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Author: Bartleby

What is Love?

What is Love?

Is love a feeling?
Is love an attitude?
Is love affection, respect, caring, empathy, understanding?
Is love willing oneself to care for another’s spiritual/emotional/intellectual/physical health?

When humans love, they feel affection, respect, caring, empathy and understanding; and they also will themselves to act affectionately, respectfully, and with caring, empathy and understanding, and to do what they can to nurture the loved one’s physical, emotional, mental and spiritual health.

However, love is more than this. Because real love successfully nurtures the spirit of oneself and one’s loved one. Real love is wise and knows how to actually help oneself and others live well. Love is not just something people do, but something that God does; and, since for God there’s no distinction between doing and being, something that eternally and infinitely IS. Human love is successful to the degree it understands and follows divine Love.

INTERRUPTING INTERLUDE
I feel that to the degree you fail to love everyone, you fail to love anyone. The proof’s based on the interconnected nature of all created things; and how the One Love shines through it all. The proof’s based on the difference between an open and a closed heart/mind (the gate must be open if anything’s to pass through, but if the gate’s open, everything can pass through). The proof’s based on all the chalk I’ve been chewing, all the werewolfing hunched-over, open arms bent beseechingly upward, yellow-fangdrooling bellowing I’ve been preening, all the alleycats I’ve been hissing.
INTERLUDE ENDS HERE

Love is a decision (we choose to love) and a feeling/action (we love) and something bigger than us that takes over and guides our decisions and actions (Love as spiritual Reality).

Can you choose how you feel?
Yes and No.
The point of a spiritual path is to change yourself, so that you become wiser: more able to understand what Pure Love (ie: spiritual love, godly love, love that is 100% good and helpful/useful/uplifting/selfless; love that only compassionately holds and uplifts) is and more willing and able to live in and through and for Pure Love.
We can choose to work every day to become more patient, more empathetic, more understanding, gentler, kinder, more insightful. And so we can choose to work to change both our feelings and ideas, to bring them more in line with wisdom — more in accordance with the counsel of Pure Love.

But ideas and feelings are not wise.
In and of themselves, they do not know what is really going on, what really matters, what should really be done. To become wiser, ideas and feelings must more adequately understand and follow Pure Love. We must ask Pure Love to guide us; It must oblige; and we must accept Its counsel. Our fundamental life-choice is whether or not we consciously turn more and more towards the Love shining in and through all things.

[Here the essay turned into another standard Something Deeperism essay; concluding standardly:]

But how? But don’t we know? Doesn’t the very sense that pushes us towards seeking a life lived in and through and for Pure Love contain within itself a sense of the path we must follow?: Think clear, honest, aware, kind, open-hearted and -minded; seek real fellowship, sharing kind joy around the understanding that we are all in this together and all share the same Light and therefore the same rights and responsibilities.

Love is accepting, assenting to, caring for, celebrating and lifting up. So I guess Pure Love does that 100% no questions asked for every little bit of the interconnected whole??

Anyway,

Lisa Singz Allown

Editor’s Note: Erich Fromm defined love as “the will to extend one’s self for the purpose of one’s own or another’s spiritual growth” in The Road Less Travelled, but the author didn’t hear about it until Bell Hooks mentioned it in All About Love: New Visions. She also mentions affection and caring as being part of love’s works, though in and of themselves not enough to constitute love. Neither the author nor editor read Erich Fromm, or more than a few pages of Bell Hooks. Some projects are scholarly-precise, and some are lucky if they can stagger out into the sun to die a happy death* in the soft forgiving damp springtime air.

[Editor’s Note: See Albert Camus’s La Mort Heureuse (A Happy Death).
Or should you? He didn’t see fit to publish it, and though completed in 1938 it was not released until 1971, after the author had been dead for like 11 years.]

Une Passion dans le Desert / A Passion in the Desert – Pt 6

Une Passion dans le Desert / A Passion in the Desert – Pt 6

[I’m taking two copywriteless use texts: the original and a translation, and setting them next to each other. To improve reading comprehension.]

[If you’d like to jump to Links to all Sections of this story.]

Continued from Part Five

Le désert fut dès lors comme peuplé.
From that time the desert seemed inhabited.
Il renfermait un être auquel le Français pouvait parler, et dont la férocité s’était adoucie pour lui, sans qu’il s’expliquât les raisons de cette incroyable amitié.
It contained a being to whom the man could talk, and whose ferocity was rendered gentle by him, though he could not explain to himself the reason for their strange friendship.
Quelque puissant que fût le désir du soldat de rester debout et sur ses gardes, il dormit.
Great as was the soldier’s desire to stay upon guard, he slept.

A son réveil, il ne vit plus Mignonne;
On awakening he could not find Mignonne;
il monta sur la colline, et, dans le lointain, il l’aperçut accourant par bonds, suivant l’habitude de ces animaux, auxquels la course est interdite par l’extrême flexibilité de leur colonne vertébrale.
he mounted the hill, and in the distance saw her springing toward him after the habit of these animals, who cannot run on account of the extreme flexibility of the vertebral column.
Mignonne arriva les babines sanglantes; elle reçut les caresses nécessaires que lui fit son compagnon, en témoignant même par plusieurs ronron graves combien elle en était heureuse.
Mignonne arrived, her jaws covered with blood; she received the wonted caress of her companion, showing with much purring how happy it made her.
Ses yeux, pleins de mollesse, se tournèrent avec encore plus de douceur que la veille sur le Provençal, qui lui parlait comme à un animal domestique:
Her eyes, full of languor, turned still more gently than the day before toward the Provencal, who talked to her as one would to a tame animal.

– Ah ! ah ! mademoiselle, car vous êtes une honnête fille, n’est-ce pas ? Voyez-vous ça !
Ah! mademoiselle, you are a nice girl, aren’t you? Just look at that!
… nous aimons à être câlinée. N’avez-vous pas honte!
So we like to be made much of, don’t we? Aren’t you ashamed of yourself?
Vous avez mangé quelque Maugrabin ?… Bien !
So you have been eating some Arab or other, have you? That doesn’t matter.
C’est pourtant des animaux comme vous !
They’re animals just the same as you are;
… “Mais n’allez pas gruger les Français, au moins… Je ne vous aimerais plus!
but don’t you take to eating Frenchmen, or I shan’t like you any longer.”

Elle joua comme un jeune chien joue avec son maître, se laissant rouler, battre et flatter tour à tour;
She played like a dog with its master, letting herself be rolled over, knocked about, and stroked, alternately;
et parfois elle provoquait le soldat en avançant la patte sur lui, par un geste de solliciteur.
sometimes she herself would provoke the soldier, putting up her paw with a soliciting gesture.

Some days passed in this manner. This companionship permitted the Provencal to appreciate the sublime beauty of the desert; now that he had a living thing to think about, alternations of fear and quiet, and plenty to eat, his mind became filled with contrast and his life began to be diversified.

Quelques jours se passèrent ainsi.
Some days passed in this manner.
Cette compagnie permit au Provençal d’admirer les sublimes beautés du désert.
This companionship permitted the Provencal to appreciate the sublime beauty of the desert;
Du moment qu’il y trouvait des heures de crainte et de tranquillité, des aliments, et une créature à laquelle il pensait, il eut l’âme agitée par des contrastes…C’était une vie pleine d’oppositions.
now that he had a living thing to think about, alternations of fear and quiet, and plenty to eat, his mind became filled with contrast and his life began to be diversified.

La solitude lui révéla tous ses secrets, l’enveloppa de ses charmes.
Solitude revealed to him all her secrets, and enveloped him in her delights.
Il découvrit dans le lever et le coucher du soleil des spectacles inconnus au monde.
He discovered in the rising and setting of the sun sights unknown to the world.
Il sut tressaillir en entendant au-dessus de sa tête le doux sifflement des ailes d’un oiseau, – rare passager! – en voyant les nuages se confondre, – voyageurs changeants et colorés!
He knew what it was to tremble when he heard over his head the hiss of a bird’s wing, so rarely did they pass, or when he saw the clouds, changing and many colored travelers, melt one into another.

