El mundo era tan reciente, que muchas cosas carecían de nombre, y para mencionarlas había que señalarlas con el dedo.
The world was so recent that many things lacked names, and in order to indicate them it was necessary to point.
The world was so recent that many things lacked names, and in order to indicate them it was necessary to point.
La ciénaga grande se confundía al Occidente con una extensión acuática sin horizontes, donde había cetáceos de piel delicada con cabeza y torso de mujer, que perdían a los navegantes con el hechizo de sus tetas descomunales.
The great swamp in the west mingled with a boundless extension of water where there were soft-skinned cetaceans that had the head and torso of a woman, causing the ruination of sailors with the charm of their extraordinary breasts.
The great swamp in the west mingled with a boundless extension of water where there were soft-skinned cetaceans that had the head and torso of a woman, causing the ruination of sailors with the charm of their extraordinary breasts.
Y ahora, señoras y señores, vamos a mostrar la prueba terrible de la mujer que tendrá que ser decapitada todas las noches a esta hora durante ciento cincuenta años, como castigo por haber visto lo que no debía.
And now, ladies and gentlemen, we are going to show the terrible test of the woman who must have her head chopped off every night at this time for one hundred and fifty years as punishment for having seen what she should not have
Moviéndose a tientas por los dormitorios vacíos percibía el trueno continuo del comején taladrando las maderas, y el tijereteo de la polilla en los roperos, y el estrépito devastador de las enormes hormigas coloradas que habían prosperado en el diluvio y estaban socavando los cimientos de la casa. Un día abrió el baúl de los santos, y tuvo que pedir auxilio a Santa Sofía de la Piedad para quitarse de encima las cucarachas que saltaron del interior, y que ya habían pulverizado la ropa.
Feeling her way along through the empty bedrooms she perceived the continuous rumble of the termites as they carved the wood, the snipping of the moths in the clothes closets, and the devastating noise of the enormous red ants that had prospered during the deluge and were undermining the foundations of the house. One day she opened the trunk with the saints and had to ask Santa Sofía de la Piedad to get off her body the cockroaches that jumped out and that had already turned the clothing to dust.
Feeling her way along through the empty bedrooms she perceived the continuous rumble of the termites as they carved the wood, the snipping of the moths in the clothes closets, and the devastating noise of the enormous red ants that had prospered during the deluge and were undermining the foundations of the house. One day she opened the trunk with the saints and had to ask Santa Sofía de la Piedad to get off her body the cockroaches that jumped out and that had already turned the clothing to dust.
Llovió cuatro años, once meses y dos días. Hubo épocas de llovizna en que todo el mundo se puso sus ropas de pontifical y se compuso una cara de convaleciente para celebrar la escampada, pero pronto se acostumbraron a interpretar las pausas como anuncios de recrudecimiento. Se desempedraba el cielo en unas tempestades de estropicio, y el norte mandaba unos huracanes que desportillaron techos y derribaron paredes, y desenterraron de raíz las últimas cepas de las plantaciones.
It rained for four years, eleven months, and two days. There were periods of drizzle during which everyone put on his full dress and a convalescent look to celebrate the clearing, but the people soon grew accustomed to interpret the pauses as a sign of redoubled rain. The sky crumbled into a set of destructive storms and out of the north came hurricanes that scattered roofs about and knocked down walls and uprooted every last plant of the banana groves.
It rained for four years, eleven months, and two days. There were periods of drizzle during which everyone put on his full dress and a convalescent look to celebrate the clearing, but the people soon grew accustomed to interpret the pauses as a sign of redoubled rain. The sky crumbled into a set of destructive storms and out of the north came hurricanes that scattered roofs about and knocked down walls and uprooted every last plant of the banana groves.
Al principio se creyó que era una peste. Las amas de casa se agotaban de tanto barrer pájaros muertos, sobre todo a la hora de la siesta, y los hombres los echaban al río por carretadas. El domingo de resurrección, el centenario padre Antonio Isabel afirmó en el púlpito que la muerte de los pájaros obedecía a la mala influencia del Judío Errante, que él mismo había visto la noche anterior. Lo describió como un híbrido de macho cabrío cruzado con hembra hereje, una bestia infernal cuyo aliento calcinaba el aire y cuya visita determinaría la concepción de engendros por las recién casadas.
At first they thought it was a plague. Housewives were exhausted from sweeping away so many dead birds, especially at siesta time, and the men dumped them into the river by the cartload. On Easter Sunday the hundred-year-old Father Antonio Isabel stated from the pulpit that the death of the birds was due to the evil influence of the Wandering Jew, whom he himself had seen the night before. He described him as a cross between a billy goat and a female heretic, an infernal beast whose breath scorched the air and whose look brought on the birth of monsters in newlywed women.
At first they thought it was a plague. Housewives were exhausted from sweeping away so many dead birds, especially at siesta time, and the men dumped them into the river by the cartload. On Easter Sunday the hundred-year-old Father Antonio Isabel stated from the pulpit that the death of the birds was due to the evil influence of the Wandering Jew, whom he himself had seen the night before. He described him as a cross between a billy goat and a female heretic, an infernal beast whose breath scorched the air and whose look brought on the birth of monsters in newlywed women.
Divertidos por la impunidad de sus travesuras, cuatro niños entraron otra mañana en el cuarto, mientras Aureliano estaba en la cocina, dispuestos a destruir los pergaminos. Pero tan pronto como se apoderaron de los pliegos amarillentos, una fuerza angélica los levantó del suelo, y los mantuvo suspendidos en el aire, hasta que regresó Aureliano y les arrebató los pergaminos. Desde entonces no volvieron a molestarlo.
Amused at their unpunished mischief, four of the children went into the room one morning while Aureliano was in the kitchen, preparing to destroythe parchments. But as soon as they laid hands on the yellowed sheets an angelic force lifted them off the ground and held them suspended in the air until Aureliano returned and took the parchments away from them. From then on they did not bother him.
Amused at their unpunished mischief, four of the children went into the room one morning while Aureliano was in the kitchen, preparing to destroythe parchments. But as soon as they laid hands on the yellowed sheets an angelic force lifted them off the ground and held them suspended in the air until Aureliano returned and took the parchments away from them. From then on they did not bother him.
Homenaje a Gabriel García Márquez y su obra maestra Cien Años de Soledad
Tribute to Gabriel García Márquez and his masterpiece One Hundred Years of Solitude
