21 November 2014

Animalinside – Excerpt

My little master, where have you gone? I look for you here, I look for you there, but I can’t find you anywhere; I’m really looking for you, though, because you are my little master, and I can’t find my little food-dish, it’s here, though, it’s here, here, dinner-time is here, and I really need my little food-dish already, because my dinner really needs to be in it already. I only say so because it’s dinner-time, otherwise I wouldn’t speak, otherwise I wouldn’t need my little food-dish so much, and otherwise I wouldn’t even need my dinner so much but well, it‘s dinner-time, and at dinner-time one has to eat dinner, not roam around in the darkness looking for you, I don’t even know moreover why it’s so dark, and how I will find my little food-dish in this darkness, and how I will eat my dinner like this, I don’t understand anything, but well, really where are you, my little master, why can’t I find you, why can’t I see anything, the darkness down here below is complete, and in this darkness I really don’t know where I should look for you, my little master, give me my little food-dish here, give me my dinner here, and I ask you kindly, don’t do this again to me, and every evening when it’s dinner-time give me my little food-dish here, and put into it, I ask you kindly, my dinner, because when it is dinner-time I have to eat dinner, and every dinner-time of every day I have to eat dinner, and it has to be like that every day and every week and every month and every year, until the point when I’m all grown up and then your little food-dish won’t be needed any more, because then I will rip away your ears, because then I will tear off your nose, because then I will burn out your eyes, and I will bite your chin apart, I will slash your whole head to bits then and every year I will devour a virgin from Athens, and from that point on your dinner won’t be needed any more, not above, not below.

I’m only kidding – my little master.

Translation by George Szirtes