___________________________________________________________________
Základní postup pří překládání:
1. seznámit se s autorem, jeho širším dílem v originéle i v existujících překladech
2. přečíst celý text určený k překladu, ujasnit si prvky autorského stylu, ověřit reálie, učinit koncepční rozhodnutí (např. překlad vlastních jmen, neologismů...)
3...a pak teprve překládat!
___________________________________________________________________
The Project Gutenberg EBook of Tarzan of the Apes, by Edgar Rice Burroughs
Title: Tarzan of the Apes
Author: Edgar Rice Burroughs
Chapter V
The White Ape
Tenderly Kala nursed her little waif, wondering silently why
it did not
gain strength and agility as did the little apes of other
mothers. It
was nearly a year from the time the little fellow came into
her
possession before he would walk alone, and as for
climbing--my, but how
stupid he was!
Kala sometimes talked with the older females about her young
hopeful,
but none of them could understand how a child could be so
slow and
backward in learning to care for itself. Why, it could not even find
food alone, and more than twelve moons had passed since Kala
had come
upon it.
Had they known that the child had seen thirteen moons before
it had
come into Kala's possession they would have considered its
case as
absolutely hopeless, for the little apes of their own tribe
were as far
advanced in two or three moons as was this little stranger
after
twenty-five.
Tublat, Kala's husband, was sorely vexed, and but for the
female's
careful watching would have put the child out of the way.
"He will never be a great ape," he argued. "Always will you have to
carry him and protect him.
What good will he be to the tribe?
None;
only a burden.
"Let us leave him quietly sleeping among the tall
grasses, that you may
bear other and stronger apes to guard us in our old
age."
"Never, Broken Nose," replied Kala. "If I must carry him forever, so
be it."
And then Tublat went to Kerchak to urge him to use his
authority with
Kala, and force her to give up little Tarzan, which was the
name they
had given to the tiny Lord Greystoke, and which meant
"White-Skin."
But when Kerchak spoke to her about it Kala threatened to
run away from
the tribe if they did not leave her in peace with the child;
and as
this is one of the inalienable rights of the jungle folk, if
they be
dissatisfied among their own people, they bothered her no
more, for
Kala was a fine clean-limbed young female, and they did not
wish to
lose her.
As Tarzan grew he
made more rapid strides, so that by the time he was
ten years old he was
an excellent climber, and on the ground could do
many wonderful things
which were beyond the powers of his little
brothers and sisters.
In many ways did he
differ from them, and they often marveled at his
superior cunning, but
in strength and size he was deficient; for at ten
the great anthropoids
were fully grown, some of them towering over six
feet in height, while
little Tarzan was still but a half-grown boy.
Yet such a boy!
From early childhood
he had used his hands to swing from branch to
branch after the
manner of his giant mother, and as he grew older he
spent hour upon hour
daily speeding through the tree tops with his
brothers and sisters.
He could spring
twenty feet across space at the dizzy heights of the
forest top, and grasp
with unerring precision, and without apparent
jar, a limb waving
wildly in the path of an approaching tornado.
He could drop twenty
feet at a stretch from limb to limb in rapid
descent to the ground,
or he could gain the utmost pinnacle of the
loftiest tropical
giant with the ease and swiftness of a squirrel.
Though but ten years
old he was fully as strong as the average man of
thirty, and far more
agile than the most practiced athlete ever
becomes. And day by day his strength was increasing.
His life among these
fierce apes had been happy; for his recollection
held no other life,
nor did he know that there existed within the
universe aught else
than his little forest and the wild jungle animals
with which he was
familiar.
He was nearly ten
before he commenced to realize that a great
difference existed
between himself and his fellows. His
little body,
burned brown by
exposure, suddenly caused him feelings of intense
shame, for he
realized that it was entirely hairless, like some low
snake, or other
reptile.
He attempted to
obviate this by plastering himself from head to foot
with mud, but this
dried and fell off. Besides it felt so
uncomfortable that he
quickly decided that he preferred the shame to
the discomfort.
In the higher land which his tribe frequented was a little
lake, and it
was here that Tarzan first saw his face in the clear, still
waters of
its bosom.
It was on a sultry day of the dry season that he and one of
his cousins
had gone down to the bank to drink. As they leaned over, both little
faces were mirrored on the placid pool; the fierce and
terrible
features of the ape beside those of the aristocratic scion
of an old
English house.
Tarzan was appalled.
