The Nighthawk Star
The nighthawk is a truly ugly bird.
The face is speckled, as if coated with miso in places.
The beak is flattened, and the mouth looks like it's torn to the ear.
The legs are so weak that they can't walk even about 2 meter.
The other birds were disgusted at the mere sight of Nighthawk's face.
For example, the skylark was not a beautiful bird too.
But They thought they were so much better than Nighthawk.
When they saw Nighthawk in the evening, they would turn their head to the other side with their eyes closed in disgust.
Smaller, more talkative birds would always badmouth Nighthawk right in front of him.
"Hmm. There he come again. Oh, look at that figure. He is a true shame of the bird family."
"You know, look, that big mouth of him. He must be some kind of relative of the frogs."
This is the way it goes.
If he were a mere hawk and not a nighthawk, such a half-baked little birds would shiver and shiver, transforming their expression, shrinking their body, and hide in the shadows of the leaves at the mere hearing of his name.
Nighthawk, however, was not really a brother or relative of the hawk.
Instead, he was the older brother of the beautiful kingfisher and the hummingbird.
The hummingbird was also beautiful, like a jewel among the birds.
Hummingbird ate nectar of flowers, Kingfisher ate fish, and Nighthawk ate feathered insect.
And since Nighthawk had no sharp claws and beak, no matter how weak the bird was, they were not afraid of Nighthawk.
Then it seems strange that he was named like a kind of hawk.
This is because Nighthawk's wings were so strong that when he flew through the wind, it looked like a hawk.
Another reason is that his call was sharp and resembled a hawk.
Of course, Hawk was very concerned about this and hated it.
So when Hawk saw the face of Nighthawk, Hawk, making his shoulders high, would say, 'Change your name, change your name.'
Finally, one evening, Hawk came to the house of Nighthawk.
"Hey, you're here. You still haven't changed your name? You are very shameless, aren't you? You and I have very different personalities. For example, I fly a blue sky and go everywhere. You will only come out on a cloudy, dim day or at night. And look at my beak and claws, then compare them to yours."
"Hawk, that's not really possible. I didn't come up with my name on my own. It was given to me by the gods."
"No. I can say that my name was given to me by the gods, but yours was borrowed from both me and the night. Now give it back."
"Hawk, I can't do that."
"Not impossible. I'll give you a good name. Your name is Ichizo. You are Ichizo. Isn't that a good name? So, to change your name, you need to do an announcement of your name change. You know? That is, you go around to everyone's house with a card around your neck saying, 'I'm going to call myself Ichizo from now on.'"
"Hawk. I can't do that."
"No. You can. Do it. If you don't do it by the morning after tomorrow, I'll grab you and kill you soon. I'll grab you and kill you, you must remember it. I will go door to door early the day after tomorrow morning, asking the birds if you came. If any of them say you didn't, it will be your last day."
"Because that's not really possible. I'd rather die now than do that. Kill me now."
"Well, think about it later. Ichizo is not such a bad name."
Hawk flew back to his nest with his huge wings full of feathers.
Nighthawk closed his eyes and thought.
(Why am I being harassed by everyone? Because my face looks like it was dipped in miso and my mouth looks split? I've never done anything bad in my life. When White-eye's baby fell out of the nest, I helped them and brought them to their nest. Then White-eyed took the baby away from me as if I was a plunderer. Then I remember that they laughed at me very hard. And now, Ichizo, what a painful thing to put the card around my neck.)
It was already dim.
Nighthawk flew out of his nest.
The clouds were glowing nastily and hanging low.
Nighthawk flew noiselessly through the sky, as if he were passing near the clouds.
Then suddenly Nighthawk opened his mouth wide, and with a straight wing, he flew through the sky like an arrow.
Many, many tiny feathered insects entered his throat.
Before his body could reach the soil or not, Nighthawk flew up into the sky again.
The clouds had turned gray and the mountains beyond were blazing red.
When Nighthawk flies the sky in full force, it looks like the sky has been cut in half.
A rhinoceros beetle got into Nighthawk's throat and struggled badly.
Nighthawk quickly swallowed it, but then he felt something creepy in his back.
