Lost in translation (Part 3)

As discussed in Lost in translation (Part 2), Candy in her last letter to Albert in the epilogue promised not to ever call him Prince on the Hill or Granduncle William again. This might be the reason why in her letter to Vincent Brown she referred to Albert as Granduncle William Albert? 😉

Regardless, her aforementioned promises signify a new beginning of her relationship with Albert, the man she could now call Little Bert. However, have you ever thought that this wouldn’t have happened if Albert had not come to Pony’s Home all the way from Chicago just to confess to Candy? 🤨

Like my friend said, if indeed the author Keiko Nagita had regretted or changed her mind about her story when writing Candy Candy Final Story (CCFS) — as some Terry fans have claimed — the author could have unfolded the identity of the Scottish teenager in an entirely different way.

Consider the following what-if scenario that occurred after the discovery of Albert’s true identity:

Candy had been angry and occasionally teasing Albert as an old man despite his best efforts of asking her to forgive him. Perhaps he should avoid seeing her. After all, they lived far apart from each other, and he could barely cope with his frantic schedule.

Later, Albert felt bad and no longer wanted to hide anything else from Candy; he decided to write to her and tell her to forget about Prince on the Hill because he only regarded her as his little sister. Not to mention that he wasn’t a royalty.

On the other hand, Candy had remained deeply in love with Terry, even though he had chosen another woman and even promised to stay with her forever. Candy secretly hoped that one day Terry would return to her, so in the meantime she carried on with her life as usual. Now that she received such a letter from her big brother, she realized she didn’t care much about her childhood crush anymore.

Besides, she was awfully embarrassed to find out her prince was none other than her adoptive father — Granduncle William!! Ever since he had undertaken the role as the family patriarch, he had gradually become a father figure to her. She then recalled the moments she had shown him the badge while living together, and now she felt like hiding from him. Yet, she gathered her courage to write a thank-you letter to him for solving another mystery in her life. Also, she had a good laugh herself at her own silliness, so she begged him not to ever let anyone else know about it, especially Terry. Near the end of her letter she offered to return his badge at next family gathering.

Neither of them would ever broach the subject of Prince on the Hill again.

Do you like my mini-fic? 😁 I did it mainly for fun, but isn’t this more logical if Nagita had decided to bring Terry back to Candy somehow? Nagita should also write a lot more about Terry. Yes, he had a successful career as a Broadway actor, but what about the other aspects of his life? For example, Nagita could put more effort into writing how Terry could continue to bear living with a woman he had never loved, and because his feelings for Candy had not changed, he wrote a letter as T.G. in an attempt to reach her, etc. etc.

I think you get the idea 😂.

My point is, Nagita could have disclosed the details of the young heir’s runaway incident in various letters to/from different people, not unlike the other letters in CCFS. The readers would have no difficulty in understanding why a handsome boy would appear to little Candy for a fleeting moment on Pony’s Hill years ago.

Not only that, the story would have taken a completely different route if Candy had figured out the truth herself or discovered it from Georges and/or others.

However, we all know that Albert not only took the trouble to reveal this last secret in person but also waited for the fine day in Spring to make a special trip to Pony’s Hill just to ensure his confession would take place in the same season and location as their first encounter. Note that Georges came with him too, and he could have spilled the beans on behalf of the young boss. But no, it was only between the two blondes. Why? Because Albert seriously cared about this, and he was fully aware what a significant role this Prince on the Hill had played in Candy’s life.

Contrary to the aforementioned what-if scenario, Candy had not forgotten about Prince on the Hill, as written in her first letter to Albert shown in the epilogue (for the rest of this post, the title of Prince on the Hill or Prince will be emphasized):

丘の上の王子さまのことは、忘れたことはありません。

This reminds me of this adorable poster, and the words can be loosely translated to

“You’re prettier when you smile, little girl!”
Candy did not forget the day when she had met Prince on the Hill

We know that Candy didn’t even respect Granduncle William very much, so why do you think she began her first letter to Albert (after his confession) with so much respect, so much so that he urged her to resume her usual, cheerful chattering? (By the way, this implies they had been keeping in touch in writing while living far apart from each other).

The beginning of the third letter in the CCFS epilogue is the answer. However, due to copyrights, I won’t display every single line here. I will only show some of the important parts in this post.

This letter should be the very first time in CCFS Candy directly addressed Albert as “Prince on the Hill” (丘の上の王子さま), and below is what it looks like in the Japanese edition. Note that there’s a blank line in between the first paragraph and the next, and Candy used short paragraphs (sometimes only one or two lines in each) throughout the letter:

丘の上の王子さまへ

……いつものわたしらしくって言われても、ああ、やっぱり丘の上の王子さまにお手紙を書くなんて緊張してしまう!　(さあ、深呼吸して……)

丘の上の王子さま……
すぐにお返事ありがとうございました！
ウィリアムアルバート・アードレーっていう方にはもう驚かされっぱなしです！
か弱いわたしは心臓がいくつあってもたりません！

This is my attempt to translate the above:

Dear Prince on the Hill,

…… although I’m told to write in my usual style, ahhhh, still I can’t help feeling nervous doing such things as writing letters to Prince on the Hill! (Come on, take a deep breath… )

Prince on the Hill…
Thank you so much for your prompt reply!
The person called William Albert Ardlay keeps on giving me surprises!
My weak heart, no matter how many is never enough!