It had been bad enough to be hairless, but to own
such a countenance!
He wondered that the other apes could look at him
at all.
That tiny slit of a mouth and those puny white teeth! How they looked
beside the mighty lips and powerful fangs of his more
fortunate
brothers!
And the little pinched nose of his; so thin was it that it
looked half
starved. He turned
red as he compared it with the beautiful broad
nostrils of his companion.
Such a generous nose! Why it
spread half
across his face! It
certainly must be fine to be so handsome, thought
poor little Tarzan.
But when he saw his own eyes; ah, that was the final blow--a
brown
spot, a gray circle and then blank whiteness! Frightful! not even the
snakes had such hideous eyes as he.
So intent was he upon this personal appraisement of his
features that
he did not hear the parting of the tall grass behind him as
a great
body pushed itself stealthily through the jungle; nor did
his
companion, the ape, hear either, for he was drinking and the
noise of
his sucking lips and gurgles of satisfaction drowned the
quiet approach
of the intruder.
Not thirty paces behind the two she crouched--Sabor, the
huge
lioness--lashing her tail.
Cautiously she moved a great padded paw
forward, noiselessly placing it before she lifted the
next. Thus she
advanced; her belly low, almost touching the surface of the
ground--a
great cat preparing to spring upon its prey.
Now she was within ten feet of the two unsuspecting little
playfellows--carefully she drew her hind feet well up
beneath her body,
the great muscles rolling under the beautiful skin.
So low she was crouching now that she seemed flattened to
the earth
except for the upward bend of the glossy back as it gathered
for the
spring.
No longer the tail lashed--quiet and straight behind her it
lay.
An instant she paused thus, as though turned to stone, and
then, with
an awful scream, she sprang.
Sabor, the lioness, was a wise hunter. To one less wise the wild alarm
of her fierce cry as she sprang would have seemed a foolish
thing, for
could she not more surely have fallen upon her victims had
she but
quietly leaped without that loud shriek?
But Sabor knew well the wondrous quickness of the jungle
folk and their
almost unbelievable powers of hearing. To them the sudden scraping of
one blade of grass across another was as effectual a warning
as her
loudest cry, and Sabor knew that she could not make that
mighty leap
without a little noise.
Her wild scream was not a warning. It was voiced to freeze her poor
victims in a paralysis of terror for the tiny fraction of an
instant
which would suffice for her mighty claws to sink into their
soft flesh
and hold them beyond hope of escape.
So far as the ape was concerned, Sabor reasoned
correctly. The little
fellow crouched trembling just an instant, but that instant
was quite
long enough to prove his undoing.
Not so, however, with Tarzan, the man-child. His life amidst the
dangers of the jungle had taught him to meet emergencies
with
self-confidence, and his higher intelligence resulted in a
quickness of
mental action far beyond the powers of the apes.
So the scream of Sabor, the lioness, galvanized the brain
and muscles
of little Tarzan into instant action.
Before him lay the deep waters of the little lake, behind
him certain
death; a cruel death beneath tearing claws and rending
fangs.
Tarzan had always hated water except as a medium for
quenching his
thirst. He hated it
because he connected it with the chill and
discomfort of the torrential rains, and he feared it for the
thunder
and lightning and wind which accompanied them.
The deep waters of the lake he had been taught by his wild
mother to
avoid, and further, had he not seen little Neeta sink
beneath its quiet
surface only a few short weeks before never to return to the
tribe?
But of the two evils his quick mind chose the lesser ere the
first note
of Sabor's scream had scarce broken the quiet of the jungle,
and before
the great beast had covered half her leap Tarzan felt the
chill waters
close above his head.
He could not swim, and the water was very deep; but still he
lost no
particle of that self-confidence and resourcefulness which
were the
badges of his superior being.
Rapidly he moved his hands and feet in an attempt to
scramble upward,
and, possibly more by chance than design, he fell into the
stroke that
a dog uses when swimming, so that within a few seconds his
nose was
above water and he found that he could keep it there by
continuing his
strokes, and also make progress through the water.
He was much surprised and pleased with this new acquirement
which had
been so suddenly thrust upon him, but he had no time for
thinking much
upon it.
He was now swimming parallel to the bank and there he saw
the cruel
beast that would have seized him crouching upon the still
form of his
little playmate.
The lioness was intently watching Tarzan, evidently
expecting him to
return to shore, but this the boy had no intention of doing.
