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I'm reading 魔女の宅急便 その5 魔法のとまり木, and there's a sentence I don't understand.

Kiki, the main character of this story who is a witch living with a speaking cat, does a delivery service, and gets something in return from her customers (basically not money, just anything her customers are willing to share).

In the story I'm reading, Kiki delivers stuffs for brides quite often. Here's the conversation of her and Jiji, her speaking cat:


Jiji「いそがしいのはいいけどさ、お祝いだからって、お裾分けをたくさんくれるのも、いいけどさ。それにおまけに、いつも結婚式のケーキがついてくるでしょ。あれはちょっとまいるよな。口があまくなっちゃってさ」

Kiki「じじ、いただくものに文句を言わないのが、魔女のくらしよ」

Jiji「キキの魔女のくらしだってふらふらしてるよ。この間、今日はお花だったわっていってたじゃない。うれしそうに聞こえたけど」

Kiki「わかっちゃった?」キキは首をすくめて、舌をぺろりと出しました。


Here are my questions:

  1. キキの魔女のくらしだってふらふらしてる: What does ふらふら in this context mean?

  2. What does お花 in this context mean? Brides or flowers? (In this story, it's June, so it might be flowers?)

Here's what I guess: Jiji says, Kiki emotion changes easily (=ふらふら), as she looked happy when she said "Today I'm gonna deliver a stuff to a bride!" so Jiji guesses she wants to be a bride herself. (FYI: Jiji has a boyfriend.)

Please let me know how you interpret this sentence. Thank you!

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  • I could be wrong but the use of ふらふら sounds a bit like a retort. Does Kiki or someone else use the same expression before in the story? Jun 9, 2022 at 12:48
  • Nope, noone uses ふらふら before, but the author of this book always use オノマトペ in unique meanings...
    – Metch
    Jun 11, 2022 at 14:51

1 Answer 1

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  1. ふらふら is a mimetic word that describes instability. Although ふらふらした暮らし is not a common phrase, this sentence should mean Kiki's life is not that stable/settled enough to proudly teach how a "life as a witch" has to be to others. Note that the subject of the sentence is くらし, not 気持ち. Here, Jiji implies she is not a full-fledged witch yet if she cannot hide her emotions just by receiving flowers.
  2. お花 never refers to a bride, so this お花 is simply flowers. 今日はお花だったわ is "Today, it (=what I got from one of my customers as お裾分け) was flowers.".
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    ありがとうございます!なるほど、そうですね。とてもわかりやすいご説明、ありがとうございます!
    – Metch
    Jun 11, 2022 at 14:52

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