The clouds were already dark, and only the east part was blazing red as same as the mountains.
It seemed something frightening.
Nighthawk climbed back up into the sky, feeling as if his chest was choking.
Another rhinoceros beetle got into Nighthawk's throat.
Then it clawed at Nighthawk's throat and wriggled.
Nighthawk forced himself to swallow it, but then suddenly his chest began to throb.
And Nighthawk cried out loudly.
He was crying and going round and round in the sky.
(Oh, the rhinoceros beetles and many feathered insects, are killed by me every night. And now Hawk will kill me. That's so hardest. Oh, it's hard, it's hard. I'm going to die of starvation and not eat any more insects. No, Hawk will kill me before that. No, before that, I shall go far, far away in the sky.)
The fire of the blazing mountains seemed to be spreading and flowing like water, and the clouds seemed to be burning red.
Nighthawk flew straight to his younger brother, Kingfisher.
The beautiful kingfisher had just woken up and was watching the forest fire in the distance.
When he saw Nighthawk descending, he said.
"Brother, good evening. What can I do for you?"
"No, I'm going to a distant place, so I just came to see you for a while."
"Brother, don't go there. Hummingbird is so far away too, I would be all alone."
"That's just the way it is. You can't say anything else about it. And you also don't pick up a fish unless you have to.OK? Goodbye."
"Brother, what's the matter with you? Please wait a little longer."
"No, no matter how long I stay here, it's the same. Give my regards to Hummingbird. Goodbye. I won't see you again. Goodbye."
Nighthawk returned home crying. The short summer night was nearly dawn.
The leaves of the ferns were breathing in the fog of the morning sun and swaying bluely and coldly.
Nighthawk chirped high 'Kishi kishi kishi'. Then he tidied up the inside of his nest, cleaned up his feathers and hair of body, and flew out of nest again.
The fog cleared, and the sun came up in the east just in time.
Nighthawk withstood the dazzling glare and flew towards it like an arrow.
"Sun, Sun, please take me to your place. I don't care if I burn to death. Even an ugly body like mine will give out a small glow when it burns. Please take me with you."
Sun wasn't getting any closer, no matter how far he went.
On the contrary, Sun was getting smaller and farther away from him, and said.
"You're Nighthawk, aren't you? I see, it's very hard for you. The next time you fly through the sky, try asking Star. You are not a bird of the day."
Nighthawk seemed to bow, but he suddenly wobbled and finally fell onto the grass in the field.
It was like a dream.
It was as if my body kept climbing up among the red and yellow stars, or was blown everywhere by the wind, or as if Hawk came and grabbed him.
Something cold suddenly fell on his face.
Nighthawk's eyes opened.
Dew drops were dripping from the leaf of young pampas grass leaf.
It was already night, the sky was dark and blue, and the stars were twinkling all over the sky.
Nighthawk flew up into the sky.
The forest fire was still burning tonight.
Nighthawk flew around in the faint glow of the fire and the cold, starry light.
Then he flew around one more time.
Then he boldly flew and shouted in a straight line toward that beautiful Orion star in the western sky.
"Star, the pale star of the west, please take me to your place. I don't care if I burn to death."
Orion didn't give a damn about Nighthawk as he continued his heroic song.
Nighthawk almost cried, and staggered down, then finally stepped and jumped around once more.
Then, flying straight to the southern Canis Major, he shouted.
"Oh, Star, the blue star of the south, please take me to your place. I don't care if I burn to death."
Big Dog said with beautiful, quick flickering of blue and purple and yellow.
"Don't be silly. What are you like? You're only a bird. It'll take you billions and trillions of years to get here with your wings."
Then he looked the other way.
Nighthawk was disappointed and staggered down and then flew around again, second times.
Then he made a bold move again and flew straight toward the Northern Ursa Major, and shouted.
"The blue star of the north, please take me to your place."
The Great Bear said quietly.
"Don't think in vain. Just keep a cool head. In such cases, it is better to jump into the ocean with a floating iceberg or, if there is no ocean nearby, into a glass of water with ice floating on it."