Instead he raised his voice in the call of distress common
to his
tribe, adding to it the warning which would prevent would-be
rescuers
from running into the clutches of Sabor.
Almost immediately there came an answer from the distance,
and
presently forty or fifty great apes swung rapidly and
majestically
through the trees toward the scene of tragedy.
In the lead was Kala, for she had recognized the tones of
her best
beloved, and with her was the mother of the little ape who
lay dead
beneath cruel Sabor.
Though more powerful and better equipped for fighting than
the apes,
the lioness had no desire to meet these enraged adults, and
with a
snarl of hatred she sprang quickly into the brush and
disappeared.
Tarzan now swam to shore and clambered quickly upon dry
land. The
feeling of freshness and exhilaration which the cool waters
had
imparted to him, filled his little being with grateful
surprise, and
ever after he lost no opportunity to take a daily plunge in
lake or
stream or ocean when it was possible to do so.
For a long time Kala could not accustom herself to the
sight; for
though her people could swim when forced to it, they did not
like to
enter water, and never did so voluntarily.
The adventure with the lioness gave Tarzan food for
pleasurable
memories, for it was such affairs which broke the monotony
of his daily
life--otherwise but a dull round of searching for food,
eating, and
sleeping.
The tribe to which he belonged roamed a tract extending,
roughly,
twenty-five miles along the seacoast and some fifty miles
inland. This
they traversed almost continually, occasionally remaining
for months in
one locality; but as they moved through the trees with great
speed they
often covered the territory in a very few days.
Much depended upon food supply, climatic conditions, and the
prevalence
of animals of the more dangerous species; though Kerchak
often led them
on long marches for no other reason than that he had tired
of remaining
in the same place.
At night they slept where darkness overtook them, lying upon
the
ground, and sometimes covering their heads, and more seldom
their
bodies, with the great leaves of the elephant's ear. Two or three
might lie cuddled in each other's arms for additional warmth
if the
night were chill, and thus Tarzan had slept in Kala's arms
nightly for
all these years.
That the huge, fierce brute loved this child of another race
is beyond
question, and he, too, gave to the great, hairy beast all
the affection
that would have belonged to his fair young mother had she
lived.
When he was disobedient she cuffed him, it is true, but she
was never
cruel to him, and was more often caressing him than
chastising him.
Tublat, her mate,
always hated Tarzan, and on several occasions had
come near ending his
youthful career.
Tarzan on his part
never lost an opportunity to show that he fully
reciprocated his
foster father's sentiments, and whenever he could
safely annoy him or
make faces at him or hurl insults upon him from the
safety of his
mother's arms, or the slender branches of the higher
trees, he did so.
His superior intelligence
and cunning permitted him to invent a
thousand diabolical
tricks to add to the burdens of Tublat's life.
Early in his boyhood
he had learned to form ropes by twisting and tying
long grasses
together, and with these he was forever tripping Tublat or
attempting to hang
him from some overhanging branch.
By constant playing
and experimenting with these he learned to tie rude
knots, and make
sliding nooses; and with these he and the younger apes
amused
themselves. What Tarzan did they tried
to do also, but he alone
originated and became
proficient.
One day while playing
thus Tarzan had thrown his rope at one of his
fleeing companions,
retaining the other end in his grasp. By
accident
the noose fell
squarely about the running ape's neck, bringing him to a
sudden and surprising
halt.
Ah, here was a new
game, a fine game, thought Tarzan, and immediately
he attempted to
repeat the trick. And thus, by
painstaking and
continued practice, he
learned the art of roping.
Now, indeed, was the
life of Tublat a living nightmare. In
sleep, upon
the march, night or
day, he never knew when that quiet noose would slip
about his neck and
nearly choke the life out of him.
Kala punished, Tublat swore dire vengeance, and old Kerchak
took notice
and warned and threatened; but all to no avail.
Tarzan defied them all, and the thin, strong noose continued
to settle
about Tublat's neck whenever he least expected it.
The other apes derived unlimited amusement from Tublat's
discomfiture,
for Broken Nose was a disagreeable old fellow, whom no one
liked,
anyway.
In Tarzan's clever little mind many thoughts revolved, and
back of
these was his divine power of reason.
If he could catch his fellow apes with his long arm of many
grasses,
why not Sabor, the lioness?
It was the germ of a thought, which, however, was destined
to mull
around in his conscious and subconscious mind until it
resulted in
magnificent achievement.
But that came in later years.
