(1) The Accusative Case

This is formed in Esperanto by adding the letter -n. This one form is universal for nouns, adjectives, and pronouns singular and plural. Ex.:

Nom. bona patro (good father), plural, bonaj patroj. Acc. bonan patron " bonajn patrojn.

Suppose one were to suppress this -n.

(a) Cost of retention of unsimplified form: Remembering to add this -n.

(b) Advantages of retention: The flexibility of the language is enormously increased; the words can be put in any order without obscuring or changing the sense. Ex.: La patro amas sian filon = the father loves his son. Sian filon amas la patro (in English "his son loves the father" has a different sense). Amas la patro sian filon (= the father loves his son, but...). La patro sian filon amas. Sian filon la patro amas (= it is his son that the father loves).

In every case the Esperanto sentence is perfectly clear, the meaning is the same, but great scope is afforded for emphasis and shades of gradation. Further, every nation is enabled to arrange the words as suits it best, without becoming less intelligible to other nations. Readers of Greek and Latin know the enormous advantage of free word order. For purposes of rendering the spirit and swing of national works of literature in Esperanto, and for facilitating the writing of verse, the accusative is a priceless boon. Is the price too high?

N.B.—Those people who are most apt to omit the -n of the accusative, having no accusative in their own language, generally make their meaning perfectly clear without it, because they are accustomed to indicate the objective case by the order in which they place their words. They make a mistake of Esperanto by omitting the -n, but they are understood, which is the essential.

(2) The Agreement of Adjectives

Adjectives in Esperanto agree with their substantives in number and case. Ex.: bona patro, bonan patron, bonaj patroj, bonajn patrojn.

Suppose one were to suppress agreement of adjectives.

(a) Cost of retention of agreement: Remembering to add -j for the plural and -n for the accusative.

(b) Advantages of retention: Greater clearness; conformity with the usage of the majority of languages; euphony.

Esperanto has wisely adopted full, vocalic, syllabic endings for words. Contrast Esp. bon-o with French bon, Eng. good, Germ. gut. By this means Esperanto is not only rendered slower, more harmonious, and easier of comprehension; it is also able to denote the parts of speech clearly to eye and ear by their form. Thus final -o bespeaks a noun; -a, an adjective; -e, an adverb; -i, an infinitive, etc.

Now, since all adjectives end in syllabic -a, it is much harder to keep them uninflected than if they ended with a consonant like the Eng. "good." To talk about bona patroj would not only seem a hideous barbarism to all Latin peoples, whose languages Esperanto most resembles, but it would also offend the bulk of Northerners. After a very little practice it is really easier to say bonaj patroj than bona patroj. The assimilation of termination tempts the ear and tongue.

The grammar is also simplified. For if adjectives agreeing with nouns and pronouns expressed were invariable, it would probably be necessary to introduce special rules to meet the case of adjectives standing as nouns, or where the qualified word was suppressed.

Again, is the price too high compared to the advantages?

II

ESPERANTO FROM AN EDUCATIONAL POINT OF VIEW—IT WILL AID THE LEARNING OF OTHER LANGUAGES AND STIMULATE INTELLIGENCE

(1) Esperanto takes a natural place at the beginning of the sequence of languages, upon which is founded the scheme of language-teaching in the Reform Schools of Germany, and in some of the more progressive English schools.

The principle involved in this scheme is that of orderly progression from the easier to the more difficult. Only one foreign language is begun at a time. The easiest language in the school curriculum is begun first. Enough hours per week are devoted to this language to allow of decent progress being made. When the pupils have a fair grip of the elements of one language, another is begun. The bulk of the school language-teaching hours are now devoted to the new language, and sufficient weekly hours are given to the language already learnt to avoid backsliding at least. Thus in a German school of the new type the linguistic hours are devoted in the lowest classes to the mother-tongue. When the pupils have some idea what language means, and have acquired some notion of grammar, they are given a school year or two of French. After this Latin is begun in the upper part of the school, and Greek at a corresponding interval after Latin.

Now, it is one of the commonest complaints of teachers in our secondary schools that they have to begin teaching Latin or French to boys who have no knowledge whatever of grammar. Fancy the hopelessness of trying to teach an English boy the construction of a Latin or French sentence when he does not know what a relative or demonstrative pronoun means! This is the fate of so many a master that quite a number of them resign themselves to giving up a good part of their French or Latin hour to endeavouring to imbue their flock with some notions of grammar in general. They naturally try to appeal to their boys through the medium of their own language. But those who have incautiously upset their class from the frying-pan of qui, quae, quod, into the fire of English demonstrative and relative pronouns get a foretaste of the fire that dieth not. Facilis descensus Averni. Happy if they do not lose heart, and step downward from the fire to ashes—reinforced with sackcloth.

"I contend that that 'that' that that gentleman said was right." This is the "abstract and brief chronicle" of their woes—sometimes, indeed, the epitaph of their pedagogical career, if they are too sickened of the Sisiphean task of trying to teach grammar on insufficient basis. And this use, or abuse, of the hardworked word "that" is only an extreme case which illustrates the difficulty of teaching grammar to babes, through the medium of a language honeycombed with synonyms, homonyms, exceptions, and other pitfalls (can you be honeycombed with a pitfall?)—a language which seems to take a perverse delight in breaking all its own rules and generally scoring off the beginner. And for the dull beginner, what language does not seem to conform to this type? Answer: Esperanto.

In other words, it would seem that, for the grinding of grammar and the advancement of sound learning in the initial stage, there is nothing like an absolutely uniform and regular language,[1] a type tongue, something that corresponds in the linguistic hierarchy to Euclid or the first rules of arithmetic in the mathematical, something clear, consistent, self-evident, and of universal application.

[1]Cf. Sir Oliver Lodge: "It would certainly appear that for this purpose [i.e. educative language-learning for children] the fully inflected ancient languages are best and most satisfactory; if they were still more complete and regular, like Esperanto, they would be better still to begin with" (School Teaching and School Reform, p. 21: chapter on Curricula and Methods).

Take our sentence again: "I contend that that 'that' that that gentleman said was right." If our beginner has imbibed his first notions of grammar through the medium of a type language, in which a noun is always a noun, and is stamped as such by its form (this, by the way, is an enormous aid in making the thing clear to children); in which an adjective is always an adjective, and is stamped as such by its form; and so on through all the other parts of speech,—when the teacher comes to analyse the sentence given, he will be able to explain it by reference to the known forms of the regular key-language. He will point out that of the "thats": the first is the Esperanto ke (which is final, because ke never means anything else); the second is tiu (at once revealed by its form to be a demonstrative), the fourth kiu, and so on. As for the third "that," which is rather hard for a child to grasp, he will be able to make it into a noun in form by merely adding -o to the Esperanto equivalent for any "that" required. He will not be doing violence to the language; for Esperanto consists of roots, which habitually do duty as noun, verb, adjective, etc., according to the termination added. Those who know the value of the concrete and tangible in dealing with children will grasp the significance of the new possibilities that are thus for the first time opened up to language-teachers.

To sum up: Natural languages are all hard, and the beginner can never go far enough to get a rule fixed soundly in his mind without meeting exceptions which puzzle and confuse him. Esperanto is as clear, logical, and consistent as arithmetic, and, like arithmetic, depends more upon intelligence than upon memory work. If Esperanto were adopted as the first foreign language to be taught in schools, and all grammatical teaching were postponed until Esperanto had been begun, and then given entirely through the medium of Esperanto until a sound notion of grammatical rules and categories had been instilled, it would probably be found that the subsequent task of learning natural languages would be facilitated and abridged. From the very start it would be possible to prevent certain common errors and confusions, that tend to become engrained in juvenile minds by the fluctuating or contradictory usage of their own language, to their great let and hindrance in the subsequent stages of language-learning. The skeleton outline of grammatical theory with concrete examples afforded by Esperanto would shield against vitiating initial mistakes, in much the same way as the use of a scientific phonetic alphabet, when a foreign language is presented for the first time to the English beginner in written form, shields him against carrying over his native mixed vowel system to languages which use the same letters as English, but give quite a different value to them. In both cases[1] the essentials of the new instrument of learning are the same—that it be of universal application, that it be sufficiently different from the mother-tongue or alphabet to prevent confusion by association of ideas, that each of the new forms or letters convey only one idea or sound respectively, and that this idea or sound be always and only conveyed by that form or letter.

[1]i.e. scientific regular type grammar and scientific regular phonetic alphabet.

(2) From a psychological point of view Esperanto would be a rewarding subject of study for children.

The above remarks on sequence of languages show that, by placing Esperanto first in the language curriculum, justice is done to the psychological maxim: from the easier to the harder, from the regular to the exceptional. It may further be argued (a) that Esperanto is educative in the real sense of the word, i.e. suitable for drawing out and developing the reasoning powers; (b) that it would act as a stimulus, and by its ease set a higher standard of attainment in language-learning.

(a) Amidst all the discussion of "educationists" about methods, curricula, sequence of studies, and the rest, one fundamental fact continues to face the teacher when he gets down to business; and that is, that he has got to make the taught think for themselves. In proportion as his teaching makes them contribute their share of effort will it be fruitful. This is, of course, the merest truism, sometimes dignified in the current pedagogical slang by the name of "self-activity," or the like. But whatever new bottles the theorists, and their extreme left wing the faddists, may choose to serve up our old wine in, the fact is there: children have got to be made to use their own brains. The eternal question that faces the teacher is, how to provide problems that children really can work out by using their own brains. The trouble about history, geography, English literature, and such subjects is that the subject-matter of the problems they offer for solution lies beyond the experience of the young, and to a large extent beyond their reasoning powers. In teaching all such subjects there is accordingly the perpetual danger that the real work done may degenerate into mere memory work, or parrot-like cramming of notes or dates.

