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Spanish story by María del Pilar Sinués (1835-1893)
English translation (aka: occasionally correcting machine translation) and English-Spanish weave by AMW, in intimate through rather unhelpful correspondence with both Bartleby Willard and Amble Whistletown.
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A six-year-old boy died on the dawn of a beautiful summer day, and his guardian angel went down to look for his innocent soul, and with it he went back to heaven.
UN niño de seis años murió en la aurora de un bello día de estío, y el ángel de su guarda bajó á buscar su alma inocente, y con ella se remontó á los cielos.
They had already left the opulent city where the dead child’s parents remained;
Ya habían abandonado la opulenta ciudad donde quedaban los padres del niño muerto;
They had already lost sight of the wheat fields where the lark sang,
ya habían perdido de vista los campos de trigo donde cantaba la alondra,
the woods where the lumberjack’s laughter echoed,
los bosques en que resonaban las risas de los leñadores,
the gardens covered with flowers and fruits,
los jardines cubiertos de flores y de frutas,
and the guardian angel had not looked at anything.
y el ángel de la guarda no había mirado nada.
But when the angel and the soul of the child arrived on their flight to cross over a poor village,
Pero cuando llegaron en su vuelo el ángel y el alma del niño á cruzar sobre una pobre aldea,
he stopped and his eyes searched for a lonely alley, on whose sides some miserable cabins were visible.
aquél se detuvo y sus ojos buscaron una callejuela solitaria, á cuyos lados se veían algunas míseras cabañas.
The grass grew between the stones of the miserable street as proof of its silence and abandonment,
La hierba crecía entre las piedras de la mísera calle como prueba de su silencio y abandono,
and in many places there were ashes thrown into the wind and cheap clay dishes broken.
y en muchos sitios se veían cenizas arrojadas al viento y groseros platos de barro rotos.
The angel looked sadly and for a long time at that poor and abandoned place;
El ángel miró tristemente y durante largo tiempo aquel pobre y abandonado sitio;
but suddenly his celestial gaze rested on a blue flower that a sunbeam had opened and that seemed to smile at the earth:
pero de repente su celeste mirada fué á posarse en una florecita azul que un rayo de sol había abierto y que parecía sonreir á la tierra:
the angel let out a cry of joy: he reversed his flight and went to pick it.
el ángel dejó oir un grito de alegría: abatió [äbatir means to reduce or bring down] su vuelo y fué á cogerla.
The soul of the innocent deceased boy then asked the angel: …
El alma del inocente muerto preguntó entonces al ángel:…
“Why do you stop before this flower without perfume and without beauty?”
—¿Por qué te detienes ante esta flor sin perfume y sin belleza?
“Look, my friend, down there towards the end of this sad alley”, the angel replied:
—Mira, amigo mío, allá abajo hacia el fin de esta triste callejuela, le respondió el ángel:
“a short distance from us you will find a cabin, whose roof has sunk with rain and snow and whose damp walls are covered with ivy:
á poca distancia de nosotros descubrirás una cabaña, cuyo techo se ha hundido con la lluvia y las nieves y cuyas paredes húmedas están tapizadas de hiedra:
Look well at that sad abode.”
mira bien esa triste morada.
“Oh!” Exclaimed the boy’s soul, “What a sorry refuge!”
—¡Oh! exclamó el alma del niño: ¡qué pobre asilo [asylum, refuge, or home]!
“I was not much happier than now when what I am going to relate happened:
—No era mucho más alegre que ahora, cuando sucedió lo que voy á repetirte:
it was a miserable cabin where poverty and honesty lived:
era una mísera cabaña donde habitaba la pobreza y la honradez:
the family consisted of a man and wife and their two children;
la familia se componía de dos esposos y de dos niños, hijos de los mismos;
the oldest was a girl of twelve years old, and she spent the whole day driving a herd of cows:
la mayor tenía doce años, y durante todo el día iba á conducir un rebaño de vacas:
the boy, weak and sickly from birth, was your same age, six years old …
el niño, débil y enfermizo desde su nacimiento, tenía tu misma edad, seis años….
