bootstraps--speculation/questions

[Chris Waigl]

Douglas G. Wilson wrote:

>---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
>Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>Poster:       "Douglas G. Wilson" <douglas at NB.NET>
>Subject:      Re: bootstraps--speculation/questions
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>Here is the relevant passage in the Muenchhausen story, I think ...
>http://gutenberg.spiegel.de/buerger/muenchhs/muench04.htm ...
>
><<Ein andres Mal wollte ich über einen Morast setzen, der mir anfänglich
>nicht so breit vorkam, als ich ihn fand, da ich mitten im Sprunge war.
>Schwebend in der Luft wendete ich daher wieder um, wo ich hergekommen war,
>um einen größern Anlauf zu nehmen. Gleichwohl sprang ich auch zum zweiten
>Male noch zu kurz und fiel nicht weit vom andern Ufer bis an den Hals in
>den Morast. Hier hätte ich unfehlbar umkommen müssen, wenn nicht die Stärke
>meines eigenen Armes mich an meinem eigenen Haarzopfe, samt dem Pferde,
>welches ich fest zwischen meine Knie schloß, wieder herausgezogen hätte.>>
>
>According to my limited understanding, I guess the last part says
>more-or-less: "Here I would surely have died, had not the strength of my
>own arm pulled me out again by my pigtail -- together with the horse, which
>I held firmly between my knees."
>
>-- Doug Wilson
>
>

My (unpolished) translation:

---
Another time I wanted to jump across a morass, which initially didn't
appear as large to me as I found it to be when I was in the middle of
the leap. Floating in the air I turned around to whence I had come, in
order to back up further. However, the second attempt fell short as
well, and not far from the opposite bank I fell up to the neck into the
morass. I would certainly have perished here had the strength of my own
arm not pulled me out by my own pigtail[1], together with the horse,
which I held tightly between my knees.
----

[1] Gloss: "my own hair-braid". I first translated "a shock of my own hair".

Chris Waigl