Let's Learn Korean

Sunday, February 12, 2006

Total words: 662

고기잡이 소년이 바다에서 고기를 잡고 있는데, 그물 에 작은 병 한 개가 걸려 올라왔어요. 소년은 ‘이상한 일도 다 있군.’ 하고 생각하며 병뚜껑을 열었지요

그런데 ‘에그 무서워라!’ 항아리 속에서‘푸른 연기가 모락모락 피어 오르더니 무서운 도깨비가 후닥닥 튀어나 왔어요.

나오자마자 도깨비는 험악한 얼굴로 소년에게 달려들 며 쉰 목소리로 으르렁거렸지요.

“으흐흐흥! 나는 둠디둠둠 도깨비다. 백 년 동안 병 속에 갇혀 있었지. 으흐흐흐 병 속에서 생각했지. 나를 꺼내 주는 사람을 잡아먹겠다고. 으흐흐흐, 둠디둠둠 둠디둠둠.”

“여보세요 둠디둠둠 도깨비님. 그런 법이 어디 있나 요? 은혜를 원수로 갚다니 말이나 돼요?”

“흐흐흐, 그것이 우리 둠디둠둠 도깨비 세상의 법칙 이란다”

소년은 기가 막혔지만 얼른 정신을 차렸어요

호랑이에게 물려가도 정신만 차리면 산다는 말을 할머니에게 들은 적이 있었거든요.

때마침 소년의 머리 속에 한 가지 생각이 떠올랐어요.

“도깨비님, 도깨비님. 둠디둠둠 도깨비님! 죽기 전에 한 가지만 꼭 물어 볼 게 있어요”

“흐흐흐흥 어차피 죽을 건데 뭘 알고 죽겠다는 거냐?”

“헤헤헤. 죽을 때 죽더라도 전 궁금한 걸 못 참는 성격이라서요.”

“흐흐흐흥. 뭐냐?”

The translation and my comments are in the extended entry below.

Translation

Fishing boy and Dumdidumdum Troll

A fishing boy was by the ocean fishing when a small bottle floated to the surface. While thinking ‘this is a strange bottle’ he opened the cap.

From deep in the water jar thick bluish green smoke suddenly appeared and a scary troll abruptly jumped out. ‘ah…So scary!’

As soon as the troll appeared he made a menacing scowl while growling loudly.

“aaaaahhhh… I am Dumdidumdum Troll. I’ve been imprisoned in this bottle for 100 years. Aaaaahhhh… Inside the bottle I’ve been thinking that I will eat the person who frees me from this prison. Aaaahh.. dumdidumdum.”

“Hello, Dumdidumdum Troll. Where is that rule? You have to payback your enemy’s grace like that?”

“ha ha ha, That is my world law!”

The boy was speechless but swiftly returned to his senses.

I have heard from grandmother you can live if you are aware of when a tiger tries to bite you¹.

Fortunately the fishing boy from deep in his mind had an idea.

“Mr. Troll, Mr. Troll. Dumdidumdum Troll! Before I die, may I ask you only one question?”

“ha ha ha… Anyhow you are going to die, what do you want to know and then die?”

Heh heh heh, even though I’m going to die, I can’t help my curious character.”

“ummm… well?”

“The great Dumdidumdum’s trick is very marvelous”

“huh huh huh, My trick? Which trick?” The troll was elated so straitened his shoulders.²

“How A body as big as a troll could be put into such a small bottle. That is what I marvel and wonder.”

“aaaah.. That trick? It’s simple. I, I’ll show you. I’ll go into the bottle and come out. Huh huh huh, Dumdidumdum Dumdidumdum.”

The stupid troll danced proudly when suddenly with a loud “puff” and a cloud of smoke the troll went into the bottle.

Just then the boy quickly put the lid on the bottle and threw it deeply into the swelling waves of the sea.

¹ I left the literal translation in, but a more natural, in English, translation would be: If you keep your cool, you can survive great danger (Maxims and proverbs pg 153 –proverb #637) The korean is 호랑이에게 물려가도 정신만 차리면 산다

²I really could figure out how best to express this - this works, but seems awkward to me.

This translation is not perfect, but I think it captures the meaning of the story. There are definitely parts where word for word it is not accurate, but word for word it doesn’t always translate well. 도깨비 can be written in English in many ways. I chose troll because it best suits the picture that accompanined the story. Again this is another story from 생각하는 사과나무. If there are any mistakes in the Korean that is the fault of my OCR program and me not catching all the mistakes. Corrections or suggestions on the translation are welcome.

Finally I added a new subcategory to the blog, Translation - which is under Korean writing.

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Posted by 王音癡 on Sunday Feb 12, 2006 at 05:52 PM in Translation |
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