International Language, Past, Present & Future / With Specimens of Esperanto and Grammar

by Walter John Clark

Namezo volis respondi, sed dum li levis la manon por rigardi la semon, estis al li kvazaŭ li turniĝis, la kapo malsupren: la monto malaperis, kaj li falis... falis... falis....

Namezo was about to reply, but as he raised his hand to look at the seed, he seemed to turn9 head downwards: the mountain disappeared,10 and he fell... fell... fell....

¹Mortal. Man = hom‑o; ending -a makes it an adj. ²Dropping. To fall = fal‑i; suf. -ig denotes causing to fall. ³Rise. To raise = lev‑i; suf. -iĝ makes it intransitive. ⁴A growth. To grow = kreski; "grow‑thing" — kresk‑aĵ-o. ⁵Such...as. Tia...kia (= Latin talis...qualis). See [table of correlatives]. ⁶Your people. You = vi; -a makes it an adj. ⁷Future. Future participle active of ven‑i = about to come. ⁸Groves. Tree = arb‑o; suf. -ar denotes a collection of trees. ⁹To turn. Turn‑i is transitive; suf. -iĝ makes it intransitive. ¹⁰Disappeared. To appear = aper‑i; pref. mal- denotes opposite.

Tiam li estis denove veka en la forna dometo, sed li ne povis sin malhelpi, rigardi sian manon, por vidi ĉu la semo enestis. Semo neestis: kaj la pensoj rekomencis ruladi tra lia cerbo—tamen ne plu la antaŭaj turmentigaj pensoj, sed novaj esperplenaj pensoj, ĉar li kredis, pasie kredis, ke estas ja ia veraĵo en lia sonĝo.

Then he was awake again in the oven-like1 hut, but he could not refrain2 from3 looking at his hand, to see if the seed was in it. There was no seed; and the thoughts began to roll through his brain again—yet no longer the old4 worrying thoughts, but new thoughts full of hope, for he believed, passionately believed, that there was indeed some truth5 in his dream.

Kaj nun la morgaŭa tago eklumiĝis. Li leviĝis kaj iris al sia laboro, kaj tiun ĉi tagon kaj multajn sekvantajn tagojn li laboradis kiel kutime, parolante al neniu pri la sema sonĝo.

And now the new day began to dawn. He got up and went about his work, and this day and many succeeding days he went on working as usual, speaking to no one about his dream of the seed.

Sed kiam la tempo de rikolto forpasis, li aĉetis dudektagan nutraĵon kaj donis al la patrino sian restan ŝparaĵon el la rikolta tempo (ĉar vi scias, ke en la sezono de rikolto bona laboristo gajnas pli ol alitempe), dirante ke li devos vojaĝi, kaj forestos dudek tagojn. La patrino miregis, ĉar neniam antaŭe li estis lasinta ŝin eĉ unu tagon; sed li estis bona filo, kaj ŝi kontraŭstaris lin en nenio.

But when harvest-time was over, he bought food6 enough for twenty days and gave his mother the rest7 of his harvest-tide savings8 (for you know that in the harvest season a good workman9 earns more than at other times), saying that he must10 go on a journey, and would10 be away for twenty days. His mother wondered greatly, for he had never left11 her before even for a single day; but he was a good son to her, and she did not thwart him in anything.

¹Oven-like. Oven = forn‑o; ending -a makes it an adjective. ²Refrain. To help = help‑i; to hinder = malhelpi; to hinder himself = malhelpi sin. ³Refrain from looking. In Esperanto use the simplest construction possible, as long as it is clear. The simple infinitive rigardi is clear after malhelpi sin. ⁴The old thoughts. Before = antaŭ; ending -a makes it an adjective. ⁵Truth. Think of the sense. Here truth = "true‑thing," so use suf. -aĵ. "Truth" = abstract virtue = vereco. ⁶Food. To feed = nutr‑i; suf. -aĵ denotes stuff. ⁷The rest of. The rest = rest‑o; ending -a makes it an adjective = remaining. ⁸Savings. To save up = ŝpar‑i; ŝpar‑aĵ-o = save‑thing (i.e. saved thing). ⁹Workman. To work = labor‑i; suf. -ist denotes the agent. ¹⁰He must go... and would be away. Esperanto syntax is perfectly simple. Just use the tense which the speaker would use, here the future; or any tense, so long as the meaning is clear. ¹¹He had left. Pluperfect = "he was having left," esti with past part. active. Li estis lasita would mean "he had been left."

Li forvojaĝis do, kaj post kvin tagoj li ekvidis malproksime sur la horizonto blankan nubon, kiu dum la morgaŭa tago montriĝis kiel monta pinto. Namezo salutis ĝin, kaj de tiu momento, sen ia dubo, direktis sian iron tra la ebenaĵo ĉiam al ĝi.

So he journeyed forth, and in five days he began to see far off on the horizon a white cloud, which turned out1 in the course of the next day to be a mountain-peak. Namezo saluted it, and from that moment, without any doubt, bent his course2 across the plain constantly towards it.