Did Candy find her happiness? (Part 4)
As promised in Did Candy find her happiness? (Part 3), I will talk about Candy’s letter to Anthony in the old novel. First, my appreciation goes to my admin friend of the Facebook page, William Albert Andrew (el príncipe de la colina), for sending this particular letter to me months ago.😍 I read it and couldn’t help comparing it to the one in Candy Candy Final Story (CCFS), which I’ve discussed in various posts in the past. 😀
At first glance, the major differences are: (1) this is a normal letter, highly unlikely a mental letter like the one in CCFS (at least Candy didn’t specify this as such), and (2) this letter is the first in the group of her four letters to those whom she wasn’t going to see again (like Stear, Susanna and Terry). They are all under chapter 6 of Volume 3, the one just before chapter 7 as shown in Did Candy find her happiness? (Part 3).
For your interest to know more about the table of contents in the old novel, please read the marvelous post from Yue Chan, discussing the differences between the Old Candy Candy and CCFS, Candy Candy Final Story ~ Primera edición de la Antigua Novela de Candy Candy, which Fay has also translated to English for Candy Candy Fans here.
This is the first time I’ve ever translated a long Japanese letter into English. Just so you know, it’s taken me some time to polish this, mainly because I wanted it to really sound like Candy writing in English, so I decided to paraphrase some lines as well, carefully choosing nuanced words. 😅😄 I also added my interpretation of Anthony’s mother’s last words within parentheses.
If you find any mistake in translation or want to translate my post into your native language, please contact me. I’d love to post your translation on my blog too to share with other Candy Candy fans. 😘 Without further delay, this is the first part of the letter. I’ll post the rest in Part 5.
Dear Anthony Brown,
Anthony, at this moment, what are you doing?
Even in Heaven, the roses must be blooming, am I right?
Are you with Stear now? Because you must have dashed to his side, being very lonely on your end.
You know, the other day, I went to Lakewood. Anthony, your rose garden was like what it used to be. The rose gate had also been well maintained, and the flowers are blooming every year. Truly, while looking at the flowers, I thought in a daze about what you had mentioned to me before.
After a flower withers, it will bloom more beautifully (as other flowers).
After a person dies, this person will be revived more beautifully in another’s heart (as memories)…— I thought I would never in my life return to the forest, the fox hunting one, and yet I went there too.
The area of the grassland where Anthony had fallen off the horse has become a sea of wild roses. Granduncle William himself has planted them there.
Oh right! Granduncle William made his appearance, at long last!
Anthony, I wonder if you already know?
Is it true that you can see everything when you’re in Heaven? (Hmmmm, if that’s the case, it is inconvenient for me.) Yet, even if you do know, please pretend that you don’t know and listen to me, can you?
Granduncle William is not like what we have imagined; he was not a stubborn old man.
Albert-san! …… although I say his name, Anthony, you don’t know who Albert-san is, do you? (About his looks and so forth you can ask Stear because he knows the details.)
You see, I met Albert-san long time ago, the day Annie had paid us a visit. I had left the Lagans but not returned that night. Though I could not talk to you about what happened in detail—–
That day, I fell asleep inside a boat when it was flowing along the river, and I ended up being swept away, slipping down the waterfall. The one who came to my rescue was Albert-san. Back then, since he wore sunglasses and had full beard, I thought he was a pirate. As a vagabond, he took the liberty of occupying the mountain lodge of the Ardlays; I determined not to disclose to others anything about it, and I believed he was a good man, so this is the reason why I couldn’t tell you, Anthony, even after I came back.
And the real identity of this pirate was none other than Granduncle William himself! Humph… He made a fool of me! Wasn’t that mountain lodge also his own property, my, oh, my!
There were still more surprises.
(To be continued…)
This post has been translated to Spanish by my dear friend Yue Chan, “¿Candy encontró su felicidad? (Parte 4)”
Le ton de cette lettre me paraît moins sombre que celle dans CCFS et il y a des différences:
– Quand elle dit : « I wonder if you already know ? Is it true you can see everything when you’re in Heaven (Hmmm if that’s the case it’s inconvenient for me.) Yet, even if you do know, please pretend that you don’t know and listen to me, can you ?» Pour moi, j’y vois un double sens. Le premier est qu’elle s’excuse de lui raconter ce qu’il sait peut-être déjà, à savoir la véritable identité d’Albert, etc. Le deuxième sens: c’est comme si Candy se sent gênée de savoir qu’Anthony voit tout depuis les cieux, et notamment le fait qu’elle soit amoureuse d’Albert. Elle craint probablement aussi la réaction d’Anthony, qu’il se sente même peut-être trahi, car elle doit se souvenir qu’il était jaloux du Prince de la Colline qu’elle a finalement retrouvé et pour en tomber encore plus amoureuse, mais la vie continue, d’ailleurs dans CCFS elle s’excuse de continuer d’avoir faim et soif et de continuer de vivre.
