By Elizabeth Rodriguez
La última fada
(I)
Cuando Tristán de Leonís, Caballero de la Tabla redonda, e Iseo la Morena, reina del país de Cornualla, hubieron exhalado a un tiempo el último suspiro (siendo muy ardua faena el desenlazar sus cuerpos estrechamente abrazados), al pie de un espino cubierto el año todo de blanca flor, en las landas de Bretaña, país de encantamiento, se celebró un conciliábulo de fadas para tratar de la suerte del hijo que habían dejado los dos amantes.
No vierais, por cierto, cosa más linda que el tal espino. La albura que cubría enteramente sus ramas estaba rafagueada de un rosa muy sutil, y el viento, al agitar su follaje, hacía caer una lluvia de pétalos siempre olorosos. No era un arbusto, sino un árbol grande, y su mole de plata parecía que alumbraba todo el bosque, el cual se extendía casi una legua en derredor. Y le tenían miedo los labriegos a aquel bosque, sabiendo que lo poblaban trasgos y brujas, y, sobre todo, que en el grueso tronco del espino se hallaba preso nada menos que el sabio Merlín, protobrujo y mago en jefe.
Contábase que le había encerrado en tal cárcel su discípula y amada Bibiana, a quien el brujo, senilmente enamorado, dio cierto y que se sirvió de él para jugarle una mala pasada. Las crónicas, que no entienden de achaques del corazón, aseguran que Bibiana sufrió, al encerrar a Merlín, una equivocación fatal, de la cual le pesó mucho, y bien quisiera deshacerlo; mas yo os digo que las largas guedejas, más blancas que las flores del espino, de Merlín, no atraían a la maga, y al darle prisión, quiso librarse del peso y enojo de sus ternezas tardías.
Fuese, lo que fuese, ello es que Merlín, en el aniversario de su prisión, a las doce de la noche, exhalaba un grito espantoso y lúgubre que se oía en toda Bretaña. Y los labriegos del terruño y los pescadores de la costa, al oír resonar desgarradora queja, se santiguaban devotamente, encomendándose a Nuestra Señora y a Santa Ana, patrona de aquella región.
Era la misma Bibiana la que había convocado a sus hermanas las fadas, a las pocas que iban quedando, en aquel sitio misterioso, a la luz de la luna, amiga de encantamientos. Fueron presentándose las fadas, ya caducas y enfermizas, que se arrastraban con aire doliente y se agrupaban en derredor del espino cárcel.
Ya estaba Bibiana allí viendo reunidas a sus hermanas, relató la historia de Tristán e Iseo, que, habiendo bebido el filtro, sin poderlo remediar, se adoraron y de amor murieron, noticia que no creyeron las fadas todas porque iban haciéndose viejas; pero que a muchas enterneció y hasta hizo derramar piadoso llanto. Entonces Bibiana les explicó que existía una prenda de aquella insensata pasión, y era un niño, a quien ella misma, por sus manos, había salvado de morir de frío, en la landa donde fue abandonado adrede por la esposa de su padre, Iseo la Rubia, celosa y vengativa.
-Ampararle debemos las fadas -imploró Bibiana- porque somos las protectoras de todo el que ama de veras. Ese niño debe ser, de hoy más, nuestro ahijado; haremos de él el más valiente caballero de su tiempo, y ni Lanzarote, ni el galo Perceval, ni el mismo Tristán que lo engendró, podrán ser comparados a Isayo de Leonís, que dejará de su valor y altos hechos eterna memoria.
Con chocheces de abuelitas las fadas aprobaron, y sólo la de los estanques, llamada Ranosa, se opuso a los propósitos manifestados por Bibiana.
-Pensad, hermanas -les dijo- que ese niño ha nacido ya bajo mala estrella. Los que intentaron dejarle morir de frío entre las retamas, le perseguirán rabiosos apenas sepan que se salvó. El amor de sus padres anduvo fuera del orden y de la ley, y ese estigma ha de llevarlo Isayo de Leonís en la frente hasta su última hora. ¿Qué blasón puede ostentar el espúreo? Su escudo estará pintado de negro.
The Last Fairy
(I)
When Tristan of Leonis, knight of the Round Table, and Isolde the Black, queen of the country of Cornwall, had exhaled at one time their last breath (being very hard work to unlink their closely embraced bodies), at the foot of a hawthorn covered the entire year in white flower, in the Brittany heathlands, country of enchantment, a fairy council was held to discuss the fate of the son the two lovers had left behind.
