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book of yì

  • Published: 

Cover of “book of yì”, page 1, illustrated in black and white ink brush-style art.

Page 3 of book of yì.

Page 4 of book of yì.

Page 4 of book of yì.

Page 5 of book of yì.

Page 6 of book of yì.

Page 7 of book of yì.

Page 8 of book of yì.

Page 9 of book of yì.

Page 10 of book of yì.

Page 11 of book of yì.

Page 12 of book of yì.

Transcript

Page 1: 1 small quiet somewhere - “book of yì” by Maiji/Mary Huang. A parade of diverse creatures surrounded by ink clouds. They resemble, from largest to smallest: an elephant with winged ears; an ox or water buffalo; a dashing hare with long leaf like ears and a long tail; a monkey with a tail curling like a serpent; a tiny rodent. All of them have dark eyes, a splotch on their forehead, and dark feet.

Page 2: Illustrations of the various creatures labeled with names and adjectives: 意 (大) / Yì (big) for the elephant; 意 - (跳) / Yì (jump) for the hare; 意 (力) / Yì (power) for the ox or water buffalo; 意 (活潑) / Yì (lively) for the monkey. At the bottom of the page, the hamster-like Little Yì is lying on a book dense with vertical characters.

Page 3: A shadow falls over Little Yì reading the book. A hand gently touches the back of Little Yì's head and they look up to see the centaur/gandharva-monk Kanthaka smiling down at them, a garden and pond visible in the background. Little Yì turns towards Kanthaka's hand and happily gets head and ear rubs.
Kanthaka:  Little Yì.

Page 4: Kanthaka opens his other hand to show three fluffy floating floating berries. Little Yì immediately pounces on them, spurting berry juice all over its cheeks. Kanthaka wipes its face with a cloth while it continues chewing on the berries.
Kanthaka: See what I have. Lucky float berries!
Little Yì: *nom*
Kanthaka: Ha ha ha! Take your time, it might dribble. Oh dear, ha ha..
Little Yì: *nom nom nom*
Kanthaka: *wiping Little Yì's face clean* How is the book?
Little Yì: *pauses, then looks to the side back towards the pages of the book*

Page 5: Little Yì looks down and answers Kanthaka's question against a swirling ink back drop of the various other Yì creatures.
Little Yì: So many Yì’s. All bigger than me. And stronger. And faster. And clever-er.
Kanthaka: Do you want to become those things?
Little Yi: Sometimes.

Page 6: Kanthaka reaches a hand out to gently rub Little Yì's ear. Little Yi closes its eyes as its ears and head are scratched and rubbed. As they speak, somewhere more float berries are emerging from fully-bloomed flowers.
Kanthaka: Do you like being soft and small and holdable in one hand and very good at finding things that I accidentally dropped in tiny spaces?
Little Yì: Sometimes.
Kanthaka: Like right now?
Little Yì: mmmhmm.

Page 7: Against a backdrop of flowers, Kanthaka's hand reaches down and Little Yì rests upon it.
Kanthaka: Are you worried about becoming different?
Little Yì: Sometimes.

Page 8: Kanthaka picks Little Yì up in one hand and gentle strokes its head as it settles into a soft and flat hamster-pancake in his palm, looking sleepy and comfortable.
Kanthaka: I hope you grow in the way that suits you. And I hope you also enjoy wherever you are at any time.

Page 9: Kanthaka gently places a humming Little Yì back on the table to rest, and turns to leave, heading towards the rest of the garden. As Little Yì dozes off, an inky wisp of cloud forms about it.
Kanthaka: Don't forget to rest when you need to.
Little Yì: mmmmm
Kanthaka: I’ll collect some more berries for our tea.

Page 10: The cloud shapes coalesce into Little Yì calling Kanthaka's name, and Kanthaka turning around and looking up to discover giant Little Yì.
Little Yì: Kanthaka! Kanthaka! Look at me!

Page 11: Kanthaka stares up, one hand at his mouth in surprise, as Giant Little Yì's shadow falls over him. Giant Little Yì picks Kanthaka up, and the latter plants himself against the soft wall of fur, hugging it. Little Yì pats Kanthaka in one paw and pats his head in a reversal of their earlier roles.
Kanthaka: My goodness! You're gigantic! And still so soft...!
Giant Little Yì: Now I can hold you in one hand and give you head pats and ear rubs!

Page 12: The cloud forms waft down the page, forming into the sleeping/dreaming (and still tiny and hamster-sized) Little Yì's snoring as it lies belly-up on the still-open pages of the book. Kanthaka returns with a small tray with a teapot and two cups, and looks down. 
Little Yì: zzZZZzz
Kanthaka: My, aren’t you living the life. (ha ha ha)

End.

Author's notes

It's so interesting that change and growth accompany us at every moment, and yet they can be strange and scary even when it's something we want. Our lives are an ongoing experience of change and growth. I try to remember they are flowing, continuous aspects, and that growth isn't necessarily always towards a target; the only thing guaranteed is the passage of time. That's kind of freeing. You can go somewhere but you're not stuck there. And any slice of an experience can have something to find comfort or delight in if I am able to pay attention.    

I'm playing around a bit with how I tackle the black and white digital ink-style art, so you'll see some variations in the comics story-to-story.

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