Gulliver's Fifth & Sixth Voyages 1732 Studios

Hungarian · Capillária

Első fejezet

Chapter One

60 sentences

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  1. 1

    The Author excuses himself for having, contrary to his oath, put to sea a sixth time.

    Szerzőthe Authorszerző · noun, nominative, singularsubject of mentegeti

    Surfaces mix capitalized 'Szerző' (used as the chapter-argument character label, rendered 'The Author') and lowercase 'szerző' (generic noun, rendered lowercase 'the author' — see cap-front-matter-s75: 'A szerző mentegetőzik' -> 'The author excuses himself,' not 'The Author'). The original note wrongly forced 'the Author' for both.

    mentegetiexcusesmenteget · verb, present, indicative, definite, third-person, singularmain verb of the sentence
    magáthimselfmaga · pronoun, accusative, singular, reflexivedirect object of mentegeti
    amiértfor havingamiért · adverboblique complement of kelt
    esküjehis oathesküje · noun, nominative, singular, third-person singular possessoroblique complement of kelt
    ellenéredespiteellenére · prepositionpreposition marking esküje
    hatodszorfor the sixth timehatod · adverbdepends on kelt
    isevenis · conjunctionlinks the coordination
    útrato seaút · noun, sublative, singularoblique complement of kelt
    keltset outkel · verb, past, indicative, indefinite, third-person, singularadverbial clause on mentegeti

    Homonym clash: 'kel' (to set out/rise, past tense 'kelt') vs. the separate verb 'kelt' (to arouse), whose present tense is also spelled 'kelt'.

  2. 2

    He accepts the post of surgeon aboard the Queen.

  3. 3

    The Germans attack the ship.

  4. 4

    The Author, in his desperate plight, all but resigns himself to death, and under strange circumstances comes ashore in Capillária.

  5. 5

    The reader will surely marvel that, notwithstanding so much bitter experience, and after I had owed it only to the most wondrous accidents that I was permitted once more to behold my beloved country and my ardently loved family in Redriff — and after the vow I had sworn, by which I promised my beloved wife that henceforward I should devote my life to her and our daughter in peace and quiet — I should nonetheless, for a sixth time, resolve to take part, as a surgeon, in an undertaking of a very uncertain issue.

  6. 6

    All the more marvelous is this, in that my ardently loved wife, since my return from Faremido, with a perfect sense of her maternal and conjugal duty, had labored to persuade me of the manifold dangers lurking in my undertakings, which, threatening the soundness of my body, nay, my very life, might once and for all render it impossible for me to fulfil my office as head of the family, and the maintenance of her and our little daughter.

  7. 7

    I cannot sufficiently emphasize the exemplary conduct of my beloved wife as a spouse: in her day she was a very handsome girl, courted by many suitors who would gladly have taken her to wife, and she, having weighed the possibilities, generously chose me, binding her fate to mine, and bestowing upon me the joy her love afforded, to her no less than to myself.

  8. 8

    From that time forward she has never for one moment ceased to exercise that excellence of the virtuous and high-minded spouse which is the holiest office of married life: to spur me on to fulfil my husbandly calling with all my strength.

  9. 9

    She has devoted her whole life to that foremost duty of the good wife, to admonish and urge me unceasingly and constantly toward that which is the fairest ornament of the true man: an all-sacrificing selflessness nourished toward wife and family.

  10. 10

    To this calling and this duty she has subordinated every other consideration, every idle pleasure — selflessly, and with a rapturous faith, she has labored only that I might stand before my fellow men with that self-regard which the consciousness affords of a man who is devoted to his wife and family, who gives them everything, who renounces all things for their sake.

  11. 11

    That all the world should honor and esteem me as such an ideal husband and man: this alone was the whole endeavor of my wife, who thought only of me.

  12. 12

    Often, when, having lost faith, or grown despondent, or wearied by the hard labor with which I maintained my family, I sought forgetfulness in idle diversion — it was her strong and selfless will that preserved me from the day when my grandchildren might speak of me as a frivolous and wicked man who had not even cared for his own family.

  13. 13

    At such times she spared no pains to restore to me my self-esteem.

  14. 14

    She reminded me that here, or there, further money might yet be earned, were I to exert myself a little.

