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The Three Friars, in Klingon
I mentioned to long-time reader John Cowan, in comments, the joke of the three Finns. (“Did we come here to talk, or did we come here to drink?”) John in turn pointed me to the Old Irish joke of the three friars.
Which, as a result, you can now read in Klingon—and you can now hear me read in Klingon, too.
They already have an Ancient Greek version, btw.
And a Koine one.
I looked through the languages closest to me. A very Scandinavianally dominated set. I was surprised to find my own name under the Nynorsk version — end especially since I didn’t like the start of it.
(Oh, and welcome back! And without Blogger’s comment interface!)
I remember you! And thank you!
It’s odd when what we wrote years ago comes back, and we no longer recognise it. It’s the consequence of middle age that those disconnects start to become more common.
Here’s my haphazard attempt at a Modern Greek version:
Τρεις μοναχοί εγκατέλειψαν τα εγκόσμια.
Βγήκαν έξω στις ερημιές για να μετανοήσουν για τις αμαρτίες τους.
Για ένα χρόνο δεν αντάλλαξαν κουβέντα.
Στο τέλος ο πρώτος από αυτούς είπε, ¨τα πάμε καλά¨.
Έτσι κύλησε και ο δεύτερος χρόνος.
¨Όντως, πάμε καλά¨, είπε ο δεύτερος.
Εκεί πέρασαν κι άλλον ένα χρόνο.
¨Μα το ράσο που φοράω¨, είπε ο τρίτος μοναχός, ¨αν δεν κάνετε ησυχία, θα σας αφήσω την ερημιά όλη δικιά σας!¨
Of course, I couldn’t use your Klingon text as a basis and so had to resort to the English, Spanish and the other two Greek versions.
There are also Koine and Modern translations. The Ancient and Koine are by the classicist Edgard Bikelis at Sao Paulo along with the incomparable vulgarisateur Nicholas Ostler; the Modern by an actual Greek person I don’t know, Dimitri Paraskevas.