The same difficulty is encountered in science teaching. Heuristic methods have been devised to meet the difficulty. Though they are no doubt psychologically sound, they tend to be very slow in results; hence the common jibe that a boy may learn as much by them in five years as he could learn out of a shilling text-book in a term.

The old argument that "mental gymnastics" are best supplied by Latin is sound to the extent that Latin really does furnish a perpetual series of small problems that have to be solved by the aid of grammar and dictionary, but which do involve real mental effort, since mere mechanical looking out of words does not suffice for their elucidation. But for various reasons, such as the remoteness of the ancient world in time, place, modes of thought, etc., Latin tends to be too hard and not interesting enough for the average boy. He gets discouraged, and develops a habit of only working enough to keep out of trouble with the school authorities, and is apt to leave school with an unintelligent attitude towards intellectual things in general. This is the result of early drudging at a subject in which progress is very slow, and which by its nature is uncongenial. The great desideratum is a linguistic subject which shall at once inculcate a feeling for language (German Sprachgefhl), and yet be easy enough to admit of rapid progress. Nothing keeps alive the quickening zest that makes learning fruitful like the consciousness of making rapid progress.

Hitherto arithmetic and Euclid have been the ideal subjects for providing the kind of problem required—one that can be worked out with certainty by the aid of rule and use of brain, without calling for knowledge or experience that the child cannot have. The facts are self-evident, and follow from principles, without involving any extraneous acquaintance with life or literature, and no deadening memory work is required. If only there were some analogous subject on the literary side, to give a general grip of principles, uncomplicated by any arbitrary element, what a boon it would be! and what a sound preparation for real and more advanced linguistic study for those who showed aptitude for this line! Arithmetic and Euclid both really depend upon common sense; but partly owing to their abstract nature, and partly because they are always classed as "mathematics," they seem to contain something repellent to many literary or linguistic types of mind.

With the invention of a perfectly regular and logically constructed language, a concrete embodiment of the chief principles of language structure, we have offered us for the first time the hitherto missing linguistic equivalent of arithmetic or Euclid. In a regular language, just because everything goes by rule, problems can be set and worked out analogous to sums in arithmetic and riders in Euclid. Given the necessary roots and rules, the learner can manufacture the necessary vocabulary and produce the answer with the same logical inevitability; and he has to use his brains to apply his rules, instead of merely copying words out of a dictionary, or depending upon his memory for them.

In this way all that part of language-study which tends to be dead weight in teaching the young is got rid of in one fell swoop, and this though the language taught and learnt is a highly developed instrument for reading, writing, speaking, and literary expression. This dead weight includes most of the unintelligent memorizing, all exceptions, all complicated systems of declension and conjugation, all irregular comparison of adjectives and adverbs, all syntactical subtleties (cf. the sequence of tenses, oratio obliqua, the syntax of subordinate clauses, in Latin; and the famous conditional sentences, with the no less notorious on and me in Greek), all conflicting and illogical uses of auxiliaries (cf. etre and avoir in French, and sein and haben in German), besides a host of other old enemies. Some of these things of course are not wholly memory work, especially the syntax, which involves a real feeling for language. But these would be much better postponed until one easy foreign language has been learnt thoroughly. Every multilinguist knows that each foreign language is easier to learn than the last. With a perfectly regular artificial language you can make so much progress in a short time that you can use it freely for practical purposes. Yet it does not come of itself, like the mother-tongue. This free manipulation of a consciously acquired language is the very best training for forming a feeling for language—far better than weary stumbling over the baby stages of a hard language. When you can read, write, and speak one very easy artificial language, which you have had to learn as a foreign one, then is the time when you can profitably tackle the difficulties of natural language, appreciating the niceties of syntax, and realizing, by comparison with your normal key-language, in what points natural languages are merely arbitrary and have to be learnt by heart. Those who have early conquered the grammar and syntax of any foreign language, but have had to put in years of hard (largely memory) work before they could write or speak, e.g., Latin Latin, French French, or German German, will realize the saving effected, when they are told that Esperanto has no idiom, no arbitrary usage. The combination of words is not governed, as in natural languages, by tradition (which tradition has to be assimilated in the sweat of the brow), but is free, the only limits being common sense, common grammar, and lucidity.

To those who do not know Esperanto it may seem a dark saying that language riders can be worked out in the same way as geometrical ones. To understand this some knowledge of the language is necessary (for sample problems see Appendix A, p. 200). But for the sake of making the argument intelligible it may here be stated that one of the labour-saving, vocabulary-saving devices of Esperanto is the employment of a number of suffixes with fixed meaning, that can be added to any root. Thus:

The suffix -ej- denotes place. " " -il- " instrument. " " -ig- " causation. Final -o denotes a noun.

Given this and the root san- (cf. Lat. sanus), containing the idea of health, form words for "to heal" (san-ig-i = to cause to be well); "medicine" (san-ig-il-o = instrument of healing); "hospital" (san-ig-ej-o = place of healing), etc.

This is merely an example. The combinations and permutations are infinite; they give a healthy knowledge of word-building, and can be used in putting whole pages of carefully prepared idiomatic English into Esperanto. Practical experience shows that, given the necessary crude roots, the necessary suffixes, and a one-page grammar of the Esperanto language, an intelligent person can produce in Esperanto a translation of a page of idiomatic English, not Ollendorfian phrases, without having learnt Esperanto.

(b) Experience also shows that the intelligent one thoroughly enjoys himself while doing so; and having done so, experiences a thrill of exhilaration almost amounting to awe at having made a better translation into a language he has never learnt than he could make into a national language that he has learnt for years, e.g. Latin, French, or German.

And what is exhilaration in the dry tree may be sustained working keenness in the green. The stimulus to the young mind of progress swift and sure is immense. A child who has learnt to read, write, and speak Esperanto in six months, as is very possible within the natural limits of power of expression imposed by his age, not only has a sound working knowledge of grammatical categories and forms, which will stand him in good stead in subsequent language-learning; he has also a quite different attitude of mind—une tout autre mentalit, to use recent jargon—towards foreign languages. His only experience of learning one has been that he did so with the object and result of being able to read, write, and speak it within a reasonable time. "By so much the greater and more resounding the slump into actuality," you will say, "when he comes to grapple with his next." Perhaps. But even so, the habit of acquiring fresh words and forms for immediate use must surely tell—not to mention that he will incidentally have acquired a very useful Romance vocabulary, and a wholly admirable French lucidity of construction.

(3) And this question of lucidity brings us to the third great educational advantage of Esperanto. Its opponents—without having ever learnt it to see—have urged that its preciseness will debauch the literary sense. Surely the exact opposite is the fact. Le style c'est l'homme, and the essence of true style is that a man should give accurate expression to his thoughts. The French wit, satirizing vapid fine writing, said that language was given to man to enable him to conceal his thought. There is no more potent instrument for obscuring or concealing thought than the ready-made phrase. Take up many a piece of journalese or other slipshod writing, and note how often the conventional phrase or word slips from under the pen, meaning nothing in particular. The very conventionality disguises from writer and reader the confusion or absolute lack of idea it serves to cloak. Both are lulled by the familiar sound of the set phrase or word and glide easily over them. On the other hand, in using a language in which you construct a good deal of your vocabulary according to logical rule tout en marchant, it is impossible to avoid thinking, at each moment, exactly what you do mean. Where there is no idiom, no arbitrary usage, no ready-made phrase, there is also far less danger of yielding to a fatal facility.

Take an instance or two. In the Prayer Book occurs the phrase "Fulfil, O Lord, our desires and petitions." At Sunday lunch a mixed party of people, after attending morning service, were asked how they would render into Esperanto the word "desires." They nearly all plumped for dezirajxo. Now, the Esperanto root for "desire" is dezir-. By adding -o it becomes a noun = the act of desiring, a desire. By adding the suffix -ajx, and then -o, it becomes concrete = a desire- (i.e. desired) thing, a desire. A reference to the dictionary showed that the English word "desire" has both these meanings, but none of these people had a sufficiently accurate idea of the use of language to realize this. It was only when a gentleman passed his plate for a second helping of beef, and was asked which he expected to be fulfilled—the beef, or his aspiration for beef—that he, under the stimulus of hunger, adopted the rendering dezir-o, thereby saving at once his bacon and his additional beef.

It is not of course necessary for people to define pedantically to themselves the meaning of every word they use, but surely it must conduce to clear thinking to use a language in which you are perpetually called upon, if you are writing seriously, to make just the mental effort necessary to think what you do mean.

Again, consider the use of prepositions. This is, in nearly all national languages, extremely fluctuating and arbitrary. Take a few English phrases showing the use of the prepositions "at" and "with." "At seven o'clock"; "at any price"; "at all times"; "at the worst"; "let it go at that"; "I should say at a guess," etc. "Come with me"; "write with a pen"; "he came with a rush"; "things are different with us"; "with a twinkle in his eye"; "with God all things are possible," etc. Try to turn these phrases into any language you think you know; the odds are that you will find yourself "up against it pretty badly." The fact is, that prepositions are very frequently used on no logical plan, not at all according to any fixed or universal meaning; all that can be said about them in a given phrase is that they are used there because they are used. To remember their equivalents in other languages hard memory work and much phrase-learning is necessary. In Esperanto all that is necessary is: first, to become clear as to the exact meaning; secondly, to pick the preposition that conveys it. There is no doubt, as the Esperanto prepositions are fixed in sense, on the "one word one meaning" plan. The point is, that there is no memory searching, often so utterly vain, for there are few people indeed who can write a few pages of the most familiar foreign languages without getting their prepositions all wrong, and having "foreigner" stamped large all across their efforts. In Esperanto, provided you have a clear mind and know your grammar, you are right. No arbitrary usage defeats your efforts and makes discouraging jargon of your literary attempts.

