Дамата + благодарност / Фен клубове / Тери Пратчет

Открих го - ето го абзаца с Дамата. Естествено, с поредния Пратчет-каламбур: на английски думите Luck и Lady започват с "Л", така че когато Ринсуинд понечва да произнесе името й - и тя го прекъсва - той просто продължава фразата, като се обръща към нея с "Lady".

* * *

The room darkened. There was a windy, roaring sound. Streamers of green, purple and octarine cloud appeared out of nowhere and began to spiral rapidly towards the recumbent amphibian, shedding small bolts of lightning as they whirled. Soon the frog was lost in a golden haze which began to elongate upwards, filling the room with a warm yellow light. Within it was a darker, indistinct shape, which wavered and changed even as they watched. And all the time there was the high, brain-curdling whine of a huge magical field . . .

As suddenly as it had appeared, the magical tornado vanished. And there, occupying the space where the frog had been, was a frog.

'Fantastic,' said Rincewind.

The frog gazed at him reproachfully.

'Really amazing,' said Rincewind sourly.'A frog magically transformed into a frog. Wondrous.'

'Turn around,' said a voice behind them. It was a soft, feminine voice, almost an inviting voice, the sort of voice you could have a few drinks with, but it was coming from a spot where there oughtn't to be a voice at all. They managed to turn without really moving, like a couple of statues revolving on plinths.

There was a woman standing in the pre-dawn light. She looked - she was - she had a - in point of actual fact she . . .

Later Rincewind and Twoflower couldn't quite agree on any single fact about her, except that she had appeared to be beautiful (precisely what physical features made her beautiful they could not, definitively, state) and that she had green eyes. Not the pale green of ordinary eyes, either these were the green of fresh emeralds and as iridescent as a dragonfly. And one of the few genuinely magical facts that Rincewind knew was that no god or goddess, contrary and volatile as they might be in all other respects, could change the colour or nature of their eyes . . .

'L-'he began. She raised a hand.

'You know that if you say my name I must depart,' she hissed. 'Surely you recall that I am the one goddess who comes only when not invoked?'

'Uh. Yes, I suppose I do,' croaked the wizard, trying not to look at the eyes. 'You're the one they call the Lady?'

* * *

Едно уточнение - на английски късметът (Luck) е в женски род. Сещам се за една песен на Франк Синатра - "Lady Luck".

И едно наблюдение. Аз запонах да чета книгите в оригинал едва когато напуснах страната. С други думи, всичките ранни книги (всичките с Ринсуинд, да речем, Equal Rites, първите книги за Стражата) съм ги чела единствено на български. Сега, докато търсих параграфа с Дамата, се зачетох в оригинала на "The Colur of Magic". Боже! Почти нищо общо с българския превод! Все едно че чета абсолютно нова книга!...

...От което следва: съвет. Който може, да се пробва да прочете някоя от по-старите книги в оригинал! Има(ше) ги в библиотеката на British Council - зад сградата на телевизията до Орлов мост.

Елена
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"There is something in the quality of a good translation that can never be captured in the original." - William Gibson