Nighthawk was disappointed and staggered down and then flew around again, forth times.
Once again he shouted to the Eagle star on the opposite bank of Milky Way, which had just come up from the east.
"The white star of the east, please take me to your place. I don't care if I burn to death."
Eagle said insolently.
"No, very, very little, there is nothing to talk about. To become a star, you have to be of a certain status. And you need a lot of money."
Nighthawk, having lost all his strength, closed his wings and fell to the ground.
And when his weak feet almost touched the ground in the distance of about 30 centimeter, Nighthawk suddenly flew up the sky like a smoke signal.
When he reached the middle of the sky, he shook his body and raised his feathers upright, like an eagle about to attack a bear and raised his feathers.
Then he shouted higher and higher 'Kishi kishi kishi kishi kihi'.
His voice was like that of a hawk.
All the other birds that had been sleeping in the fields and woods were awake, shaking and looking up at the sky with a doubtful look.
Nighthawk went straight up into the sky, forever and ever.
The fire of the burning mountains were no more visible than cigarette butts.
Nighthawk climbed up and up.
In the cold, the breath froze white, at the chest. Because the air was so thin, he had to move his wings very hastily.
And yet, the size of the star was the same as before.
His breathing was like a bellows.
The cold and frost stabbed Nighthawk like a sword.
Nighthawk's wings had gone completely numb.
Then he lifted his teary eyes and looked at the sky again.
That's right.
That was the last of Nighthawk.
Nighthawk didn't know if he had fallen or climbed, or if he was upside-down or looking up.
Nighthawk's heart was in peace, and his big bloody beak was curled to the side, but he was certainly laughing a little.
After a while, Nighthawk opened his eyes clearly.
He saw that his body was now a beautiful blue light, like a phosphorus fire, and that it was burning silently.
Right next door was Cassiopeia.
The pale light of Milky Way was just behind him.
And Nighthawk star continued to burn.
It burned on forever and ever.
It still burns today.
(I translated The Nighthawk Star (よだかの星, Yodaka no Hoshi) by Kenji Miyazawa.)
- To return to Japanese short stories translated into English
The face is speckled, as if coated with miso in places.
The beak is flattened, and the mouth looks like it's torn to the ear.
The legs are so weak that they can't walk even about 2 meter.
The other birds were disgusted at the mere sight of Nighthawk's face.
For example, the skylark was not a beautiful bird too.
But They thought they were so much better than Nighthawk.
When they saw Nighthawk in the evening, they would turn their head to the other side with their eyes closed in disgust.
Smaller, more talkative birds would always badmouth Nighthawk right in front of him.
"Hmm. There he come again. Oh, look at that figure. He is a true shame of the bird family."
"You know, look, that big mouth of him. He must be some kind of relative of the frogs."
This is the way it goes.
If he were a mere hawk and not a nighthawk, such a half-baked little birds would shiver and shiver, transforming their expression, shrinking their body, and hide in the shadows of the leaves at the mere hearing of his name.
Nighthawk, however, was not really a brother or relative of the hawk.
Instead, he was the older brother of the beautiful kingfisher and the hummingbird.
The hummingbird was also beautiful, like a jewel among the birds.
Hummingbird ate nectar of flowers, Kingfisher ate fish, and Nighthawk ate feathered insect.
And since Nighthawk had no sharp claws and beak, no matter how weak the bird was, they were not afraid of Nighthawk.
Then it seems strange that he was named like a kind of hawk.
This is because Nighthawk's wings were so strong that when he flew through the wind, it looked like a hawk.
Another reason is that his call was sharp and resembled a hawk.
Of course, Hawk was very concerned about this and hated it.
So when Hawk saw the face of Nighthawk, Hawk, making his shoulders high, would say, 'Change your name, change your name.'
Finally, one evening, Hawk came to the house of Nighthawk.
"Hey, you're here. You still haven't changed your name? You are very shameless, aren't you? You and I have very different personalities. For example, I fly a blue sky and go everywhere. You will only come out on a cloudy, dim day or at night. And look at my beak and claws, then compare them to yours."
