Spirit of Wonder Spirit of Wonder original by Kenji Tsuruta copyright 1997 French translation by Marie-Françoise Monthier copyright 1999 Casterman ISBN 2-203-37226-5 English translation v1.0 by Mahousu, January 2000, no copyright asserted; provided freely as an aid to understanding the original.

Note: Here I've actually translated the second story rather than the first, for two reasons: I liked the second one better, and in the first story, I wasn't quite sure of all the character's names!

Also, I know the dialog seems occasionally slightly out of sequence, due no doubt to Casterman's using panel rearrangement rather than flipping. I don't think it's ever any barrier to understanding, though.

Leaving on the night of the full moon

Narr:

The laboratory of my grandfather, who styled himself Professor Ferble...

... stood some distance away from the main house. It was a shed rather crummy in appearance, but...

.. one which sheltered all of his treasures.

Sign:

Dr. Ferble / Strangelab

Alice:

Sir, your lunch.

What's this?

Ferble:

Don't touch that, you wretch!

Ferble:

It's a dangerous device, a cyclone machine.

Alice:

A cyclone machine?

Great!

Um....

But what does it do?

Ferble:

It creates artificial cyclones which, when they collide with real tornados, will cancel them out.

Alice:

Ah, I see!

Ferble:

At least... in principle... Ha ha ha!

No, it ought to work.

Alice:

Oh...

Uh...

I think there's an error in the electrical connections.

Ferble:

Well, of course,

... it's dangerous!

Alice:

Fine, fine, I'll take care of it.

Ferble:

Mm...

Pff!

Alice:

By... by the way, Madame asked me to take a look at the electrical hookup, which isn't working too well.

Alice:

Um...

Ah!

Dolittle:

Ou ou ah!

Alice:

Master Dolittle!

Ferble:

Ho! He started it up!

Alice:

Are you all right, Master?

You were lucky.

Dolittle:

Alice!!

Alice:

It's OK, it will be healed up soon enough.

Just don't do anything like that again.

Dolittle:

Grandfather, you're going to fix Alice?

You're really going to fix her?

Ferble:

Don't worry, I'll take care of it.

Go back to the house now, Dolittle

Ferble:

Thank you for everything, Alice.

You take very good care of Dolittle.

To thank you...

... I'm going to show you something incredible.

Alice:

Huh?

Can I touch it?

Ferble:

It's an instantaneous matter displacement machine.

Alice:

Oh! Great!

But what is it good for?

Ferble:

Bah... This kind of thing can have multiple functions.

Alice:

Hou!

Alice:

Ah!

Master Dolittle!

So, all this time, you were spying on us.

So you must have seen...

my...

Dolittle:

No, I didn't see anything.

I swear I didn't see anything!

Madame:

Dolittle!

Again, you're creeping in late!

After skipping out on your studies once more!

Did you see what time it was?

You're not just a child any longer!!

Today, I will be very strict.

Come here!

Alice:

Madame!

Madame:

As for you, Alice, you are always gallivanting off who knows where.

Alice:

Ah!

Madame:

If you keep wasting your time like this, I will show you the door.

Dolittle:

Stop, mother! Alice isn't bad, I'm the one who was naughty.

Madame:

What does that mean, Dolittle?!

I find you far too intimate with the servants!

I don't want you going to your grandfather's any more...

You have too many more important things to do.

Ferble:

Ah! They did that...

The poor kid!

Alice:

Yes.

That upset me a little.

Ferble:

It's all right! Parents are always like that.

If, through your presence, you can reestablish the equilibrium, that will be good.

Alice:

The importance of disequilibrium doesn't count.

[Well, that's what it says! Better would be something like "Lack of equilibrium is not what I'm not worried about ."]

Ferble:

Hey!

Alice:

Sir!

Ferble:

Oh! Pardon me.

Alice:

Eh, master,

You escaped again?!

Dolittle:

I'm a bad boy!

Dolittle:

Say, grandfather... What are you constructing?

Ferble:

Listen, I'm going to astonish you.

An engine for going to the moon!

Dolittle:

Ah really?

Ferble:

I'm planning on going to the moon thanks to the instantaneous matter displacement machine.

[I just want to say that the picture of Alice welding is one of my favorites in the whole book.]

Ferble:

Things enter on one side...

... and exit on the other.

Here's the principle of the apparatus.

First of all, we have to construct this machine on a large scale.

By fixing one part on the front and the other on the rear, we can obtain a multifunctional apparatus which can freely displace itself through matter.

Ferble:

Now on the other hand, there exists on Earth a force called gravity.

Since it is available for free, I will use it as my motive force.

In short, by descending toward the center of the Earth, I will gather up kinetic energy, [had to be a little more "scientific"]

And hop, to the moon!

Alice:

But sir, when you leave the Earth, the force of gravity...

... is still exerted.

When you reach the surface of the globe [again, after] having been drawn through the Earth, the velocity is equal to zero, and so...

Ferble:

I've though of that.

Ferble:

That's why the the fuselage of my moon-going engine has a variable length.

If we shorten it during flight, what will happen?

[Oops! Looks like "normal" got a little shortened!]

The force created in the free space at the rear will create an acceleration.

It's precisely the principle of propulsion by injection.

Dolittle:

Say, Alice, why does the departure have to be on the morning of the night of the full moon?

Alice:

It's maybe because it will be perfectly round when you arrive up there.

What an adventure, isn't it, master?

I'm going to make a picnic lunch.

Dolittle:

Oh! I'd really like the full moon to come quickly.

Alice:

Never tell anyone you're going to the moon.

Especially Madame.

Dolittle:

Alice, it's completely dark now.

I'm going to be scolded again.

Narr:

The letter grandfather left behind only contained...

... a few words: "Alice, I entrust Dolittle to you."

And Professor Ferble never returned again...

Narr:

My parents, who were not aware of the reason for his disappearance, found it troubling. They were content to close up the shed.

But the spring when I left the university, I decided to unlock the padlock on the condemned place, and to assume the control of the laboratory.

The laboratory of Professor Ferble, my grandfather.

Dolittle:

Eh, Alice,

It must have been hard to be alone until now.

Bah! I'm going to be in need of your contribution again.

Alice:

Yes, sir!

Good! I'll help you.

Alice:

Ouah!

Look, look!

Dolittle:

But it's the instantaneous matter transport machine!

Alice:

It's the little model he made first. What could have happened to the other one?

Dolittle:

Perhaps we can still use it?

Alice:

OK... let's try.

Ferble:

My goodness, Dolittle! How big you've gotten!

Dolittle:

Grand... grandfather. Where did you get to?

The moon?

Ferble:

Not at all! On the other side of the Earth.

I must have made a mistake. I couldn't make it to the moon. While I was here, I constructed another lab, and I'm working on number 2.

Ah, you feel the tide.

It's normal.

Satisfied? Dissatisfied? Puzzled? Have something to add? Mail me at mahousu@gmail.com

Uncopyright by Mahousu; provided freely as an aid to understanding the original. Have fun! [The original is, of course, copyrighted as marked above. You should still have fun, though.]