The Hero in the Blue Veil and Other Stories

A small boy tries to make sense of a world whose rules seem clear until he has to apply them. What should he do with a snail that is eating a beautiful rose? Why does another child have nothing to eat? And what becomes of all a governess’s lessons in courage when a dog attacks her skirt?

Suzuki Miekichi gives Trott’s questions, misunderstandings, and sudden acts of kindness a lively, gently comic voice. These three stories are joined by an account of the opening of the Panama Canal, where mosquitoes, medical investigation, and volunteer bravery occupy the center of the narrative.

Founder of the influential children’s magazine Akai Tori, Suzuki helped shape modern Japanese writing for young readers. The four works here appeared in that magazine in 1928 and 1929. This new English collection translates each complete Japanese text, with a translator’s note, brief endnotes, and publication details. Its historical errors and period prejudices are preserved and identified, allowing the stories’ humor and moral puzzles to speak in their own time.