[lojban] Who did you pass on the road? (Through The Looking Glass)

[selpa'i <seladwa@gmx.de>]

We're currently fixing the CLL (wanna help us?), and in going through 
chapter 16 I saw the quote from Through The Looking Glass; which 
reminded me of my own (largely incomplete) Lojban translation of the same.


ni'o «lu do ma pu lampagre bu'u lo dargu —sei la noltrunau fau lo nu 
farmuvgau lo xance lo notybei te zu'e tu'a lo cnino sudysrasu cu di'a 
tavla— li'u»
ni'o «lu no da —sei la notybei cu cusku— li'u»
ni'o «lu ie —sei la noltrunau cu cusku— .i lo vi citno ninmu ku ji'a pu 
viska ra .i ja'o li'a no da masnymau do lo ka cadzu li'u»
ni'o «lu mi camtoi —sei la notybei cu nalgleki tonga cusku— .i mi birti 
lo du'u no da mutce lo ka sutrymau mi lo ka cadzu li'u»
ni'o «lu na cumki —sei la noltrunau cu cusku— .i ja da'i ra pu pa moi 
tolcliva ti li'u»


'Who did you pass on the road?' the King went on, holding out his hand 
to the Messenger for some more hay.
'Nobody,' said the Messenger.
'Quite right,' said the King: 'this young lady saw him too. So of course 
Nobody walks slower than you.'
'I do my best,' the Messenger said in a sulky tone. 'I'm sure nobody 
walks much faster than I do!'
'He can't do that,' said the King, 'or else he'd have been here first.


It makes no sense in Lojban, which of course is the point, but in 
English one can read "Nobody" as a name. This ambiguity is lost in the 
Lojban. However, using {la no da} would have been really bad, so I stuck 
with just {no da}. Let's say it's the King's fault, not Lojban's. :)

mi'e la selpa'i mu'o

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