Month 63: Pages 89-91

This Month's Installment

As always, the italicized parts are what I'm unsure about.

    But he was soon interrupted.  Two children approximately four to six years old came into the room, rushed to Nuscha and greeted her in a passionate and affectionate way, while they offered their hand to the gentleman by the chimney in a grave, almost shy manner, and not until her sign.  Now they turned back to the young girl and told her all sorts of things that they had seen and experienced.  For their age, they spoke perfect French, and Nuscha answered them the same way.  Soon after, they all left the room, and from his writing desk he saw them walk out through the garden of the promenade.
    "Baron Sopinecki, a Russian Pole by birth, but now he's lived in Petersburg for a long time,"

---89---

he was informed in the hall by the dignified owner of the "Seastar" who in his gold-embroidered cap ruled his large house in the good old nature of a father and personally lookt after every guest and took all meals together with his numerous staff.  "I don't know him, until now he has always lived in the casino and has come in the 'Seastar' for the first time.  He arrived yester-day in the late evening with the two little ones on the Königsberg steamer, his wife is still in Baden, however, he expects her soon."
    Also in the coming days, Nuscha took up the same reserved spot across from him, and he did not make it difficult for her.  Sometimes he was very glad to look after himself again now.  But then came hours where he missed her, he did not even want to admit it to himself.
    Despite the tennis tournament's having long since ended, the young French couple had stayed at the "Seastar" for its recovery from the strains of the sport.  One of the two Englishmen likewise appeared to have the intention to stay a little longer in the comfortable house with his sister.  He saw her only at meals.  The entrance of people had become less because of the unsteady weather, the tables became smaller.
    Only one big one was still in the dining room; in the middle of it he saw the gaunt Russian state councillor, always in a long black overcoat, usually also with a black neck tie.  Across from him sat Nuscha, most of the time dressed likewise in dark colors and with almost affected simplicity, on either side of her were the children, to whom she distributed the food.  They were allowed to speak no word, not once to move, the sharp eye of the father kept a strict rein on them.

---90---

They and Nuscha communicated only through looks or short casually thrown in words, mostly in French but sometimes also in Russian; then no one understood them.  But more often he listened to Nuscha talking with her neighbors, the young Englishman and his blonde sister, who probably were now set on her wish for her.  She even served them in the language of their country, but she didn't speak it as fluently as French.

     Finally the weather cleared up.  Hans believed he had never before in his life seen a sea so blue, a sky so cloudless.  Full of fervor he absorbed the balmy air and went on his old beloved walks over the beach promenade or in the glorious forest.  Also now he almost never encountered Nuscha and her mysterious companion outside.  In the morning, they remained at home, sat for hours in a secluded corner of the large writing room, read and wrote letters, without speaking with one an-other.

Grammatical Minutiae/Commentary

There's quite a contrast between the way in which the two children greet Nuscha and the way they greet the man by the chimney:  "Zwei Kinder im Alter von ungefähr vier bis sechs Jahren kamen in das Zimmer, stürzten auf Nuscha zu und begrüßten sie auf stürmisch zärtliche Art, während sie dem Herrn am Kamin in gemessener, beinah scheuer Weise und erst auf ihren Wink die Hand boten."  "Art" and "Weise" are synonyms, and in order to emphasize the contrast, I translated them so that the word used with Nuscha ("way") is more common, while the word used with the man by the chimney ("manner") is a bit more formal.

The sentence beginning "'Baron Sopinecki, a Russian Pole by birth...'" is in active voice in the original text, but I put it in passive voice in my translation so I could put the lengthy relative clause closer to what it modifies:  "the dignified owner."  Otherwise, the subject would be two lines away from the verb.

Ultimately, it doesn't make any difference, but I noticed an interesting ambiguity in the sentence "Auch ihnen diente sie in der Sprache ihres Landes, aber sie sprach sie nicht so geläufig wie die französische."  There are two "sie"s in the second clause, but it's unclear which refers to Nuscha and which refers to "Sprache" (a feminine [die] word but in the dative case here).  It's unclear, then, whether the clause is inverted (with the direct object preceding the verb, probably for emphasis) or not.

I had some fun in translating "Voller Inbrunst sog er die balsamische Luft und wanderte seine altgeliebten Spaziergänge über die Strandpromenade oder hinein in den herrlichen Wald" so that "Voller Inbrunst" alliterates ("full of fervor") and "in den herrlichen Wald" exhibits assonance ("in the glorious forest").