Il étudia pendant la nuit les effets de la lune sur l’océan des sables, où le simoun produisait des vagues, des ondulations et de rapides changements.
He studied in the night time the effect of the moon upon the ocean of sand, where the simoom made waves swift of movement and rapid in their change.
Il vécut avec le jour de l’Orient, il en admira les pompes merveilleuses;
He lived the life of the Eastern day, marveling at its wonderful pomp;
et souvent, après avoir joui du terrible spectacle d’un ouragan dans cette plaine où les sables soulevés produisaient des brouillards rouges et secs, des nuées mortelles,
then, after having reveled in the sight of a hurricane over the plain where the whirling sands made red, dry mists and death-bearing clouds,
il voyait venir la nuit avec délices, car alors tombait la bienfaisante fraîcheur des étoiles.
he would welcome the night with joy, for then fell the healthful freshness of the stars,
Il écouta des musiques imaginaires dans les cieux.
and he listened to imaginary music in the skies.

Puis la solitude lui apprit à déployer les trésors de la rêverie.
Then solitude taught him to unroll the treasures of dreams.
Il passait des heures entières à se rappeler des riens, à comparer sa vie passée à sa vie présente.
He passed whole hours in remembering mere nothings, and comparing his present life with his past.

Enfin, il se passionna pour sa panthère, car il lui fallait bien une affection.
At last he grew passionately fond of the panther; for some sort of affection was a necessity.

Soit que sa volonté, puissamment projetée, eût modifié le caractère de sa compagne, soit qu’elle trouvât une nourriture abondante grâce aux combats qui se livraient alors dans ces déserts,
Whether it was that his will powerfully projected had modified the character of his companion, or whether, because she found abundant food in her predatory excursions in the desert,
elle respecta la vie du Français, qui finit par ne plus s’en défier en la voyant si bien apprivoisée.
she respected the man’s life, he began to fear for it no longer, seeing her so well tamed.

Il employait la plus grande partie du temps à dormir;
He devoted the greater part of his time to sleep,
mais il était obligé de veiller, comme une araignée au sein de sa toile, pour ne pas laisser échapper le moment de sa délivrance, si quelqu’un passait dans la sphère décrite par l’horizon.
but he was obliged to watch like a spider in its web that the moment of his deliverance might not escape him, if anyone should pass the line marked by the horizon.
Il avait sacrifié sa chemise pour en faire un drapeau, arboré sur le haut d’un palmier dépouillé de feuillage.
He had sacrificed his shirt to make a flag with, which he hung at the top of a palm tree, whose foliage he had torn off.
Conseillé par la nécessité, il sut trouver le moyen de le garder déployé en le tendant avec des baguettes,
Taught by necessity, he found the means of keeping it spread out, by fastening it with little sticks;
car le vent aurait pu ne pas l’agiter au moment où le voyageur attendu regarderait dans le désert…
for the wind might not be blowing at the moment when the passing traveler was looking through the desert.

C’était pendant les longues heures où l’abandonnait l’espérance qu’il s’amusait avec la panthère.
It was during the long hours, when he had abandoned hope, that he amused himself with the panther.
Il avait fini par connaître les différentes inflexions de sa voix, l’expression de ses regards, il avait étudié les caprices de toutes les taches qui nuançaient l’or de sa robe.
He had come to learn the different inflections of her voice, the expressions of her eyes; he had studied the capricious patterns of all the rosettes which marked the gold of her robe.
Mignonne ne grondait même plus quand il lui prenait la touffe par laquelle sa redoutable queue était terminée, pour en compter les anneaux noirs et blancs, ornement gracieux, qui brillait de loin au soleil comme des pierreries.
Mignonne was not even angry when he took hold of the tuft at the end of her tail to count her rings, those graceful ornaments which glittered in the sun like jewelry.
Il avait du plaisir à contempler les lignes moelleuses et fines des contours, la blancheur du ventre, la grâce de la tête.
It gave him pleasure to contemplate the supple, fine outlines of her form, the whiteness of her belly, the graceful pose of her head.
Mais c’était surtout quand elle folâtrait qu’il la regardait complaisamment, et l’agilité, la jeunesse de ses mouvements, le surprenaient toujours;
But it was especially when she was playing that he felt most pleasure in looking at her; the agility and youthful lightness of her movements were a continual surprise to him;
il admirait sa souplesse quand elle se mettait à bondir, à ramper, à se glisser, à se fourrer, à s’accrocher, se rouler, se blottir, s’élancer partout.
he wondered at the supple way in which she jumped and climbed, washed herself and arranged her fur, crouched down and prepared to spring.
Quelque rapide que fût son élan, quelque glissant que fût un bloc de granit, elle s’y arrêtait tout court au mot de «Mignonne !»
However rapid her spring might be, however slippery the stone she was on, she would always stop short at the word “Mignonne.”

Un jour, par un soleil éclatant, un immense oiseau plana dans les airs.
One day, in a bright midday sun, an enormous bird coursed through the air.
Le Provençal quitta sa panthère pour examiner ce nouvel hôte; mais, après un moment d’attente, la sultane délaissée gronda sourdement.
The man left his panther to look at his new guest; but after waiting a moment the deserted sultana growled deeply.

– Je crois, Dieu m’emporte, qu’elle est jalouse! s’écria-t-il en voyant ses yeux redevenus rigides.
“My goodness! I do believe she’s jealous,” he cried, seeing her eyes become hard again;
L’âme de Virginie aura passé dans ce corps-là, c’est sûr !…
“the soul of Virginie has passed into her body; that’s certain.”

L’aigle disparut dans les airs pendant que le soldat admirait la croupe rebondie de la panthère.
The eagle disappeared into the air, while the soldier admired the curved contour of the panther.

Mais il y avait tant de grâce et de jeunesse dans ses contours! C’était joli comme une femme.
But there was such youth and grace in her form! she was beautiful as a woman!
La blonde fourrure de la robe se mariait par des teintes fines aux tons du blanc mat qui distinguait les cuisses.
the blond fur of her robe mingled well with the delicate tints of faint white which marked her flanks.
La lumière profusément jetée par le soleil faisait briller cet or vivant, ces taches brunes, de manière à leur donner d’indéfinissables attraits.
The profuse light cast down by the sun made this living gold, these russet markings, to burn in a way to give them an indefinable attraction.

Le Provençal et la panthère se regardèrent l’un et l’autre d’un air intelligent;
The man and the panther looked at one another with a look full of meaning;
la coquette tressaillit quand elle sentit les ongles de son ami lui gratter le crâne, ses yeux brillèrent comme deux éclairs, puis elle les ferma fortement.
the coquette quivered when she felt her friend stroke her head; her eyes flashed like lightning—then she shut them tightly.

– Elle a une âme! dit-il en étudiant la tranquillité de cette reine des sables, dorée comme eux, blanche comme eux, solitaire et brûlante comme eux…
“She has a soul,” he said, looking at the stillness of this queen of the sands, golden like them, white like them, solitary and burning like them.

– Eh bien, me dit-elle, j’ai lu votre plaidoyer en faveur des bête; mais comment deux personnes si bien faites pour se comprendre ont-elles fini?
“Well,” she said, “I have read your plea in favor of beasts; but how did two so well adapted to understand each other end?”

– Ah! voilà !… Elles ont fini comme finissent toutes les grandes passions, par un malentendu.
“Ah, well! you see, they ended as all great passions do end—by a misunderstanding.
On croit, de part et d’autre, à quelque trahison, l’on ne s’explique point par fierté, l’on se brouille par entêtement.
For some reason ONE suspects the other of treason; they don’t come to an explanation through pride, and quarrel and part from sheer obstinacy.”

– Et quelquefois dans les plus beaux moments, dit-elle; un regard, une exclamation, suffisent… Eh bien, alors, achevez l’histoire.
“Yet sometimes at the best moments a single word or a look is enough—but anyhow go on with your story.”

