Muku Hatoju's first collection of short stories for children, Dôbutsu Domo consists of stories about animals that first appeared in Shônen
Kurabu [Boys' Club] and those newly written. During the war, many nationalistic
works appeared in Shônen Kurabu, but Muku's stories had no such clear
tendency. He described animals with affection. His attitude of respect
for life of creatures was a reflection of his disapproval of the trend
of thought at that time.
Fifteen stories are in this collection. All of them are of animals such as a dog, a cat, a bear, a wild goose, and so on, based on their ecology. Muku describes these animals with calm as well as affection. Each story tells the reader how animals live with their young ones and their fellows, and survive through many hardships with wisdom, courage, and love. The interesting, lively plots were outstanding, too. In this collection, the stories are arranged in sequence to make up a total plot.
The first piece, "Daizô Jisan to Kari"["Old Daizô
and a Wild Goose"] is about an old man who tries to catch a flock
of wild geese. The leader of the flock, Zansetsu [Remained Snow] is very
clever, and Daizô fails to catch them again and again. At last, Daizô
succeeds in capturing Zansetsu when he fights with a hawk to save his fellow
goose and is injured. Daizô, moved by the Zansetsuz's attitude, cures
him, and, when Zansetsu recovers, Daizô lets him go, saying, "Come
back, next season, and fight fairly again." This story was adopted
for Japanese textbooks after the war and widely read. Some works in this
collection are still read now.
Illustration and binding was by Yasu Tai, a highly praised painter in the field of animal drawings. |