This is the end of chapter fifteen and the beginning of chapter sixteen.

Month 62: Pages 87-89

This Month's Installment

As always, what's italicized is what I'm unsure about:

     "Down below in our mess it is more comfortable now," said the young second lieutenant, "we ask the lady and gentlemen to take part in our pared down evening snack, it has just been prepared."
     When Hans went homewards with Nuscha on the fast pinnace, the touch of the rising night already lay on the water.  The wind had 

---87---

died down, but the sky remained gray, cloudy, heavy with rain.  Only on the horizon did it glow crimson in a strange contrast like a [lohendes] fire.  Up to the shadows it dropt deeply and with its black wings covered even the thin, shaking streak of light.  Over there lay the fleet.  It was like looking at an illuminated city in the middle of the sea.  Signals flew from one ship over to an-other, now and then a rocket crackled up to the night sky.
     They had left the pinnace and walkt along the south promenade to their home.  Contrary to her habit, Nuscha had remained silent a long time, only the image of the illuminated fleet had loosened her tongue.  Now she spoke with shining enthusiasm about the experiences of the afternoon... but suddenly she stopt short, stared with large dull eyes at a lanky male figure that, looking around on all sides, slowly walkt right in front of them, murmured a few confused words of apology, and disappeared. 

     Hans had slept badly that night, all sorts of strange and oppressive dreams had plagued him.  When he appeared for breakfast very late, the dining room was empty and the tables for the most part were already set for lunch.  Outside there was an overcast sky again and a cold and damp air that pierced one to the heart.
     When he stept into the social room, his first glance fell on Nuscha.  She sat in the green=grey, fur-garnished jacket at a small table, busy with needlework.  Across from her, leaning casually against the chimney, stood a lean, narrow-shouldered man in a black 

---88---

overcoat with very long coattails.  His head was big and pointed, his face of yellowish color and very pale skin.  Over his low forehead lay close-cropped hair with the same bluish shimmer as his thick handlebar moustache that covered the middle of his square chin.
     The two appeared to be in the middle of an enthusiastic conversation.  As he opened the door, he saw how the man talkt with a certain violence to Nuscha, who as far as she was concerned kept quiet and lookt at her needlework so untiringly that he didn't know whether she had noticed his entrance.  He greeted her, she lookt up and reciprocated his greeting not unfriendly but with a formality that showed a clear restraint.  Because she made no move to introduce him to the gentleman by the chimney, he didn't speak to her, as had been his intention at first, rather he went to one of the writing desks standing by the window in order to begin a letter to Fritz.

Grammatical Minutiae/Commentary

Of my dictionary's suggestions, "enthusiastic" was best word to translate "eifrigen," but it still doesn't quite fit the context.

Aside from that, there's not much to say this month.  This is the end of chapter fourteen and the beginning of chapter fifteen.

Month 61: Pages 85-87

This Month's Installment

As always, what's italicized is what I'm unsure about.

There was something of both in her:  of a princess who sailed over the sea in her launch and of a small cst, which, purring, [muschelt] itself in the soft cushion of a sofa.
     Like a nutshell the pretty thing danced and rockt through the water.  Hard and firmly the waves beat

---85---

against its flanks with a steady sound, and every time a small splash came overboard, Nuscha jumpt up with a horrified shriek yet at the same time shook with pleasure.  The theatricality of her character then emerged, and he was afraid once again of her introduction onto the ship.  The pinnace slowed its course, stopt - they were actually there already!
     Quickly, the ship stairs were let down, at the top stood the young naval chaplain, who waved to Hans.  When he saw a lady in his company, he was quite taken aback for a moment, but then walkt towards them both and expressed to Nuscha his joy that he was also able to welcome her onto his impressive, beautiful ship.  "Provided it is alright with the gentleman, I will lead her first."
     He gave a short summary about the type of the cruiser, mentioned the year of its construction, the class to which it belonged, and emphasized the completely new fittings, which distinguished it before others.  A loving pride in his ship spoke out of each of his words.  Then he began the actual tour, from high up on the command deck down to the lowest engine rooms.
     Hans, who had already often been on warships, followed the explanations of his friend with much understanding, but his attention was pulled away from them to his companion.  With a true fervor Nuscha listened to every word, she lookt at every room, every corner, every little part of the engines with an interest that made itself known both in the excitement in her features and in the questions that she askt her guide now and then.  And these questions, while they might have even seemed a little childish at first, made sense when properly considered.