– C’est horriblement difficile, mais vous comprendrez ce que m’avait déjà confié le vieux grognard quand, en finissant sa bouteille de vin de Champagne, il s’est écrié :
It’s horribly difficult, but you will understand, after what the old villain told me over his champagne.

– Je ne sais pas quel mal je lui ai fait, mais elle se retourna comme si elle eût été enragée, et, de ses dents aiguës, elle m’entama la cuisse, faiblement sans doute.
“He said—‘I don’t know if I hurt her, but she turned round, as if enraged, and with her sharp teeth caught hold of my leg—gently, I daresay;
Moi, croyant qu’elle voulait me dévorer, je lui plongeai mon poignard dans le cou.
but I, thinking she would devour me, plunged my dagger into her throat.
Elle roula en jetant un cri qui me glaça le coeur, je la vis se débattant en me regardant sans colère.
She rolled over, giving a cry that froze my heart; and I saw her dying, still looking at me without anger.
J’aurais voulu pour tout au monde, pour ma croix, que je n’avais pas encore, la rendre à la vie.
I would have given all the world—my cross even, which I had not got then—to have brought her to life again.
C’était comme si j’eusse assassiné une personne véritable.
It was as though I had murdered a real person;
Et les soldats qui avaient vu mon drapeau, et qui accoururent à mon secours, me trouvèrent tout en larmes…
and the soldiers who had seen my flag, and were come to my assistance, found me in tears.’

– Eh bien, monsieur, reprit-il après un moment de silence, j’ai fait depuis la guerre en Allemagne, en Espagne, en Russie, en France;
“‘Well sir,’ he said, after a moment of silence, ‘since then I have been in war in Germany, in Spain, in Russia, in France;
j’ai bien promené mon cadavre, je n’ai rien vu de semblable au désert…
I’ve certainly carried my carcase about a good deal, but never have I seen anything like the desert.
Ah! c’est que cela est bien beau!
Ah! yes, it is very beautiful!’

– Qu’y sentiez-vous? lui ai-je demandé.
“‘What did you feel there?’ I asked him.

– Oh! cela ne se dit pas, jeune homme. D’ailleurs, je ne regrette pas toujours mon bouquet de palmiers et ma panthère,…
“‘Oh! that can’t be described, young man! Besides, I am not always ruing my palm trees and my panther.
il faut que je sois triste pour cela.
I should have to be very melancholy for that.
Dans le désert, voyez-vous, il y a tout, et il n’y a rien…
In the desert, you see, there is everything and nothing.’

– Mais encore, expliquez-moi…
“‘Yes, but explain——’

– Eh bien, reprit-il en laissant échapper un geste d’impatience, c’est Dieu sans les hommes.
“‘Well,’ he said, with an impatient gesture, ‘it is God without mankind.’”

Le Fin
The End

[I’m taking two copywriteless use texts: the original and a translation, and setting them next to each other. To improve reading comprehension.]

[If you’d like to jump to Links to all Sections of this story.]

Une Passion dans le Desert / A Passion in the Desert – Pt 5

Une Passion dans le Desert / A Passion in the Desert – Pt 5

[I’m taking two copywriteless use texts: the original and a translation, and setting them next to each other. To improve reading comprehension.]

[If you’d like to jump to Links to all Sections of this story.]

Continued from Part Four

Malgré le frisson que lui causa son idée, le soldat se mit à mesurer curieusement les proportions de la panthère, certainement un des plus beaux individus de l’espèce,
In spite of the shudder this thought caused him, the soldier began to measure curiously the proportions of the panther, certainly one of the most splendid specimens of its race.
car elle avait trois pieds de hauteur et quatre pieds de longueur, sans y comprendre la queue.
She was three feet high and four feet long without counting her tail;
Cette arme puissante, ronde comme un gourdin, était haute de près de trois pieds.
this powerful weapon, rounded like a cudgel, was nearly three feet long.
La tête, aussi grosse que celle d’une lionne, se distinguait par une rare expression de finesse;
The head, large as that of a lioness, was distinguished by a rare expression of refinement.
la froide cruauté des tigres y dominait bien, mais il y avait aussi une vague ressemblance avec la physionomie d’une femme artificieuse.
The cold cruelty of a tiger was dominant, it was true, but there was also a vague resemblance to the face of a sensual woman.
Enfin, la figure de cette reine solitaire révélait en ce moment une sorte de gaieté semblable à celle de Néron ivre:
Indeed, the face of this solitary queen had something of the gaiety of a drunken Nero:
elle s’était désaltérée dans le sang et voulait jouer.
she had satiated herself with blood, and she wanted to play.

Le soldat essaya d’aller et de venir, la panthère le laissa libre, se contentant de le suivre des yeux, ressemblant ainsi moins à un chien fidèle qu’à un gros angora inquiet de tout, même des mouvements de son maître.
The soldier tried if he might walk up and down, and the panther left him free, contenting herself with following him with her eyes, less like a faithful dog than a big Angora cat, observing everything and every movement of her master.
Quand il se retourna, il aperçut du côté de la fontaine les restes de son cheval, la panthère en avait traîné jusque-là le cadavre.
When he looked around, he saw, by the spring, the remains of his horse; the panther had dragged the carcass all that way;
Les deux tiers environ étaient dévorés.
about two thirds of it had been devoured already.
Ce spectacle rassura le Français.
The sight reassured him.

Il lui fut facile alors d’expliquer l’absence de la panthère, et le respect qu’elle avait eu pour lui pendant son sommeil.
It was easy to explain the panther’s absence, and the respect she had had for him while he slept.
Ce premier bonheur l’enhardissant à tenter l’avenir, il conçut le fol espoir de faire bon ménage avec la panthère pendant toute la journée, en ne négligeant aucun moyen de l’apprivoiser et de se concilier ses bonnes grâces.
The first piece of good luck emboldened him to tempt the future, and he conceived the wild hope of continuing on good terms with the panther during the entire day, neglecting no means of taming her, and remaining in her good graces.

Il revint près d’elle et eut l’ineffable bonheur de lui voir remuer la queue par un mouvement presque insensible.
He returned to her, and had the unspeakable joy of seeing her wag her tail with an almost imperceptible movement at his approach.
Il s’assit alors sans crainte auprès d’elle, et ils se mirent à jouer tous les deux:
He sat down then, without fear, by her side, and they began to play together;
il lui prit les pattes, le museau, lui tournilla les oreilles, la renversa sur le dos, et gratta fortement ses flancs chauds et soyeux.
he took her paws and muzzle, pulled her ears, rolled her over on her back, stroked her warm, delicate flanks.
Elle se laissa faire, et, quand le soldat essaya de lui lisser le poil des pattes, elle rentra soigneusement ses ongles recourbés comme des damas.
She let him do what ever he liked, and when he began to stroke the hair on her feet she drew her claws in carefully.

Le Français, qui gardait une main sur son poignard, pensait encore à le plonger dans le ventre de la trop confiante panthère;
The man, keeping the dagger in one hand, thought to plunge it into the belly of the too confiding panther,
mais il craignit d’être immédiatement étranglé dans la dernière convulsion qui l’agiterait.
but he was afraid that he would be immediately strangled in her last convulsive struggle;
Et, d’ailleurs, il entendit dans son coeur une sorte de remords qui lui criait de respecter une créature inoffensive.
besides, he felt in his heart a sort of remorse which bid him respect a creature that had done him no harm.
Il lui semblait avoir trouvé une amie dans ce désert sans bornes.
He seemed to have found a friend, in a boundless desert;
Il songea involontairement à sa première maîtresse, qu’il avait surnommée *Mignonne*, par antiphrase,
half unconsciously he thought of his first sweetheart, whom he had nicknamed “Mignonne” by way of contrast,
parce qu’elle était d’une si atroce jalousie, que, pendant tout le temps que dura leur passion, il eut à craindre le couteau dont elle l’avait toujours menacé.
because she was so atrociously jealous that all the time of their love he was in fear of the knife with which she had always threatened him.

