ORIGIN: It’s a family tree. I made a deal with the devil. I am a mouse with bird wings, but I still haven’t touched the sky. Soon I will have to shed these worn-out feathers, and even crying tears of blood won’t help me grow a replacement. I will have no choice but to ask […]
BATTY FAMILY TREE: GRANDFATHER. Read More »
El mal del milano, las alas quebradas y el pico sano. The stars of this saying are cowards that boast about brave deeds, trying to raise their worth in the eyes of others. Once upon a time there was a kite that didn’t have the courage to let go of his branch and take wing.
THE COWARDLY KITE THAT RAN OUT OF EXCUSES AFTER BREAKING ITS WINGS. Read More »
A pajarillo que se ha de perder, alillas le han de nacer. Apparently, prosperity is cause of ruin. And we couldn’t resist that little bird doomed to get lost even before taking wing for the first time. In a hollow tree there is a nest. In that nest there are two chicks still covered in
ANTICIPATION AND FEAR, BIRDS OF A SHIVER. Read More »
ORIGIN: Birds flocked to that statue whenever we walked our dog. But it ran away, and we took a photograph. This Brush is our way of saying we miss you. I don’t know why I ever thought that cleaning this empty nest would fall on my parents. They made it clear from the very first.
EMPTY NESTS AND WATER BOWLS. Read More »
Palabra y piedra suelta, no tienen vuelta. The saying advises caution because words cannot be taken back, especially hurtful ones. Once upon a time there was a child as tall as a mountain. His throat was made of stones, and he was afraid. That child had never uttered a word in his life
THE EARTHWORM THAT SPEAKS ON BEHALF OF A MOUNTAIN. Read More »
ORIGIN: Ignore the mouse and take a closer look at the child’s teary eye. Connecting the dots shouldn’t be too hard. There’s Death’s scythe. Don’t lose sight of it until you reach the overgrown chick on Death’s shoulder. Catch it red-handed, trying to bite off more than it can chew. Look at you, all innocence
THE CHICK STEERING DEATH’S SCYTHE. Read More »
Everything starts with a corpse (屍尸), a body that has been abandoned by its soul. In the first half of that word, we find a deer (鹿), and what’s left is a pair of wings (羽根). They could have belonged to a bird or an insect, but we will go with a bird because we
THREE CORPSES IN THE WOODS. Read More »
ORIGINS: Schrödinger’s cat. But we are, and always will be, partial to birds. In the original character’s eyes, the bird was alive, wings spread wide, ready to take flight. But we turned them upside down, and the bird died, with those same wings spread stiff. “Spread your wings,” they said. “Take flight,” they said. “Smile.
THE BIRD IS ALIVE. THE BIRD IS DEAD. Read More »
ORIGINS: Don’t ask us why, but the left eye of the last character in the original series reminded us of a spiral shell. All that was missing was the hermit crab. The four walls of our home have always been our lifeline, and we thought that any hermit crab would empathize with us. But maybe
LAUNDRY AND SPIRAL SHELLS. Read More »
ORIGINS: When the Brush speaks, we listen. It’s the same pair of windows over and over again. But the panda bear was there, and we went with the flow. Or, in this case, the stains of rain on the wall. Middle Child: There is no happily-ever-after. There is no picture-perfect home. There are only panda
PANDA BEARS, OWLS, CATS AND FLOWERS IN BALCONIES. Read More »