Je viens de lire le commentaire d’Antlay et votre réponse, apparemment, Antlay et moi avons eu une impression similaire (le deuxième sens) et que vous n’êtes pas d’accord, mais ne peut-on pas y voir un double sens dans l’original en japonais ?
– En relisant la lettre de CCFS, j’ai remarqué qu’elle parle de Terry (sans le nommer) juste après sa question « However, Anthony, you know that don’t you ? Alors que dans l’ancien roman elle parle d’Albert juste après, c’est curieux ; pourquoi Mizuki a-t-elle changé cela ? Qu’en pensez-vous Ms Puddle ?
– Elle lui dévoile aussi le secret de leur première rencontre qu’elle lui avait caché pour ne pas trahir la confiance d’Albert, c’est comme si elle lui demandait pardon en quelque sorte pour cela aussi.
Enfin, il me faut lire la traduction en entier pour avoir un avis d’ensemble.
Dear Candy Bert, in Japanese the adjective Candy used here often refers to simply inconvenient or unfavorable. For example, if someone makes an appointment, and when given a time that’s not good, then this person will say it’s ‘inconvenient’. Hence, literally it has nothing to do with embarrassment. It’s very interesting both you and Antlay got the same impression. 🤔
My interpretation of this particular paragraph is that Candy really wanted to talk about Albert and introduced him to Anthony. However, if Anthony already knew everything, what’s the point?
Hence, it’s inconvenient / unfavorable to her because she couldn’t help writing about Albert. Therefore, what she said next makes sense to me: “pretend that you don’t know and just listen to me please” 😁😊
You asked a curious question about why Mizuki changed this in CCFS, Candy Bert 😗 Again, this is solely my interpretation based on reading the Japanese text. In CCFS, Candy ‘wrote’ a mental letter to Anthony, so when she first started she sounded upbeat about just gone to Lakewood and back and asked Anthony to guess “with whom did I go?”
Then she realized that Anthony didn’t know Albert-san, so she went on and on talking about him. This is reasonable because her mind was full of him and things that happened during the trip.
What do you think?
But when she changed the topic to Anthony’s death and her assumption that she wouldn’t like someone as much as she liked Anthony, her tone changed. She asked Anthony if he knew, and this time she simply glossed over the details of the heartbreaking period of her life without mentioning the guy’s name.
Remember, this is a mental letter, which implies that whatever was “written” are spontaneous. You see what I mean here, Candy Bert?
If I were Anthony, I would have sensed that who really occupied Candy’s mind when she was “communicating” with him. Of course, the answer is Prince on the Hill, no doubt. ❤️
Hello dearest Ms Puddle,
how are you? 🙂
Don’t you think the major reason Candy “wrote” letter to Anthony ( this one and the one in CCFS) was she needed to talk about Albert to Anthony. A man who somehow Anthony might have known as Granduncle William, Candy’s POTH, and his Mother’s little brother. I mean, this particular letter would’ve been existed if she was not over the moon with Albert. Like, you know, when we are so happy and so excited about something, we can’t stop talking about it and like we want to shout to the four winds about it. So I believe, this letter alone is a solid proof that Candy did find her happiness.
Reading the letter here once, and compared it to what I remember about the one in CCFS, I find this one is less melancholy and more straight forward to the topic that is Albert-san :). So I figure in old novel, at this stage, she was confidently happy and more carefree about her relationship with Albert. It gets along well with the other letter, the one she wrote to Albert, the last letter if I am not wrong. As we discussed, on that letter, she sounds confident to follow Albert to whenever. Like she cared nothing to what Aunt Elroy would say ( even if she and aunt Elroy already in a good term, I believe it’s not easy to Great Aunt to allow her travel alone with Albert, right?) and to the society norms in that era.
In this letter to Anthony, she mentioned Albert planted wild roses on that specific spot in the forest. I remember in CCFS, Candy mentioned all kinds of flowers but rose. The rose was at her garden in England. So it confirms our belief that Albert also had green fingers and he’s the one helping Candy plant roses in their new house. Even Archie and Stear back then had not had interest about Anthony’s roses.
I’ll catch up with your other posts. See you around, my friend.
Hello dear Reeka ☺️
Oh yes, I agree with you. Candy couldn’t wait to introduce Albert to Anthony. He was his young uncle after all. Moreover, Candy was with her Prince on the Hill now, the guy whom Anthony was secretly jealous of.
If Albert was merely a father figure or a brother to Candy, she wouldn’t have told Anthony about POTH at all. Other than Albert himself, nobody knew better than Anthony what POTH meant to Candy… 😍😘
Yes this letter is much less melancholy, and she was also quite over Anthony’s death, because Candy talked about Heaven a lot not in a serious way. You might be right about Candy not worrying about Aunt Elroy at all.