Ce souvenir de son jeune âge lui suggéra d’essayer de faire répondre à ce nom la jeune panthère, de laquelle il admirait, maintenant avec moins d’effroi, l’agilité, la grâce et la mollesse.
This memory of his early days suggested to him the idea of making the young panther answer to this name, now that he began to admire with less terror her swiftness, suppleness, and softness.

Vers la fin de la journée, il s’était familiarisé avec sa situation périlleuse, et il en aimait presque les angoisses.
Toward the end of the day he had familiarized himself with his perilous position; he now almost liked the painfulness of it.
Enfin, sa compagne avait fini par prendre l’habitude de le regarder quand il criait en voix de fausset: Mignonne !
At last his companion had got into the habit of looking up at him whenever he cried in a falsetto voice, “Mignonne.”

Au coucher du soleil, Mignonne fit entendre à plusieurs reprises un cri profond et mélancolique.
At the setting of the sun Mignonne gave, several times running, a profound melancholy cry.

– Elle est bien élevée !… pensa le gai soldat; elle dit ses prières.
“She’s been well brought up,” said the lighthearted soldier; “she says her prayers.”

Mais cette plaisanterie mentale ne lui vint en l’esprit que quand il eut remarqué l’attitude pacifique dans laquelle restait sa camarade.
But this mental joke only occurred to him when he noticed what a pacific attitude his companion remained in.
– Va, ma petite blonde, je te laisserai coucher la première, lui dit-il
“Come, ma petite blonde, I’ll let you go to bed first,” he said to her,
en comptant bien sur l’activité de ses jambes pour s’évader au plus vite quand elle serait endormie, afin d’aller chercher un autre gîte pendant la nuit.
counting on the activity of his own legs to run away as quickly as possible, directly she was asleep, and seek another shelter for the night.

Le soldat attendit avec impatience l’heure de sa fuite, et, quand elle fut arrivée, il marcha rapidement dans la direction du Nil;
The soldier waited with impatience the hour of his flight, and when it had arrived he walked vigorously in the direction of the Nile;
mais à peine eut-il fait un quart de lieue dans les sables, qu’il entendit la panthère bondissant derrière lui, et jetant par intervalles ce cri de scie, plus effrayant encore que le bruit lourd de ses bonds.
but hardly had he made a quarter of a league in the sand when he heard the panther bounding after him, crying with that saw-like cry more dreadful even than the sound of her leaping.

– Allons, se dit-il, elle m’a pris en amitié !… Cette jeune panthère n’a peut-être encore rencontré personne, il est flatteur d’avoir son premier amour!
Ah!” he said, “then she’s taken a fancy to me, she has never met anyone before, and it is really quite flattering to have her first love.”

En ce moment, le Français tomba dans un de ces sables mouvants si redoutables pour les voyageurs, et d’où il est impossible de se sauver.
That instant the man fell into one of those movable quicksands so terrible to travelers and from which it is impossible to save oneself.
En se sentant pris, il poussa un cri d’alarme;
Feeling himself caught, he gave a shriek of alarm;
la panthère le saisit avec ses dents par le collet, et, sautant vigoureusement en arrière, elle le tira du gouffre comme par magie.
the panther seized him with her teeth by the collar, and, springing vigorously backwards, drew him as if by magic out of the whirling sand.

– Ah ! Mignonne, s’écria le soldat en la caressant avec enthousiasme, c’est entre nous maintenant à la vie et à la mort… Mais pas de farces!
“Ah, Mignonne!” cried the soldier, caressing her enthusiastically; “we’re bound together for life and death but no jokes, mind!”

Et il revint sur ses pas.
and he retraced his steps.

….

The story continues here

[I’m taking two copywriteless use texts: the original and a translation, and setting them next to each other. To improve reading comprehension.]

[If you’d like to jump to Links to all Sections of this story.]

Suggestion to IDF – Effective Web Communication Course

Suggestion to IDF – Effective Web Communication Course

You know I am suspicious of advertisers and of their arts, which are also used by UX designers. Maybe a unit on the moral implications of UX design, of how it can bend towards evil and how it can bend towards good, and some way to once and for all demonstrate that one should choose the good. Maybe that would be a good course.

And with that, the course is completed.

Une Passion dans le Desert / A Passion in the Desert – Pt 4

Une Passion dans le Desert / A Passion in the Desert – Pt 4

[I’m taking two copywriteless use texts: the original and a translation, and setting them next to each other. To improve reading comprehension.]

[If you’d like to jump to Links to all Sections of this story.]
Continued from Part Three

– Elle a bien mangé !… pensa-t-il, sans s’inquiéter si le festin avait été composé de chair humaine; elle n’aura pas faim à son réveil.
“She’s had a good dinner,” he thought, without troubling himself as to whether her feast might have been on human flesh. “She won’t be hungry when she gets up.”

C’était une femelle. La fourrure du ventre et des cuisses étincelait de blancheur.
It was a female. The fur on her belly and flanks was glistening white;
Plusieurs petites taches, semblables à du velours, formaient de jolis bracelets autour des pattes. La queue musculeuse était également blanche, mais terminée par des anneaux noirs.
many small marks like velvet formed beautiful bracelets round her feet; her sinuous tail was also white, ending with black rings;
Le dessus de la robe, jaune comme de l’or mat, mais bien lisse et doux, portait ces mouchetures caractéristiques, nuancées en forme de roses, qui servent à distinguer les panthères des autres espèces de felis.
the overpart of her dress, yellow like burnished gold, very lissome and soft, had the characteristic blotches in the form of rosettes, which distinguish the panther from every other feline species.

Cette tranquille et redoutable hôtesse ronflait dans une pose aussi gracieuse que celle d’une chatte couchée sur le coussin d’une ottomane.
This tranquil and formidable hostess snored in an attitude as graceful as that of a cat lying on a cushion.
Ses sanglantes pattes, nerveuses et bien armées, étaient en avant de sa tête, qui reposait dessus et de laquelle partaient ces barbes rares et droites, semblables à des fils d’argent.
Her blood-stained paws, nervous and well armed, were stretched out before her face, which rested upon them, and from which radiated her straight slender whiskers, like threads of silver.

Si elle avait été ainsi dans une cage, le Provençal aurait certes admiré la grâce de cette bête et les vigoureux contrastes des couleurs vives qui donnaient à sa simarre un éclat impérial; mais, en ce moment, il sentait sa vue troublée par cet aspect sinistre.
If she had been like that in a cage, the Provencal would doubtless have admired the grace of the animal, and the vigorous contrasts of vivid color which gave her robe an imperial splendor; but just then his sight was troubled by her sinister appearance.

La présence de la panthère, même endormie, lui faisait éprouver l’effet que les yeux magnétiques du serpent produisent, dit-on, sur le rossignol.
The presence of the panther, even asleep, could not fail to produce the effect which the magnetic eyes of the serpent are said to have on the nightingale.

Le courage du soldat finit par s’évanouir un instant devant ce danger, tandis qu’il se serait sans doute exalté sous la bouche des canons vomissant la mitraille.
For a moment the courage of the soldier began to fail before this danger, though no doubt it would have risen at the mouth of a cannon charged with shell.
Cependant, une pensée intrépide se fit jour en son âme, et tarit dans sa source la sueur froide qui lui découlait du front.
Nevertheless, a bold thought brought daylight to his soul and sealed up the source of the cold sweat which sprang forth on his brow.
Agissant comme les hommes qui, poussés à bout par le malheur, arrivent à défier la mort et s’offrent à ses coups, il vit sans s’en rendre compte une tragédie dans cette aventure, et résolut d’y jouer son rôle avec honneur jusqu’à la dernière scène.
Like men driven to bay, who defy death and offer their body to the smiter, so he, seeing in this merely a tragic episode, resolved to play his part with honor to the last.