---86---

He noticed that his friend, at whom she often lookt very astonished and then with such desire for knowledge that probably had not yet appeared to him in a young lady, visibly excited, let follow the most precise explanations.
     Now and then an officer encountered them in their wandering.  And every time he too was immediately fascinated by the strange girlish figure, gazed after her for a longer time or - after he exchanged a few word with the pastor - asked to be introduced to her; a young, handsome second lieutenant followed them, hardly left from Nuscha's side, and told her many pleasant things in his calm, elegant manner.
     She paid just as little attention to it as to the general attention that she excited.  Her interest remained directed only on business.  Under such circumstances, the tour claimed many more hours, it had become late when the naval chaplain askt them to a cup of coffee.
     And now it came, as Nuscha's bright imagination foresaw:  they sat at a small covered table on the quarterdeck, and quick sailors served cake in small crystal dishes.  And above them the sky and below them the water.  And over there, the coast getting darker in the evening.  Only that it was rather cool up here, especially when the sun crept behind the clouds and a fresh breeze rose from the sea.

Grammatical Minutiae/Commentary

In my last post, I noted that I didn't translate "Rücksitz" as "backseat" because I didn't think it fit the context.  For some reason, I thought it referred to a bench along the shore.  After translating the next sentence, I realized that the setting had changed and that Hans and Nuscha are already on the boat, which is definitely suitable context for a backseat.

As far as word order, the sentence "He noticed that his friend, at whom she often lookt very astonished and then with such desire for knowledge that probably had not yet appeared to him in a young lady, visibly excited, let follow the most precise explanations" is a terrible mess, but I can't think of how to straighten it out.

I don't like that I used "attention" twice in the sentence "She paid just as little attention to it as to the general attention that she excited" - once for "achtete" and once for "Aufmerksamkeit."  I couldn't think of a different word to use, however, and my dictionary was no help in suggesting others.

Month 60: Pages 84-85

This Month's Installment

As always, the italicized parts are what I'm unsure about.

     It really went quick as a flash.  He had just taken a newspaper and sat down in one of the comfortable wicker chairs that stood immediately in front of the building when a loud, shrill whistle from the veranda startled him.
     "Oh, there you are, I expected you to be much further in the garden and wanted to make myself audible."
     "Where did you get a whistle all of a sudden?"
     She laughed.  "It's not a whistle, I do that with my mouth... look, like this..."  She set her red lips at a little of an angle and whistled even more loudly and piercingly than the first time, so that he put his hands over his ears.
     "For God's sake, stop!"
     "It's not such a despicable skill, it is perhaps the best that I have learned in my life.  We used to call it the 'family whistle.'  All of my siblings have learned it; so we could make ourselves heard everywhere.  Even later, it has served me well."
     Again her old manner that had caught his attention so many times.  She said something, broke off in the middle of a word, and then for a few seconds lookt half frightened, half forgotten to herself.
     Going through the garden, they reached the south promenade, which led them to the landing in a few minutes.  A quick glance that he let examine and wander over her figure showed him that she had appropriately and not without taste dressed herself for the purpose of their trip.  A dark green wool dress, closed at the top, and a cap, similar to his, which was fastened in her frizzy hair with a pin.  He could let himself be seen with her.

---84---

    It was still quiet everywhere, Zoppot was taking its afternoon rest.  Like a thick curtain the sky lay over the sea.  At first, the two appeared to be one, then the curtain slowly rose; now they began to separate, a lighter blue shone through the dark gray, no wind stirred.  And yet the sea was not very calm and let small foam-crowned waves break against the beach.  As if its agitation lived in the deepest depth and rose to the surface only in furtive vibrations.  For a brief moment, the sky opened like a wide, tall gate that showed the way to eternity.  Very noticeably, almost within reach, the warships lay before them, and the peninsula Hela stood out from the horizon so clearly and in sharp outline that one could recognize its lighthouse with a naked eye.  That was not a good sign, for it indicated a storm and bad weather.
     The pinnace was already waiting.  It was a small, pretty thing, and Hans enjoyed the sparkle of pride and joy that rose in Nuscha's face while the fresh, lively blue boys stood at attention before her and saluted her.  Now she sat on the soft back-seat, her two arms stretcht out on the upholstered [Gewandung] leaned, on her pretty features, on her whole supple figure [were] cosy happiness and contentment.

