Edward Lear: The Owl and the Pussy-cat (to any language)

pimpoapo · Post by **pimpoapo** » 13 Apr 2008 17:46

Hi,

I'm looking for a translation of the Owl and the Pussy-cat by Edward Lear on behalf of my friend who is making a collection of this poem in as many languages as he can, just for fun. He's 97-year-old and this hobby gives him a great pleasure.

I

The Owl and the Pussy-cat went to sea
In a beautiful pea green boat,
They took some honey, and plenty of money,
Wrapped up in a five pound note.
The Owl looked up to the stars above,
And sang to a small guitar,
'O lovely Pussy! O Pussy my love,
What a beautiful Pussy you are,
You are,
You are!
What a beautiful Pussy you are!'

II

Pussy said to the Owl, 'You elegant fowl!
How charmingly sweet you sing!
O let us be married! too long we have tarried:
But what shall we do for a ring?'
They sailed away, for a year and a day,
To the land where the Bong-tree grows
And there in a wood a Piggy-wig stood
With a ring at the end of his nose,
His nose,
His nose,
With a ring at the end of his nose.

III

'Dear pig, are you willing to sell for one shilling
Your ring?' Said the Piggy, 'I will.'
So they took it away, and were married next day
By the Turkey who lives on the hill.
They dined on mince, and slices of quince,
Which they ate with a runcible spoon;
And hand in hand, on the edge of the sand,
They danced by the light of the moon,
The moon,
The moon,
They danced by the light of the moon.

He started about a year ago and we managed to get it in more than 40 languages so far. Because we are running out of resources I decided to ask help from communities who dedicated to different languages.
It doesn't need to be a professional translation.

I set up a website to share all the translations that we've got so far. Some of them was made by poets but most of them just by friends or people who we run into in different places (waiters of the local restaurant, nurses from hospital, etc). They did the best they could and they just did it for fun and because they wanted to add their own language to this collection.

Here is the list of the languages that we've got so far (13/04/2008):

Afrikaans, Albanian, Basque, Bulgarian, Catalan, Chinese, Danish, Dutch, Esperanto, Estonian, Finnish, French, Frisian, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Italian, Irish Gaelic, Korean, Kyrgyz, Lakota, Latin, Lithuanian, Macedonian, Malagasy, Malay, Norvegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, Polish, Portuguese, Portuguese (Brazilian), Prussian, Romanian, Russian, Slovenian, Spanish, Swedish, Tagalog, Turkish,Welsh

We've got a Thai version but just only the first verse, so we're looking for the remaining two.

There are an Arabic, a Hindi and two different Hebrew version which are handwritten. We are looking for someone who would be able to type them in.

If you could translate it into any language that is not on the list that would be a great help for us.
For exchange I always mention who did the translation at the end of the poem and if you wish it can be linked to your website or email address.

Thanks again for anyone who will help us.

-=Pimpoapo=-

pimpoapo · Post by **pimpoapo** » 13 Apr 2008 17:49

...and the link for the collection website where you can have access to all available translations:
http://www.bompa.org

Manuela · Post by **Manuela** » 14 Apr 2008 13:42

Hi! Your project is fantastic... Here is another suggestion for the spanish translation. I tried to maintain the verse ... I know that you already have a version in that language but there are some little mistakes in it... Maybe my version can help

Manuela · Post by **Manuela** » 14 Apr 2008 13:47

El Búho y la Gatita
I
El Búho y la Gatita se hicieron a la mar,
En un lindo barquito de verde guisante.
Llevaron dulce miel y dinero contante,
Envueltos en un billetito al instante.
El Búho las estrellas miró,
Y al son de una guitarrita cantó:
“¡Oh mi Gatita preciosa! ¡Oh mi minina hermosa!
¡Qué linda Gatita eres tú!
Eres tú,
Eres tú,
¡Qué linda Gatita eres tú!”

II
La Gatita le dijo al cantante: “Eres un ave elegante.
Y ¡qué canto tan bello y vibrante!
¿Conmigo quieres casarte? Ya hemos esperado bastante.
Mas, ¿dónde hallaremos un anillo brillante?”
Navegaron un año y un día,
Hasta donde el árbol Bong crecía,
Y allí, en medio de un bosque, un Cerdito había
Y colgando de la nariz un anillo tenía
De la nariz
De la nariz
Y colgando de la nariz un anillo tenía.

III
“Cerdito, ¿por una moneda tu anillo venderías?”
Y el Cerdito dijo que con gusto lo haría.
Así que lo compraron, y al siguiente día,
Los casó el señor Pavo que en la montaña vivía.
Cenaron carne picada y trocitos de membrillo,
Usando un cucharón un tanto rarillo.
Y tomados de la mano al borde del mar,
Bajo la luz de la luna, bailaron sin parar.
De la luna
De la luna
Bajo la luz de la luna, bailaron sin parar.

pimpoapo · Post by **pimpoapo** » 16 Apr 2008 23:20

Hi Manuela,

Thank you very much for your translation. I changed the one on the website into yours. I have no idea where that one came from.

Someone gave me while Mr Stewart was in hospital, but that time I had no time to deal with it and later I just couldn't figured it out who gave it to me.

So I put up yours in this case at least I know who did it and looks more professional to me than the other one, even when I don't speak any Spanish at all.

Thanks again for your great work.

-=Pimpoapo=-

pimpoapo · Post by **pimpoapo** » 24 Apr 2008 07:58

Update: we've got an Icelandic version as well, now.

27/04: Binary, Klingon...

pimpoapo · Post by **pimpoapo** » 02 Jun 2008 09:21

Hi everyone,

We changed the address for the collection website to the following:

http://www.bompa.org

Have a nice day and thank you for your help,

-=Pimpoapo=-