This training in clear thought, the first requisite for all good writing, is surely sound practical pedagogics. By the time you can give up conscious word-building in Esperanto, and use words and phrases by rote, you have done enough bracing thinking to teach you caution in the use of the ready-made phrase and horror of the vague word.

Fools make phrases, and wise men shun them. Here is a phrase-free language: need we shun it?

III

COMPARATIVE TABLES ILLUSTRATING LABOUR SAVED IN LEARNING ESPERANTO AS CONTRASTED WITH OTHER LANGUAGES

(a) WORD-BUILDING

The following tables are meant to give some idea of the number and variety of different ideas that can be expressed by a single Esperanto root, with the addition of affixes (prefixes and suffixes). By reading the English, French, and German columns downwards, the reader will see how many different roots and periphrases these languages employ in order to express the same ideas.

As the affixes have fixed meanings, they only have to be learnt once for all, and many of them (e.g. -ist, -in, re-) are already familiar. When once acquired, they can be used in unending permutation and combination with different roots and each other. The tables below are by no means exhaustive of what can be done with the roots san- and lern-. They are merely illustrative. By referring to the full table of affixes in Part IV, Chapter IV, the reader can go on forming new compounds ad libitum: e.g. san-o, san-a, san-e, san-i, saneco, sanilo, sanulo, malsane, malsani, saneti, malsaneti, sanadi, eksani, eksanigxi, saninda, sanindi, sanindulo, sanajxo, sanajxero, sanilo, sanigilo, sanigilejo, sanigilujo, sanigilisto, malsanemeco, remalsano, remalsanigo, sanila, malsanulino, sanistinedzo, sanilingo, sanigestro, sanigestrino, sanigema, sanega, sanigega, gesanantoj, sanigxontoj, sanigistido, sanigejano... and so on (kaj tiel plu).

* * * * *

AFFIX ESPERANTO ENGLISH

san-a healthy mal- (opposite) mal-san-a ill ne (not) ne-san-a unwell -ig (causative) san-ig-i to heal san-ig-a salutary re- (again) re-san-ig-a restorative -igx (becoming) san-igx-i to be convalescent re-san-igx-a getting well again -ig mal-san-ig-a sickening (transitive) -igx mal-san-igx-a sickening (intransitive) -ist (agent) san-ig-ist-o doctor -ej (place) san-ig-ej-o hospital -ul (characteristic) mal-san-ul-o invalid -ebl (possibility) (mal)-san-ig-ebl-a (in)curable -ar (collective) mal-san-ul-ar-o hospital inmates ge- (both sexes) ge-mal-san-ul-ar-o all the men and women patients -in (feminine) san-ig-ist-in-o a lady doctor -edz (married) san-ig-ist-edz-in-o a doctor's wife

AFFIX ESPERANTO FRENCH

san-a bien portant mal- (opposite) mal-san-a malade ne (not) ne-san-a (un peu) souffrant -ig (causative) san-ig-i gurir san-ig-a salutaire re- (again) re-san-ig-a restaurant -igx (becoming) san-igx-i etre convalescent re-san-igx-a en train de se rtablir -ig mal-san-ig-a coeurant (qui rend malade) -igx mal-san-igx-a languissant -ist (agent) san-ig-ist-o mdecin -ej (place) san-ig-ej-o hpital -ul (characteristic) mal-san-ul-o un malade -ebl (possibility) (mal)-san-ig-ebl-a (in)curable -ar (collective) mal-san-ul-ar-o ensemble des malades ge- (both sexes) ge-mal-san-ul-ar-o les malades hommes et femmes -in (feminine) san-ig-ist-in-o un mdecin femme -edz (married) san-ig-ist-edz-in-o une femme de mdecin

AFFIX ESPERANTO GERMAN

san-a gesund mal- (opposite) mal-san-a krank ne (not) ne-san-a unwohl -ig (causative) san-ig-i heilen san-ig-a heilsam re- (again) re-san-ig-a wiederherstellend -igx (becoming) san-igx-i sich erholen re-san-igx-a genesend -ig mal-san-ig-a ekelhaft (krank machend) -igx mal-san-igx-a siechend -ist (agent) san-ig-ist-o Arzt -ej (place) san-ig-ej-o Krankenhaus -ul (characteristic) mal-san-ul-o ein Kranker -ebl (possibility) (mal)-san-ig-ebl-a (un)heilbar -ar (collective) mal-san-ul-ar-o Gesamtheit der Kranken ge- (both sexes) ge-mal-san-ul-ar-o die Kranken beider Geschlechter -in (feminine) san-ig-ist-in-o Arztin -edz (married) san-ig-ist-edz-in-o Frau des Arztes

* * * * *

AFFIX ESPERANTO ENGLISH

lern-i to learn -ig (causative) lern-ig-i to teach lern-ig-a educative -ej (place) lernej-o school -ant (pres. part.) lern-ant-o pupil ge- (of both sexes) ge-lern-ant-oj pupils of both sexes -ar (collective) lern-ant-ar-o class -an (appertaining) lern-ej-an-o schoolboy -in (feminine) lern-ej-an-in-o schoolgirl -estr (chief) lern-ej-estr-o headmaster -ist (agent) lern-ej-ist-o schoolmaster lern-ej-ist-in-o schoolmistress -ajxo (concrete) lern-ajx-o (learnt-stuff) subject lern-ajx-ar-o curriculum -em (inclination) lern-em-a studious mal- (opposite) mal-lern-em-a idle -ig (causative) lern-em-ig-i to stimulate lern-ig-o instruction (act) lern-ig-ajx-o instruction (teaching given)

AFFIX ESPERANTO FRENCH

lern-i apprendre -ig (causative) lern-ig-i enseigner lern-ig-a ducateur -ej (place) lernej-o cole -ant (pres. part.) lern-ant-o lve ge- (of both sexes) ge-lern-ant-oj lves des deux sexes -ar (collective) lern-ant-ar-o classe -an (appertaining) lern-ej-an-o colier -in (feminine) lern-ej-an-in-o ecolire -estr (chief) lern-ej-estr-o proviseur -ist (agent) lern-ej-ist-o instituteur (professeur) lern-ej-ist-in-o institutrice -ajxo (concrete) lern-ajx-o (learnt-stuff) matire d'enseignement lern-ajx-ar-o ensemble des matiress d'enseignement -em (inclination) lern-em-a appliqu mal- (opposite) mal-lern-em-a paresseux -ig (causative) lern-em-ig-i mettre en train lern-ig-o instruction lern-ig-ajx-o enseignement

AFFIX ESPERANTO GERMAN

lern-i lernen -ig (causative) lern-ig-i lehren lern-ig-a erzieherisch -ej (place) lernej-o Schule -ant (pres. part.) lern-ant-o Schler ge- (of both sexes) ge-lern-ant-oj Schler and Schlerinnen -ar (collective) lern-ant-ar-o Klasse -an (appertaining) lern-ej-an-o Schulknabe -in (feminine) lern-ej-an-in-o Schulmdchen -estr (chief) lern-ej-estr-o Direktor -ist (agent) lern-ej-ist-o Lehrer lern-ej-ist-in-o Lehrerin -ajxo (concrete) lern-ajx-o (learnt-stuff) Lehrstoff lern-ajx-ar-o (Studien)- Laufbahn Schulprogramm -em (inclination) lern-em-a fleissig mal- (opposite) mal-lern-em-a faul -ig (causative) lern-em-ig-i anregen lern-ig-o das Unterrichten lern-ig-ajx-o Unterricht

(b) PARTICIPLES AND AUXILIARIES

The following table illustrates the perfect simplicity and terseness of the Esperanto verb.

Every tense, active and passive, is formed with never more than two words. Every shade of meaning (continued, potential, etc., action) is expressed by these two words, of which one is the single auxiliary esti (itself conjugated regularly). The double auxiliary—"to be" and "to have"—which infests most modern languages, with all its train of confusing and often illogical distinctions (cf. French je suis all, but j'ai couru), disappears. Contrast the simplicity of amota with the cumbersome periphrasis about to be loved; or the perfect ease and clearness of vi estus amita with the treble-barrelled German Sie wrden geliebt worden sein.

This simplicity of the Esperanto verb is entirely due to its full participial system. There are six participles, present, past, and future active and passive, each complete in one word. The only natural Aryan language (of those commonly studied) that compares with Esperanto in this respect is Greek; and it is precisely the fulness of the Greek participial system that lends to the language a great part of that flexibility which all ages have agreed in admiring in it pre-eminently. Take a page of Plato or any other Greek author, and count the number of participles and note their use. They will be found more numerous and more delicately effective than in other languages. Esperanto can do all this; and it can do it without any of the complexity of form and irregularity that makes the learning of Greek verbs such a hard task. Bearing in mind the three characteristic vowels of the three tenses—present -a, past -i, future -o (common to finite tenses and participles)—the proverbial schoolboy, and the dullest at that, could hardly make the learning of the Esperanto participles last him half an hour.

It would be easy to go on filling page after page with the simplifications effected by Esperanto, but these will not fail to strike the learner after a very brief acquaintance with the language. But attention ought to be drawn to one more particularly clever device—the form of asking questions. An Esperanto statement is converted into a question without any inversion of subject and verb or any change at all, except the addition of the interrogative particle cxu. In this Esperanto agrees with Japanese. But whereas Japanese adds its particle ka at the end of the sentence, the Esperanto cxu stands first in its clause. Thus when, speaking Esperanto, you wish to ask a question, you begin by shouting out cxu, an admirably distinctive monosyllable which cannot be confused with any other word in the language. By this means you get your interlocutor prepared and attending, and you can then frame your question at leisure.

Contrast Esperanto and English in the ease with which they respectively convert a statement into a question.

English: You went—did you go?

Esperanto: Vi iris—cxu vi iris?

This particle may be considered the equivalent of the initial mark of interrogation used in Spanish, and serves to remove all complications in connexion with word order.