Grammatical Minutiae

I translated "die frischen, flotten blauen Jungen" fairly literally as "the fresh, lively blue boys."  I imagined the "blue" part has to do with the color of their naval uniforms.  Blau can also mean drunk, but that doesn't seem to fit the context.

I had some trouble with the last sentence from this month's installment:  "Rücksitz" means back seat, but - again - that doesn't seem to fit this context; I couldn't find a translation for "Gewandung" (at least not one that made any sense here); and "ausgestreckt" ("stretcht out") and "gelehnt" ("leaned") both seem to modify Nuscha's arms, but - as actions - they're at odds with each other.

Month 59: Pages 82-83

This Month's Installment

As always, what's italicized is what I'm unsure about.

the German fleet appeared in front of Zoppot with a few cruisers and torpedos.  Proud and majestic it lay, the beams of the sun playing around it, in the shining silver-gray mirror of the sea, visible very near to the coast, however, in reality at a considerable distance.  The pinnaces rushed here and there, they brought the forces to land, they took, almost full beyond their strength, the Zoppot swimming crowd on board, because one was hospitable on the ships and granted a visit to everyone.  Officers, naval cadets, sailors filled the sea bridge, the paths, the casino and with their dapper uniforms and hardened sunburnt faces gave new colors to the colorful pictures.
     "Where are you going in such a hurry, Pastor?"
     Hans was one of the first to get up from the lunch table and, a navy blue cap on his head and a light coat over his arm, was about to leave the "Sea Star" when Nuscha's voice sounded on his ear.
     "Out to the fleet.  Yester-day in the casino I met an old friend who has been a naval chaplain for several years.  He invited me on his ship for this afternoon, the pinnace is waiting for me at the landing."
     "I'm pleased to hear it!  That must be a pleasure, the whole afternoon under such direction

---82---

on one of these beautiful ships!  And then a cup of coffee up on the deck, and the quick sailors serve the dishes with cake.  And above one the sky and below one the water.  Nothing else!"
     "Yes, I am looking forward to it too!"
     "Take me with, Pastor!"
     Her dark, shining eyes cajoled him, her slender hands folded themselves together involuntarily, like a begging child she stood facing him.
     He was caught in a difficult spot.  It became hard for him to give her a negative reply, but on the other hand - he was invited, and by a brother of the office at that.  What would he, what would the officers say if he appeared in the company of a lady, especially one so young, pretty, and not least discreet?
     He wavered a moment, but there was something so compelling in her eyes, something so harmless in her pleading...
     "Yes, you are taking me with!" she shouted triumphantly.  "You don't need to say anything, I read it on your face. Oh, you are good, very good!  I knew it from the first moment I met you - here in this spot, in the hall!"
     She clapt her hands, she stretcht them towards him, it wasn't much different than if she had embraced him.  ["]And now, won't you permit me a very short little while... yes, you will... I must change clothes."
     "The pinnace will be on the beach at three o'clock."
     "Oh, she won't leave without us, and it won't take me long, you will see, quick as a flash!"  She was gone.  But once again she turned around:  Are you staying here in the same spot?  Or in the garden?  So that you don't run away from me!" 

---83---

Commentary/Grammatical Minutiae

I couldn't immediately find "Pinassen" in my dictionary (it appears in the English-to-German section but not the German-to-English section).  Some internet searching revealed it to mean pinnace, which didn't help my understanding at all.  I didn't know that a pinnace is "a light sailing ship."

Until now, I'd been translating "Kurhaus" as "Kur House," not knowing quite what it meant.  Somehow, I'd missed the fact that this word appears in my dictionary.  It means casino.

I don't really understand why Sie is capitalized in the sentence "Oh, Sie fährt nicht ohne uns...."  Normally, this would be the formal second person singular (you), but because the verb is clearly third person, I think this is referring to the boat.  That's how I translated it, anyway:  "Oh, she won't leave without us...."

