Prevod

(Without clarity, no work is good.) The trustworthy Father Valdecebro, who racked his brains devising tales of animals, describing them in minute detail; who in lofty, eloquent language 5 tells wonders of the unicorn and believes implicitly in the phoenix (I cannot quite recall whether in book eight or nine), relates the story of a celebrated Monkey. 10 This creature, then, adept at a thousand tricks and in the service of a great puppeteer, decided one day, while his master was away, to invite various animals, 15 his closest friends among them, to come and witness all his finest monkey tricks. He began by playing dead; then danced upon the tightrope like a harlequin, 20 performed the somersault and bell swing, then the headlong plunge, the splits, a string of tumbles, and finally a Prussian drill. Of these and other talents he made a grand display, 25 but the best was yet to come; for, copying his master’s practice, he thought he would offer them, to round off the afternoon and make the show delightful, a scene from the magic lantern. 30 Once he had won his audience’s attention with an introductory address, as custom dictates, he took his place behind the apparatus; and as he handled 35 the painted slides, easily moved this way and that, he explained the various figures with fluent assurance. The room was dark, 40 as such occasions require, and though those present watched intently, not one could see the marvels that, with so much chatter and such a solemn tone, 45 the ingenious Monkey announced to them. They were all bewildered, suspecting that they were being made fools of. The Monkey was already growing embarrassed when Master Pedro suddenly came in, 50 and, learning what had happened, said to him, half sternly and half laughing: “You blockhead! What use is all your endless chatter when you have left the lantern unlit?” Forgive me, subtle and lofty Muses, 55 who pride yourselves on being obscure: could I put it to you any better that without clarity you lack everything?