The Little Prince:
First Page of Chapter 1
Hello, everyone! I realized that I haven't posted in a very, very, very long time. And this time, I don't think that any type of apology should be accepted! I'm very, very, very (I seem to be overusing that word now) sorry. But today, I managed to sit my butt down onto a chair, and got my translating cap on! This was more difficult than I thought it would be... So this first post is sort of like a trial. I'll most likely not translate EVERYTHING, but I will still continue to analyze each chapter! Without further ado, let me introduce you: PAGE 9-10 of THE LITTLE PRINCE!
*Please note that my Korean spacing (띄어쓰기) is not that great -- those of you who are learning Korean might understand my pain & how hard this actually is! So please excuse me & bear with it! I'm still improving (or at least I hope I am...)
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Translation: Right when I was about 6 years old, I saw, once, a magnificent picture in a book called "True Stories". Here you can see a picture of a serpent boa who is swallowing a furry animal. There you go, a copy of the drawing.
내가 한 6살 쯤 정도됐었을때, 어느 날, 어떤 책에서 멋있는 그림을 보았다. 여기에 보여진 그림은 어떤 보아 뱀이 어느 동물을 삼키는 장면을 담았다.
On disait dans le livre: "Les serpents boas avalent leur proie tout entière, sans la mâcher. Ensuite ils ne peuvent plus bouger et ils dorment pendant les six mois de leur digestion".
J'ai alors beaucoup réfléchi sur les aventures de la jungle et, à mon tour, j'ai réussi, avec un crayon de couleur, à tracer mon premier dessin. Mon dessin numéro 1. Il était comme ça:
Translation: It is said in the book that: "Serpent boas swallow their prey whole, without even chewing. Once they finish, they fall asleep for 6 months in order to digest their food."
I reflected a lot about this fact. That is why I took a colored pencil and drew my first ever drawing. My drawing number one.
나는 그것대해서 많이 생각을 했다. 끝내, 색연필을 갖고 어떤 그림을 그렸다. 나의 첫번째 그림:
Elles m'ont répondu: "Pourquoi un chapeau ferait-il peur?"
Mon dessin ne représentait pas un chapeau. Il représentait un serpent boa qui digérait un éléphant. J'ai alors dessiné l'intérieur du serpent boa, afin que les grandes personnes puissent comprendre. Elles ont toujours besoin d'explications. Mon dessin numéro 2 était comme ça:
Translation: I took my work to some grown-ups (adults/ "big people") and I asked them if they thought that my drawing was scary. They responded like so, "Why would a hat be scary?"
My drawing didn't represent a hat! It was a serpent boa who had digested an elephant! That's why I decided to draw the inside of the serpent, as the "big people" don't seem to understand. They always need an explanation. My second drawing looked a little like this:
그림을 들고 어른든 (큰 사람들) 한테 가서 이 그림이 무섭냐고 물었다. 그들은 이렇게 대답을했다, "왜 모자가 무서워야되지?" 내 그림은 모자가 아니다! 나는 어떤 보아 뱀이 코끼리를 삼킨걸 그렸는데... 어른들이 이해를 못 하자 나는 다른 그림을 그렸다. 그들은 항상 설명이 필요하다. 나의 두번쨰 그림은 이렇게 생겼다:
Analysis:
Just like the protagonist of this story had to reflect A LOT on the fact that serpent boas don't even need to swallow their prey, I also had to reflect a lot on this first page! My, my, it's only been about 3 paragraphs and I've already got so many emotions and opinions!
I am completely, without any doubt, a huge fan of this writer. That's right, I fell in love right on the first page. I'm not trying to sound dramatic or anything (never mind, I kind of am), but this author just reached out, and managed to get in touch with the little child in me. I actually teared up when I read the part about how grown-ups (or "big people", as the author likes to call them) always need an explanation.
Why do we ALWAYS need an explanation? Why can't we just go "Oh, is that so? Alright!" Look, I know that we're encouraged to ask questions such as "why so?" and be really skeptical and critical, but why?! Take science for example -- do we seriously need an explanation as to why hummingbirds are the way they are now? That probably wasn't the best example, but you get my drift. Big people always think that there should be an explanation to EVERY SINGLE THING. There are certain things that are best when they remain mysteries & myths -- mermaids. Right. Mermaids. Or the concept of infinity. Whatever. I'm going a bit off topic & weird here, but you get the picture.
I'm kind of ashamed to admit that when I first saw the drawing (the one that had no elephant drawn in), I, too, saw a hat. I even told my French teacher: "But that's a hat."
Oh dear. Am I turning into one of those Big People? So far, I'm not really liking the sound of Big People. I wish I never join that clan. I'd rather be one of the children who knew that there was an elephant inside that boa the first time!