Month 58: Pages 80-82

This Month's Installment

The italicized parts are what I'm unsure about:

They went homewards together.  It was hot again, almost unbearably; with merciless heat the sun beat on the beach.  They had chosen the shady path on the big street.  Nuscha chatted in her old manner, but not longer as personally as earlier, she almost didn't speak of herself at all.  Generally, she had become more reserved towards him since that evening up on the cliff of Adlerhorst.
     Behind them sounded a blaring signal, the horn of a car, but different, as if it were leading something other than a motor vehicle.  Nuscha broke off in the middle of a word, rushed close to the street, and remained standing there.
     With relatively slow speed, the motor vehicle, which was half closed, came past.  Hans made out the contours of a slender female figure that sat inside with several other ladies.
     "The crown princess!  Finally I have seen her!  And how pleasantly she returned my greetings and lookt at me!" cried Nuscha coming back, and her whole face beamed.

---80---

     The sport week had started.  Now from the early morning until the late evening began an uninterrupted competition on all areas of physical exercise.  Horse racing on impeccable fields in view of the sea, air-gondolas gliding above it, law sports, soccer, running and jumping and throwing games on the Manzen Square, hunting-like shooting at clay pigeons, [Kipp-] and wood hares in positions of the municipal manor forest, swimming and sailing competitions, and flower trips on the sea.
     A bigger draw than all the others, however, was the great tennis tournament in which, with the most well known players of the world, the crown prince participated, who had arrived in Zoppot on the evening before the opening day.
     For Hans all of these events offered little attraction, and therefore they were not unwelcome to him, they made his favorite walks on the beach and through the beautiful forest free from the crowd of people, who had spoiled them for him so many times; never had he been able to talk a walk in such wonderful solitude as in these days.
     One afternoon, however, he decided, but at Nuscha's request, to witness a tennis tournament as a spectator with her.  And he didn't regret it because, although he didn't understand the slightest thing about the game, he enjoyed the unspoilt youth and naturalness with which the German crown prince right in front of him moved among the players, the sure smoothness with which he gave and took his balls and laughed from his heart when one or the other was unsuccessful for him.
     Most of all, however, Nuscha captivated his eye.  She sat opposite him, her gaze was alternately directed, one minute on the playing crown prince, the next on his 

---81---

charming wife, who, without participating in the tournament herself, lingered in the middle of the space with her entourage.  And in this gaze was such life, such burning desire:  "Could you be there in the midst of them a single time, giving and taking such balls!" that something like a regret with this wonderful child became awake in him.
     And now something else happened that lent this week a special attraction:

Grammatical Minutiae/Commentary

This was the end of chapter thirteen and the start of chapter fourteen.

I'm not a tennis player, so I don't know if there's a better way to phrase "giving and taking such balls."

Although I could translate all of the words in the sentence, I really didn't get the sense of "And in this gaze was such life..." and it turned out a bit rough.

Month 57: Pages 78-80

This Month's Installment

Aside from the Flying Dutchman, the italicized parts are what I'm unsure about:

It forced its way into every pore, it made steam rise from every stone, it made every leaf swell.  Like a steel plate the sea lay completely motionless, as if it were not even water anymore, and in such a deep blue that against it the cloudless sky appeared with an almost pale clarity.  In the silver-gleaming streaks that stretcht across the dark blue, now and then sailboats emerged and stood fixed and motionless.  In the border however between the sea and the sky

---78---

ran a ship, leaving smoke behind it in a long line as straight as an arrow, so shadowy its course that one thought the Flying Dutchman glided through the ghostly still water.
     Now even life stopt off in Zoppot.  In the "seastar" every room had been bookt for weeks in advance.  A society of men from all countries had assembled there:  to the Germans, who were in the majority, not only Poles and Russians, but also Frenchmen and Englishmen; because the sport week, the big sensation of the summer, was just around the corner.
     Monsieur Guerard now sat by the side of his very slender, charming wife at every meal, but still had eyes and words for the pretty Nuscha, who had taken over the place across from them.  And at Hans' table had sat two Englishmen and a flaxen-haired miss, the sister of the one, whom likewise had come for the sport week and spoke of nothing else but tennis, in which they were masters.  He steered clear of them.  He had never loved this nation and on all of his trips had gone out of his way to avoid it.  So he stayed on his own more than ever.
     But Nuscha, however, he saw more often, even outside of the building.  Actually, she was everywhere:  in the Kur house, at the concerts, where she moved in the most dense stream of people, which she liked best, on the sea bridge, where her face with lively, restless eyes searching and examining scanned the passers-by.
     But even on his lonely hikes he met her.  Afterwards she sat in any secret spot on the dune or on the beach and had a long notebook on her lap in which