* * * * *

ESPERANTO ENGLISH

amanta loving aminta having loved amonta about to love amata being loved amita (having been) loved amota about to be loved mi estas aminta I have loved vi estis aminta you had loved li estas amanta he is loving sxi estis amata she was being loved ni estos amintaj we shall have loved vi estas amataj you are loved ili estas amitaj they have been loved mi estus aminta I should have loved vi estus amita you would have been loved li estas foririnta he has gone away ili estus foririntaj they would have gone away

ESPERANTO FRENCH

amanta aimant aminta ayant aim amonta devant aimer amata tant aim amita (ayant t) aim amota devant tre aim mi estas aminta j'ai aim vi estis aminta vous aviez aim li estas amanta il est aimant sxi estis amata elle tait en train d'tre aime ni estos amintaj nous aurons aim vi estas amataj vous tes aims ili estas amitaj ils ont t aims mi estus aminta j'aurais aim vi estus amita vous auriez t aim li estas foririnta il s'en est all ili estus foririntaj il s'en seraient alls

ESPERANTO GERMAN

amanta liebend aminta der geliebt hat amonta der lieben wird amata der geliebt wird amita der geliebt worden ist amota der geliebt werden soll mi estas aminta ich habe geliebt vi estis aminta Sie hatten geliebt li estas amanta er ist liebend sxi estis amata sie war im Zuge geliebt zu werden ni estos amintaj wir werden geliebt haben vi estas amataj Sie werden geliebt ili estas amitaj sie sind geliebt worden mi estus aminta ich wrde geliebt haben vi estus amita Sie wrden geliebt worden sein li estas foririnta er ist fortgegangen ili estus foririntaj sie wrden fortgegangen sein

* * * * *

This chapter on labour-saving may fitly conclude with an estimate of the amount of mere memorizing work to be done in Esperanto. Since this is almost nil for grammar, syntax, and idiom, and since there are no irregularities or exceptions, the memory work is, broadly speaking, reduced to learning the affixes, the table of correlatives, and a certain number of new roots. This number is astonishingly small. Here is an estimate made by Prof. Macloskie, of Princeton, U.S.A.:

Number of roots new to an English boy without Latin, about 600* " " " " " with " " 300 " " " a college teacher " 100

*i.e. about one-third of the whole number in the Fundamento.

IV

HOW ESPERANTO CAN BE USED AS A CODE LANGUAGE TO COMMUNICATE WITH PERSONS WHO HAVE NEVER LEARNT IT

Technically speaking, Esperanto combines the characteristics of an inflected language with those of an agglutinative one. This means that the syllables used as inflexions (-o, -a, -e, -as, -is, -os, -ant-, -int-, -ont-, etc.), being invariable and of universal application, can also be regarded as separate words. And as separate words they all figure in the dictionary, under their initial letters. Thus anything written in Esperanto can be deciphered by the simple process of looking out words and parts of words in the dictionary. For examples, see pieces 1 and 2 in the specimens of Esperanto, pp. 167-8 [Part IV, Chapter II], and read the Note at the beginning of Part IV. As the Esperanto dictionary only consists of a few pages, it can be easily carried in the pocket-book or waistcoat pocket.

Thus, while to the educated person of Aryan speech Esperanto presents the natural appearance of an ordinary inflected language, one who belongs by speech to another lingual family, or any one who has never heard of Esperanto, can regard every inflected word as a compound of invariable elements. By turning over very few pages he can determine the meaning and use of each element, and therefore, by putting them together, he can arrive at the sense of the compound word, e.g. lav'ist'in'o. Look out lav-, and you find "wash"; look out -ist, and you find it expresses the person who does an action; look out -in, and you find it expresses the feminine; look out -o, and you find it denotes a noun. Put the whole together, and you get "female who does washing, laundress."

Suppose you are going on an ocean voyage, and you expect to be shut up for weeks in a ship with persons of many nationalities. You take with you keys to Esperanto, price one halfpenny each, in various languages. You wish to tackle a Russian. Write your Esperanto sentence clearly and put the paper in his hand. At the same time hand him a Russian key to Esperanto, pointing to the following paragraph (in Russian) on the outside:

"Everything written in the international language can be translated by the help of this vocabulary. If several words together express but a single idea, they are written in one word, but separated by apostrophes; e.g. frat'in'o, though a single idea, is yet composed of three words, which must be looked for separately in the vocabulary."

After he has got over his shock of surprise, your Russian, if a man of ordinary education, will make out your sentence in a very short time by using the key.

As an example Dr. Zamenhof gives the following sentence: "Mi ne sci'as kie mi las'is la baston'o'n: Cxu vi gxi'n ne vid'is?" With the vocabulary this sentence will work out as follows:

Mi mi = I I ne ne = not not sci'as sci = know as = sign of present tense do know kie kie = where where mi mi = I I las'is las = leave is = sign of past tense have left la la = the the baston'o'n baston = stick o = sign of a noun n = sign of objective case stick cxu cxu = whether, sign of question whether vi vi = you you gxi'n gxi = it n = sign of objective case it ne ne = not not vid'is vid = leave is = sign of past tense have seen

It is obvious that no natural language can be used in the same way as a code to be deciphered with a small key.

German French

Ich I je I weiss white ne not nicht not sais ? wo where pas step ich I o where den ? j'ai ? Stock stick laiss ? gelassen dispassionate la the habe: property: canne: reed: haben to have ne not Sie she, they, you, l'avez ? ihn ? vous you nicht not pas step gesehen ? vu ? ?

If your Russian wishes to reply, hand him a Russian-Esperanto vocabulary, pointing to the following paragraph on the outside:

"To express anything by means of this vocabulary, in the international language, look for the words required in the vocabulary itself; and for the terminations necessary to distinguish the grammatical forms, look in the grammatical appendix, under the respective headings of the parts of speech which you desire to express."

The whole of the grammatical structure is explained in a few lines in this appendix, so the grammar can be looked out as easily as the root words.



PART IV

SPECIMENS OF ESPERANTO, WITH GRAMMAR AND VOCABULARY

NOTE

The best way of learning Esperanto is to begin at once to read the language. Do not trouble to learn the grammar and list of suffixes by themselves first. All this can be picked up easily in the course of reading.

In the following specimens the first two pieces are marked for beginners. Each part of a word marked off by hyphens is to be looked out separately in the vocabulary. By the time the beginner has read these two pieces carefully in this way he will know the grammar, and have a fair idea of the structure of the language and the use of affixes.

In order to save time in looking out words, and so quicken the process of learning, the English translation of the third piece is given in parallel columns. Therefore in this piece only the principal words, which might be unfamiliar to English readers, are given in the vocabulary. Word-formation and some points of grammar are explained in the notes.

To get a practical grasp of Esperanto, cover the left-hand (Esperanto) column with a piece of paper after reading it, and re-translate the English into Esperanto, using the notes. After half an hour per day of such exercise for two or three weeks, an ordinary educated person will know Esperanto pretty well.

N.B.—It is very important to acquire a correct pronunciation at the start. Study the pronunciation rules, and practise reading aloud before beginning to translate. Read slowly.

I

PRONUNCIATION

Vowels

There are no long and short, open and closed, vowels: just five simple, full-sounding vowels, always pronounced the same. English people must be particularly careful to make them sufficiently full.

a as a in Engl. "father." e " ey " " "they." i " ee " " "eel." o " o " " "hole," inclining to o in Engl. "more." (English speakers find it hard to pronounce a true o.) u " oo " " "moon."

In short, the vowels are as in Italian.

Diphthongs

aj as eye in Engl. "eye." oj " oy " " "boy." aux " ow " " "cow." (eux " e...w " " "get wet": this sound does not often occur.)

Consonants

These are pronounced as in English, except the following:

c as ts in Engl. "bits." cx " ch " " "church." g " g " " "give." gx " g " " "gentle." hx " ch " Scotch "loch," or German "ich." j " y " Engl. "yes." jx " s " " "pleasure." sx " sh " " "shilling." ux " w " " "cow" (only occurs in the diphthongs aux and eux).

Accent

Always upon the last syllable but one.

Example

The first few lines of piece I in the following specimens may be thus figured for English readers:

Gayseenyroy—mee noon deros ahl vee kylkine vrtoyn Ayspayrhntay. Mee kraydahs kay vee wdos, kay Ayspayrhnto ystahs tray fahtselah ki baylsnah lengvo.

N.B.—The precise sound of e is between a in "bale" and e in "bell."

II

SPECIMENS OF ESPERANTO

1. PAROL-AD-O

Ge-sinjor-o-j—mi nun dir-os al vi kelk-a-j-n vort-o-j-n Esperant-e. Mi kred-as ke vi auxd-os, ke Esperant-o est-as tre facil-a kaj bel-son-a lingv-o. Ver-e, gxi est-as tiel facil-a, sonor-a kaj simpl-a, ke oni tut-e ne hav-as mal-facil-ec-o-n por lern-i gxi-n. La lern-ant-o-j pov-as ordinar-e kompren-i, leg-i, skrib-i kaj parol-i gxin en tre mal-long-a temp-o. La fakt-o ke Esperant-o en-hav-as tre mal-mult-a-j-n, vokal-a-j-n son-o-j-n, kaj ke la vokal-o-j est-as cxiu-j long-a-j kaj plen-son-a-j, est-ig-as gxin mult-e pli facil-a ol la ali-a-j lingv-o-j, cxiu por aux-d-i, cxiu por el-parol-i.

Mi kred-as ke mal-long-a lern-ad-o est-os suficx-a por vi-n kompren-ig-i, ke la hom-o-j de cxiu-j naci-o-j pov-as inter-parol-i Esperant-e sen mal-facil-ec-o.

