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33rd translation contest: "Back to the playground" » English to Swahili » Entry by Moses Mathu


Source text in English

Translation by Moses Mathu (#38284)

[...] “I have a proposal.” It leaned forward like my friend April does when she wants to tell a secret, even though none of her secrets are any good. Or even really secrets. “If you don’t tell anyone I am here, I can fix your eyes.”
“Get out of town!”
It blinked a couple of times. “That is what I am attempting to do.”
“What I mean is you can’t do that!”
“Why not?”
“Well, no one else has been able to fix my eyes, besides with glasses.”
“I have certain abilities. You will see, provided…”
“…I don’t tell anyone about you?”
“That is the heart of it, that is the nub.”
“How do I know you won’t blind me? You could be like one of those telemarketers making promises but totally lying.”
It started waxing on, waxing off again. “I would not do such a thing to a creature who has done me no harm.”
“Meaning if I harmed you, you could make me go blind?”
“That’s on a need-to-know basis.”
“And if you fix my eyes, and I don’t tell anyone about you, you’ll leave our fields?”
“That’s the heart of it!” [...]
[...] “Nina pendekezo.” Ilijiegemeza mbele kama rafiki yangu April anavyofanya anapotaka kusema siri, ingawa hakuna hata moja ya siri zake ni nzuri. Au hata siri. “Usipomwambia yeyote kwamba nipo hapa, naweza kurekebisha macho yako.”
“Toka mjini!”
Ilipepesa macho mara kadhaa. “Hicho ndicho ninachojaribu kufanya.”
“Ninachomaanisha ni kwamba huwezi kufanya hivyo!”
“Kwa nini?”
“Kweli, hakuna mwingine aliyewahi kurekebisha macho yangu, zaidi ya kwa miwani.”
“Nina uwezo fulani. Utaona, mradi…”
“…Sitomwambia yeyote kukuhusu?”
“Hiyo ndiyo roho yake, hiyo ndiyo kiini.”
“Nitajuaje hutafanya nipofuke? Unaweza kuwa kama wale wauzaji wa simu wanaotoa ahadi lakini wanadanganya kabisa.”
Ilianza kupaka, kupaka tena. “Singeweza kufanya jambo kama hilo kwa kiumbe ambacho hakijanidhuru.”
“Unamaanisha ikiwa ningekudhuru, unaweza kunifanya nipofuke?”
“Hiyo ni habari ya kujua tu.”
“Na ikiwa utarekebisha macho yangu, na sitamwambia yeyote kukuhusu, utaondoka kwenye mashamba yetu?”
“Hiyo ndiyo muhimu!” [...]


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