Today I'm back with another hypersensitivosaurus short story. I think it's ( theme or message is ) pretty self explanatory, so I invite you to just read it. I will start with the English ( DeepL ) translation, that I tweaked a little bit, followed by the original, Dutch version.
Unfortunately two word jokes were untranslatable. Nevertheless, I will try to explain them at the end of the post so those who don't understand Dutch might still get a laugh - or two - out of it.
I decided to post this story in the Natural Medicine / Mindful Life community, where I hang out a lot, specificly because of its underlying message.
Hypersensitivosaurus strolled through the forest at a leisurely pace. The sun was shining, the birds were whistling, the magpies shut their beaks for a change and there was a pleasant breeze. All in all, he had nothing to complain about.
If he could whistle, he would have done so and if it would have been a bit colder, he would have worn a hat*
It was a nice spring day and nobody could take that good feeling away from him.
Thinking happy thoughts, he looked at all the greenery around him. His super-sharp eyes focused on the colourful flowers and the picturesque blossom, which seemed to make the forest even more beautiful than it already was.
"Psssttttt..."
it sounded out of nowhere.
"What are you doing out there? Are you out of your mind?", sounded an excited little voice.
"Who is this?" asked hypersensitivosaurus "and what are you talking about?"
"It doesn't matter who I am, that's not the point at all," continued the invisible voice. "It's about you walking around outside like there's nothing wrong."
"I don't understand what you're talking about?" said hypersensitivosaurus surprised.
"It's lovely spring weather, the birds are whistling and nature is glowing. I'd be crazy to just sit in my cave all day."
"But didn't you hear!!!" the little voice called out agitated.
"It's dangerous to be outside!"
"You know what?" said hypersensitivosaurus, who felt his sense of joy disappear with the second, "I think I know what you're pointing at but I don't feel like having this conversation at all. I don't need to hear it. A minute ago, I felt so good and now I don't. Thanks a lot!"
He ran away with great strides, away from the frightened hare** that remained all by himself in his dark little hole stammering: "but... but... but..."
Hypersensitivosaurus struinde op zijn gemak door het bos. Het zonnetje scheen, de vogeltjes floten, de eksters hielden voor de verandering hun snavels en er stond een aangenaam briesje. Al met al had hij niets te klagen.
Als hij kon fluiten, dan had hij dat gedaan en als het iets kouder zou zijn, dan was hij goedgemutst geweest.
Het was een fijne lente dag en niemand kon hem dat goede gevoel afnemen.
In vrolijke gedachten verzonken, keek hij naar al het groen om hem heen. Zijn superscherpe ogen focusten op de kleurige bloemetjes en de pittoreske bloesem, die het bos nog mooier leken te maken dan het al was.
“Psssttttt....”
klonk er vanuit het niets.
“Wat doe je daar buiten? Ben je helemaal gek geworden?” weerklonk een opgewonden stemmetje.
“Wie is dit?” vroeg hypersensitivosaurus “en waar heb je het over?”
“Het maakt niet uit wie ik ben, daar gaat het helemaal niet om”, vervolgde het onzichtbare stemmetje. “Het gaat erom dat jij buiten rondloopt alsof er niets aan de hand is.”
“Ik begrijp niet waar je het over hebt?” zei hypersensitivosaurus verbaasd.
“Het is heerlijk lenteweer, de vogeltjes fluiten en de natuur straalt. Ik zou wel gek zijn als ik alleen maar in mijn grot zou zitten”
“Maar heb je het dan niet gehoord!!!” riep het stemmetje op een opgewonden toon.
“Het is gevaarlijk om buiten te zijn!”
“Weet je wat” zei hypersensitivosaurus, die zijn gevoel van vrolijkheid voelde verdwijnen, “Ik heb helemaal geen zin in dit gesprek. Ik hoef het niet te horen. Zo net voelde ik me nog hartstikke fijn en nu niet meer. Je wordt bedankt!”
Hij rende met grote passen weg, weg van de angsthaas die "maar... maar... maar..." stamelend achterbleef in zijn donkere holletje.
Untranslatable Word Jokes Explained:
*The Dutch 'goedgemutst', meaning: 'in good spirits', consists of the part goed ( good ) and muts ( winter hat )
Thus the phrase : Als hij kon fluiten, dan had hij dat gedaan en als het iets kouder zou zijn, dan was hij goedgemutst geweest. that is now translated to: If he could whistle, he would have done so and if it would have been a bit colder, he would have worn a hat could be read like: If he could whistle, he would have done so and if it would have been a bit colder, he would have been in good spirits.
Anyhow, believe me when I say that it's quite funny in Dutch haha.
The second untranslatable joke, in the very last sentence of the story, is as follows:
**'frightened hare' is a translation of the Dutch 'angsthaas'. ( 'angst' is Dutch for 'fear' and 'haas' Dutch for 'hare' ). 'Angsthaas' is how we call somebody who is afraid of everything, a coward. Kind of like 'chicken' in English / American.
THATS ALL FOLKS!
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Spring photo from Larisa Koshkina for Pixabay
Boy can we relate. There's quite a few opposing scenarios this makes me think about.
I really like the language lessons you gave at the end.
As for the joke, that was a joke, lol? It comes across more like sagely advice, rather than humor in English.
Interesting. It's nice to hear that this is open for different interpretations.
Haha, like I said, jokes get lost in translation. It was more like a wordplay. Then again, I tend to give sagely advice quite a lot, so I will take that as a compliment too :>)
Cheers for the comment!
Hi @vincentnijman
That invisible voice always ends up being our own conscience.
Saludos desde Venezuela.
Nicely put :>)
"Angst" became anxiety in English (I suppose they could mean the same thing though I differentiate them), and is an entire genre of at least fanfiction XD
Will have to take your word that it's funnier in Dutch, it did kind of get lost unfortunately XD
Poor little Hyper, hope it doesn't take too long to recover his zen, and maybe to realise that the poor hare was just trying to help and probably needs some help himself to manage his fear XD
I guess it could be translated to anxiety in Dutch but 'fear hare' sounded better than 'anxiety hare' to me :>)
Perhaps the fear hare was trying to help ( without being aware of it ) and I have no doubt that it will help our favorite lizard to level up, in the long term. Luckily it only made him a Little Hyper ;>)