Eugenides can timetravel and bend reality now

[laserpe.livejournal.com]

I sure hope that title got you interested.  

In 1905, german poet Christian Morgenstern published the Galgenlieder (“gallow songs”), a collection of poems based on puns, wordplay and surreal humour. My father introduced me to them when a was a little girl. So imagine my surprise when I read them again as an QT fan, and found this.  

I tried my best to translate the poem into english, so you can join in on the fun. I hope the humor doesn’t get lost too much. Maybe some of you understand german, so the original is there for comparison.  

 The hall  

Eugen, the jewel thief,  

at times stole boots or blouses too,  

whitout any qualm of conscience  

ever staying in his mind.  

But one day he stole  

- you won’t believe it -  

an entire, wonderful,  

- at the time it wasn’t used – a hall.  

Right inside a residential block  

in a bustling city quarter,  

where not a soul had a suspicion,  

the hall, it was the on first floor.  

Through a parlours floor,  

right above the hall, he found  

a way of entrance, and then  

did his burglaring, the fellow.  

On the Spree (river), there was a barge,  

inside which he put the hall.  

Friendly smiling was the beach guard,  

as he saw coming Eugens cart.  

One day in july he went  

toward Hamburg merrily,  

and from there immediately  

over the sea to Baltimur.  

There he ran for attestations,  

wherewith to prove this funny scandal,  

and now he’s travelling the west  

with the hall he stole from here.  

But who can describe the dismal  

appeal of the fact right here at home!  

Even all the oldest cops

are completely at a loss.  

Nothing is left of the hall.  

Only that what was behind it,  

presents, like a deserted shell,  

itself for the view of citizens’ eyes.

Der Saal

Eugen, der Juwelendieb,  

stahl auch Stiefel oder Hemden,  

ohne das ihm ein Befremden  

über sich zurücke blieb.

Eines Tages aber stahl  

er (man wirds nicht glauben wollen)  

einen ganzen wundervollen

grade nicht benutzten Saal.  

Mitten in dem Häuserblock  

einer sehr belebten Gegend,  

drin kein Mensch war Argwohn hegend,  

lag der Saal im ersten Stock.  

Durch den Boden einer Stube,  

die darüber lag, ersann  

einen Zugang er, und dann  

stieg er einfach ein, der Bube.

Auf der Spree, da lag ein Kahn,  

drein der Saal zunächst verbannt ward.  

Freundlich lächelte der Strandwart,  

sah er Eugens Karre nahn.  

Eines Tags im Juli fuhr  

er gen Hamburg ganz vergnüglich,  

und von da gings unverzüglich  

übers Meer nach Baltimur.  

Dort lief Eugen nach Attesten  

für den lustigen Skandal -  

und bereist seitdem den Westen  

mit dem hier gestohlnen Saal.  

Wer beschreibt jedoch den tristen  

Reiz der Sache hier zu Haus!  

Selbst die ältsten Polizisten  

wissen nicht mehr ein noch aus.  

Nichts ist mehr zurück vom Saale.  

Das nur, was dahinter war,  

beut, wie eine wüste Schale,  

sich dem Bürgerauge dar.  

1. His name is a shorter form of Eugenides, he is a thief, and he steals things that are impossible to steal. Coincidence? I! Think! Not!

2. So what we can infer from this is that Gen was a timelord all along.

3. Or MWT. Anything is possible.

4. Also, please take note of the fact that the poem basically implies that he now goes around showing the hall to people and bragging about stealing it. I … just .. Need I say more?  

I hope this is at least a little bit funny in english! Did you ever encounter something – poem, song, other stories etc. - that weirdly resembles someone or something from this series?  

Comments

[checkers65477.livejournal.com]

Ha! This made me think of Eugenides' antics and how they would be remembered and described over the ages. Like, he stole a country and a queen which, over the years, could turn into "he stole her entire megaron with her in it!. And carted it all off to Eddis for safekeeping" or something. So many ways the tales could be told.

What a delightful poem. And what a clever father, introducing you to literature like that.

[laserpe.livejournal.com]

Fast forward a couple hundred years and the name Eugenides has become synonymous with "impossible thief" (I mean, it kind of is already inside eddis, but you get the point), the way Casanova is with "womanizer" or Sherlock Holmes with "Great detective".

Your'e welcome. And this was just one of many books my father introduced me to and certainly not the first one. ; )

[freenarnian.livejournal.com]

Definitely has those Gen vibes! :D

And this reminds me, I came across my German copy of The Thief today. My sister knows a little German and had fun trying to read the first page, while I, knowing the English almost by heart, chuckled at her translations. Very interesting to compare the two, though! Like hearing someone retell a familiar tale, with different emphasis.

I studied Greek briefly as a teen, and remember the sensation of having my first complete thought entirely in a different language wash over me, like magic.

[laserpe.livejournal.com]

:D indeed!
A german booktuber I watch has said that the german translations don't compare to the english originals. I don't know, they always seemed very well written to me (Unike, say, the german version of Six of Crows, which I reaally don't recommend reading unless your not feeling particularly attached to your sanity).
I have a question, though. There's a line in QoA that i've always really loved, I think it goes: "Sie war allein, wie sie es stets gewesen war. Sie fühlte sich so leer, dass es schmerzte." in german. Now, I've seen people quote this moment in english as something like: "She had been alone, but she had never felt so desolate" which is kind of different. I don't own the english copies, could you maybe give me the full quote? Its when Irene briefly thinks Gen's been poisoned.
(Also, how cool that you know greek!)

[rouan1.livejournal.com]

I believe this is the line that states: “Attollia was alone as she had always been, but she had never felt so desolate.”

[laserpe.livejournal.com]

Thanks. The german line translates back to "she felt so empty it hurt", which I alsways thought was just so ... poignant. Kind of sad that it isn't the original line ...

[laserpe.livejournal.com]

Update - don't know if you will see this or still care but I was just looking through QT quotes on goodreads and turns out I just got two quotes mixed up: “Who was the Thief that she would love him? A youth, just a boy with hardly a beard and no sense at all... A liar, she thought, an enemy, a threat. He was brave, a voice inside her said, he was loyal... A fool, she answered back. A fool and a dead one. She ached with emptiness.”

[rouan1.livejournal.com]

The funny thing is that in the book I got my quote from, your quote is on the same page, just a paragraph or so before my quote!

[laserpe.livejournal.com]

Yes, exactly! Thats why I probably somehow got it into my head that they were right after each other!

[freenarnian.livejournal.com]

Ha, I only scratched the surface when I was in high school. :) I'd love to get back into it though!

Thanks for looking up the quote, @rouan1