---79---

she made marks with a large pencil.  Once he surprised her, as he approached her from behind, unnoticed.  But she quickly closed the notebook.
     "Are you a poet or an artist?" he askt.
     "Neither, I'm much too prosaic for that.  But now and then I write down a thought that just comes to me.  Or I make for myself a little sketch of the surroundings.  One learns it soon, if one travels so much."
     "Couldn't I see it once?  Or maybe you'll read something to me?"
     "It wouldn't pass your criticism," she replied curtly and put the notebook in the black folder that she took with her on her morning hikes.

Commentary/Grammatical Minutiae

The sentence "In jede Pore drang sie, aus jedem Stein dampfte sie, jedes Blatt schwellte sie" ("It forced its way into every pore, it made steam rise from every stone, it made every leaf swell") exhibits anaphora (the repeated "jede" ["every"]), and this gives a sense of the ubiquitousness of the heat.

I went with the functionally equivalent "was just around the corner," but I want to point out that the expression in the original text is literally "stood at the door" - "stand vor der Tür."

I couldn't think of a way to include this in my translation, but "the pretty Nuscha" rhymes (or nearly rhymes) in the original:  "die hübsche Nuscha."

Month 56: Pages 77-78

This Month's Installment

The italicized parts are what I'm unsure about.

     And now her face only half turned towards him:  "Do you know that there are people similar to those animals that see better in the dark and move as in the light?  People who only because of that never fall and stumble, because they don't know danger?"
     He didn't understand her question.  Was it a joke or - ?  But already a silent smile flew around her sharply-cut mouth again:  "I must think about our philosophical conversation, earlier on the cliff there:  that no person has an idea of the other, and yet they walkt so close next to each other.  And isn't it good like that?  If one knew the other, even only the slightest of the known, what happens in him - how terrible like would be!  You see, pastor, if you knew whom you took into the protection of your storm coat up there, to whom you are now offering your supporting hand - no, you don't need to take your arm away from me because of that - I still really need it.  Didn't you also not want that at all?  Yes, but suddenly it twitcht like that at the same time.  And honestly, your hand, which earlier was so very warm, has become completely cold.  Just admit it: you are afraid of me!  And who knows if not rightly so?"
     He felt ashamed.  He held her hand tighter in his own, he forced his face into cheerfulness.  But he didn't have a funny feeling about it at all.  Her words like her being were beginning to become puzzling to him.  It might have been his fault again and his poor knowledge of the female soul.  A saying of Fritz occurred to him.  "You can believe me," he once said to him, "every woman, even the seemingly simplest, becomes a puzzle as soon as you begin even to step a little closer to her."  With that he calmed himself down.

---77---

     They had left the beach and had arrived on the promenade.  Now she took her hand out of his with a short word of thanks and walkt by herself at his side.  He saw that she dragged her left foot a little, now and then a painful wince also ran over her face.  But he noticed that she didn't want anything to appear and did not offer his arm to her again.
     New cloud formations were always piling up in the sky, the dark red fire of the dying sun literally drowned in them.  Nuscha quickened her pace.  She had suddenly become very quiet.  In the sharp evening light, her black hair had a metallic luster and the severely-molded characteristic around her red lips emerged more strongly. 

     After the stormy days, all the more beautiful ones followed.  With widely extended wings, the sun lay on the sea and let her flashing lights grasp at and touch his back in high-spirited play.
     Then came the great heat.  It scorched the beach so that it burned like fire under foot, it forced its way into the lightly built buildings and firmly nested itself in them so that even nights with open windows brought no coolness.

I have no comments this week aside from announcing that I've finished chapter twelve and begun chapter thirteen.

Month 55: Pages 75-76

This Month's Installment

As always, what's italicized is what I'm unsure about.

