A fairy tale

[Ivan A Derzhanski <cbmvax!uunet!COGSCI.ED.AC.UK!cuvmb.cc.columbia.edu!iad>]

>  Date:     Tue, 3 Mar 1992 18:29:27 GMT
>  From: CJ FINE <C.J.Fine@BRADFORD>
>
>  I haven't posted a lojban text for a while, so here is one. It's
>  straight out of Hans Christian Andersen.
>
>  lu le nolraixli nega'u le dembi li'u

{ga'u}, `up from <direction modal>'?  Does this work for static `on'?

>  lisri le norlainanla goi ko'a

{nolrainanla}.  That is, `most noble lad'.  {nolraitrubre} would be
more precise, but it is too long.  Pity we have no gismu for `monarch'.

>  .i ko'a djica lo nolraixli   .i ri mulno
>  beloka nolraixli be'o jo se zanru beko'a

I'd lojbo fanva the English as {ko'a djica ledu'u speni lo nolraixli
peku'i mulno beloka nolraixli}.  Note that "#1 want #2 for #1self" is
equivalent to "#1 wants to marry #2".

Re the meaning of "princess": here {nolraixli} `most noble maiden'
works fine, because that's what he wants her to be.  The tale doesn't
say whether he insists on her being a {nolraitruti'u}.

>  .i sa'e ge lo nolraixli cu raumei .ia

<Belief!>?  Why?

>  gi lorinika nolraixli ku ko'a na se birti .uu

{giku'i.uu ko'a na birti ledu'u ri mulno leka nolraixli}?

>  .i ko'a ki'u seizdakla gi'e badri lenu nu'o cpacu lo nolraixli mulno

At this point he can't even be sure of the existence of the unrealised
potential, so {ko'a badri ki'u leni ko'a djica lo nolraixli mulno}.

>  ni'o pa vanci cu jaica ke selte'a viltcima

{ca pa vanci cu selte'a viltcima}?

>  .ile slabu nolraitru ki'u minde lenu le vorme cu karbi'o

Er, I think {slabu} meant {to'e cnino}, not {to'e citno}.

>  .i le bartu cu nolraixli

Now it surely wasn't the case that the whole exterior was a princess.
Or is it just my interpretation?  By the way, this is about the right
place to assign a pronoun to her.

>  ni'o lu .ue  .i cipra .ai li'u se sevycu'u le slabu truspe

Not <Surprise!>.  I'd suggest something from the {.ia} scale.  I'm not
too fond of `dreamingly express' for `think', either.

>  ni'o co'i le cerna cu preti fofo'a feleli'i fo'a capu sipna ge'ekau

So just what does that {ge'ekau} do?

>  .i lu .oi mabla seisa'a selcu'u fo'a

{.oicairo'o}?

>  .i doi cev. pei do'u ma nenri le ckana

{pei} or no {pei}, she doesn't mean to address Cev at all.  This is
{malglico}, or maybe {malxriso}.  {.i'anaisai/.o'onaisai ri'e dakaunai
nenri le ckana}?

>  .i mi ri'a pe'a bunre joi blanu po'a fi'o se sefta piro lemi xadni

Actually, it looks more like "black and blue" is literal speech, and
"everywhere" figurative.  {piro lemi xadni cu xekri joi blanu}?

>  .i to'e zdile .oisai li'u

No, we're not amused.  :-)

>  le lujvo po'u zo cucyzbi cu satci te fanca fezoidy. Naesen paa
>  Skoen dy.   .i mi nelci ledi'u bangrdanska tanru

It is a good Danish tanru, but .uu it is a poor Lojban tanru.

Ivan