour" sadly.

"Yes, yes, this area is a terrible plateau," someone in the back said clearly, as if just waking up.

"Even corn won't grow unless you make a two-foot hole with a stick and sow it there."

"Is that so? Is it far to the river?"

"Yes, yes, it's two thousand to six thousand feet to the river. It's already a terrible canyon."

That's right, wasn't this the Colorado Plateau? Giovanni thought to himself.

That sister, letting her brother lean on her chest and sleep, cast her dark eyes dreamily into the distance, lost in thought about what she was seeing. Campanella was still whistling sadly by himself, and the boy, with a complexion like an apple wrapped in silk, was looking at Giovanni.

Suddenly, the corn disappeared, and a vast black field stretched out before their eyes.

The New World Symphony clearly welled up from beyond the horizon, and through that pitch-black field, an Indian, adorned with white bird feathers on his head and many stones on his arms and chest, fitted an arrow to a small bow and chased the train at full speed.

"Look, an Indian! There's an Indian. Sister, look!"

The young man in black also woke up.

Giovanni and Campanella both stood up.

"He's running, oh, he's running. Is he chasing us?"

"No, he's not chasing the train. He's either hunting or dancing," the young man said, standing with his hands in his pockets, as if he had forgotten where he was.

Indeed, the Indian seemed to be half dancing. His footwork was more economical, and he seemed serious. Suddenly, the white feather fell forward, and the Indian stopped abruptly, quickly drawing his bow into the sky. Then, a crane fluttered down and fell into the widely spread hands of the Indian, who had started running again. The Indian stood happily and laughed. And the shadow of him holding the crane and looking this way grew smaller and more distant, the insulators on the telegraph poles sparkled, and they returned to the cornfield. Looking out the window on this side, the train was indeed running on top of a high cliff, and at the bottom of the valley, a river flowed brightly.

"Yes, it's downhill from here. Now we're going to descend all the way to that water surface, so it won't be easy. Because of this slope, the train will never come from that direction to this one. Look, it's already getting faster and faster, isn't it?" said a voice like that of the old man from earlier.

The train went further and further down. When the railway reached the edge of a cliff, the river could be seen brightly below. Giovanni's heart gradually brightened. As the train passed in front of a small hut, and a child stood forlornly in front of it, looking this way, he involuntarily exclaimed, "Oh!"

The train continued to run. The people inside the carriage were leaning halfway backward, clinging tightly to their seats. Giovanni involuntarily laughed with Campanella. And the Milky Way seemed to have been flowing fiercely right beside the train all this time, occasionally sparkling as it flowed. Pale red river pink flowers bloomed here and there. The train finally seemed to settle down and ran slowly.

On the opposite bank and this bank, flags with star shapes and pickaxes drawn on them were standing.

"What kind of flags are those?" Giovanni finally spoke.

"I don't know. They're not on the map either. There's an iron boat placed there," someone said.

"Ah," Giovanni replied.

"Isn't that where they're building a bridge?" the girl said.

"Ah, those are sapper flags. They're doing bridge-building exercises. But I don't see any soldiers," the young man continued.

At that moment, a little downstream near the opposite bank, the invisible water of the Milky Way glittered, shot up high like a pillar, and a loud, violent sound echoed.

"It's a blast, it's a blast!" Campanella jumped up.

The water, which had formed a pillar, disappeared, and large salmon and trout, their white bellies glistening, were thrown into the air, drawing a round arc before falling back into the water. Giovanni felt so lighthearted he wanted to jump for joy, and he said, "It's the sky's engineering battalion! Look, the trout are leaping so high! I've never had such a delightful journey. This is great!"

"If you saw those trout up close, they'd be about this big," the boy said. "There are a lot of fish in this water."

"Are there small fish too?" the girl asked with interest.

"Probably. Since there are big ones, there must be small ones too. But they're far away, so we couldn't see the small ones just now," Giovanni replied to the girl, his mood completely restored, laughing cheerfully.

"Look, that must be the shrine of the Twin Stars!" the boy suddenly exclaimed, pointing out the window.

On a low hill to the right, two small shrines, as if made of crystal, stood side by side.

"What's the shrine of the Twin Stars?" Giovanni asked.

"I've heard about it many times from my mother before. They're definitely two small crystal shrines standing side by side, so it must be them," the girl replied.

"Tell me. What did the Twin Stars do?"

"I know that too. The twin stars went out to play in the field and fought with a crow, didn't they?" said the boy.

"No, that's not it. You see, on the bank of the Milky Way, my mother was talking about..."

"And then the comet came, saying 'gee-gee-hoo-gee-gee-hoo'!" the boy continued.

"Oh, Ta-chan, no, that's not it. That's a different story," the girl countered.