Polish story, another one. Part one.

[cbmvax!uunet!MULLIAN.EE.MU.OZ.AU!pucc.PRINCETON.EDU!nsn]

LA SXIMO DE L' MONDO
De B. Prus. Tradukis Kazimierz Bein, Pola Antologio, eld. 1909, Hachette,
Parizo; pgx. 51-53

THE MOULD OF THE WORLD
By Boleslaw Prus. Translated by Kazimierz Bein, Polish Anthology, published
1909, Hachette, Paris; pp. 51-53

lu le mledi befi le terdi li'u cu tcita di'e nefi'e la'o py. Boleslaw Prus py.
.itu'e

"The Mould with host the Terrestial" labels the following which was invented by
B. Prus:

Mi estis unu fojon en Pulawy kun botanikisto. Ni sidis en la gxardeno sur
benko, sub grandega sxtono, kovrita de musko aux sximo, kiun mia klera
konato esploradis de kelke da jaroj.

Mi demandis: kion interesan li trovas en la neregulaj makuloj grizaj,
cindrokoloraj, verdaj, flavaj aux flavrugxaj?

Li rigardis min nekonfide, sed konvinkite, ke li havas antaux si malklerulon,
li komencis klarigi:

I was once in Pulawy with a botanist. We sat in the garden on a bench, under an
enormous rock, covered by musk or mold, which my educated acquaintance had been
investigating for several years.

I asked: what did he find of interest in the irregular gray, ash-coloured,
green, yellow and yellow-red spots?

He looked at me untrustingly, but convinced that he had before him a layman, he
started explaining:

mi pu kansa lo spatadni goi ko'a lenu diklo la'o sy. Pu\lawy sy. i mi'a
zutse vi lo purdi lo ripstizu ni'a lo cambarda rokci noi se gacri lo mledi
poi se tadju'i lemi mutcli se jikca no'u ko'a ca'o so'o nanca

I accompanied a plant-student (He) in being at "Pu\lawy". We sit at a garden
on a broad-seat under an intensely big rock which is covered by mould which
was study-paid-attention-to by my much-learning socialised-person (He) during
some years.

ni'o mi te preti fi ledu'u zo'ekaunai te cinri ko'a le na'e dikni barna noi
grusi jo'u fagyfesyska jo'u crino jo'u pelxu jo'uke pelxu joi xunre .i ko'a
catlu mi seci'o lenu senpi .iku'i ko'a seja'e lenu ko'a berti lenu lo na'e certu
no'u mi cu tavla cu co'a ciksi cusku

I am the asker of the question something (don't know what) is what makes
interesting for Him the irregular marks which are grey, fire-waste-coloured,
green, yellow, yellow-with-red. He looks at me with emotion: doubting. However
He, as a result of that He is certain that a non-expert (Me) speaks, starts to
explain express:

--- La makuloj, kiujn vi vidis, tute ne estas senviva malpurajxo, sed kolekto
da vivaj estajxoj. Nevideblaj por nearmita okulo, ili naskigxas, movigxas,
edzigxas, naskas idojn kaj fine mortas.

--- Ankoraux pli rimarkinde estas, ke ili formas kvazaux societojn, kiujn vi
vidas tie cxi, kiel diverskolorajn makulojn, --- ili kulturas sub si la teron
por la postaj generacioj, kreskas, koloniigas la neokupitajn lokojn, ecx
batalas unuj kontraux la aliaj.

Tiu cxi cindrokolora makulo, granda kiel manplato, estis antaux du jaroj ne pli
granda, ol kvargrosxa monero. Tiu malgranda griza makuleto ne ekzistis antaux
unu jaro kaj devenas de cxi tiu granda makulo, kiu okupas la supron de la
sxtono.


- The spots you saw are not at all lifeless dirt (lit: unclean thing), but a
collection of living beings. Invisible for an unarmed eye, they are born, move,
marry, bear offspring and in the end die.

- Even more noteworthy is the fact that they form societies, as it were, which
you see here as motley spots - they cultivate the ground beneath them for the
generations to come, they grow, colonise the vacant spaces, even fight battles
against each other.

This ash-coloured spot, as big as a palm, was two years ago no bigger than a
four-groschen coin. That small grey spot did not exist a year ago, and ori-
ginates from this big spot, which takes up the top of the stone.

lu lei barna poi se viska do cu na'e
jmive to'e se jinsa nagi'e girzu loi jmive .i ri noi na'eka'e se viska sepi'o
lo kanla poi na se sidju cu jbena ce'o litru ce'o gletu ce'o se jbena ce'o
.uenai morsi

"The marks which are seen by you are non-living things in which something is
unclean NOT and groups of living things. These which cannot be seen using an
eye which is not helped, are born, travel, copulate, give birth, (no surprise)
die.