Poverty overwhelmed the poor family, and the parents worked all day to bring some bread and milk for them and their children at night! …
La pobreza agobiaba á la pobre familia, y los padres trabajaban todo el día para llevar por la noche un poco de pan y leche para ellos y para sus hijos!…
The poor child grew in the shadow, and never saw the sun except from the window of the only room there was in his parents’ house;
El pobre niño creció en la sombra, y jamás vió el sol más que desde la ventana de la sola pieza que había en la casa de sus padres;
he was alone all day; his mother washed clothes at a rich landowner’s house; his father worked the fields; his sister took the cows of a neighbor to graze;
todo el día estaba solo; su madre lavaba la ropa en casa de un rico arrendador (literally landlord’s); su padre labraba los campos; su hermana llevaba á pacer las vacas de un vecino;
when, with great effort, the poor child managed to leave his straw bed, he leaned on two small crutches his father had made from the branches of a willow tree, and went out the door into the street:
cuando con gran trabajo conseguía el pobre niño dejar su camita de paja, se apoyaba en dos pequeñas muletas que su padre le había hecho de las ramas de un sauce, y salía á la puerta de la calle:
but the sun never reached there; the street was so narrow and so dark ….
pero allí no llegaba el sol nunca; la calle era tan estrecha y tan obscura….
His parents could not sacrifice an hour of their work to take him to the field:
Sus padres no podían sacrificar ni una hora de sus tareas para llevarle al campo:
the work of his parents is rough and relentless, and occupies all the moments of his life.
el trabajo de los padres es rudo y despótico, y ocupa todos los instantes de su vida.
Nor could they teach him anything other than to love God above all, because he is the father of those who sorrow ..
Tampoco podían enseñarle otra cosa que amar á Dios sobre todo, porque es el padre de los tristes….
The unfortunate child had never seen the verdure of the meadows, nor the foliage of the forests;
El desdichado niño no había visto jamás la verdura [vegetable, greens, verdure] de los prados, ni el follaje de los bosques;
sometimes the children of the town brought him poplar branches, which he carefully placed on his bed;
algunas veces los niños del pueblo le traían ramas de álamo, que él colocaba con cuidado sobre su lecho;
and when he fell asleep, he dreamed that he was in a beautiful valley in the shade of large trees, with the sun shining through the foliage and the birds singing and jumping happily.
y cuando se dormía, soñaba que estaba en un hermoso valle á la sombra de grandes árboles, que el sol brillaba á través del follaje, y que los pájaros cantaban y saltaban alegremente.
One Sunday his older sister, who loved him very much, obtained permission from the farmers, whom she served as a shepherdess,
Un domingo, su hermana mayor, que le quería mucho, obtuvo permiso de los labradores, á quienes servía de pastora,
to go see the unfortunate sick boy, and brought him a blue flower that she had picked in the field, and that by chance left the earth with a bit of the root.
para ir á ver al desdichado enfermito, y le trajo una florecita azul que había cogido en el campo, y que por casualidad había salido de la tierra con una parte de raíz.
The boy received the humble present with great joy: the two siblings planted the little flower in an old pot, which they filled with soil, watered it carefully,
El niño recibió el humilde presente con una gran alegría: los dos hermanos plantaron la florecita en una maceta vieja, que llenaron de tierra, la regaron con cuidado,
and God made the plant prosper, which a few days later was adorned with a few leaves:
y Dios hizo prosperar la planta, que á los pocos días se adornó con algunas hojitas:
taken care of by the small and weak hand of a suffering child, it constituted, not only the garden, but the entire universe of the poor patient:
cuidada por la pequeña y débil mano de un niño doliente, constituyó, no sólo el jardín, sino el universo entero del pobre enfermo:
because that little flower represented the meadows, forests, gardens, rivers, in a word, all the creation.
porque aquella pequeña flor le representaba los prados, los bosques, los jardines, los ríos, en una palabra, toda la creación.
While the child lived, no care was lacking for the humble plant: he gave her everything that the narrow window allowed to pass through air and light:
Mientras el niño vivió, ningún cuidado faltó á la humilde planta: él le daba todo lo que la angosta ventana dejaba pasar de aire y de luz:
and every night he watered it, saying goodbye to her with sweet words like from a friend;
y cada noche la regaba, despidiéndose de ella con dulces palabras como de una amiga;
and the little blue flower was filled with leaves, and it was a beautiful ornament for the poor pot where they had planted it.
y la florecita azul se llenó de hojas, y fué un hermoso adorno para el pobre tiestecillo donde la habían plantado.