"Hawk, that's not really possible. I didn't come up with my name on my own. It was given to me by the gods."
"No. I can say that my name was given to me by the gods, but yours was borrowed from both me and the night. Now give it back."
"Hawk, I can't do that."
"Not impossible. I'll give you a good name. Your name is Ichizo. You are Ichizo. Isn't that a good name? So, to change your name, you need to do an announcement of your name change. You know? That is, you go around to everyone's house with a card around your neck saying, 'I'm going to call myself Ichizo from now on.'"
"Hawk. I can't do that."
"No. You can. Do it. If you don't do it by the morning after tomorrow, I'll grab you and kill you soon. I'll grab you and kill you, you must remember it. I will go door to door early the day after tomorrow morning, asking the birds if you came. If any of them say you didn't, it will be your last day."
"Because that's not really possible. I'd rather die now than do that. Kill me now."
"Well, think about it later. Ichizo is not such a bad name."
Hawk flew back to his nest with his huge wings full of feathers.
Nighthawk closed his eyes and thought.
(Why am I being harassed by everyone? Because my face looks like it was dipped in miso and my mouth looks split? I've never done anything bad in my life. When White-eye's baby fell out of the nest, I helped them and brought them to their nest. Then White-eyed took the baby away from me as if I was a plunderer. Then I remember that they laughed at me very hard. And now, Ichizo, what a painful thing to put the card around my neck.)
It was already dim.
Nighthawk flew out of his nest.
The clouds were glowing nastily and hanging low.
Nighthawk flew noiselessly through the sky, as if he were passing near the clouds.
Then suddenly Nighthawk opened his mouth wide, and with a straight wing, he flew through the sky like an arrow.
Many, many tiny feathered insects entered his throat.
Before his body could reach the soil or not, Nighthawk flew up into the sky again.
The clouds had turned gray and the mountains beyond were blazing red.
When Nighthawk flies the sky in full force, it looks like the sky has been cut in half.
A rhinoceros beetle got into Nighthawk's throat and struggled badly.
Nighthawk quickly swallowed it, but then he felt something creepy in his back.
The clouds were already dark, and only the east part was blazing red as same as the mountains.
It seemed something frightening.
Nighthawk climbed back up into the sky, feeling as if his chest was choking.
Another rhinoceros beetle got into Nighthawk's throat.
Then it clawed at Nighthawk's throat and wriggled.
Nighthawk forced himself to swallow it, but then suddenly his chest began to throb.
And Nighthawk cried out loudly.
He was crying and going round and round in the sky.
(Oh, the rhinoceros beetles and many feathered insects, are killed by me every night. And now Hawk will kill me. That's so hardest. Oh, it's hard, it's hard. I'm going to die of starvation and not eat any more insects. No, Hawk will kill me before that. No, before that, I shall go far, far away in the sky.)
The fire of the blazing mountains seemed to be spreading and flowing like water, and the clouds seemed to be burning red.
Nighthawk flew straight to his younger brother, Kingfisher.
The beautiful kingfisher had just woken up and was watching the forest fire in the distance.
When he saw Nighthawk descending, he said.
"Brother, good evening. What can I do for you?"
"No, I'm going to a distant place, so I just came to see you for a while."
"Brother, don't go there. Hummingbird is so far away too, I would be all alone."
"That's just the way it is. You can't say anything else about it. And you also don't pick up a fish unless you have to.OK? Goodbye."
"Brother, what's the matter with you? Please wait a little longer."
"No, no matter how long I stay here, it's the same. Give my regards to Hummingbird. Goodbye. I won't see you again. Goodbye."
Nighthawk returned home crying. The short summer night was nearly dawn.
The leaves of the ferns were breathing in the fog of the morning sun and swaying bluely and coldly.
Nighthawk chirped high 'Kishi kishi kishi'. Then he tidied up the inside of his nest, cleaned up his feathers and hair of body, and flew out of nest again.
The fog cleared, and the sun came up in the east just in time.
Nighthawk withstood the dazzling glare and flew towards it like an arrow.
"Sun, Sun, please take me to your place. I don't care if I burn to death. Even an ugly body like mine will give out a small glow when it burns. Please take me with you."