  15. 15

    She took me along to buy her a hat or a gown, that with these adornments she might demonstrate to my friends, and to hers, what a fine and good husband I was.

  16. 16

    She unceasingly roused and urged me toward goodness, selflessness, self-sacrifice, and the fairest Christian virtues, and labored to furnish me occasion to practice these virtues toward herself.

  17. 17

    She woke me in the morning, when, idle and slothful, I would still have slept — she sent me to my labors, when aimless reverie had taken me captive — in a word, she did everything in her power to preserve my good name.

  18. 18

    By degrees she succeeded in bringing it about that I began to be spoken of as one of the most upright and trustworthy citizens of the district.

  19. 19

    When the Germans attacked my ardently beloved country — which, in its innocence, being wholly unprepared for human wickedness, and being at that very moment engaged in the labor of annexing Greece, and, having exiled the king of the Transvaal, of appropriating to itself a few German colonies — the indignation aroused by this lawless act called every honorable man to arms, myself among them.

  20. 20

    The blazing watchword, that our weak women and children must be defended, drew tears from the eyes of my beloved wife; like a rapturous patriot who sacrifices all things for her country, she did not hesitate for a moment to sacrifice, should it be needful, even my life for this cause.

  21. 21

    She herself urged me to enlist with all possible speed.

  22. 22

    At the first I performed local service in Liverpool.

  23. 23

    My life at this time was exceedingly hard, since on the one hand my strength was heavily taxed by the labor I offered, freely and without recompense, to my comrades, who had banded together in the sacred cause of defending our defenseless women from the barbarians — while on the other hand, alongside this additional labor, it caused me ever greater concern how I might maintain my wife and my little daughter.

  24. 24

    What held me back chiefly from hastening at once to the field of glory was the fear that my beloved wife would have had to live upon that scant and insufficient allowance which the state secures for the dependents of those called to the colors.

  25. 25

    My beloved wife, understandably cast down by this injury to my pride, at last discovered a solution entirely answerable to my husbandly self-regard, and restored once more my composure, already well-nigh shaken.

  26. 26

    She prevailed upon me to insure my life with a company established about that time — the insurance, in view of my military condition, went through with some difficulty, and was rendered possible only by a very high annual premium.

  27. 27

    The raising of this yearly sum so wearied me that in 19— I volunteered of my own accord for assignment to the front.

  28. 28

    I was posted as surgeon to the merchant vessel Queen, whose office it was, under military escort, to maintain traffic upon those endangered routes which, passing through the zone of the German submarines, connected the commerce of England and America.

  29. 29

    On the morning of the twenty-sixth of June, 19—, I took my leave of my beloved wife, who broke into bitter weeping, but thereupon, mastering herself, reminded me of my duty, as befits the wife of a good soldier.

  30. 30

    That same afternoon I went aboard with my small baggage and my instruments, and received from the commander my instructions touching my duties.

  31. 31

    Our ship ran out of the harbor before a fair wind, and, having a few days later set down part of her cargo in the Irish town of G—, turned on the third of July toward the open sea.

  32. 32

    For a time we continued our voyage undisturbed.

  33. 33

    On the sixth of July we stood at latitude 13° 27′ 1″ and longitude 49° 22′ and 36″.

  34. 34

    On this day, I confess with some shame, an inexplicable and idle good humor took hold of me, one starkly at odds with the sorrowful condition of my beloved country, and the reader can only forgive me if I own that I had previously partaken of some spirituous beverages.

  35. 35

    But my humor was good, and — I confess this only because I have resolved to relate everything exactly as it happened, neither embellishing nor coloring the events after the manner of those travelers who aim only at outward effect — I own that I even sang.

  36. 36

    That afternoon I received a wireless telegram from my wife, informing me that she was in good health, that her toothache had already passed, that she had bought herself a pair of gloves at a very reasonable price, and that I therefore need have no fear of any trouble, provided that I too had settled all my affairs.

  37. 37

    As though struck by lightning, such terror and despair seized me upon reading this telegram.

