Category: literature

Translated by Ana Robles.

This story was written by Fernán Caballero, the pseudonym adopted by Spanish novelist Cecilia Francisca Josefa Böhl de Faber. She was born at in Switzerland, and was the daughter of Johann Nikolaus Böhl von Faber, who lived for a long time in Spain. His daughter visited Spain in 1815, got married, and stayed. “La hormiguita” was a story written in the nineteenth century and this is transmitted in the text by the different language that is used. Hence the purpose of my translation was not only to change the languages from Spanish to English but also to modernize the language so that the story could be more easily understood. This is especially important because my target audience would be North American children.

Source text: “La hormiguita”.

The Little Ant
By Fernán Caballero

Once upon a time there was a wonderful little ant. So lovely and so hard working that everyone loved her! One day while she was raking leafs in her front yard; she found a shiny new penny. She said “what should I do with this new penny?” Maybe I should buy some nuts? No I can’t open them. Maybe I should buy a caramel apple? No is just candy. She thought about it and decided to go to the store; there she brought some blush to put on her cheeks and took it home. When she got home she, styled her hair, washed her face, and put some blush on her cheeks Then she went outside and sat on her front porch. She was so stylish and beautiful that everyone that passed by was mesmerized by her.

A bull passed by and asked her: Little ant do you want to marry me? How will you inspire my love? Answered the little ant. The bull started to Mooooo, The little ant covered her ears, and told the bull

“Go on your way bull: because you surprise me, scare me and startle me”.

The same thing happened with a dog who barked a cat who meowed, a pig who oinked, and a rooster who sang cock-a-doodle-doo.

None of them were able to win the heart of the little ant, instead they all frightened her. Until Peter the mouse came. He treated her kindly and very delicately. He was so nice that little ant married him and they both lived, very happy and very much in love, it was a love so big that it hasn’t been seen since the beginning of time.

But due to bad luck one day the little ant went to the store by herself, after putting a pot of soup in the fire; which she left in the care of peter the mouse. The little ant who was very cautions warned peter the mouse not to stir the soup with the small spoon instead she told him to use the big spoon. Unfortunately peter the mouse did not listen to what his wife had said; he used the small spoon to stir the soup. And what the little ant had tried to prevent happened, with his clumsiness peter the mouse, fell into the pot, like a rock that falls into a well and there he drowned.

When the little ant returned home, she knocked the door but no one answered. So she went to the neighbour’s house to see if she could jump from one roof to the other, but the neighbour didn’t let her. So she had to call a locksmith, to unlock the door. When the door opened the little ant ran to the kitchen, Oh NO!!!! She cried with so much pain when she saw peter the mouse floating in the soup.

The little ant was crying bitterly when a birdie flew by and asked her. Why are you crying little ant?

She answered “because my husband died”

Well then, I birdie shall keep my beak dirty

Then came a dove and she asked the birdie why is your beak so dirty?

Well because Peter the mouse drowned inside his house and the little ant is crying because of him dying.

Then I dove shall stay in the cove.

Then the pigeon loft asked the dove why do you stay in the cove?

Well because Peter the mouse drowned inside his house and the little ant is crying because of him dying, and the birdie kept his beak dirty, and I dove shall stay in the cove.

Well then I pigeon loft will break off

Then the water spring said.

Why are you going to break off pigeon loft?

Well because Peter the mouse drowned inside his house and the little ant is crying because of him dying, and the birdie kept his beak dirty, and the dove stay in the cove and, I pigeon loft will break off

Then I water fountain will cry here in this mountain

Then the princess climbed up the mountain to fill her glass with water, and asked why you are crying here in the mountain water fountain?

Well because Peter the mouse drowned inside his house and the little ant is crying because of him dying, and the birdie kept his beak dirty, and the dove stay in the cove and the pigeon loft broke off and I water fountain am crying here in the mountain

Well then I princess shall smash my glass in a flash

And I who read this story, feel very sorry because Peter the mouse drowned inside his house and the little ant is crying because of him dying.

Translated by Liz Rogers.

This translation is a selection of poems taken from a larger collection. To my knowledge, the poetry of Eduardo Gener Cuadrado has never before been translated. It follows that the process of selecting is of supreme importance; after all, we want this selection to be representative of his whole body of work. The book of poems in question is divided thematically into three parts; the first section deals with the sea, the second with his ‘land’ experience, and the third with his Catholic faith.

Source text: Eduardo Gener Cuadrado, El mar que llevo adentro. [Jerez de la Frontera]: Jerez Industrial, 1964.

“In memoriam”
By Eduardo Gener Cuadrado

10 years now and a bitter slime
inside us, over your still remains.
God is smiling, “oh, what a shame”,
facing your soul of honey and lime.

10 years, José Alfonso de Gabriel.
You with Him and us with this pain.
Each day that passes the woe does not wane,
we with you but you with Him, meanwhile.

Winding down the cyclone of leaps and of bounds
when in your youth, svelte and profound
God claimed it to tell you: my fellow,

to give you as much as His essence contains;
the soul of all souls, the plain of all plains;
though you go with Him, we still say “hello”.

“I embody it”
By Eduardo Gener Cuadrado

Frosted sea glass
crackles over the wave:
skin of the sea, my body.

Life’s hot sweat
in this slimy ruin
of the dead, is now diluted.

The taste, it bites,
of mislaid gold in
rusting treasure chests.

The sea in me
so acutely I feel
that it seems to dissolve away.

“A fog in the Strait!”
By Eduardo Gener Cuadrado

The monstrosity, Gibraltar’s giant snout:
it laps the ocean’s salty water up.

In Algeciras, the tariff arabesque
makes its way from Ceuta; all the while,
a fog drifts down, judicious, through the Strait:

She wears a suit of fine-spun silken grey,
her décolletage left out exposed to view;
her skirt extends, the frilling ruffles flounce
(with fingertips she picks it up to keep
from swelling, the hemline against the floor azure);
below, her pretty little silk chopines
reign down, drizzled with silver lining; silent,
her cunning derides the dangers, laughing.

The glossy swordfish and steely urchins tossed
by fierce waves and surf of such a narrows;
and Tarifa to Tangier, the tariff arabesque.

And the monstrous Gibraltar’s giant snout:
still laps the ocean’s salty water up.

“The Four Elements, my lady and I”
By Eduardo Gener Cuadrado

I

Dirt, mud and sand:
your foot sinks
Leaves me marked

II

Blue deep:
mermaid dives
‘Tis you, my thirst

III

Heavy space:
I lie within
Your skin

IV

Inside you:
an ardent flame
I remain

“Halcyon”
By Eduardo Gener Cuadrado

Facing the Gate of San Isidoro
the Virgin of Loreto alone,
the gilded air is full of Her essence:
that verse from the sonnet has flown.