.i la'edi'e cu cnimau ke'unai .i lei jmive cu zbasu loi sa'enai
cecmu noi do viska ke'a neta'i loi skavrici barna .i leigo'i cu freri'a le
dertu poi cnita ra ku'o si'u lei se dzena gi'e banro gi'e co'a danxa'u loi
punai se xabju gi'e.ue simda'a

The following is more interesting, to continue: The mass of the living things
constructs a mass of, shall we say, communities such that you see them in the
form of miscellaneous-coloured marks. These make fertile the ground which is
beneath them to help the descendents, and they grow, and they start far-
inhabinting the till now uninhabited, and (!) they mutually fight.

.i levi fagyfesyska barna cu dunli le'e xance
leni barda .i pu re nanca cu go'i lo sicni befi vo fepni .i leva cmalu ke
grusi barna cu zasti pu pa nanca nagi'e se krasi leti barda barna noi diklo le
gapru be le rokci

The ash-coloured mark here is equal to a stereotype hand in the quantity of
bigness. Before two years, (it was equal to) a coin of value four cents. The
small grey mark there existed before two years NOT and originates from this
big mark which is local to the top of the rock.

Tiuj cxi du: la flava kaj la flavrugxa batalas unu kontraux la alia. Iam la
flava estis tre vasta, sed iom post iom la najbaro elpusxis gxin kaj okupis
gxian lokon. Rigardu la verdan --- kiel la griza najbaro enmetas bedojn en gxin,
kiom da grizaj strioj, punktoj kaj insuletoj oni vidas sur la verda suprajxo?

--- Kiel inter la homoj, --- mi rediris.

--- Ne, --- respondis la botanikisto. Al cxi tiuj societoj mankas la lingvo,
artoj, konscio, sentoj, unuvorte ili ne havas animojn kaj korojn, kiujn
posedas ni, homoj. Cxio farigxas tie blinde, mehxanike, sen simpatio kaj sen
antipatio.

These two: the yellow and the yellow-red are battling each other. Once the
yellow was very wide, but little by little the neighbour pushed it out and
occupied its place. Look at the green one - how the grey neighbour inserts
beds into it, how many grey stripes, dots and little islands one sees on the
green surface.

- Just like with people, I responded.

- No, answered the botanist. These societies lack language, arts, consciousness,
feelings, in a word, they have no souls and hearts, which we humans do.
Everything there happens blindly, mechanically, with no sympathy and no
antipathy.

.i ti ce ti poi pelxu jo'uke xunre joi pelxu cu simda'a
.i le pelxu pu camganra .iku'i le jibni be ri ri'u masno livbai ra gi'e xabju
zu'ipe ra .i ko catlu le crino kujoi lenu le grusi jibni cu setci loi barselklo
ru keiku joi leni grusi ke linji ce mokca ce cmadaplta'i re'o le crino sefta
li'u

This, this, which are yellow and respectively yellow-red, are mutually
fighting. The yellow was intensely wide. However the one next to it constantly
slowly forced it to leave and inhabited its thing. Look at the green, at the
fact that the grey one next to it inserts growth places in it, at the amount
of grey lines, points, small islands on the green surface."

.i mi fracru lu simsa tu'a lei remna li'u .i le spatadni cu bacru lu na go'i
.i levi cecmu cu claxu lo bangu .e lo larcu .e loka sanji .e loka cinmo .isa'u
lego'i na ckaji lo pruxi ja ka prenu noi se ckaji mi poi remna .i roda ci'e
lego'i cu fasnu tai lenu na'e sanji je zmitai jeke nelci najenai xebni li'u

I react-say "similar to human doings". The botanist utters "Not so. The society
here lacks language and art and the quality of consciousness and the quality
of emotion. In short, it is not characterised by spirit or personality, which
are qualities of us humans. All things in the context of them happen in the
manner of lack of awareness and automatic behaving and liking NOT nor hating."

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Nick Nicholas, Melbourne Uni, Australia.  nsn@{munagin.ee|mullauna.cs}.mu.oz.au
"Despite millions of dollars of research, death continues to be this nation's
number one killer"      - Henry Gibson, Kentucky Fried Movie
_______________________________________________________________________________