God called the innocent martyr one day, predestined to eternal bliss.
Dios llamó un día al inocente mártir, predestinado á una dicha eterna.
When the afternoon of a beautiful day fell, he had a fever, and he had to lie down on his little bed: the next day it was worse:
Al caer la tarde de un hermoso día, le dió fiebre, y hubo de acostarse en su camita: al otro día estaba peor:
the children of the town, his friends, came on Sunday afternoon and covered the bed with green branches and flowers from the countryside;
los niños del pueblo, sus amigos, vinieron la tarde del domingo y cubrieron el lecho de ramas verdes y de flores del campo;
his parents were crying, and his sister, aware of what was happening, arrived tearful and distressed:
sus padres lloraban, y su hermana, avisada de lo que sucedía, llegó llorosa y afligida:
she took the pot from the window, and placed it next to the child’s pillow, on the sole bedside nightstand in the miserable room ….
tomó la maceta de la ventana, y la puso al lado de la almohadita del niño, sobre la única mesilla de la mísera estancia….
The little flower seemed to smile when the child flew to the bosom of God.
La florecita parecía sonreir cuando el niño voló al seno de Dios.
The mother, inconsolable, decided to leave the village. The owner of the cabin wanted to fix it up; upon entering it, he threw away everything the family had forgotten:
La madre, desolada, quiso dejar aquella aldea; el dueño de la cabaña deseó arreglarla; al entrar en ella, hizo tirar todo lo que la familia había olvidado:
the little blue flower, which had lost its only protector, was thrown into its old pot with everything else ….
la florecita azul, que había perdido su solo protector, fué arrojada en su viejo tiesto con todo lo demás….
“How do you know all that, my good friend?” asked the innocent soul of the dead.
—¿Y cómo sabes todo eso, mi buen amigo? preguntó el alma inocente del muerto.
—Because I am the poor sick child who was on crutches, and was born only to suffer; God has repaid me for those pains, which have lasted little on earth, giving me all the joys of Paradise:
—Porque soy yo mismo el pobre niño enfermo que andaba con muletas, y que había nacido sólo para sufrir; Dios me ha pagado esos dolores, que han durado poco en la tierra, dándome todas las alegrías del Paraíso:
but the joy I enjoy today has not made me forget my joys of the earth, and I would give the most beautiful star in the sky that I inhabit for this poor little blue flower that I just found,
pero la dicha que hoy disfruto no me ha hecho olvidar mis alegrías de la tierra, y daría yo la más bella estrella del cielo que habito por esta pobre florecita azul que acabo de encontrar,
and that I am going to transplant to the heavenly gardens.
y que voy á trasplantar á los jardines celestiales.
The angel took the flower, placed it on the feathers of its wings, and carrying in its arms the soul of the dead child,
El ángel tomó la flor, la colocó en las plumas de sus alas, y llevando en sus brazos el alma del niño muerto,
traced its flight to the regions where the light is eternal, where the sun never sets.
remontó su vuelo á las regiones donde la luz es eterna, donde el sol no se pone jamás.
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Copyright:
There are, by my count, four categories of works here:
(1) Pieces authored Bartleby Willard and/or Amble Whistletown and copyrighted by Andrew Mackenzie Watson, all rights reserved.
(2) Smash-up translations where we pair a public-domain story with a public-domain English translations.
(3) Smash-up translations where we pair a public-domain story with a machine-language translation overseen and edited by AMW.
(4) Public domain poems that we sometimes copy, and next to which we sometimes place an original response poem. The response poems are authored by Bartleby, Amble, or some other fictional personage and copyrighted by Andrew Mackenzie Watson, all rights reserved.
Obviously, the public domain writings are not copyrighted, but we’d like to claim a copyright on the smushing-together of the texts, and even on the translations which we guided and pruned. Granted: it wasn’t that hard and didn’t take that long, but, well, still–it did take some doing and represents some kind of an achievement. So please consider those smashed-together works to be copyrighted by Andrew Mackenzie Watson insofar as that’s possible, which is an interesting legal question, which we’ve not time right now to interest ourselves in.
Signed,
Bartleby Willard (pretend person)
Amble Whistletown (pretend person)
Andrew M Watson (real person–at least from a legal point of view, and thus where possible and not unseemly, the copyright holder)
September 2019