Mi ne de-ten-os vi-n pli long-e. Fin-ant-e, mi las-os kun vi du fraz-et-o-j-n: unu-e, por la ideal-ist-o-j, kiu-j cel-as unu frat-ec-o-n inter la popol-o-j de cxiu land-o, la Esperant-a-n deviz-o-n—"Dum ni spir-as ni esper-as": du-e, por la hom-o-j praktik-a-j la praktik-a-n konsil-o-n—"Lern-u Esperant-o-n."

2. LA MAR-BORD-IST-O-J: ALEGORI-ET-O

Cxirkaux grand-a mez-ter-a mar-o viv-is mult-a-j popol-o-j. Ili hav-is mult-a-n inter-a-n komerc-o-n. Cxar la mar-o est-is oft-e mal-trankvil-a kaj ili hav-is nur mal-grand-a-j-n sxip-o-j-n, ili vetur-is laux-long-e la mar-bord-o, neniam perd-ant-e la ter-o-n el la vid-o.

Cert-a hom-o el-pens-is sxip-o-n, kiu ir-is per vapor-o. Li dir-is al la mar-bord-ist-o-j: "Jen, ni met-u ni-a-n mon-o-n kun-e, kaj ni konstru-u grand-a-j-n vapor-sxip-o-j-n. Tiel ni vetur-os rekt-e trans la mar-o unu al ali-a-n; kaj ni far-os pli da komerc-o en mal-pli da temp-o." Sed la mar-bord-ist-o-j pli am-is cxirkaux-ir-i en mal-grand-a-j sxip-o-j, kiel ili kutim-is. La el-pens-int-o ne hav-is suficx-e da mon-o por konstru-i grand-a-n vapor-sxip-o-n, kiu tre mult-e en-hav-os kaj tre rapid-e vojagx-os; tial li dev-is vetur-ad-i en si-a mez-grand-a vapor-sxip-o, kiu tamen almenaux rekt-e ir-is cxie-n. Sed la mar-bord-ist-o-j dauxr-ig-is rem-i kaj vel-i cxirkaux-e.

3. NESAGXA GENTO: AN UNWISE[1] RACE: ALEGORIO AN ALLEGORY

Malproksime, en nekonata lando, Far[2] away, in an unknown[3] vivis sovagxa gento. Ili logxis en land, there lived a savage race, la mezo de vasta ebenajxo, izolata They dwelt in the midst of a de la ekstera mondo. Unuflanken vast plain,[4] cut off from the homo dek tagojn vojagxante venus outer[5] world. Towards one al montegaro: aliflanke staris side[6] a man journeying[7] ten granda lago kaj senlimaj marcxoj. days[8] would come to a big Tiel oni vivadis trankvile laux mountain-range[9]; on the other patra kutimo, tute senzorga pri side stood a great lake and la ago kaj faro de aliaj homgentoj boundless[10] swamps. Thus[11] transmontanaj. En somero estis they lived[12] quietly after varmege, kaj cxiu vintro sxajnis the manner of their fathers, pli malvarma ol la antauxa; sed caring nothing[13] for the way la tero estis fruktodona, gxi of life[14] of other men beyond donis al ili suficxe da greno the hills. In summer it was por mangxi, kaj la riveroj kaj very hot,[15] and every winter riveretoj plene provizis puran seemed colder than the last; trinkajxon. but the earth was fertile, it gave them enough corn[16] to eat, and the streams and rivers furnished abundance of pure water to drink.[17]

[1]Unwise. Wise = sagxa; ne = not. [2]Far. Near = proksim-e (e = adverbial ending). To be near = proksimi. Mal- is a prefix denoting the opposite. [3]Unknown. To know = koni. Pres. part. pass. -at- Negative = ne. (bona = good; malbona = bad; nebona = not good.) [4]Plain. Flat = eben-a. ajx is a suffix denoting something made from or possessing the quality of. [5]Outer. Outside (preposition) = ekster. a denotes an adjective. [6]Towards one side. Side = flank-o. e denotes an adverb; flanke = "sidely," i.e. at the side, n denotes motion towards. [7]Journeying. This participial phrase qualifies the verb, venus, like an adverb. In Esperanto the participle therefore takes an e which denotes an adverb. [8]Ten days, i.e. for the duration of ten days. Duration of time is put in the accusative case. [9]Big mountain-range. Mountain = mont-o. eg is a suffix denoting bigness; ar is a suffix denoting a collection. [10]Boundless. Limit = lim-o. Without = sen. [11]Thus. See p. 193 [Part IV, Chapter V] for correlatives. [12]They lived. To live = viv-i. ad is a suffix denoting continued action. [13]Caring nothing. Care = zorg-o. Sen = without. a denotes an adjective. [14]Way of life. Lit. the acting and doing. [15]It was very hot. In such impersonal uses of the adjective, the adverbial form is used. [16]Enough corn, da is used after words of quantity. Suficxan grenon would also be right. [17]Water to drink. Lit. drink-stuff, or drink-thing.

Tiel ili vivadis ne malfelicxe, Thus they lived not unhappily, kaj ilia vivo estis la vivo and their life was the life of de la prapatroj, cxar ili ne their forefathers, for they knew sciis kiel gxin plibonigi. not how to better[1] it. But Sed mankis en ilia lando unu in their land one thing[2] was ajxo, kaj pro tiu cxi manko lacking; and for[3] lack of this ili multe suferis: en la tuta they suffered greatly: there lando cxeestis nenia sxirmilo, was[4] no shelter[5] in all the cxu kontraux la suno en somero, land, whether against the sun in cxu por forteni la vintrajn summer, or to keep off[6] the ventojn. Cxiuflanke la tero estis winter winds. On every side the plata; kaj kvankam la greno ground was flat; and although corn kaj cxiuspecaj legomoj kreskis and all kinds of[7] vegetables bone, arboj estis nekonataj. Ecx grew well, trees were unknown. la malproksima montaro staris Even the distant mountains stood tutnuda; kaj kiam la ventoj all bare; and when the winds blew blovis forte el gxiaj negxoj, la strong from amidst their[8] snows, mizeruloj tremetis pro malvarmeco, the poor folk shivered for cold, kaj ne povis ecx en siaj dometoj and could not get comfortable[9] komfortigxi, cxar la penetranta even in their cottages, for the enfluo de malvarma aero stele penetrating draught of the cold eniris gxis la familian kamenon. air crept[10] right in to the family fireside.

[1]Better. Good = bon-a; better = pli bona; suf. -ig is causative. [2]One thing. The concrete suffix -ajx by itself may be used to express "thing." Of course it takes the substantival ending o. [3]For lack. Esperanto is absolutely precise in the use of prepositions according to sense. No idiom. In this it differs from all other languages. Here "for" means "by reason of." [4]There was. Est-i = to be; cxe = at; cxeesti = to be present. [5]Shelter. To shelter = sxirm-i; il is a suffix expressing instrument. [6]Keep off. To hold = ten-i; away = for. [7]All kinds of. Kind = spec-o; all = cxiu. a is adjectival ending. [8]Their snows. Whose snows? The mountains'. Therefore gxiaj, referring to montaro. If "their" referred to "winds," it would be siaj. [9]Get comfortable. Comfort(able) = komfort-o; suf. igx denotes becoming. [10]Crept in. To steal = sxtel-i; -e makes it an adverb.

Nu okazis ke certa knabo, pensema Now, it happened that a certain preter siaj jaroj, komencis boy, thoughtful[1] beyond his pripensi tiun cxi mizeran staton. years, began to think over this Li vivis kun sia vidvina patrino, wretched state of things. He kiu havis du infanetojn krom lived with his[2] widowed mother, Namezo (tiel nomigxis la knabo). who had two little children Ili estis tre malricxaj, kaj devis besides Namezo (this was the lad's sencxese labori por nutri sin name[3]). They were very poor, mem kaj la infanojn. La vidvino and were obliged to work hard ne havis pli ol kvardek jarojn, without stopping to get food for sed Namezo rimarkis ke vespere, themselves and the children. The post la taga laboro, sxi sxajnis widow was not more than forty, but tute lacega, kaj kelkajn jarojn Namezo noticed that of an evening, post la morto de sia edzo sxi after the day's work, she seemed ekmaljunigxis. Ofte la knabo diris quite tired out,[4] and a few al sxi, ke sxi devus pli ripozi, years[5] after her husband's death sed cxiumatene post la nokto sxi she grew old all at once.[6] Often havis mienon tiel same lacegan the boy told her she ought to take kiel vespere; kaj sxi plendis ke more rest, but every morning[7] la trablovaj ventoj suferigis sin she had the same worn-out look as nokte per reuxmatismaj doloroj, in the evening; and she complained kaj somere sxi ne povis dormi pro that the winds blowing through of varmeco. Tiam la knabo turnis a night plagued[8] her with[9] la okulojn ekster sia hejmo kaj rheumatic pains, and in summer rigardis cxirkauxen. Li vidis ke she could not sleep because of cxiuflanke estis tiel same: la the heat. Then the boy turned his geviroj frue maljunigxis kaj multe eyes outwards from his home and suferis. Li pensis, "Baldaux estos looked around him. He saw that on al mi ankaux simile; la juneco every side it was the same[10]: estas mallonga kaj labora, kaj la men and women[11] grew old early vivo estas longa kaj cxagrena." and suffered much. He thought, Fine li malgajadis. "Soon it will be the same with me; youth[12] is short and full of work, and life is long and full of trouble." At last he became gloomy altogether.[13]

[1]Thoughtful. To think = pens-i; suf. -em denotes propensity. [2]With his widowed mother, i.e. his own = sia. [3]This was his name. To name = nom-i; with suf. -igx = to get named, to be called. [4]Tired out. Tired = lac-a; suf. -eg denotes intensity. [5]A few years. Accusative of time. [6]She grew old all at once. Young = jun-a; old = maljuna; suf. -igx denotes becoming; prefix ek- denotes beginning, or sudden action. [7]Every morning = cxiumatene. "The whole morning" would be la tutan matenon. [8]Plagued. To suffer = sufer-i; suf. -ig is causative; suferigi = to cause to suffer. [9]With... pains. Think of the sense. "With" = by means of. [10]It was the same. Impersonal: use the adverbial form in -e. [11]Men and women. Pref. ge- denotes both sexes. [12]Youth. Young = juna; suf. -ec denotes abstract. [13]Became gloomy altogether. Gay = gaj-a; gloomy = malgaja; suf. -ad denotes continuance.

