The 1000 Tales of Baron Humbert von Gikkingen
This is a story about Baron Humbert von Gikkingen, the statue portrayed in both "Whisper of the Heart" and "The Cat Returns".
It was in a mundane antique shop that the Baron had stood. A quiet and humble store of oak, dust and soot nestled away from the world at the corner path of a dead end street and an inspiring view. It was in this little shop, lost somewhere among the flash and concrete of West Tokyo, that the Baron's eyes had sighted that unspoken sunrise in the early morn, as the first breathes of light broke out across a lonesome dawn of shadows, rain and early morning fog. Any place else in this world and a sunrise would be nothing of wonder, but it was from this smudged old window pane in a forgotten house of forgotten treasures that a blessed few might live an earth of beauty in but a single moment. Freckled green curtains the colour and scent of cloves hung tied in golden rope to bear the new birth through the glass, and into the glow drifted in the shapes that lay hidden from the world outside. The face of the grandfather clock caught the light as its untimely hands worked tirelessly and yet beyond repair. The bead eyed bear that lay by the feet of that wise old man of wood drew once more from the hold of age and neglect into a comforting revelation as his black button eyes and honey threaded stitch awoke to the day and shimmered in warmth.
Not long since that new rising sun, and the mist of breath in icy wind clouded on the window glass, a sudden peek, and the parting of soft night rain puddles on the front porch step until the heavy brass handle turned and that frail chiming bell sounded. The tender brim of young morning sun parted through the steady gait of the worn mahogany doors and stroked tenderly down the back of a beloved wooden horse, once crafted by the hands of an expecting mother long ago, with each curve and slender of the chipped oak steed speaking of that love even now the woman's name and his own had been long forgot. The came no chill from the swift closing door at the front of the little shop, only the panting breath and familiar muffle that came on each passing day. The Baron did not need to look for the visitor, for he knew them well, and on each and every newborn morning that he waited that friend would come again. The Baron did not turn his eyes but neither was he able- nor face, nor walk, or speak or to breathe. For even as the Baron stood tall in his graces with snappy white suit, polished shoes and formal top hat held like a gentleman across his back, he was unlike any other cat in Japan. The Baron had stood with fur a cinnamon ginger and eyes of an imperfect jewel since the day he was crafted and entered this world as a statue, but observed it with a gifted soul.
Even though his ears did not sway to words or his whiskers tingle to speech the presence of the Baron had aroused such questions, and such wonder. A mere statue no taller than ones knee, crafted in a place unknown by a person none could tell, and yet when that miracle of first light arose to their lives once more to meet the eyes of the Baron, the emerald spirit would dance and glimmer in such beauty that none could help but wonder who this gentle watcher is. In that shop a thousand times must it have been asked of the kind old man with chin of whiskers and hearing so frail, and a thousand times the answer the same: All I know is that the craftsman gave him the name Baron Humbert von Gikkingen.
Baron Humbert von Gikkingen had been many cats in his time, explored many places and shared his love a countless fold- and with each spoken word from a curious stranger that passed through his door, his story changed and grew. The Baron had been carved by a wizard once was said, and when the moonlight touched his eyes he would spring again to life. The Baron, it was told, was a gentleman brave and true who would take the hands of fair maidens and lead them into dance, to experience songs and sirens in the graces of love unlike that any woman has even to have heard before. While a remarkable charmer indeed, said some, he was more than but a handsome face to the feline maidens, for the Baron was a Duke who served aside the noble King at the kingdom of cats. No matter the tale that graced his shop the Baron would speak not a word, he would only watch the ever shifting tide of the outside world, across the highest of awe-inspiring views that awaited just beyond that cosy home to which poets and artists alike would glance and praise the view as humble beauty. The Baron himself had before travelled the globe and braved the seas for country, honour, love and revenge. He had both in life and stone witnessed all things in awe and even stepped across the sky if all words were to be believed.
This day the aged shopkeep raised his arms with a tender smile as the familiar young girl wandered in from the bitter presence of a night since passed. She would shrug off her coat and chat of her day, as though it was she that would make the sun rise. Still rise the sun did, and it was this event that so many watchers and guests had wondered to see, as the Baron's imperfect eyes captured the light and showed through them the presence of emerald stars. As the keen young girl did stare in wonder, with short dark hair ravaged by the early breeze, she felt that before her the life of the Baron was told- not through words nor stories spoken, but by the presence of a true soul, something that is formed only through true heart in such a captivating work. A soul gifted by those who had shared their own light to the Baron, and left behind a shimmer of his spirit within his precious stare. It was this girl who had spent such a time in the company of the noble cat, both pondering and reflecting on his legend and his possibilities. More than else perhaps in his face she could feel the sadness caused only by the tragedy of a love helplessly lost, and it was to her that the gentle old man in his antique creaking chair did share his own tale- a story of love that was parted and lost in a far off place, torn from his own beloved whom entered his shop each night in his dreams, and how it was the fascination and mystery of Baron Humbert von Gikkingen that had brought them together in a tea shop in Germany where the Baron had last stood watch over an outside world.
The Baron too, she was told, had once belonged with a woman of fair graces and beauty. A betrothed statue with whom he was first crafted at the hands of an apprentice, but little else did the elderly man know of the statue by the window side. This girl of curious thoughts and wonder the Baron had come to know, and to his stories she had listened from the visitors of the simple little shop, hidden away in a quiet place with particular wonders. Legends of wonder and adventure of this curious statue had been told, and yet to this young lady alone the Baron would show the sorrow hidden behind emerald, as he watched out across the horizon for his beloved. She knew that he waited, on the table in that little antique shop by the window, much as the kind hearted keeper who had waited on loves return since he too was young and flourished in the splendour of life's many experiences and adventures. It was in this little antique shop where the watchful Baron stood, that she decided that his mysterious stories, no matter what they may hold, were a legacy that could not remain in dormant wait at the window side. The mystery of Baron Humbert von Gikkingen, spoken through the words and dreams of so many visitors, was a story and a life made beautiful by what they had seen in this humble statue, and a story she would tell to the world. While the cat in the white suit awaited on each morn the return of his true love, this girl could see what the Baron had lived- a thousand shimmering starts, and a thousand tales to be told.