Monday, December 8, 2008

The Panther

The pole reached the panther leaps
The leaping panther
They leap on me
The panther is beautiful
When the panther leaps
The panther has a beautiful pelt.
The panther has beautiful eyes.
as beautiful as the tiger.
The panther is great. The greatest animal
The panther makes great leaps.

Translated by Gary Sullivan.

* * *

Der Panther

Der Pol erreicht der Panther springt
Der springende Panther
Die auf mich springen
Der Panther ist schön
Wenn der Panther springt
Der Panther hat ein schönes Fell.
Der Panther hat schöne Augen.
schönere Augen als der Tiger.
Der Panther ist groß. Das größte Tier
Der Panther macht große Sprünge.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Third line here is grammatically not quite explicable in German as there is a plural: "die auf mich springen" = "who (pl.) leap on me"

Gary said...

Ah, okay, let me work on that ...

Thank you, Ekkehard!

Gary said...

I've changed "It" to "They" so it's now plural. Though if the grammar is odd in German, I should also change "leaped" to leaps ... this would be equally odd syntax in English.

Anonymous said...

It's only the "they" which is strange, the verb is in the plural and therefore normal, so "they leap on me" would be the perfect translation

Gary said...

Got it--thanks!