Vintro forpasis, somero alvenis. Winter passed away, summer came Unu nokton la knabo estis kusxanta on. One night the boy was lying en sia lito: li estis laboreginta in his bed: he had been working en la kampoj, kaj estis tre laca, hard[1] in the fields, and was sed ju pli li penis ekdormi, very tired, but the more he des pli li obstine vekigxadis. tried to go to sleep[2] the La tutan fajran tagon la suno wider awake he grew. All through estis malsupren brilinta sur la the long fiery day the sun had tegmenton de la dometo, tiel ke la been beating down[3] on the roof kusxejo nun similis fornon. Namezo of the cottage, so that the pensis kaj turnigxis, returnigxis sleeping-place[4] was now like an kaj repensis; la samaj pensoj, oven. Namezo thought and tossed, cxiam ronde revenantaj, igxis tossed and thought again; the same turmento. Fine li ekdormetis, sed thoughts, always coming round in la konfuzigaj pensoj, cxiam la a circle, became[5] a torture. pensoj, ruladis ecx en lia dormo At length he fell into a light senkompate tra lia cerbo. sleep,[6] but the distracting[7] thoughts, always the thoughts, kept rolling[8] through his brain pitilessly, even in his sleep.

Subite ekfalis sur lin granda All at once a great peace fell paco. Li sxajnis stari sur monta upon him. He seemed to be standing pinto. Laceco kaj zorgo ne estis on a mountain-peak. Weariness[9] plu. Cxirkauxe vasta soleco. Li and care were no more. Around kaj la monto—krom tio ekzistis vast solitude. He and the nenio, kaj li estis kontenta. mountain—there was nought else, and he was glad.

Al li, tiel lukse enspiranta la While he thus breathed in the fresxan aeron, alvenis fluge fresh air with delight, a white blanka birdo. Gxi aperis, li ne bird came flying.[10] It appeared, sciis kiel, el la cxirkauxanta he knew not how, out of the soleco, kaj metigxis apud li sur surrounding solitude,[11] and came la montan pinton. Gxi komencis and perched[12] beside him on the paroli, kaj en lia songxo tio cxi mountain-top. It began to speak, neniel lin surprizis. and in his dream this[13] in no way[14] astonished him.

[1]He had been working hard. Pluperfect, lit. he was having worked. Suf. -eg denotes intensity. [2]To go to sleep. To sleep = dorm-i; pref. ek- denotes beginning. [3]Down. Above = supr-e; below = malsupre; n denotes motion. [4]Sleeping-place. To lie = kusxi; suf. -ej denotes place. [5]Became. Suf. -igx denotes becoming; here used as a separate verb. [6]Fell into a light sleep. To sleep = dorm-i; suf. -et denotes light sleep; pref. ek- denotes beginning. [7]Distracting. Confused = konfuz-a; suf. -ig denotes causation, confusion-causing. [8]Kept rolling. To roll = rul-i; suf. -ad denotes continuance. [9]Weariness. Tired = lac-a; suf. -ec denotes abstract. [10]Came flying. To fly = flug-i; root flug- with adverbial ending -e = flyingly. [11]Solitude. Alone = sol-a; suf. -ec denotes abstract. [12]Came and perched. The idea of motion is conveyed by the accusative (-n) pinton. [13]This. Use neuter form in -o, because it stands alone. "This dream" = tiu cxi songxo. [14]In no way. See table of correlatives, p. 193 [Part IV, Chapter V].

"Homa knabo," diris la birdo, "Mortal[1] boy," said the bird, faligante en lian manon semon dropping[2] a seed into his hand el sia beko, "prenu tiun cxi from its beak, "take this seed: semon: metu gxin en la teron: put it in the ground: care for prizorgu gxin, flegu gxin, kaj it, tend it, and keep tending it. flegadu gxin. Post tempo plenigota In the fulness of time there will levigxos el tiu cxi semo kreskajxo rise[3] from this seed such[5] a tia, kian la viaj gxis nun ne growth[4] as[5] your people[6] vidis. La aliaj homoj nomas gxin never yet saw. Other peoples call arbon. Gxi estos granda; kaj en it a tree. It will be big; and la venontaj jaroj, se oni deve in future[7] years, if it is duly gxin flegos, naskigxos el gxi tended, there will spring from it arbaroj, kiuj estos sxirmilo por groves,[8] which will give shelter la homaro, kaj por multaj aliaj to men and women, and will be celoj utilos. Sed flegi gxin oni useful for many other ends. But devos, cxar sen homa penado nenio tended it must be, for without al homoj prosperas." man's striving nothing turns out well for men."

Namezo volis respondi, sed dum Namezo was about to reply, but li levis la manon por rigardi la as he raised his hand to look at semon, estis al li kvazaux li the seed, he seemed to turn[9] turnigxis, la kapo malsupren: la head downwards: the mountain monto malaperis, kaj li disappeared,[10] and he falis... falis... falis.... fell... fell... fell....

[1]Mortal. Man = hom-o; ending -a makes it an adj. [2]Dropping. To fall = fal-i; suf. -ig denotes causing to fall. [3]Rise. To raise = lev-i; suf. -igx makes it intransitive. [4]A growth. To grow = kreski; "grow-thing" — kresk-ajx-o. [5]Such...as. Tia...kia (= Latin talis...qualis). See table of correlatives, p. 193 [Part IV, Chapter V]. [6]Your people. You = vi; -a makes it an adj. [7]Future. Future participle active of ven-i = about to come. [8]Groves. Tree = arb-o; suf. -ar denotes a collection of trees. [9]To turn. Turn-i is transitive; suf. -igx makes it intransitive. [10]Disappeared. To appear = aper-i; pref. mal- denotes opposite.

Tiam li estis denove veka en la Then he was awake again in the forna dometo, sed li ne povis sin oven-like[1] hut, but he could malhelpi, rigardi sian manon, por not refrain[2] from[3] looking at vidi cxu la semo enestis. Semo his hand, to see if the seed was neestis: kaj la pensoj rekomencis in it. There was no seed; and the ruladi tra lia cerbo—tamen ne plu thoughts began to roll through la antauxaj turmentigaj pensoj, his brain again—yet no longer sed novaj esperplenaj pensoj, cxar the old[4] worrying thoughts, li kredis, pasie kredis, ke estas but new thoughts full of hope, ja ia verajxo en lia songxo. for he believed, passionately believed, that there was indeed some truth[5] in his dream.

Kaj nun la morgauxa tago And now the new day began to dawn. eklumigxis. Li levigxis kaj iris He got up and went about his work, al sia laboro, kaj tiun cxi tagon and this day and many succeeding kaj multajn sekvantajn tagojn li days he went on working as usual, laboradis kiel kutime, parolante speaking to no one about his dream al neniu pri la sema songxo. of the seed.

Sed kiam la tempo de rikolto But when harvest-time was over, forpasis, li acxetis dudektagan he bought food[6] enough for nutrajxon kaj donis al la patrino twenty days and gave his mother sian restan sxparajxon el la the rest[7] of his harvest-tide rikolta tempo (cxar vi scias, savings[8] (for you know that ke en la sezono de rikolto bona in the harvest season a good laboristo gajnas pli ol alitempe), workman[9] earns more than at dirante ke li devos vojagxi, kaj other times), saying that he forestos dudek tagojn. La patrino must[10] go on a journey, and miregis, cxar neniam antauxe li would[10] be away for twenty days. estis lasinta sxin ecx unu tagon; His mother wondered greatly, for sed li estis bona filo, kaj sxi he had never left[11] her before kontrauxstaris lin en nenio. even for a single day; but he was a good son to her, and she did not thwart him in anything.

[1]Oven-like. Oven = forn-o; ending -a makes it an adjective. [2]Refrain. To help = help-i; to hinder = malhelpi; to hinder himself = malhelpi sin. [3]Refrain from looking. In Esperanto use the simplest construction possible, as long as it is clear. The simple infinitive rigardi is clear after malhelpi sin. [4]The old thoughts. Before = antaux; ending -a makes it an adjective. [5]Truth. Think of the sense. Here truth = "true-thing," so use suf. -ajx. "Truth" = abstract virtue = vereco. [6]Food. To feed = nutr-i; suf. -ajx denotes stuff. [7]The rest of. The rest = rest-o; ending -a makes it an adjective = remaining. [8]Savings. To save up = sxpar-i; sxpar-ajx-o = save-thing (i.e. saved thing). [9]Workman. To work = labor-i; suf. -ist denotes the agent. [10]He must go... and would be away. Esperanto syntax is perfectly simple. Just use the tense which the speaker would use, here the future; or any tense, so long as the meaning is clear. [11]He had left. Pluperfect = "he was having left," esti with past part. active. Li estis lasita would mean "he had been left."

Li forvojagxis do, kaj post kvin So he journeyed forth, and in five tagoj li ekvidis malproksime sur days he began to see far off on la horizonto blankan nubon, kiu the horizon a white cloud, which dum la morgauxa tago montrigxis turned out[1] in the course of the kiel monta pinto. Namezo salutis next day to be a mountain-peak. gxin, kaj de tiu momento, sen ia Namezo saluted it, and from that dubo, direktis sian iron tra la moment, without any doubt, bent ebenajxo cxiam al gxi. his course[2] across the plain constantly towards it.