– Avant-hier, les Arabes m’auraient peut-être tué !… se dit-il.
“The day before yesterday the Arabs would have killed me, perhaps,” he said;

Se considérant comme mort, il attendit bravement et avec une inquiète curiosité le réveil de son ennemie.
so considering himself as good as dead already, he waited bravely, with excited curiosity, the awakening of his enemy.
Quand le soleil parut, la panthère ouvrit subitement les yeux;
When the sun appeared, the panther suddenly opened her eyes;
puis elle étendit violemment ses pattes, comme pour les dégourdir et dissiper des crampes.
then she put out her paws with energy, as if to stretch them and get rid of cramp.
Enfin elle bâilla, montrant ainsi l’épouvantable appareil de ses dents et sa langue fourchue, aussi dure qu’une râpe.
At last she yawned, showing the formidable apparatus of her teeth and pointed tongue, rough as a file.

– C’est comme une petite-maîtresse !… pensa le Français en la voyant se rouler et faire les mouvements les plus doux et les plus coquets.
“A regular petite maitresse,” thought the Frenchman, seeing her roll herself about so softly and coquettishly.

Elle lécha le sang qui teignait ses pattes, son museau, et se gratta la tête par des gestes réitérés pleins de gentillesse.
She licked off the blood which stained her paws and muzzle, and scratched her head with reiterated gestures full of prettiness.

– Bien !… fais un petit bout de toilette,… dit en lui-même le Français, qui retrouva sa gaieté en reprenant du courage;
“All right, make a little toilet,” the Frenchman said to himself, beginning to recover his gaiety with his courage;
nous allons nous souhaiter le bonjour.
“we’ll say good morning to each other presently;”

Et il saisit le petit poignard court dont il avait débarrassé les Maugrabins.
and he seized the small, short dagger which he had taken from the Maugrabins.

En ce moment, la panthère retourna la tête vers les Français et le regarda fixement sans avancer. La rigidité de ses yeux métalliques et leur insupportable clarté firent tressaillir le Provençal, surtout quand la bête marcha vers lui;
At this moment the panther turned her head toward the man and looked at him fixedly without moving. The rigidity of her metallic eyes and their insupportable luster made him shudder, especially when the animal walked towards him.
mais il la contempla d’un air caressant, et, la guignant comme pour la magnétiser, il la laissa venir près de lui;
But he looked at her caressingly, staring into her eyes in order to magnetize her, and let her come quite close to him;
puis, par un mouvement aussi doux, aussi amoureux que s’il avait voulu caresser la plus jolie femme, il lui passa la main sur tout le corps, de la tête à la queue, en irritant avec ses ongles les flexibles vertèbres qui partageaient le dos jaune de la panthère.
then with a movement both gentle and amorous, as though he were caressing the most beautiful of women, he passed his hand over her whole body, from the head to the tail, scratching the flexible vertebrae which divided the panther’s yellow back.

La bête redressa voluptueusement sa queue, ses yeux s’adoucirent;
The animal waved her tail voluptuously, and her eyes grew gentle;
et, quand, pour la troisième fois, le Français accomplit cette flatterie intéressée, elle fit entendre un de ces ronron par lesquels nos chats expriment leur plaisir;
and when for the third time the Frenchman accomplished this interesting flattery, she gave forth one of those purrings by which cats express their pleasure;
mais ce murmure partait d’un gosier si puissant et si profond, qu’il retentit dans la grotte comme les derniers ronflements des orgues dans une église.
but this murmur issued from a throat so powerful and so deep that it resounded through the cave like the last vibrations of an organ in a church.

Le Provençal, comprenant l’importance de ses caresses, les redoubla de manière à étourdir, à stupéfier cette courtisane impérieuse.
The man, understanding the importance of his caresses, redoubled them in such a way as to surprise and stupefy his imperious courtesan.
Quand il se crut sûr d’avoir éteint la férocité de sa capricieuse compagne, dont la faim avait été si heureusement assouvie la veille, il se leva et voulut sortir de la grotte;
When he felt sure of having extinguished the ferocity of his capricious companion, whose hunger had so fortunately been satisfied the day before, he got up to go out of the cave;
la panthère le laissa bien partir, mais, quand il eut gravi la colline, elle bondit avec la légèreté des moineaux sautant d’une branche à une autre, et vint se frotter contre les jambes du soldat en faisant le gros dos à la manière des chattes;
the panther let him go out, but when he had reached the summit of the hill she sprang with the lightness of a sparrow hopping from twig to twig, and rubbed herself against his legs, putting up her back after the manner of all the race of cats.
puis, regardant son hôte d’un oeil dont l’éclat était devenu moins inflexible, elle jeta ce cri sauvage que les naturalistes comparent au bruit d’une scie.
Then regarding her guest with eyes whose glare had softened a little, she gave vent to that wild cry which naturalists compare to the grating of a saw.

– Elle est exigeante ! s’écria le Français en souriant.
“She is exacting,” said the Frenchman, smilingly.

Il essaya de jouer avec les oreilles, de lui caresser le ventre et de lui gratter fortement la tête avec ses ongles;
He was bold enough to play with her ears; he caressed her belly and scratched her head as hard as he could.
et, s’apercevant de ses succès, il lui chatouilla le crâne avec la pointe de poignard, en épiant l’heure de la tuer; mais la dureté des os le fit trembler de ne pas réussir.
When he saw that he was successful, he tickled her skull with the point of his dagger, watching for the right moment to kill her, but the hardness of her bones made him tremble for his success.

La sultane du désert agréa les talents de son esclave en levant la tête, en tendant le cou, en accusant son ivresse par la tranquillité de son attitude.
The sultana of the desert showed herself gracious to her slave; she lifted her head, stretched out her neck and manifested her delight by the tranquility of her attitude.
Le Français songea soudain que, pour assassiner d’un seul coup cette farouche princesse, il fallait la poignarder dans la gorge,
It suddenly occurred to the soldier that to kill this savage princess with one blow he must poniard her in the throat.
et il levait la lame, quand la panthère, rassasiée sans doute, se coucha gracieusement à ses pieds en lui jetant de temps en temps des regards où, malgré une rigueur native, se peignait confusément de la bienveillance.
He raised the blade, when the panther, satisfied no doubt, laid herself gracefully at his feet, and cast up at him glances in which, in spite of their natural fierceness, was mingled confusedly a kind of good will.

Le pauvre Provençal mangea ses dattes, en s’appuyant sur un des palmiers;
The poor Provencal ate his dates, leaning against one of the palm trees
mais il lançait tour à tour un oeil investigateur sur le désert pour y chercher des libérateurs, et sur sa terrible compagne pour en épier la clémence incertaine.
and casting his eyes alternately on the desert in quest of some liberator and on his terrible companion to watch her uncertain clemency.

La panthère regardait l’endroit où les noyaux de dattes tombaient, chaque fois qu’il en jetait un, et ses yeux exprimaient alors une incroyable méfiance.
The panther looked at the place where the date stones fell, and every time that he threw one down her eyes expressed an incredible mistrust.

Elle examinait le Français avec une prudence commerciale;
She examined the man with an almost commercial prudence.
mais cet examen lui fut favorable, car, lorsqu’il eut achevé son maigre repas, elle lui lécha ses souliers, et, d’une langue rude et forte, elle en enleva miraculeusement la poussière incrustée dans les plis.
However, this examination was favorable to him, for when he had finished his meager meal she licked his boots with her powerful rough tongue, brushing off with marvelous skill the dust gathered in the creases.

– Mais quand elle aura faim ?… pensa le Provençal.
“Ah, but when she’s really hungry!” thought the Frenchman.

….

The story continues here

[I’m taking two copywriteless use texts: the original and a translation, and setting them next to each other. To improve reading comprehension.]

[If you’d like to jump to Links to all Sections of this story.]

Ghost Story Night

Ghost Story Night

It was Last Sunday and the moon stood bright and wide.
Susan hugged her parents and walked across the smooth wood floor,
blankly registering the constant jiggling of the river flowing beneath.
She removed the thatch covering over a small hole in the center of their floating cabin and,
flippers slicing the cool rippling flow, slipped into the river, holding the cylindrical little door over her head and settling it neatly back in place after her splashing disappearance.

