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These are the “same” stories retold in different languages, with the same number of words used in each version.
The Secret of Pixies
Pixies decoy children. But no one knows why they do this. Why the children reappear, physically unharmed with blank stares, telling only of bright lights which left them in darkness. And no one knows that these figures are actually the smartest and bravest of their kind, the ones on whom lies the burden of saving everyone else from perdition.
Pixies decoy children. No one knows why they do this. No one knows that if they didn’t, their whole world would collapse. A dazzling world, full of fairy-tale characters, into which they kidnap the children’s souls to fulfil an ancient oath.
Das Geheimnis der Kobolde
Kobolde ködern Kinder. Doch niemand weiß, warum sie dies tun. Und warum die Kinder wieder auftauchen, körperlich unversehrt und mit leerem Blick zurückgelassen, erzählend von hellen Lichtern, die die Lumpengestalten mit sich nahmen. Und niemand weiß, dass diese Gestalten eigentlich die klügsten und mutigsten ihrer Art sind, diejenigen, auf denen die Last liegt, alle anderen vor dem Untergang zu bewahren.
Kobolde ködern Kinder. Niemand weiß, warum sie das tun. Niemand weiß, dass wenn sie es nicht täten, ihre ganze Welt zusammenbrechen würde. Eine schillernde Welt, voller märchenhafter Gestalten, in die sie die Kinder-Seelen entführen, um einen uralten Schwur zu erfüllen.
By: Katharina Poltze
One Mystery Solved
In a field of a farm near my own sits a round, white object. It towers over the ripest corn stalks and the tallest wheat. When I was little I wondered and wondered what it could be. My mama said, “I don’t know. Now go collect the eggs.” My papa said, “I don’t know. Now go tend to the cattle.” My brothers and sisters said, “I don’t know. Stop bothering neighbors.” I didn’t stop wondering.
One night I couldn’t sleep, I gazed out the window; what did I see?! Paul Bunyan carefully putting his golf ball back on its tee.
Un Misterio Resuelto
En un campo de una granja cercana a la mía hay un objeto blanco y redondo. Se eleva sobre el trigo más alto. Cuando era pequeño me preguntaba y me preguntaba qué podría ser. Mi mamá dijo: “No lo sé. Ahora ve a recoger los huevos “. Mi papá dijo: “No lo sé. Ahora ve a cuidar el ganado “. Mis hermanos dijeron: “No lo sé. Deja de molestar a los vecinos “. No dejé de preguntarme.
Una noche que no pude dormir, miré por la ventana; ¡¿Qué vi ?! Paul Bunyan devolvió su pelota de golf a su tee.
By: Jennifer Nardine
The Young Man and the Abbot
A young man wanted to become a monk.
The abbot pointed down into the ossuary. “Go,” he said, “and bless those bones.”
The man did as the abbot said.
“Did you bless the bones?” The man nodded.
“What did the bones say?” asked the abbot.
“Nothing,” the man replied.
“Now go curse the bones.”
The man did as the abbot said.
“Did you curse the bones?” The man nodded.
“What did they say?”
“Nothing.”
The abbot said, “Brother, that is how you must behave if you want to become a monk: regard blessings and curses the same, and say nothing.”
Iuvenis et Abbas
Quidam iuvenis voluit claustralem vitam ducere.
Quaesivit abbas, “O iuvenis, videsne acervum hunc ossium mortuorum?”
Respondit, “Video.”
Abbas ei dixit, “Laudes haec ossa et benedicas.”
Laudavit igitur ossa et benedixit.
Quo facto, quaesivit abbas, “Benedixisti ossibus?”
Iuvenis respondit, “Benedixi.”
Tunc abbas, “Quid ossa responderunt?”
Respondit iuvenis, “Nihil responderunt.”
Iterum abbas, “Ossa maledicas et vituperes.”
Quod sic fecit iuvenis quantum potuit.
Et ait ei abbas, “Maledixisti ossibus?”
Et ait iuvenis, “Maledixi.”
Et quaesivit abbas, “Quid ossa responderunt?”
Et ait iuvenis, “Nihil responderunt.”
Ait abbas, “Frater, si verus monachus vis fieri, talem te oportet esse, ut ita benedictionibus et maledictionibus nihil respondeas.”
By: Laura Gibbs
Ouroboros
The frog hungers after flies; the heron after frogs; the fox after herons. And when the fox sleeps, the flies settle thick on its ears.
Ouroboros Latinus
Omnis bestia aliquam bestiam edere vult: rana muscam, ardea ranam, vulpes ardeam, musca vulpem. Et quis omnes edit? Bestia humana, cuius fami nulli fines sunt.