Kiam li alvenis piedon de When he came to the foot[3] of la montoj, la deka tago jam the mountains, the tenth[4] day finigxis. Efektive li estis grave was already drawing to an end. trompigxinta pri la distanco. Indeed, Namezo had been greatly Neniam antauxe li vidis monton, mistaken[5] in the distance. He kaj tial, kiam li ekvidis la had never seen a mountain before, pinton meze de la vojagxo, li and so, when he caught sight of kredis ke li jxus alvenas, kaj the peak half-way, he thought marsxis pli malrapide. Tri tagojn he was just getting there, and li pensis cxiumatene, "Mi estos walked slower. For three days he hodiaux vespere cxe la montpiedo; thought every morning, "I shall morgaux mi suprenrampos gxis la be at the foot of the mountains pinton." Sed nun li sciis, ke li this evening; to-morrow I'll estas malfrua. Li formangxis jam climb[6] to the top." But now la duonon de sia provizajxo, kaj he knew that he was late.[7] He dum la lastaj mejloj li ekvidis had already eaten up half[8] of ke lia pinto estas parto de vasta his provisions,[9] and for the senlima montegaro, ke gxi ankoraux last few miles he was beginning malproksimas kaj li tute ne tiel to see that his peak was part facile supreniros. Li kalkulis ke of a boundless mountain-range, almenaux oktaga nutrajxo estos that it was still far off and necesa por reiri hejmen de la he would by no means get up so piedo de la montaro, kaj tiom easily. He calculated that at li tie enterigis por la returna least eight days' food would be vojagxo. Sekve restis nur dutaga needed to get home from the foot mangxajxo por la suprena kaj of the mountain-range, and he malsuprena montiro. buried[10] that amount[11] there for the return journey. Thus only two days' provision was left for the ascent and descent of the mountain.

[1]Turned out to be. To show = montr-i; with suf. -igx, montrigx-i = to show itself, to become shown. [2]His course. To go = ir-i; ending -o makes it a substantive = a going. [3]To the foot. Motion; use the -n case. [4]Tenth. Ten = dek; to form the ordinal numbers add -a to the cardinal. [5]Mistaken. To deceive = tromp-i; suf. -igx makes it intransitive. [6]Climb. Supr-a, -e, -en = upper, above, upwards. [7]Late. Early = fru-a; pref. mal- denotes opposite. [8]Half. Two = du; suf. -on denotes fractions. cf. kvarono = quarter. [9]Provisions. Provide-stuff (i.e. provided stuff). [10]Buried. Earth = ter-o; in = en; suf. -ig denotes causing to be. [11]That amount. Tiom. See the table of correlatives, p. 193 [Part IV, Chapter V].

Tre frue do li ekiris la dekunuan Very early, then, on the tagon, kaj penadis cxiutage eleventh[1] day he set out, and supren. Vespere li vidis ke li toiled the whole day upwards. ankoraux havas plenan tagvojagxon In the evening he saw that he gxis la pinton, kaj tiel li devos still had a full day's journey tre sxpareme uzi sian restan to the top, and so he must be provizajxon. La dekdua tago estis very sparing[2] in the use of his tre doloriga. La monto farigxis remaining stores. The twelfth day kruta; li devis rapidi; kaj li was very painful.[3] The mountain terure malsatis pro ekmankanta grew[4] steep; he had to press on; mangxajxo. Malgraux cxio li and he was terribly hungry,[5] alvenis montpinton je la noktigxo. as the food was beginning to La subita ekscito, kune kun la give out. In spite of all, he laceco kaj malsato, estis tro: en reached the top at nightfall.[6] la momenta de sukceso li falis en The sudden excitement, with his sveno sur la teron. weariness and hunger, was too much: in the moment of success he fell to the ground in a swoon.

Jen, dum li kusxis senkonscie, And lo! as he lay unconscious, aperis la duan fojon la sama there appeared to him for the vidajxo. Birdo blanka alflugis, second time the same vision.[7] metis en lian manon semon, kaj A white bird flew up, put a seed diris la samajn vortojn. Denove into his hand, and said the same li levis la manon, kaj denove li words. Again he raised his hand, sxajnis renversigxi, kaj falis... and again he seemed to turn over, falis... falis.... and fell... fell... fell....

Rekonsciigxinte, li trovis sin When he came to himself,[8] he kusxanta trankvile apud la loko was lying quietly in the very mem, kie li enterigis sian place where he had buried his returnan provizajxon antaux la food for the home journey before supreniro. Li kusxis sur dolcxa the ascent. He was lying on soft herbo, kaj sentis sin korpe tute grass, and his body felt free from mallacigata, kaj granda paco its tiredness,[9] and in his soul regis en lia animo. Tuj kiam li reigned a great peace. As soon as malfermis la okulojn, li rigardis he opened[10] his eyes, he looked en sian manon, kaj tiun cxi fojon in his hand, and this time the la semo enestis. seed was there.

[1]Eleven = dek-unu; add -a to make the ordinal. 20 = dudek. [2]Sparing. To save = sxpar-i; suf. -em denotes propensity. [3]Painful. Pain = dolor-o; suf. -ig denotes causation; ending -a makes it an adjective. [4]Grew. To make = far-i; suf. -igx denotes becoming made, growing. [5]Hungry. Satisfied = sat-a; pref. mal- denotes the opposite. To be hungry = mal-sat-i. [6]Nightfall. Night = nokt-o; suf. -igx denotes becoming. [7]Vision. See(n)-thing; vid-i = to see; with suffix -ajx. [8]When he came to himself. Conscious = konsci-a; prefix re- denotes back again; suffix -igx denotes becoming. [9]Free from tiredness. Tired = lac-a; mal- denotes opposite; -ig denotes causing to be. [10]Opened. To shut = ferm-i; to open = malfermi.

Longa, labora kaj preskaux A long, laborious descent from sennutra malsupreniro de la the mountain-top almost without montpinto jam ne necesis, kaj la food was now no longer needful, hejmvojagxo trans la ebenajxo and on the home journey across prosperis, tiel ke Namezo staris the plain all went well, so that baldaux ree en la patrina dometo. Namezo soon stood again in his La vilagxanoj kunvenis amase kaj mother's[1] cottage. The villagers multe demandis pri lia vojagxo, flocked in crowds[2] and asked cxar neniu el ili estis iam tiel many questions about his journey, malproksimen foririnta de la for none of them had ever been hejmo. Namezo cxion rakontis, so far from home. Namezo told kaj montris la semon kiun li them everything, and showed the devos planti. La najbaroj komence seed which he was to plant. At kredis, ke li volas mirigi ilin, first the neighbours thought he kiel la vojagxistoj amas fari, kaj was trying to astonish[3] them, ili ridis pri liaj rakontajxoj. as travellers are wont to do, Sed, kiam ili vidis ke li estis and they laughed at his tales. serioza, ili ekkolerigxis kaj But when they saw that he was in volis forpreni lian semon kaj earnest, they got in a rage,[4] detrui gxin. "'Arbo' estas and wanted to take away his seed sensencajxo," ili diris; "ne and destroy it. "A 'tree' is povas ekzisti alia kreskajxo, foolishness,"[5] they said; "no krom la rikoltoj kaj la legomoj other plant can exist, except the kiujn ni kaj niaj patroj jam crops and vegetables that we and cxiam kreskigis. Estas neeble our fathers have always grown. ke io alia kresku kaj igxu pli It is impossible for anything granda." Kaj unuj diris ke li else to grow and become[6] bigger estas vana songxisto, kaj aliaj than they." And some said that he ke li frenezas. Sed lia patrino was an idle dreamer, and others kuragxigis lin. that he was mad. But his mother encouraged him.

[1]Mother's. Father = patr-o; suf. -in denotes feminine; ending -a makes it an adjective. [2]In crowds. Crowd = amas-o; ending -e makes it an adverb. [3]Astonish. To wonder = mir-i; suf. -ig makes it transitive. [4]Got in a rage. Anger = koler-o; pref. ek- denotes beginning; suf. -igx denotes becoming. [5]Foolishness. Sense = senc-o; without = sen; suf. -ajx = without-sense-stuff. [6]Become. Suf. -igx is here used alone as a verb = to become.

Kaj Namezo timis por sia semo, kaj And Namezo feared for his seed, pripensis kiel li povos savi gxin and thought how he could save it de la najbaroj kiam gxi ekkreskos. from the neighbours when it began Kaj li eliris el la vilagxo nokte, to grow up. And he went out of the kaj plantis gxin malproksime de village by night, and planted it cxiuj domoj, apud rivereto en far away from all the houses, by mallevigxo de la tero, kie oni a little stream in a hollow[1] of gxin ne vidos gxis gxi estos tre the ground, where it would not be granda. Kaj komence li iris tien seen till it grew very big. And at nur nokte; sed, cxar li ne parolis first he went there only by night; plu pri sia semo, la vilagxanoj but, as he said no more about his forgesis la aferon, tiel ke li seed, the villagers forgot the povis eliri el la vilagxo vespere matter, so that he could go out of post sia taglaboro kiam li volis, the village in the evenings after kaj neniu zorgis pri tio, kien his day's work whenever he liked, li iras. Sed li ne kuragxis gxin and nobody troubled about where transplanti apud sian dometon, he was going.[2] But he did not timante ke oni difektu gxin aux dare to transplant it to his own sxerce aux malice, kaj sekve cottage, fearing that they would restis por li la granda laborado damage it in jest or malice, and iri, kiam li estis jam laca, so the hard work remained for him malproksimen por flegi gxin. of going a long way to look after it, when he was already tired.

[1]A hollow. To raise = lev-i; suf -igx makes it intransitive; pref. mal- denotes the opposite; ending -o makes it a noun. [2]Where he was going. "Where" here = "whither," therefore add -n, which denotes motion.