Her mother looked at her father and shook her head.
He threw his arms up, elbows at his side, webbed fingers supplicating the various forgotten gods.
“He’s your father.”
She winced. “He’s a wise man; I trust his goodness and his wisdom, but I am worried they are not enough.”
But, madam, if wisdom and goodness are not enough, what hope have we creatures? What compass is left us?? And so we must accept the only tools that could ever mean anything to us, that could ever do anything for us, take us anywhere that we could ever really care about, believe in, belong to.

Susan swam swiftly to the market square, deserted now except for a few kids playing checkers (the universe is a child playing checkers) and strange old Henry, who seems to spend all day and night sitting on the wooden railing, looking sadly into the center of the market square. Especially at night when no one’s there and all is muffled and lightless does his body slump dejectedly and his eyes glass with some deep internal shudder that he cannot move beyond. Strange fellow. Nice enough to talk to, though he never says much. She waited by the entry—a break in the railing wide enough to hold four or five Water Runners standing shoulder to shoulder (so about five feet wide)—nearest her grandparents’ home, dangling her legs in the water.

These Water Runners are funny folk.
At least they’re funny-looking.
They remind me of cormorants.
Have you ever seen cormorants?
They are sleek black water birds you’ll watch dive into water fresh, salt, and in-between.
Water Runners are likewise black, sleek, smooth divers.
And they also share the cormorants oily wet look.
Their skin is pure black and covered by tiny black hairs that collectively bear a striking resemblance to the oiled feathers of a cormorant.
But Water Runners are humanoids, not birds.
What a thin people! arms and legs like beanpoles.
Instead of visible noses, they’ve two small slits. Instead of ears, they’ve an invisible hole on either side of their head. You might think they were little kid bank robbers in black jumpsuits and ski-masks, but their proportions are too narrow for a human to pull off.
Flippered feet and webbed hands, small but deadly sharp claws on each digit.
Made for the water, they dive beneath the surface of a river or lake, swim and dart about from one submerged stone to another. Their big wasp eyes shielded by a thin retractable shield and using sonic clicks and hand signals to communicate, they scavenge, hunt, explore, play in the warbling underwater light. After quarter of an hour or so, they’ll surface, gorge themselves on air for a few minutes, and return to the well-lit depths of deep-channeled rivers and shallow lakes.

Water Runners don’t like water too deep to see in. They leave that to the Sea People, who can breathe water and see without light, and who are altogether more suited for such scary depths. Of course, the sea people don’t like freshwater, and so no human-like creature ventures beyond the shallows of the giant lakes with waves and storms like oceans. But that’s just as well.

The craggy, pocketed rocks jumbled on the water’s edge make for a sharp, bumpy, thoroughly unpleasant seat. Hence the little square reed mats. One or two are enough for the sleight Water Runners, but the Tree People need four or five beneath their solid rumps. Susan sat nearest the river. There one need only lean a little to one side to tumble down a few feet into the safety of quick-moving, white-foaming waters. The Tree People, being clumsy even in calm, easy waters, fear quickwater and would never pursue a Water Runner into the froth. Next to Susan percherd her grandfather; next to him his friend Sam, of the Tree People. Sam’s grandson Ted, about Susan’s age and friend her whole life but never playmate and never once physically touched by her, sat next to his grandfather, the escape vine between them.

In the old days, with the Water Runners and the Tree People constantly skirmishing, many such meeting places had been designated along the river’s edge. With the water near, the Water Runners could safely escape the Tree People, and with heavy trees overhead and vines and/or ropes dangling down to the rocks, the Tree People could easily toss themselves up into the canopy to evade belligerent Water Runners.

Susan’s grandfather had grown up as the fighting waned. Over the years delicate peace treaties grew stronger as the peoples webbed themselves deeper and deeper into each other, forming religious, business, and political relationships that in many cases blossomed into real but cautious friendships. Like the one between Maxwell Knifehider of the Water Runners and Samuel Strongarm of the Tree People. For years now they’d met on this pile of rugged boulders by the foaming spitting jagged waters and beneath the heavy limbs of ancient fern-leafed and soft, yellow-trunked trees.

Maxwell and Samuel were both religious leaders, ones who spoke to gods, healed the sick and wounded, advised the leaders, warriors, traders, and laborers in matters of the spirit. On this rocky outcrop, they shared ideas their respective peoples couldn’t, in their judgement, presently bear to hear: all the true gods were just different human experiences of the one God, who did and did not mind names like “River Driver” and “Great Sky Tree”. But those kind of radical theological musings were for evenings without grandchildren. Tonight they’d tell the old stories, the stories shared by all the peoples, the ones from the days of the creatures.

“It was the time of the creatures and the sky was sticky and mean. Every place had its monster: Tall spindlers roamed the plains; dread dogs bounded the forest floor and tree to tree; bigmouthed frogs sliced the waters, chomping Water Runners; laughing sharks scattered Sea People remnants across ocean floors; and from overhead great long-beaked fire-breathing birds burnt and tore everyone, although they paid particular attention to tumbling the Flying Ones’ cliff-side villages into the surging sea. Worst of all were the mountain monsters; that is why the Mountain People are to this day so few and so skittish you can never find one—not even at the edges, where in the First Days other peoples found and knew them. In the First Days, all peoples believed in one another and no one fought anyone. All had all they needed and anger filled no one. But then the creatures came, and the creatures tore up everything.”

“It was the time of the creatures, cruel and bold. Monsters without bellies, hungering only for mayhem, for spreading pain, destruction, death and loss. Tall spindlers were strange balls of rough loose rhino flesh, with leathery legs and arms as long swinging vines but thick like water poplars. They ran like thunder and lightning, tossing themselves across the world, their fierce-clawed spinning arms slicing every hut, every Plainsman, every ox and every cart. Nothing could stand their reckless sour-heartef fury; any Plainsman within reach would–strong, fast, and fierce as they are on the open grounds–be cut in two. There was no hope, no way to defeat the tall spindlers with slicing teeth and giant bulging yellow eyes. And who could stand against a dread dog as it banged from tree to tree, its sticky drooling teeth decapitating every Tree Person, hurting tree homes and walkways to the dirts far below? Nor was there a weapon to pierce the thick unctuous hide of the bigmouthed frogs, that swam faster than the fastest fish and lived only for destruction: chomping Water Runners apart, ramming their homes and boats until they sank; even their urine was a deadly poison that made the waters putrid, killing fish and Water Runner alike.”

“Those monsters were terrible. And the people suffered greatly. But the worst creatures from the time of the creatures were the laughing sharks who tore apart the twenty seas; the fire spitting birds who broke and burnt homes, trees, fields, anything safe and nourishing; and, worst of all, the mountain men because they were men like us and clever like us, but they were also evil giant monsters without stomachs or hearts, as tall as a riverside willow, covered in white, impenetrable fur, with red desperate eyes, strong enough to snap an ox’s neck in one hand and crumple the tallest proudest Plainsman in another.”

“Some say the mountain men led all creatures, that all haters obeyed their will, followed their command, fulfilled their plan. Some say the creatures are not dead, but only waiting; and the mountain men hold the few surviving Mountain Folk emaciated and blurry-brained in small prickly cages, saved for the dark day coming”

“For what day? What dark day?!” Blurted out young Theodore Treebreaker. Rising up on his two stubby legs, great arms reaching high with long shovel fingers drooping down, twittering. He reminds me of an excited orangutan. Of course, Tree People are bigger than orangutans, and though their arm and leg proportions are more orangutan than human, they otherwise look like bodybuilding humans covered from brown head to black toe in a very fine light grey fur. Also, all humanoids sport opposable thumbs, a handy tool of which neither ape nor monkey nor any other animal can boast.

“Awaiting the day of great vengeance. When the creatures return to end our world and send all living people to the distant land, where the dead dwell.”

“Why great vengeance? What have we done? Why do they want to hurt us?” asked Susan in a quiet voice, instinctively leaning towards the water,as if the cool skipping water could save her from the creatures in her head.