  38. 38

    For it came to me that I had forgotten to pay, the previous week, the latest installment due upon that life insurance which, in the event of my death, would have secured my beloved wife twenty thousand pounds sterling — that I could get this installment to the company within a week at the very most, and that therefore, should a fatal misfortune overtake me in the meantime, all the payments made hitherto would be lost, and my wife would not receive a single penny.

  39. 39

    Yet I found some small comfort in the reflection that, in such a case, the sum in question would remain, after all, with the insurance company, which was a state institution, the possession and property of that beloved state for which I would gladly have sacrificed my life and my blood, that I might defend its weak and defenseless women and orphans.

  40. 40

    Tossed amid such doubts and fears, I awoke to the tenth of July, a day that will remain forever memorable to me.

  41. 41

    On the evening of this day a terrible outcry drew me up to the deck.

  42. 42

    The crew ran about in alarm, and the commander shouted in headlong panic.

  43. 43

    I soon learned that our ship had been struck by the torpedo of a German submarine, and this quite unexpectedly, since in these waters — we were then hovering above one of the deepest points of the Ocean — no attack could reasonably have been anticipated.

  44. 44

    At once the neglected insurance sprang to my mind; before the eye of my soul appeared the reproachful gaze of my beloved wife, and in my anguish I broke out into a loud outcry.

  45. 45

    The ship at once began to sink, and we had time only enough for me, with nineteen others, to leap into a lifeboat.

  46. 46

    Within a few minutes the proud Queen, cargo and all, vanished entirely amid the churned waves.

  47. 47

    I had counted upon our boat being taken up by some cruiser; but it pleased, alas, the demon of ill fortune to heap yet further my cup of suffering: three hours later a hideous roar flung us into the air; our boat had struck a drifting mine, and was broken to pieces.

  48. 48

    Falling back into the water, I strove for a time by swimming to save my life, bitterly cursing the moment which, after so much sorrowful experience, had cast me out for the sixth time into the unknown.

  49. 49

    All at once I was caught in an eddy, and my strength forsook me.

  50. 50

    Once more I raised my eyes, to take my leave of the sunlit clouds of heaven, which floated so peacefully on high — whereupon I spread wide my arms, and quietly surrendered my weary body to the depths.

  51. 51

    For some moments, rocking and turning gently, I sank downward through this translucent green fluid — I remember still that I beheld, with a wholly naive and sorrowful wonder, the comically gaping mouth of a flat red fish, which struck against my nose and started back in alarm.

  52. 52

    I too opened my mouth, to receive death within it, and indeed — strange, but so it was — I performed even a few measured and regular gapings, as though at the last moment I had wished to learn from the fish how they contrive to live and breathe beneath the water.

  53. 53

    After this I evidently lost consciousness, and I cannot say whether this state, which perfectly resembled death, lasted minutes or hours.

  54. 54

    Coming to myself, I felt myself to be in a tepid and soft medium, and, recognizing that I lived, I thought that perhaps I had been fished out and was now aboard the deck of some ship.

  55. 55

    But opening my eyes, to my very great astonishment I beheld above me a vast mass of thick, green waters, hovering, through which fish, serpents, and lizards such as I had never seen went gliding — and, raising my arm, I felt the resistance of the element.

  56. 56

    At the same time a strange humming and dullness troubled me about my ears: reaching up, I felt, in the place of my ear, a round box or disk, about the size of a palm, clinging tightly to my temple like some manner of shell.

  57. 57

    Upon my other ear was the same contrivance.

  58. 58

    With wonder I perceived that I was performing regular breathing movements with my mouth.

  59. 59

    Groaning, I raised myself into a sitting position.

  60. 60

    Whereupon a rustling arose beside me, and, turning to look, out of the pale and soft background of the blurred medium, and as though merging with the horizon, which was ringed about by broken mountain-chains, I caught sight of a woman's head of marvelous beauty, staring at me in wonder, and as at a stranger.

The particulars

The text
Utazás Faremidóba / Capillária, Frigyes Karinthy. Capillária.
Translation
Public-domain Hungarian (Karinthy, d. 1938; published 1916 and 1921). English translation © 2026 1732 Studios, LLC.
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Digital narration, directed by 1732 Studios.
In print
Our English translation, complete.
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Two whoopie pies and a pine. An inside joke.