One will not see, by the way, something prettier than the hawthorn. The sapwood that covered all its branches was blossoming from a very subtle rose, and the wind, waving its foliage, made a shower of ever-smelling petals fall. It was not a bush, but a large tree, and its silver mass seemed to illuminate the whole forest, which stretched almost a league around. And the peasants were afraid of this wood, knowing that it was inhabited by goblins and witches, and, above all, that in the thick trunk of the hawthorn was found no less than the wise Merlin, a chief magician.
He was told that his disciple and beloved Vivien had been imprisoned in such a prison, whom the sorcerer, senile in love, gave certain and who used him to play tricks on him. The chronicles, who do not understand of infirmities of the heart, assure that Vivien suffered, by enclosing Merlin, a fatal mistake, of which he weighed heavily, and would like to undo it; but I tell you that the long locks, whiter than Merlin’s hawthorn flowers, did not attract the magician, and when she was imprisoned, she wanted to rid herself of the weight and anger of her late tendencies.
Whatever it was, Merlin, on the anniversary of his imprisonment, at twelve o’clock at night, exhaled a dreadful and lugubrious cry that was heard throughout Brittany. And the peasants of the land and the fishermen of the coast, hearing a heartbreaking complaint, were devoutly crossing themselves, entrusting themselves to Our Lady and to Santa Ana, patroness of that region.
It was Vivien herself who had summoned her sisters the fairies, the few that remained, in that mysterious place, in the light of the moon, a friend of enchantments. The fairies, already old and sick, appeared, crawling with mournful air and clustered around the haunted prison.
Vivien was already there, seeing her sisters reunited, recounted the story of Tristan and Isolde, who, having drank the potion, could not help it, adored each other and died of love, a news that all the fairies did not believe because they were getting old; but that many softened and even pitifully wept. Vivien then explained to them that there was a pledge of that senseless passion, and it was a child, whom she herself, by her hands, had saved from dying of cold, in the place where she was purposely abandoned by his father’s wife, Isolde the Blonde, jealous and vengeful.
“The fairies must support him,” Vivien implored, “because we are the protectors of everyone who truly loves. That child must be, from today, our godson; we will make him the bravest knight of his time, and neither Lancelot, nor Perceval, nor Tristan himself who begot him, will be compared to Isayo of Leonis, who will leave his value and high deeds in eternal memory.”
With fairies as grandmothers the fairies approved, and only that of the ponds, called Ranosa, opposed the purposes manifested by Vivien.
“Think, sisters,” she said, “that the child has been born under a bad star. Those who tried to let him die of cold among the brooms, will rabidly persecute him as soon as they know he was saved. The love of his parents went out of order and law, and Isayo of Leonís must carry that stigma on his forehead until his last hour. What blazon can the spurious bear? His shield will be painted black.”
Explanation
I grew up in a Spanish-speaking household and was first exposed to English when my brother and sister would come home from school speaking English. I did not become fluent in speaking English until I was about eight years old. Currently, I find it much easier to speak and write in English than I do in Spanish. That is why translating from Spanish to English was much easier than the other way around. However, just like I do not know the meaning of every English word, I also do not know the meaning of every Spanish word. This challenge was made even more difficult by the fact that while I understood most of the Spanish words, some of the words used were in a different dialect that what I am used to. The Spanish that I grew up with, and which is mostly used in the United States, is the dialect they use in Mexico, and while I do not know specifically what dialect this novel was written in, I recognized the vosotros form, which is used in Spain. I was able to recognize this form because I studied abroad in Spain this past summer for ten weeks and I was exposed to not only one dialect, but multiple ones. To overcome this difficulty, I turned to the English-Spanish Dictionary at wordreference.com which I have been told by my previous Spanish professors is a reliable resource. Another challenge was correctly translating words because multiple English words can have the same meanings. I needed to be careful to not use an English word just because it is more commonly used, but because it was the best one to use at that moment. One way to come to this decision was by reading the sentences around each sentence I was translating to get the full context of what was going on in the novel. Only by understanding the context was I able to choose which English word was most similar to the Spanish word I was translating. I will end by saying that my translation is not perfect, but it was done to the best of my ability.
Pardo Bazán, Emilia Condesa de. “La última fada : novela inédita.” 2003. Accessed
November 19, 2017. http://www.cervantesvirtual.com/nd/ark:/59851/bmcqz281.
Arthurian Literature 