“If the creatures had reasons, they would be humans and the gods could reach them, could persuade them, guide them into gentler paths. They could repent their wanton violence and live joyfully, at peace with themselves and all living creatures. But they have no reasons. They are not like us who think: ‘I should find a justification for this act, and if I cannot, or if I discover that the justifications I am able to give are not adequate, I should cease committing the act’. Even the mountain men, who spoke and strategized, who outsmarted many peoples many times–they had no reasons. They did not ask themselves why they must kill and maim, break and tumble. They felt like hurting us; that was enough to drive their berserk, to punish us day and night. These creatures do not understand love, kindness, joy, friendship. They are soullessly miserable in a way that no person–no matter how lost to folly–can ever be. For we always have Godlight within, trying to get through to us, to lead us to better, more beautiful feelings, thoughts, words, deeds. But the creatures–that’s the real problem with the creatures. They have no soul, only sickness on the inside and strength on the outside.”

AMW/BW

A Walk In The Sun Sonnet

A Walk In The Sun Sonnet

We walked you rowhouse home. The sun shone bright
on skinny arms and soft much-freckled squint.
Pale thirteen; voice gawk-creaking, roundsure-eyed:
“I love to football! Ev’ry thing ’bout it!:
To don the pads and cleats; the damp grass smell;
I love to run, to hit, break tackles, juke!”
I, something shorter but less spindle-ish
and harder than wobbly, uncentered you,
did nod in sunshine, bricks red alley gray,
supposing myself a greater bird of prey.

I see you’ve grown up rugged sure
with muscles, stamina, fire power
A warrior trained and tested too
Hmmm.
I feel us all time-arcing through.

I was wrong; haughty little boys
are always misinformed by impulse
broad and shallow, born in the body,
stamped in the brain, forgetful of,
negligent to,
distant from
the soul
and its wise
steady careful counsel

AMW/BW

[Bartleby’s Poetry Corner]

Une Passion dans le Desert / A Passion in the Desert – Pt 3

Une Passion dans le Desert / A Passion in the Desert – Pt 3

[I’m taking two copywriteless use texts: the original and a translation, and setting them next to each other. To improve reading comprehension.]

[If you’d like to jump to Links to all Sections of this story.]

Continued from Part Two

Regardant tour à tour l’espace noirâtre et l’espace bleu, le soldat rêvait à la France.
Viewing alternately the dark expanse of the desert and the blue expanse of the sky, the soldier dreamed of France—
Il sentait avec délices les ruisseaux de Paris, il se rappelait les villes par lesquelles il avait passé, les figures de ses camarades, et les plus légères circonstances de sa vie.
he smelled with delight the gutters of Paris——he remembered the towns through which he had passed, the faces of his comrades, the most minute details of his life.
Enfin, son imagination méridionale lui fit bientôt entrevoir les cailloux de sa chère Provence dans les jeux de la chaleur qui ondoyait au-dessus de la nappe étendue dans le désert.
His Southern fancy soon showed him the stones of his beloved Provence, in the play of the heat which undulated above the wide expanse of the desert.
Craignant tous les dangers de ce cruel mirage, il descendit le revers opposé à celui par lequel il était monté, la veille, sur la colline.
Realizing the danger of this cruel mirage, he went down the opposite side of the hill to that by which he had come up the day before.
Sa joie fut grande en découvrant une espèce de grotte, naturellement taillée dans les immenses fragments de granit qui formaient la base de ce monticule.
His joy leapt up as he discovered a type of cave, naturally carved into the large fragments of granite that form the base of this mound.
Les débris d’une natte annonçaient que cet asile avait été jadis habité.
The remains of a rug showed that this place of refuge had at one time been inhabited;
Puis, à quelques pas, il aperçut des palmiers chargés de dattes.
at a short distance he saw some palm trees full of dates.
Alors, l’instinct qui nous attache à la vie se réveilla dans son coeur.
Then the instinct which binds us to life awoke again in his heart.
Il espéra vivre assez pour attendre le passage de quelques Maugrabins, ou peut-être entendrait-il bientôt le bruit des canons! car, en ce moment, Bonaparte parcourait l’Égypte
He hoped to live long enough to await the passing of some Maugrabins, or perhaps he might hear the sound of cannon; for at this time Bonaparte was traversing Egypt.

Ranimé par cette pensée, le Français abattit quelques régimes de fruits mûrs sous le poids desquels les dattiers semblaient fléchir,
This thought gave him new life. The palm tree seemed to bend with the weight of the ripe fruit. He shook some of it down.
et il s’assura, en goûtant cette manne inespérée, que l’habitant de la grotte avait cultivé les palmiers: la chair savoureuse et fraîche de la datte accusait en effet les soins de son prédécesseur.
When he tasted this unhoped-for manna, he felt sure that the palms had been cultivated by a former inhabitant—the savory, fresh meat of the dates were proof of the care of his predecessor.
Le Provençal passa subitement d’un sombre désespoir à une joie presque folle.
He passed suddenly from dark despair to an almost insane joy.
Il remonta sur le haut de la colline, et s’occupa pendant le reste du jour à couper un des palmiers inféconds qui, la veille, lui avaient servi de toit.
He went up again to the top of the hill, and spent the rest of the day in cutting down one of the sterile palm trees, which the night before had served him for shelter.
Un vague souvenir lui fit penser aux animaux du désert,
A vague memory made him think of the animals of the desert;
et, prévoyant qu’ils pourraient venir boire à la source perdue dans les sables qui apparaissait au bas des quartiers de roche, il résolut de se garantir de leurs visites en mettant une barrière à la porte de son ermitage.
and in case they might come to drink at the spring, visible from the base of the rocks but lost further down, he resolved to guard himself from their visits by placing a barrier at the entrance of his hermitage.

Malgré son ardeur, malgré les forces que lui donna la peur d’être dévoré pendant son sommeil, il lui fut impossible de couper le palmier en plusieurs morceaux dans cette journée; mais il réussit à l’abattre.
In spite of his diligence, and the strength which the fear of being devoured asleep gave him, he was unable to cut the palm in pieces, though he succeeded in cutting it down.
Quand, vers le soir, ce roi du désert tomba, le bruit de sa chute retentit au loin, et il y eut une sorte de gémissement poussé par la solitude;
At eventide the king of the desert fell; the sound of its fall resounded far and wide, like a sigh in the solitude;
le soldat en frémit comme s’il eût entendu quelque voix lui prédire un malheur.
the soldier shuddered as though he had heard some voice predicting woe.

Mais, ainsi qu’un héritier qui ne s’apitoie pas longtemps sur la mort d’un parent, il dépouilla ce bel arbre des larges et hautes feuilles vertes qui en sont le poétique ornement, et s’en servit pour réparer la natte sur laquelle il allait se coucher.
But like an heir who does not long bewail a deceased relative, he tore off from this beautiful tree the tall broad green leaves which are its poetic adornment, and used them to mend the mat on which he was to sleep.

Fatigué par la chaleur et le travail, il s’endormit sous les lambris rouges de sa grotte humide.
Fatigued by the heat and his work, he fell asleep under the red curtains of his wet cave.

Au milieu de la nuit, son sommeil fut troublé par un bruit extraordinaire.
In the middle of the night his sleep was troubled by an extraordinary noise;
Il se dressa sur son séant, et le silence profond qui régnait lui permit de reconnaître l’accent alternatif d’une respiration dont la sauvage énergie ne pouvait appartenir à une créature humaine.
he sat up, and the deep silence around allowed him to distinguish the alternative accents of a respiration whose savage energy could not belong to a human creature.