From under, however, the surge of the sea forced its way up to them like an organ tone in the deepest registers.  From the nearby fields the strong draft carried the scent of the rye bloom, which united with the damp mossy and earthy smell.
     Still she sat nestled close to him. "You Germans are everything: clever and rational and even good, yes very good.  But gallant you are not, it is not given to you; you don't know the soft, delicate tenderness of the French, which one can have without thinking and wanting something wicked and which certainly does one good, especially when one is freezing to death - like I am now."
     Her hand searched for his under the thick coat, ice-cold it lay between his fingers.  Ardently it rose in his heart... all of a sudden she jumpt up, very quickly and abruptly:  "Homeward!" she cried with a choked, alarmed voice.  "The sun is already sinking, it will be night before we are in the 'seastar.'"
     She didn't choose the well laid out path that they had gone up; dropping sharply, she rushed in zigzag through tree and brush, she jumpt down the slope with such an agility that he was not able to follow her.  She ran as if a mob of pursuers

---75---

were behind her, as if hunted.  But with a confidence at the same time, she infallibly went out of the way of every small obstacle, every tree root, and every stone.  Finally at a sharp bend of the path she stopt in her wild run, sat on a boulder a few meters above the sea, and waved to him, who was far above her.  Now she waited quietly although it was a short while until he had reached her vicinity.
     "Why did you rush down the mountain like a maniac?  And why didn't you choose the path that all people take?" he askt half indignantly, half joking.
     "Because it suddenly came over me!" she answered, laughing.
     "Came over you?"
     "You even said it yourself:  the maniac.  My blood must have a diversion then, otherwise it becomes rebellious.  No, don't look at me so shockt, now it is very calm and sensible again... support me, please, at least with this short descent here!  I believe I've hurt my foot. But it's not worth mentioning."
     "Look, the punishment for your recklessness!  These uneven paths down the steep cliff are, if one doesn't know them exactly, not at all harmless, especially not in such a jumping step."
     A short, flickering glance between the thick, silky eyelashes:  "In my life I have walkt completely different paths that I knew even less and that were a good deal more dangerous."
     "Yes, you explained earlier.  You were in Switzerland a lot.  Are you a mountain tourist?"
     "She smiled her graceful, superior smile.  "Oh no, I didn't mean that."

---76---

Grammatical Minutiae/Commentary

I know next to nothing about plants, so I don't know if "rye bloom" makes any sense horticulturally.  I had troubles with the relative clause in that same sentence:  "der sich mit dem feuchten Moos- und Erdgeruch einte."  "Einte" also appeared on page 71 ("das vielstimmige Blöken der Tiere einte sich mit dem aufgeregten Gekrächz der Raben"), and I couldn't find sufficient information about it then either.  I think the infinitive form is einen, which simply looks like an inflected form of the indefinite article, so I couldn't even find it in my dictionary.  I translated it last time (and this time) as united.  I think last time I relied on the etymological relationship evident between this verb and ein; this time I did a bit of internet research, which supports my translation but still leaves me ignorant as far as the infinitive form.

I switched the order of two adjectives in the phrase "die feine, sanfte Zärtlichekeit der Franzosen."  Instead of "the delicate, soft tenderness of the French," I went with "the soft, delicate tenderness of the French" because I thought it flowed better.  In the same sentence, I translated "etwas Böses" as "something wicked."  At the time, I was reading the end of Ezekiel 3, where wicked appears a lot.

As far as I can tell, there isn't an antecedent for the "es" in the clause "Heiß stieg es in seinem Inneren auf...," so I'm left with the unspecific "Ardently it rose in his heart...."  I chose ardently because of its appearance in Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice:  "'You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you.'"  (This is in chapter 34, which I'm mentioning because it took much longer to find than I'd anticipated.)  I'm not sure this quite fits the context of Wie der Heimat liebt wie du, however.

I wish I could find a better translation for "Nach Hause!" than "Homeward!" but I wanted something with some directionality.

I have a couple comments about "sprang sie den Abhang mit einer Behendigkeit herunter, daß er ihr nicht zu folgen vermochte."  I understood "daß er ihr..." as a purpose clause, so while it's really only "that he was not able to follow her," I translated it as "so that he was not able to follow her."  For the same reason, I added a qualifier to "mit einer Behendigkeit," so that rather than just "with an agility," it's "with such an agility."

I won't go into detail, but I want to note that I rearranged a lot of phrases in the sentence "Finally at a sharp bend of the path..." to make it flow better in English.  I also omitted a few words that I thought were a bit redundant in English (primarily because there wasn't a good place to put them in the sentence, which was already pretty long).  For example, I didn't include "with her hand" because that's implied in "waved to him."

