Y bruscamente se
volvió, mirando enloquecido: ¡Muerta, allí!... |
|
Suddenly,
he turned around, berserked with grief: “She is dead, there!” He said. |
Sentóse de nuevo, y
volviendo a colocar la cabeza muerta de su mujer sobre sus muslos, pensó
cuatro horas en lo que haría. |
|
He sat down
again, and put the head of his dead wife on his legs. In the next four hours he
thought what to do. |
No arribó a pensar
nada; pero cuando la tarde caía cargó a su mujer en los hombros y
emprendió el camino de vuelta. |
|
He remained
without knowing what to do; but when the noon was coming he carried his wife on
his shoulders and returned the way back. |
Bordeaban otra vez el
estero. El pajonal se extendía sin fin en la noche plateada, inmóvil y
toda zumbante de mosquitos. El hombre, con la nuca doblada, caminó con
igual paso, hasta que su mujer cayó bruscamente de su espalda. El quedó
un instante de pie, rígido, y se desplomó tras ella. |
|
They passed by
the border of the estuary again. The pajonal looked endless in the silver and
immobile night, where the buzz of mosquitoes could only be heard. The man, with
his nape bent, walked steadily until the body of his wife fell sharply. He stood
up a moment, he was rigid, and then he fell down after her. |
Cuando despertó, el
sol quemaba. Comió bananas de filodendro, aunque hubiese deseado algo
más nutritivo, puesto que antes de poder depositar en tierra sagrada el
cadáver de su esposa, debían pasar días aún. |
|
When he woke up
the sun was burning. He ate fruits from the tree philodendron though he wished
something more nutritive to eat because he had to walk several days until
getting the dead body of his wife in holy ground. |
Cargó otra vez con el
cadáver, pero sus fuerzas disminuían. Rodeándolo entonces con lianas
entretejidas, hizo un fardo con el cuerpo y avanzó así con menor fatiga. |
|
He took the
body again, but his strength was decreasing. He made a bundle with the body by
knotting together lianas which made easier to walk. |
Durante tres días,
descansando, siguiendo de nuevo, bajo el cielo blanco de calor, devorado
de noche por los insectos, el hombre caminó y caminó, sonambulizado de
hambre, envenenado de miasmas cadavéricas, toda su misión concentrada en
una sola y obstinada idea: arrancar al país hostil y salvaje el cuerpo
adorado de su mujer. |
|
During three
days he walked and walked like a sleepwalker poisoned by the cadaverous miasmas.
He just rested a little, and kept on walking under the white hot sky and
devoured by insects during nights. His mission was only one obstinate idea; take
the body of his adored wife from the savage and hostile country. |
La mañana del cuarto
día viose obligado a detenerse, y apenas de tarde pudo continuar su
camino. Pero cuando el sol se hundía, un profundo escalofrío corrió por
los nervios agotados del hombre, y tendiendo entonces el cuerpo muerto
en tierra, se sentó a su lado. |
|
The fourth day
he was forced to stop and in the afternoon he could hardly continue. When the
sun was sinking he felt a deep shiver on his exhausted nerves; he put the body
on the ground and sat down next to it. |
La noche había caído
ya, y el monótono zumbido de mosquitos llenaba el aire solitario. El
hombre pudo haberlos sentido tejer su punzante red sobre su rostro; pero
del fondo de su médula helada los escalofríos montaban sin cesar. |
|
The night had
come, and the monotonous buzz of mosquitoes invaded the air. He could have felt
the insects all over his face but the constant shivers on his frozen marrow did
not let him. |
La luna ocre en su
menguante había surgido por fin tras el estero. Las pajas altas y
rígidas brillaban hasta el confín en fúnebre mar amarillento. La fiebre
perniciosa subía ahora a escape. |
|
Finally, the
ochre waning moon came up behind the estuary. The high and rigid straws shone
until the horizon like a mournful yellowish sea. Now, the pernicious fever rose
rapidly. |
El hombre echó una
ojeada a la horrible masa blanduzca que yacía a su lado, y cruzando sus
manos sobre las rodillas quedóse mirando fijamente adelante, al estero
venenoso, en cuya lejanía el delirio dibujaba una aldea de Silesia a la
cual él y su mujer, Carlota Phoening, regresaban felices y ricos a
buscar a su adorado primogénito. |
|
The man glanced
to the horrible whitish mass that was lying next to him. While he was crossing
his hands over the knees he stayed with his eyes fixed ahead, to the poisoned
estuary. In the distance, the delirium drew the village of Silesia, where he and
his wife, Charlotte Phoening, were returning to -happy and rich- to get their
loved first-born child. |