Une profonde peur, encore augmentée par l’obscurité, par le silence et par les fantaisies du réveil, lui glaça le coeur.
A profound terror, increased still further by the darkness, the silence, and his waking images, froze his heart within him.
Il sentit même à peine la douloureuse contraction de sa chevelure quand, à force de dilater les pupilles de ses yeux, il aperçut dans l’ombre deux lueurs faibles et jaunes.
He almost felt his hair stand on end, when by straining his eyes to their utmost he perceived through the shadow two faint yellow lights.
D’abord, il attribua ces lumières à quelque reflet de ses prunelles; mais bientôt, le vif éclat de la nuit l’aidant par degrés à distinguer les objets qui se trouvaient dans la grotte, il aperçut un énorme animal couché à deux pas de lui.
At first he attributed these lights to the reflections of his own pupils, but soon the vivid brilliance of the night aided him gradually to distinguish the objects around him in the cave, and he beheld a huge animal lying but two steps from him.
Était-ce un lion, un tigre, ou un crocodile?
Was it a lion, a tiger, or a crocodile?

Le Provençal n’avait pas assez d’instruction pour savoir dans quel sous-genre était classé son ennemi;
The Provencal was not sufficiently educated to know under what species his enemy ought to be classed;
mais son effroi fut d’autant plus violent, que son ignorance lui fit supposer tous les malheurs ensemble.
but his fright was all the greater, as his ignorance led him to imagine all terrors at once;
Il endura le cruel supplice d’écouter, de saisir les caprices de cette respiration, sans en rien perdre et sans oser se permettre le moindre mouvement.
he endured a cruel torture, noting every variation of the breathing close to him without daring to make the slightest movement.
Une odeur aussi forte que l’odeur exhalée par les renards, mais plus pénétrante, plus grave, pour ainsi dire, remplissait la grotte;
An odor, pungent like that of a fox, but more penetrating, more profound,—so to speak,—filled the cave,
et, quand le Provençal l’eut dégustée du nez, sa terreur fut au comble, car il ne pouvait plus révoquer en doute l’existence du terrible compagnon dont l’antre royal lui servait de bivac.
and when the Provencal became sensible of this, his terror reached its height, for he could no longer doubt the proximity of a terrible companion, whose royal dwelling served him for a shelter.

Bientôt, les reflets de la lune, qui se précipitait vers l’horizon, éclairant la tanière, firent insensiblement resplendir la peau tachetée d’une panthère.
Presently the reflection of the moon descending on the horizon lit up the den, rendering gradually visible and resplendent the spotted skin of a panther.

Ce lion d’Égypte dormait, roulé comme un gros chien, paisible possesseur d’une niche somptueuse à la porte d’un hôtel;
This lion of Egypt slept, curled up like a big dog, the peaceful possessor of a sumptuous niche at the gate of an hotel;
ses yeux, ouverts pendant un moment, s’étaient refermés.
its eyes opened for a moment and closed again;
Il avait la face tournée vers le Français.
its face was turned towards the man.
Mille pensées confuses passèrent dans l’âme du prisonnier de la panthère;
A thousand confused thoughts passed through the Frenchman’s mind;
d’abord, il voulut la tuer d’un coup de carabine, mais il s’aperçut qu’il n’y avait pas assez d’espace entre elle et lui pour l’ajuster, le canon aurait dépassé l’animal.
first he thought of killing it with a bullet from his gun, but he saw there was not enough distance between them for him to take proper aim—the shot would miss the mark.
Et s’il l’éveillait ?… Cette hypothèse le rendit immobile.
And if it were to wake!—the thought made his limbs rigid.
En écoutant battre son coeur au milieu du silence, il maudissait les pulsations trop fortes que l’affluence du sang y produisait, redoutant de troubler ce sommeil qui lui permettait de chercher un expédient salutaire.
He listened to his own heart beating in the midst of the silence, and cursed the too violent pulsations which the flow of blood brought on, fearing to disturb that sleep which allowed him time to think of some means of escape.

Il mit la main deux fois sur son cimeterre, dans le dessein de trancher la tête à son ennemie ; mais la difficulté de couper un poil ras et dur l’obligea de renoncer à ce hardi projet.
Twice he placed his hand on his scimiter, intending to cut off the head of his enemy; but the difficulty of cutting the stiff short hair compelled him to abandon this daring project.
– La manquer ? ce serait mourir sûrement, pensa-t-il.
To miss would be to die for CERTAIN, he thought;
Il préféra les chances d’un combat, et résolut d’attendre le jour. Et le jour ne se fit pas longtemps désirer.
he preferred the chances of fair fight, and made up his mind to wait till morning; the morning did not leave him long to wait.

Le Français put alors examiner la panthère; elle avait le museau teint de sang.
He could now examine the panther at ease; its muzzle was smeared with blood.

….

The story continues here

[I’m taking two copywriteless use texts: the original and a translation, and setting them next to each other. To improve reading comprehension.]

[If you’d like to jump to Links to all Sections of this story.]

How To Write Shakespearean Sonnet about childhood – Broken into Tasks, Actions and Operations

How To Write Shakespearean Sonnet about childhood – Broken into Tasks, Actions and Operations

Activity: Write a Shakespearean sonnet about a moment from your childhood

Tasks: (1) trace out the sonnet’s meter and rhyme scheme; (2) fill in that scheme with a coherent account of something you remember from childhood

Actions: (1) (a) going down the left hand side of a piece of paper, note the meter and rhyme scheme line by line, leaving space for a line of poetry after each note; (2) (a) daydream back into childhood, (b) let a memory strike you, (c) picture it, (d) write it down in a way that fits into the meter and rhyme structure you just outlined.

Operations: (1a) Write:
A unstressed, stressed … stressed (10 syllables)
B unstressed, stressed … stressed (10 syllables)​
A unstressed, stressed … stressed (10 syllables)​

B unstressed, stressed … stressed (10 syllables)​

C unstressed, stressed … stressed (10 syllables)​

D unstressed, stressed … stressed (10 syllables)​

C unstressed, stressed … stressed (10 syllables)​

D unstressed, stressed … stressed (10 syllables)​

E unstressed, stressed … stressed (10 syllables)​

E unstressed, stressed … stressed (10 syllables)​

2a close eyes, think about your childhood

2b open up your heart and mind, let sights, smells, impressions, sounds, conversations from your childhood flit through until one hits you like a freight train: choose that memory.

2c Repeat 2b, but focused on recreating the memory you’ve chosen

2d Let the moment live again through words that fall into the pattern you wrote down.

IDF – Effective Web Communication #15

IDF – Effective Web Communication #15

IDF asked us to analyze the sites of our competitors: Does their writing convey confidence and competence?​

https://www.retroplanet.com/CTGY/Funky_Stuff.html​

Ditch the typical book and a tie gift idea for men and instead give some of these odd novelty items that will be sure to spark a laugh. These funny and funky gifts add great humor and color to your home furniture, the office desk, kitchen decor and more.

Impression of competence & confidence: competent as novelty sellers, but not of hilarious literary jokes: blurb is a little clunky, especially “give some of these odd novelty items that will be sure to spark a laugh”. Also the first portion of that sentence is kind of awkward. The whole thing barrels forward clumsily but good-naturedly self-confident like a St Bernard pup.
Sentence length: longish sentences; the first is a composite that could easily be broken into two sentences.
https://www.europaeditions.com/​

Europa Editions is dedicated to bridging cultural divides by introducing fresh international voices into the North American and British marketplaces. Explore our diverse catalog by region and take in what the world has to offer.​

Impression of competence & confidence:​ Yes to both. Breezy but also succinct. No excess and no errors. See the above snippet of the landing page.

Sentence-length: varied

http://www.diversionbooks.com/about/​

Confident and Competent sounding? They announce themselves to be: “Diversion Books is a leading independent publisher based in New York City. ​” (About page) And they back it up with clear, smooth prose: Launched in 2010, Diversion combines decades of traditional experience with new, innovative publishing strategies. Diversion believes in establishing creative and collaborative partnerships with authors and is committed to the discovery of new voices as well as the rejuvenation of yesterday’s bestsellers.​

Sentence length varies

No one is doing it like WAP. We act all discombobulated and openly admit we can’t take it anymore. But we’re not really a company that needs you to believe anything except: Yes, we’ll deliver the items we promised; and no, we cannot take the hurt, but we are trying to find a way forward.

Anyway