"Not at all harmless" doesn't seem the best description, but the almost double negative of "not" and "-less" is in the original too:  "gar nicht so ungefährlich."  I probably could have rendered the sentence better, but I didn't want to stray too far from what the original text has.

Month 54: Pages 73-75

This Month's Installment

As always, the italicized parts are what I'm unsure about.

Blue-green, as if boiled, the water rolled under them, stretcht itself up to them with swelling crests, reeled back in the deep in thundering collapse - a sight of indescribable grandeur, on which the range of hills all around the shore lookt down silently and rigidly.
  Hans stood fascinated.  Even his companion couldn't take her eyes off the raging elements; she had pulled up the collar of the fur-garnished jacket, her hand held it firmly claspt, she had pushed the felt hat tightly down to her forehead, under it her bright cheeks shone.  Suddenly she wriggled around.
  "There is something in the air around us," she said with a voice whose serious tone befit her wonderfully, "something big, foretelling disaster.  And do you even know what is it?  It's the war!"
  For a long while they didn't speak a word, not even as they rose from the bridge behind the Kur house up the steep path paved with rough stones, which at first went between low houses with neat, flowering front gardens and later went through a small yet dense and dark forest up to the summit of the cliff.
  The rain-heavy clouds had dropt very low.  Soon they settled on the hills and mountains with pressing force, soon they settled like a cap made of gauze on the chief of the two foothills that jutted out directly in front of them into the sea.

---73---

  "Here it's almost like in the mountains when one has finally reached a height with effort and sees nothing," she said with the bad mood of a child, one which obstinately destroys a pleasure that has long pleased it.  "But," she lookt for her way of consoling, "it is like that everywhere.  We never see without a haze, not in our whole life... I don't see you and you don't see me.  What do we two know of each other?  And if we went on such a hike together for a whole summer long, would we therefore become closer?"
  "See," he thought to himself, "she is not at all so unintellectual, like you thought, she philosophizes in her own way, and what she just said there didn't sound so insensible at all."  Aloud, however, he replied:  "You are right.  We know nothing of others and least of all of ourselves.  The nearness withdraws, the far off brings near, that is the wonderful law of life that we will never explore and would be to us the age of the sea or of the eternal mountain."
  But now she was already no longer concentrating.
  "It is becoming cold up here," she said while she beat the ground with her sturdy shoes, "and you are devoted to your thoughts and don't for a moment care if I, poor child here next to you, am freezing to death.  We'll want to look for a sheltered little place for ourselves in the forest, then you can continue to philosophize on my account.  Although I would prefer to hear something funny from you - I think you can't be funny at all."
  They had found the wished for place of rest: a small moss-covered hill under a low beech tree whose branches shut behind them like a door. 

---74---

     "And now come and warm me up a little with your big loden coat!"
     She moved close to him, took half of his coat, threw it around her shoulder and, now with
her teeth chattering perhaps more deliberately than involuntarily, crouched by his side.  He felt the warm rush of her blood, which - enlivening - flowed over to him; he had never felt a feminine body so close.
  Above them, the storm caught its song in the branches of the trees.

Grammatical Minutiae/Commentary

I'm not very good at phonetics, but I think the sentence "Gebannt stand Hans" exhibits assonance.  The repetition of the vowel sound portrays something of his standing still in awe.

"Unheilschwangeres" is literally something like "pregnant with disaster."  Between its being an odd word and being used as a substantive adjective ("etwas Großes, Unheilschwangeres"), I didn't know quite how to translate this.  I went with "foretelling disaster," which - while not as striking or imaginative a phrase - at least gives the same sense.

The sentence beginning with "For a long while they didn't speak a word..." provided a challenge.  The whole paragraph is this single sentence, and in the original formatting, it's eight lines.  The verb for the last clause ("hinaufführte") appears only once in the original text, but I included it twice in my translation ("went... up") to give something of a signpost in between the thickets of description.  I was glad that I was able to retain the alliteration of "dichten und dunklen Wald" - "dense and dark forest."

I was a bit underwhelmed when I found that my dictionary translates "Lodenmantel" as "loden coat" because I still had no idea what it meant.  Loden is "a thick woolen cloth used for outer clothing."