The Elephants were laughing (at my bad Greek)

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Andriko
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Joined: Sat Dec 15, 2018 6:15 pm

The Elephants were laughing (at my bad Greek)

Post by Andriko »

This is a poem that my father has been telling me for years, which he heard at a camp fire at 4am in the 70s. The original is in modern Greek (which is worse than my Ancient Greek, which is embarrassing for a Greek), though I have attempted to translate it as a test of my skills.

I apologise for not using the breathings and accents - I don't have an ancient Greek font, and, besides, have never learnt ancient accenting rules (!). I can type up the modern Greek original if anyone is interested, though here I will just pt the English. This also explains why I haven't used subscripts for the dative.

εφασα ημερα νυκτερι ην,
οι μεν αλεκτερες εγελουν,
οι δ' ελεφαντες επετοντο.

Κ'εγωγε, εκαθημην ανιστεμενωι,
επι λιθου ξυλωι,
τα αγγελθεντα του αυριου
εν τωι βυβλωι της πρωμερης (χθες)
ηναγιγνωσκον.

***

They said it was a days night,
The roosters were laughing,
And the Elephants were flying.

And I myself was sitting standing up,
on a rock made of wood,
reading tomorrow's news
In yesterday's newspaper.

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