銀河鉄道の夜

"Now then, class, even though it's called the Milky Way, do you know what this expanse is really made up of?" the teacher asked as he pointed to a large diagram of space—specifically to the whitish streak that ran across it—that had been draped over the blackboard.

Campanella raised his hand, followed by several others. Giovanni also went to raise his hand, but stopped himself at the last second. He was sure the answer was stars—he had read so in a magazine. But lately Giovanni had been so busy with work, he was too tired to pay attention much in class, and he had neither the time nor the money to buy any books. The listlessness had caused him to hesitate to answer; however, his teacher called on him anyway.

"Giovanni, can you give us the answer?"

Giovanni stood up from his seat with a start, but was unable to reply. Zanelli, the boy who sat in front of him, turned around and sneered at him. Seeing Giovanni's embarrassment—his whole face had reddened—his teacher kindly gave him a hint:

"If you looked into space with a large telescope, what would you see?"

I knew it! The answer is stars! thought Giovanni, but he still couldn't muster a single word. His teacher, looking a little disappointed, addressed Campanella instead.

"Well, then, Campanella, can you tell us?"

Campanella stood up, but despite having enthusiastically raised his hand just moments earlier, he now fidgeted uncomfortably in silence. His actions surprised the teacher so much so that he briefly stared at the boy before quickly explaining the answer himself.

"If you looked at this glowing expanse with a high-quality telescope, you'd see it's made up of many small stars. Isn't that right, Giovanni?"

Giovanni was still blushing furiously, and his eyes had filled with tears. He had known the answer, and he knew Campanella had known it, too. After all, that magazine he'd read had belonged to Campanella's father, a professor, and they'd read it together at Campanella's house. After they'd finished reading it, Campanella had fetched a large tome from his father's study: it was a book on the galaxy and it was chock-full of beautiful pictures of space, which was entirely black save for dots of tiny white stars.They had spent the entire day poring over those pages. Campanella surely hadn't forgotten this, but perhaps he had noticed how exhausted Giovanni was, working morning to noon—how he was too busy to play with the rest of the boys after class or even talk to Campanella at all. And yet Campanella had kept quiet out of respect for him. This realization made Giovanni feel terrible for both of them.

Meanwhile, the teacher had continued with his lesson:

"If you were to think of the Milky Way as a river, all of these stars, including our own sun and earth, would make up the pebbles and sand at the bottom; in other words, we are floating within this river's waters. The river flows at the speed of light, and just as real water appears bluer the deeper it is, the farther away the stars are, the more concentrated they appear, giving the impression of, say, a spill of milk. Now take a look at this model."

The teacher then pointed to a large convex lens in which underneath was a pile of sparkling sand.

"Think of each grain of sand as a star, and let's imagine our sun, with the earth nearby, situated in the middle of this pile. Now, imagine that you, are standing right in the center of this lens, looking upward: On this side, the glass is thinner, so you can only faintly make out the stars; but on this side, the glass is thicker, and you can see them much more clearly. In our next lesson I'll explain more about how this lens works, as well as discuss the stars in better detail. Now collect your things, because it's time for you to be dismissed. Oh, and tonight just happens to be the Centaurus Festival, so be sure to take a good look up at the night sky while you're out!"

The classroom filled with the sounds of desks being shut and books being gathered. After giving their teacher a respectful bow, the children filed out the door.