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33rd translation contest: "Back to the playground" » English to Swahili » Entry by Kagimbi Paul Louis


Source text in English

Translation by Kagimbi Paul Louis (#37991)

[...] “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 mpango wa Iliegemea mbele kama rafiki yangu Aprili anavyofanya wakati anataka kuwaambia siri, ingawa hakuna siri zake ni nzuri. Au hata siri ya kweli. "Kama huna kumwambia mtu yeyote mimi niko hapa, naweza kurekebisha macho yako."
"Ondoka nje ya mji!"
Ilikuwa imepasuka mara kadhaa. "Hicho ndicho ninachojaribu kufanya."
"Ninachomaanisha ni kwamba huwezi kufanya hivyo!"
"Kwa nini si?"
"Hakuna mtu mwingine aliyeweza kurekebisha macho yangu, zaidi ya miwani."
"Nina uwezo wa kutosha. Utaona, umepewa..."
“… Sikumwambia mtu yeyote kuhusu wewe?"
"Huo ndio moyo wake, huo ndio nub."
"Ninawezaje kujua kuwa huwezi kunipofusha? Unaweza kuwa kama mmoja wa wale wauzaji wa simu wanaotoa ahadi lakini wanasema uwongo kabisa."
Ilianza kukatika, ikiondoka tena. "Singemfanyia kitu kama hicho kiumbe ambaye hajanidhuru."
"Nikikudhuru kama ningekudhuru, unaweza kunifanya niwe kipofu?"
"Hiyo ni kwa msingi wa haja ya kujua."
"Na kama wewe kurekebisha macho yangu, na mimi si kuwaambia mtu yeyote kuhusu wewe, wewe utakuwa kuondoka mashamba yetu?"
"Huo ndio moyo wa hili!" [...]


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