Note that the title “Prince on the Hill” already appears 3 times in the excerpt. Do you know how many times the titles “Prince on the Hill” or “Prince” appear in this letter?

The answer is 17 times!! Yes, you might argue that 6 out of 17 times she simply referred to him as “prince”, 王子さま. (Talking about that, sometimes to translate that I might use either “my prince” or “the prince”, depending on the context. ) At any rate, this fact alone indicates that Candy didn’t regard Albert as her big brother, let alone her father! 🤣

So Candy was nervous merely because she was writing a letter to her prince! However, she did ease up after taking a deep breath, lol… You see the next line that follows the blank line is yet another “Prince on the Hill…” Every time I read this, I can almost hear her dreamy sigh. 😀

Do you know Candy used the same adverb すぐに in her first letter to her prince, when she wrote that Georges immediately came to pick him up after his confession? Anyway, we readers know that Albert must have written a reply to her soon enough that Candy used すぐに. 😍

Besides, the way she wrote about him giving her surprises, using ぱなし, has a slight unpleasant nuance. It means that he keeps on or hasn’t stopped giving her surprises. I think she meant the surprise that he was her prince, not his surprise visit. 😛 Yet, we don’t detect any hint she was upset about any of this. In fact, the exact opposite is true. Don’t you agree? 😉

Candy then talked about her heart. Here she actually used the word for the heart organ, and the adjective she used is often associated with the fragile state of the organ. For example, when we say a patient’s heart is weak, this is exactly how one will describe the patient’s problem. Then Candy used a common phrase about things are lacking or never enough (like money or possessions, etc.). For example, when a woman wants to tell her husband not to worry, she might say something like this to him,

心配ばかりしていたら、心臓がいくつあっても足りませんね。

Literally, it means “if you only worry, no matter how many hearts you have it’s not enough.”

Here Candy meant her weak heart couldn’t take any more surprises. 😛 I find it funny because she is known to be tomboyish and tough. Obviously, she was not really complaining. She even said that the way he had revealed his secret was なんてすてき (how fantastic)! Then she started to describe that particular day (maybe approximately two weeks ago) when he had come to Pony’s home:

丘の上の王子さまと初めて会ったポニーの丘。あのときのように澄んだ青空に草の香り。

The hill where I met Prince on the Hill the first time. The (same) clear blue sky and fragrance (sweet smell) of the grass, just like that time.

More likely than not, Albert had intentionally come on the right day in the right season (which implies he remembered this as much as Candy did). Again, as I said before, Candy used many short paragraphs, so the above is by itself a paragraph (to me parts of the letter look like the lyrics of a song). What follows is her recollection of people’s reactions (including her own) to his sudden appearance.

あの日、突然大おじさまがポニーの家に現れたときから、わたし、不思議な胸騒ぎがしていたんです。先生たちがあわてふためいて、お茶だのクッキーだのって騒いでいてもわたし、ぼうっと立っていたでしょう？
あのとき……ポニーの家に入って来た大おじさまの表情がなぜかいつもと違って見えたの……。少年みたいに……。

That day, ever since the moment Granduncle suddenly appeared at Pony’s Home, I had been feeling mysteriously uneasy. When the teachers were in a panic, excitedly offering tea, cookies and the like, I was standing there in a daze, wasn’t I?
For at that moment… when Granduncle stepped into Pony’s Home, I could see that his expression was for some reason different from usual… like a boy…

Remember the first time when little Candy met the Scottish boy? After he had suddenly vanished, she thought the person, ひと (hito), looked like a prince (due to his handsome appearance?):

「王子さまみたいなひとだったな……」

Now that he was a grown-up, she thought he looked like a boy. 🙂 😅 Here, the same word for boy can be used for young teenagers too, so what do you think Candy implied? That Granduncle was blushing (not normal?) or he looked exceptionally shy? What are your guesses? 🙂 Remember Candy had lived with Albert for at least two years, and nobody else knew his features / facial expressions better than Candy. She must have sensed something different simply based on his appearance. In other words, whether he was flustered or not, she could somehow feel that he was not quite at his ease. That was probably why she had a premonition. That something was going to happen.

Also, I figure by this time the reconstruction of Pony’s Home might have been completed or near completion. I suppose this is why the teachers (Miss Pony and Sister Lane) panicked. Not because Granduncle William wasn’t welcome, but because they wanted to do their utmost best to please their guest, who had come without any announcement or warning. He was their 恩人 (onjin) after all.

I think I will stop here. I’ll hopefully continue soon. Please be patient. Your understanding is greatly appreciated. ❤