Illustration for chapter Bird Catcher of Night on the Galactic Railroad by Kenji Miyazaki
“Just then, a massive flock of herons like the ones the man had just shown them, descended all at once from the deserted purple-blue sky, squawking like thunder: gyaahgyaah gyaah-gyaah. A look of great satisfaction came over the bird catcher’s face as though everything had turned out just as he’d wished. He stood with his legs opened to exactly sixty degrees, and using both hands, he grabbed the black legs of the herons one after another as they came into land, placing the birds in his cloth sack. For a short time, the birds gave off a blue glow from inside the sack, blinking like fireflies; before closing their eyes and turning a smoky white color.”