While writing A Man in Love, my friend Yue Chan sent me something that I’d love to share with you all. Some of you might have heard of the Old Candy Candy Novel, which was the novelization of the original manga version, written by the author of Candy Candy, Mizuki (real name Keiko Nagita) herself. Years ago she decided to revise it again, and that resulted in what is known as Candy Candy Final Story (CCFS) today. Hence, it’s only natural that there are overlaps between the two. (Good news! Yue Chan has translated this post to Spanish in this post. 🙂)
Regrettably, due to the lawsuits with the manga illustrataor, Igarashi, we can no longer find this Old CC novel selling in any bookstore. So you can imagine our excitement when Yue Chan discovered that a Japanese fan ジャミーラ on Twitter (jyamiila) actually discovered a copy in a library; it’s like we have found a treasure! This Japanese fan, jyamiila, is willing to share the last letter in the novel with us. It’s a letter from Candy to Albert, and after that, the novel ends.
DMでリクエストがあったのでここでツイート。
キャンディキャンディ永遠のラブストーリー3巻の最後にキャンディがウィリアム＝アルバート＝アードレーさまと題しアルバートさんに送った手紙の内容です。
最後は「心より愛をこめてキャンディス＝ホワイト＝アードレー」と手紙を〆ています(^^) pic.twitter.com/TVVJm9aLel— ジャミーラ (@jyamiila) April 22, 2017
If you click on the pictures, you’ll see that the letter spans a little over three pages, using the famous scene near the end of the manga (if you want to understand what Albert said to Candy in the pictures, please read my old post Manga ending). Those who know how CCFS ends will grin like I did. Both Yue Chan and I think that this is NOT a coincidence. 😉 Many years ago, Mizuki used this picture to show the end of her story, showing how happy Candy was running towards Albert. Years later, the last paragraphs of CCFS described how Candy ran towards her husband’s outstretched arms. This sounds so familiar, doesn’t it? 😛
As I mentioned above, there are overlaps between the letters in the old novel and the letters in CCFS, especially the correspondence between Candy and Albert. Yue Chan is translating this letter to Spanish, and I’m going to share her post as soon as she publishes it on her blog. Meanwhile, I’ll only translate the highlights of this letter (the second page till the end). The background is that Albert sent Candy a letter, telling her many things about himself; he even wrote that one day he might travel again with Pouppe, so he asked if Candy would like to travel with him. Now, this last letter in the novel is Candy’s reply to Albert (The translation is based on my own interpretation. I try not to paraphrase. Please feel free to correct me if you spot any mistake. Thanks in advance!).
…
Now, on my chest the badge is tinkling, a refreshing (cool) sound.
Of course, please take me along with you! When Albert-san travels one day. (Because I will follow you even if you say no to me!)
Ahhh, Albert-san.
It’s wonderful to be alive, right? Somehow, it looks like I won’t sleep tonight.
Tomorrow, I wonder what kind of happy things will happen? Say I hear someone knocking, the moment the door is opened, none other than Albert-san is standing right there—-.
To my parents who abandoned me when I was born, now I’m grateful.
Because if they hadn’t abandoned me at Pony’s Home, I wouldn’t have met Albert-san!
Oh, Miss Pony appears, urging me to hurry to rest. Sigh, she always treats me like I was a child.
Nevertheless, tonight, I’m definitely going to have a splendid (magnificent) dream.
Good night.
Albert-san……
With love from my heart,
Candice White Ardlay
That’s it! This is the end of the entire novel. Candy wrote this letter (a love letter no less) to Albert with love from her heart (心より愛をこめて)! Sigh… Some people can even translate this phrase to “with love from the bottom of my heart” or “with all my love”, depending on the context. ❤❤❤