Jaroj forpasadis: Namezo Years passed away: Namezo grew grandigxis, sed lia kreskajxo up,[1] but his plant would not ne volis grandigxi. Multfoje grow up too. Many a time he li malesperis, vidante ke gxi despaired,[2] seeing that it kvazaux ne kreskadis plu, aux seemed as though it had given up ke gxi en somero havis velkan growing, or that it had a faded mienon. Multajn vintrojn gxi look in summer. Many winters it preskaux mortis per frosto. Sed nearly died of the frosts. But he li persistis, kaj cxiuokaze li persevered, and in every case[3] provis ian novan flegon, cxar he tried some new treatment, neniam antauxe en la tuta lando for never before in the whole oni kreskigis tielan plantajxon. land had any one grown[4] such a Iatempe li metis sterkon: tiam li plant. At one time he would put subdrenis la teron, cxirkauxhakis on manure; then he tried draining la brancxetojn, aux sxirmis la the ground, pruning the shoots, burgxonojn kontraux la ventoj. or protecting the buds against Ree, vidante ke malgraux cxio la the winds. Again, seeing that arbeto ne prosperis, li pretigis in spite of all the little tree novan terajxon kaj transplantis did not flourish, he prepared[5] gxin, antauxe enpluginte alispecan a new soil-bed and transplanted teron. Li eksperimentis per seka, it, having first ploughed in poste per malseka, subtero: a different kind of earth. He unuvorte, li sencxese penadis, experimented with dry, and then diversigante konstante la with damp, sub-soil: in short, he kondicxojn gxis li gxuste trafos. toiled ceaselessly, constantly Fine, kiam li jam de longe estis varying[6] the conditions till he plenagxa, lia deziro plenumigxis: should hit off the right thing. tie, apud la rivereto staris At last, when he had long come to granda belkreska arbo. be a grown man,[7] his desire was fulfilled:[8] there beside the stream stood a fine big tree.

[1]Grew up. Big = grand-a; suf. -igx denotes becoming. [2]Despaired. To hope = esper-i; pref. mal- denotes opposite. [3]In every case. To happen = okaz-i; any or all = cxiu; ending -e makes it adverbial = "any-happening-ly," i.e. whatever happened. [4]Grown. To grow (intrans.) = kresk-i; suf. -ig makes it transitive. [5]Prepared. Ready = pret-a; suf. -ig = to make ready. [6]Varying. Diverse = divers-a; suf. -ig = to render diverse. [7]A grown man. Age = agx-o; full = plen-a; ending -a denotes adj. [8]Was fulfilled. To fulfil = plenum-i; -igx denotes becoming.

En somero, kiam la folioj estis In summer, when it was in full plenaj, li kondukis tien kelkajn leaf, he took his friends there, amikojn, kaj ili gxojis sidantaj and they rejoiced sitting in the vespere sub la fresxa ombro. En cool shade at evening. In autumn auxtuno ili kolektis la semujojn, they collected the pods,[1] took portis ilin en la vilagxon, kaj them to the village, and tried to penis decidigi la vilagxanojn get the villagers to plant the planti la semaron apud siaj seed by their homes, to give them dometoj, por havi sxirmilon. Sed shelter. But the villagers would la vilagxanoj ne volis. not have them.

Unu diris, "Arbo estas neebla."* One said, "A tree is impossible."[2]

Kaj Namezo respondis, "Arbo And Namezo answered, "A tree ekzistas. Venu kun mi, kaj mi exists. Come with me, and I will vidigos vin." show[3] you."

Sed li diris, "Arbo estas neebla." But he said, "A tree is impossible."

*For this and the following objections of the villagers, compare Part I., chap. xv., pp. 54-6.

[1]Pods. Seed = sem-o; suf. -uj denotes that which contains. [2]Impossible. Suf. -ebl denotes possibility, and can, like all suffixes, be used by itself. Ne-ebl-a = not possible. [3]Show. To see = vid-i; with suf. -ig = to cause to see.

Ree Namezo diris, "Se vi nur tiom Again Namezo said, "If you will da peno faros, kiom necesas por only take as much trouble[1] as eliri el la vilagxo, mi montros is necessary to go out of the al vi arbon, sub kiu miaj amikoj village, I will show you a tree, kaj mi sxirmigxas cxiuvespere. under which my friends and I take Venu nur kaj provu se gxi placxos shelter every evening. Only just ankaux al vi." come and try whether it pleases you also."

Sed li diris, "Mi ne volas eliri. But he said, "I will not go out. A Arbo estas neebla." tree is impossible."

Alia diris, "Mi vidis vian arbon, Another said, "I have seen your kaj mi trovas gxin tute senutila." tree, and I consider it perfectly useless."

Kaj Namezo respondis, "Kial?" And Namezo answered, "Why?"

Kaj li diris, "Niaj patroj ne And he said, "Our fathers had no havis arbon." trees."

Namezo diris, "Niaj patroj suferis Namezo said, "Our fathers suffered pro manko de sxirmado." from want of shelter."

Kaj li diris, "Tial mi ankaux And he said, "Therefore I too will suferos." suffer."

Alia diris, "Ni havas ja suficxe Another said, "We have enough da kreskajxoj. Niaj rikoltoj kaj plants. Our crops and vegetables legomoj provizas nutrajxon, kaj la provide food, and our gay flowers belaj floroj cxarmas la okulon. charm the eye. Another growing Alia kreskajxo estus superflua." thing would be superfluous."

[1]Trouble. To try = pen-i; ending -o makes it a substantive = trying, effort.

Kaj Namezo respondis, "Bone. Niaj And Namezo answered, "Good. The gxisnunaj kreskajxoj plenumas la plants we have already[1] fulfil cxefajn bezonojn de la homaro. the chief needs of mankind. Mangxo kaj certa ornamo estas Food and some ornament are necesajxoj por la homa naturo, necessities[2] for human nature, kaj por tiuj cxi uzoj ni havas and for these uses we have the rikoltojn kaj florojn. Sed la vivo crops and flowers. But life would estus pli plezura se ni estus pli be pleasanter if we were better bone sxirmataj. Tiun cxi apartan sheltered. This special service[3] servon prezentas la arboj, kaj ni is done by the trees, and we can povos gxui gxin sen fordoni la enjoy it without foregoing the profiton de floro kaj rikolto. Ne, advantage of flower and crop. plue, niaj rikoltoj, sxirmataj Nay, more, our crops, sheltered de la montaj ventoj, pli facile from the winds that blow from the maturigxos: tiel ni havos pli da mountains, will ripen[4] more tempo por la plezurigaj laboroj, easily: thus we shall have more kaj la floroj estos ankoraux pli time for the work that brings belaj." pleasure,[5] and the flowers will be even more lovely."

Kaj li diris, "Tagmeze, kiam la And he said, "At noon,[6] when the suno brilas, mi kusxas inter sun shines warm, I lie amidst the la altstaranta greno. Tiu cxi deep standing corn. This shelter sxirmilo suficxas. Ni havas is enough. We have plants enough. suficxe da kreskajxoj. Arbo A tree is not a plant; it is a ne estas kreskajxo; gxi estas monster. Go to the devil!" monstro. Iru diablon!"

Kaj Namezo iris al la diablo, And Namezo went to the devil, cxar li estis preta iri kien ajn, for he was ready to go anywhere, plivole ol dauxrigi paroli kun la rather than continue to talk to vilagxanoj. the villagers.

Li diris, "Via diabla Mosxto, la He said, "Your devilish Majesty, vilagxanoj nauxzadas min, kaj mi the villagers make me sick,[7] and estas laca je mia vivo. Faru el mi I am tired of[8] my life. Do with kion vi volas." me as you will."

[1]The plants we have already. Lit. our till-now plants. [2]necessities. Necessary = neces-a: with suf. -ajx = necessary things. [3]Service. To serve = serv-i; ending -o makes it a substantive. [4]Ripen. Ripe = matur-a; suf. -igx denotes becoming. [5]Work that brings pleasure. Pleasure = plezur-o; suf. -ig denotes causing to be. [6]Noon. Day = tag-o; middle = mez-o; ending -e is adverbial. [7]Make me sick. To make sick = nauxz-i; -ad denotes continuation. [8]Tired of. The preposition je is used when no other preposition exactly fits.

Respondis la diablo, "Mi ne The devil made answer, "I povas ion fari por vi, mizerulo! can do nothing for you, poor La vilagxanoj estas venkintaj wretch![1] The villagers have min; kaj mi retiras min de la beaten me; and I am retiring from aferoj. Neniam, ecx en miaj plej business. Never, even in my most eltrovemaj tagoj, mi elpensis ingenious[2] days, did I invent tiel mortigan turmenton por such a deadly[3] torment for a progresema homo, kiel sukcesi en progressive man, as to succeed in la produkto de profitiga uzilo, producing a beneficial[4] device, kaj tiam devi penadi, por igi and then have to keep striving to siajn kunulojn alpreni gxin. get his fellows[5] to adopt it. Reiru al la vilagxanoj kaj donu Go back again to the villagers, al ili miajn respektplenajn and give them my respectful komplimentojn." compliments."

Pezakore, Namezo reiris hejmen, Heavy at heart, Namezo went home kaj envoje li renkontis again, and on the way he fell vilagxanaron portantan hakilojn. in with a band of villagers[6] Li demandis kial ili portas carrying axes.[7] He asked why hakilojn. they were carrying axes.

"Por dehaki la arbon," respondis "To cut down the tree," replied la grupestro; "ni timas ke gxi the leader of the band[8]; "we are etendigxos sur la tutan landon. afraid that it will spread and Se oni prenos la fruktetojn kaj fill the whole land. If the people plantos ilin apud sia logxejo, la take the fruits and plant them at arboj entrudos sin en la kampojn their own homes,[9] trees will kaj en la florbedojn, kaj elpusxos encroach upon the fields and upon la aliajn kreskajxojn." the flower-beds, and will drive out the other plants."