I was both happy and relieved to hear from my friend CandyAlbert, who contacted me recently, chatting about Candy Candy’s poems written by Nagita sensei. She kindly let me share them on my blog, and I have chosen this one below, written by Kyoko Mizuki (Nagita sensei’s pen name). As you can see, it’s one of Yumiko Igarashi’s famous drawings for Candy Candy, which was displayed in the original Candy Candy ending song.
You can find the original Japanese poem, with translations to Spanish and English, on CandyAlbert’s Facebook page, Candy y Albert, el Príncipe de la Colina. Here I’d like to show you the same image but with Chinese translation, even though it has a couple of minor mistakes, because I like the title of this artbook — “Candy’s Love”. Yes, who else? 😉 ❤️
This is my own translation to English:
Who are you, really?
The prince I met on the hill,
On the day when the flower petals were dancing.
That, was it a dream?
Yet, in my hand is
The silver badge my prince has dropped --
When I close my eyes
A gentle smile will surface in my mind
You're prettier (more cute) when you smiled...
When oh when
can I see
Prince on the Hill --
First, I don’t know how exactly to translate the sentence about the flower petals dancing. In the poem Nagita sensei wrote りらりらと, which translates to “in the manner of…” However, my limited knowledge tells me りらりら is often associated with rain. Perhaps it’s similar to the soft rain pitter-pattering sounds? Please correct me if I”m wrong. For your information,りら by itself can mean the lilacs or the violet color of this kind of flowers. Please use your own imagination to picture how the flower petals dancing in what manner. 😉
You might want to ask, “What are the translation mistakes in the Chinese version?” It’s about the badge. It was written that the prince has handed the badge to Candy, which we all know was not true. In the original Japanese poem, it said that he had dropped (lost) it. The other mistake, a minor one, is about what the prince had said to Candy about her smile. He said that when she smiled she was prettier (cuter). In the story he compared that to her crying, but this part was omitted in the poem.
When translating the last section of the original poem to English, it is simply “when can I see Prince on the Hill”, but the nuance is lost. Hence I added a bit of emphasis. Also I translated to “see” instead of “meet” because she already met him. Another choice is “encounter” or “meet with”. For your interest, you can read more about いつになったらあえるの
