I want to tell you a story. It's called Cloud Cuckoo Land. The story starts quite far off in the future. Well, I like to think of it as far off. Anyway, a little girl is writing a story on scraps of burlap. This story is called Cloud Cuckoo Land. In this story a lamb-brained shepherd sees a play in ancient Greece called The Birds. Oh, quick aside, I have a painting of these birds. They're dancing and flapping around most certainly these are the birds of Cloud Cuckoo Land. Anyway, this shepherd (his name is quite shiny, as if the shine were inside him), wants so badly to go to this magical kingdom that he sets off from his village to find it. And the little girl in the future is writing this story down.
Of course, back in 2020, there is an elderly man directing a play at his local library. This play is called Cloud Cuckoo Land. The 2nd floor of the library has been transformed into a theatre, with golden paints and silvery clouds decorating the stage. The children are wearing lovely papier-mâché masks of animals like birds and donkeys and fish. And this man is putting on the play of the ancient Greek play he's just translated. The man isn't a translator, at least, he isn't a trained one. You see, way back when he was in the army (during the Korean war) he met a man named Rex. This man taught the old man (I suppose at the time he was a young man) to read a bit of ancient Greek. They became really quite close during this time, but, given the circumstances, I guess it makes sense they had some trouble communicating after all that.
And around this time too, there is another kid, he's about 19 or so, and he's planning on a spot of eco-terrorism by exploding a land-leasing business through the wall of the library. As you might assume, this is pretty dangerous especially since about 700 hundred years ago a city is about to be under siege. This is Constantinople (not quite Istanbul yet).
But a bit before the siege there are two kids getting on with their lives. One, Anna, lives in Constantinople with her sister, both of whom help sew garments for men of the cloth and buildings (I assume those are usually of stone, but in our case they're also a bit of the cloth). Anyway, Anna learns to read ancient Greek from an old man telling the story of Odysseus. Which reminds me, that little girl in the future is also a bit like Odysseus.
So this little girl, Constant, she's on a spaceship with a few hundred other people. They're all heading to a new planet since Earth is a little worse for wear. This girl's father loves to tell her stories. One of these stories, while it doesn't have a name, is about a shiny shepherd who becomes a bird! and a fish! and a donkey! He does all of this on his long long journey to find a magical kingdom.
And as he washes up to shore, Odysseus is gifted a covering cloud by Athena and a place to stay by the queen of the land. This is how Anna learns to read. Anyway, she begins to go on adventures with another boy (who's quite skilled with an oar) to climb into an abandoned tower to collect gold and other treasures.
Around the same time, maybe a bit before, there is a boy with a cleft lip. This boy works wonders with oxen. He and his two oxen Tree and Moonlight are conscripted into army headed for Constantinople.
And the play is showing tomorrow, so tonight the old man and the children are doing a full run through. And Constant is exploring a recreation of Earth. And Anna is climbing and reading and translating. And the 19 year old is wearing headphones. And the boy with the cleft lip is marching. And Rex is reading. And the old man is translating. and there's this shepherd with a shiny shiny soul looking for a magical kingdom called Cloud Cuckoo Land.
And the best part about this whole story is that it's true.
Anthony Doerr, Cloud Cuckoo Land (New York: Scribner, 2021). Koller-Collins Collection PS3604.O34 C56 2021
