The BLUEBIRD of HAPPINESSillustrated children's storyI wrote and illustrated this little French fable a long, long time ago. Any mistakes in the grammar or spelling I take full responsibility for; sadly, I figure I probably would do much worse today that much further from my school-book language lessons. The pages were done freehand in pencil and finished in India ink with a straight pen. I'm particularly fond of the little feuding stars. Maybe someday I'll find out if they have names.
BLUEBIRD 5 - A little bluebird sang in a tall tree. Suddenly, the bird cried out in good French, "Hello!" "You can speak?" asked the child, surprised. "But of course," said the bird. "My name is Chee-Chee." BLUEBIRD 6 - "Hello, Chee-Chee," said the child. "It's surprising to hear a bird speak." "It's more surprising to see a half-bare child in the snow on Christmas Eve," replied Chee-Chee. "What's you're name, little boy? Where are your parents?" "My name is Jean," responded the boy. "And my parents are dead. I'm looking for my grandmother, but I've lost her address." BLUEBIRD 7 - The bird shook her head. "Jean," she said, "stay here." And she flew off to the roof of a house. Jean cried, "Chee-Chee, come here! Come here!"" BLUEBIRD 8 - But the little bird didn't hear. BLUEBIRD 9 - "Clap, clap, clap," went the window. The lady in the room was too tired to go to the window. She sighed sadly. The window opened. BLUEBIRD 10 - A little bluebird flew into the room. The woman cried, "Oh, a bird! A bird! Pierre! Come and see!" But Pierre didn't come. The woman sighed again. BLUEBIRD 11 - "Who is Pierre?" demanded Chee-Chee. "He was my son. He isn't here. I forgot. He left thirty years ago." "Where is Pierre now?" The lady sighed. "He died, and his wife as well. I received a letter a month ago." Chee-Chee thought. The lady continued. "My son and his wife had their own son. He is seven years old now. His name is Jean." "Jean!" cried the bird. "Yes," she said. BLUEBIRD 12 - "This is Christmas Eve," said Chee-Chee. "Yes, it's true." "I have a present for you!" cried Chee-Chee. She flew out the window. BLUEBIRD 13 - Three hours later, the lady heard a noise at the door. She went to the door, and there she saw Chee-Chee with a small boy. "Jean?" "Grandmother?" BLUEBIRD 14 - Later, the three friends ate a good Christmas dinner in the big dining room. There was a big turkey, fruit, milk, and a chocolate cake. BLUEBIRD 15 - After dinner, they listened to some children singing Christmas carols in the street. BLUEBIRD 16 - It was a happy Christmas for everyone. When I wrote this, I had a decent grasp of grade-school French. Now, not so much. Basically, that means if I made mistakes when I first inked this little charmer of a kids' story, I'm less able now than then to catch them. But I've provided English translations so hopefully you'll have no trouble knowing what I meant to say. |
The 25 Imaginary Works series started off as a kind of a joke: to create a description of something that could never be achieved in actual media of any sort, but that would stimulate the imagination. Now they exist as twenty-five framed calligraphic treatments, digital versions of the same, and as post- and greeting cards. Eight have been made into short animated films. So twenty-five bits of impossibility have developed what you might call a life of their own, entirely outside the realm of the abstract and yet still without the potential (or at least the likelihood) to be rendered the way they themselves say they should be.