“Did he get it back?” asked a little girl with a mole on her lip.
“That didn’t really happen!” shouted a boy.
End of tale.
“You never saw me,” the shadow replied. “You only stepped on me. Now I am going to the island where shadows learn to sing.”
“So Kanai returned home, half a man, half a rumor. And on his deathbed, he whispered to his son: ‘Never catch what cannot be held. Never tell a story you do not believe.’ Then he turned into a jackal and ran into the forest, howling without a sound.”