Sun wasn't getting any closer, no matter how far he went.
On the contrary, Sun was getting smaller and farther away from him, and said.
"You're Nighthawk, aren't you? I see, it's very hard for you. The next time you fly through the sky, try asking Star. You are not a bird of the day."
Nighthawk seemed to bow, but he suddenly wobbled and finally fell onto the grass in the field.
It was like a dream.
It was as if my body kept climbing up among the red and yellow stars, or was blown everywhere by the wind, or as if Hawk came and grabbed him.
Something cold suddenly fell on his face.
Nighthawk's eyes opened.
Dew drops were dripping from the leaf of young pampas grass leaf.
It was already night, the sky was dark and blue, and the stars were twinkling all over the sky.
Nighthawk flew up into the sky.
The forest fire was still burning tonight.
Nighthawk flew around in the faint glow of the fire and the cold, starry light.
Then he flew around one more time.
Then he boldly flew and shouted in a straight line toward that beautiful Orion star in the western sky.
"Star, the pale star of the west, please take me to your place. I don't care if I burn to death."
Orion didn't give a damn about Nighthawk as he continued his heroic song.
Nighthawk almost cried, and staggered down, then finally stepped and jumped around once more.
Then, flying straight to the southern Canis Major, he shouted.
"Oh, Star, the blue star of the south, please take me to your place. I don't care if I burn to death."
Big Dog said with beautiful, quick flickering of blue and purple and yellow.
"Don't be silly. What are you like? You're only a bird. It'll take you billions and trillions of years to get here with your wings."
Then he looked the other way.
Nighthawk was disappointed and staggered down and then flew around again, second times.
Then he made a bold move again and flew straight toward the Northern Ursa Major, and shouted.
"The blue star of the north, please take me to your place."
The Great Bear said quietly.
"Don't think in vain. Just keep a cool head. In such cases, it is better to jump into the ocean with a floating iceberg or, if there is no ocean nearby, into a glass of water with ice floating on it."
Nighthawk was disappointed and staggered down and then flew around again, forth times.
Once again he shouted to the Eagle star on the opposite bank of Milky Way, which had just come up from the east.
"The white star of the east, please take me to your place. I don't care if I burn to death."
Eagle said insolently.
"No, very, very little, there is nothing to talk about. To become a star, you have to be of a certain status. And you need a lot of money."
Nighthawk, having lost all his strength, closed his wings and fell to the ground.
And when his weak feet almost touched the ground in the distance of about 30 centimeter, Nighthawk suddenly flew up the sky like a smoke signal.
When he reached the middle of the sky, he shook his body and raised his feathers upright, like an eagle about to attack a bear and raised his feathers.
Then he shouted higher and higher 'Kishi kishi kishi kishi kihi'.
His voice was like that of a hawk.
All the other birds that had been sleeping in the fields and woods were awake, shaking and looking up at the sky with a doubtful look.
Nighthawk went straight up into the sky, forever and ever.
The fire of the burning mountains were no more visible than cigarette butts.
Nighthawk climbed up and up.
In the cold, the breath froze white, at the chest. Because the air was so thin, he had to move his wings very hastily.
And yet, the size of the star was the same as before.
His breathing was like a bellows.
The cold and frost stabbed Nighthawk like a sword.
Nighthawk's wings had gone completely numb.
Then he lifted his teary eyes and looked at the sky again.
That's right.
That was the last of Nighthawk.
Nighthawk didn't know if he had fallen or climbed, or if he was upside-down or looking up.
Nighthawk's heart was in peace, and his big bloody beak was curled to the side, but he was certainly laughing a little.
After a while, Nighthawk opened his eyes clearly.
He saw that his body was now a beautiful blue light, like a phosphorus fire, and that it was burning silently.
Right next door was Cassiopeia.
The pale light of Milky Way was just behind him.
And Nighthawk star continued to burn.
It burned on forever and ever.
It still burns today.
(I translated The Nighthawk Star (よだかの星, Yodaka no Hoshi) by Kenji Miyazawa.)
- To return to Japanese short stories translated into English