Yes wild roses. In CCFS Candy did mention wild roses too, but they were all around the forest like fences, and the grassland was filled with bluebells instead, also wild flowers. The major difference is that Candy didn’t mention any guilt over Anthony’s death in the old novel. I’ll talk more in a new post. 😊 See you around too. 😁
Ms Puddle, I have been following your sharing and I really love them all!! Albert unlocked the memorial hall for Candy during the Lakewood trip, he was in fact introducing Candy to his ancesters esp his parent and Rosemary. I really wonder how Candy felt at that moment of time! Shy??i can’t wait for your Part 5 analysis and sharing!!
Thank you Christine! Nice to hear from you again 🙂 Glad you like the series so far, and it is very encouraging to know that you also agree woth me concerning Albert’s action of unlocking the memorial hall just for Candy. 😚 About Candy’s reaction, we can only guess, but she was undoubtedly very happy after the trip to Lakewood. In some of my past posts I’ve already explained why, and I’ll try to list them again in next post. 😘
Ms Puddle, thank you so much for your prompt reply. One thing I do not understand is that why there was no more letter between Albert and cCndy, after the one sent by Candy to Albert ended with “Love and Gratitude”? Did it mean that Albert was so touch that he went to meet with candy and proposed to her? Or Albert had already known that Candy and chosen him and no more letter was neede, and he felt so contented that he was the selected one?
And when was the sequence is Anthony’s mental letter comparing to the last letter sent by Candy to Albert? Why the author ended with Anthony’s letter as final one?? Highly appreciate that you would share your insight and thought?
Hello Christine, my part 5 is already out, but I decided to discuss the differences in another post. ☺️ To answer your questions, I’ve already explained why Candy’s letter to Albert was chronologically last even though her mental letter to Anthony was shown as the last letter in the epilogue. Let me see if I can dig up my old posts.
Why didn’t Albert reply? First, this is the same in the old novel, which ended with Candy’s last letter to Albert. Besides, I think if he had replied it wouldn’t have been possible to keep Anohito a mystery (although to me it can’t be more clear who HE is 😘😗).
Bonjour Ms Puddle
Un immense merci de nous faire partager cette lettre et pour tout ce temps que vous avez passé à la traduire.
Cette lettre est incroyable, il y a effectivement des similitudes avec celle de CCFS mais il y a beaucoup plus de détails notamment la rencontre entre Candy et Albert près de la chute d’eau.
Et ce passage dans la forêt sur les lieux de l’accident, est très touchant, on y apprend qu’Albert a planté lui-même des roses, provenant sûrement de la porte des roses, cet accident dont il se sentait responsable devait le culpabiliser énormément.
Mais plus encore, cette phrase, ” est-il vrai que l’on peut tout voir quand on est au paradis, si c’est le cas c’est gênant pour moi.” Que veut dire Candy par gênant pour elle, que s’est-il passé dans cette forêt ou ensuite… Nous savons qu’Albert a pris tendrement dans ses bras Candy dans CCFS. Candy se sent-elle gênée qu’Anthony soit en mesure de savoir qu’elle est tombée amoureuse de son oncle, qui plus est de son POTH. Rappelez-vous quand Candy parle du POTH à Anthony après avoir fait tomber le médaillon, elle lui dit qu’elle se fiche de son Prince et’qu’elle aime Anthony. Je pense que c’est pour cette raison qu’elle est gênée, car en fait elle n’avait jamais oublié son POTH, tout au long du manga elle le dit régulièrement, c’était son premier amour, elle ne pensait jamais le revoir et Anthony lui ressemblait tellement. Candy a peut-être le sentiment d’avoir menti à Anthony et cela la gêne.
J’ai hâte de lire la suite de cette magnifique lettre Ms Puddle ! 😀😉
Bonjour Antlay, merci, mom amie ❤️💖
Glad you like this letter, bit first of all, I believe Candy didn’t mean she was embarrassed that Anthony could see everything in Heaven. The adjective she used could mean it was inconvenient, unfavorable or awkward. I picked “inconvenient” because I believe she wanted to tell Anthony various things about Albert, but if Anthony already knew it, she didn’t need to say it. This is my interpretation based on the writing.
Also, in part 5 I’ll explain in detail why this letter is quite different from the one in CCFS. First of all, the timeline is quite different, and her trip to Lakewood was the one shown in the manga, at least I think.
Yes, when I first read this letter I was very touched to read that Albert himself planted the wild roses in that particular part of the grassland. In ccfs we knew it was a different scene.
Anyway, thank you Antlay for reading my post and writing a long comment. See you around 😍😘