I thought I would use this space to highlight something I had seen recently that I really liked. It's a page from either book 6 or 7 of Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind that I read and got a little misty about and thought we need a lot of this collaboration. (A detailed description follows the image for screen readers.)
| An old bearded man riding a bull-like animal: "We are from the Eftal Valley of the Wind. Which do you choose, the bread or the sword?" [in a previous page he was seen holding a stave across his back with a ring of bread on one end a sword on the other, which is said to be a traditional greeting] | A priest wearing a mask covering everything but his eyes and making a sign with his hands: "Bread. I not enemy", "Insect came. Many people died. Emperor is tyrant. We escaped. Ship crashed.", "I not enemy. Need help." [this is stilted because they do not have the same language and are speaking a shared tongue] | |
| The old man descends from the bull-like animal. | The old man cuts the bread with a knife. | A crowd of people holding weapons standing next to the crashed ship look hungrily or angrily. |
| The old man and the priest both hold half of the large donut-shaped bread. Old man: "In the name of the god of the wind, we give you half of our bread." Priest: "In the name of the harmony of water and fire, we offer peace and gratitude." | ||
| The old man and the priest hold their halves of the bread toward their groups. [The old man came with a large group of other riders.] Old man: "We are brothers. As we have shared bread, we shall also share our difficulties." | A group of riders riding similar bull-like animals and wearing similar armor look at each other and seem to be making quiet remarks to each other. | |
| The priest has approached his group with the bread held high and some of the people have lowered their weapons. Narrator: IN SPITE OF THE HARD TIMES THAT FOLLOWED, THE MEETING OF THE VALLEY PEOPLE AND THE NAREI CLAN WAS A HAPPY EXCEPTION IN THOSE DAYS OF MISTRUST AND CONFLICT. | [white text on black background] Narrator: ON THIS VERY DAY, THE TORUMEKIAN ARMY, LED BY THE VAI EMPEROR HIMSELF, BEGAN ITS ATTACK ON SHUWA. | |