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| KAP VODE | THE DROP OF WATER |
| Sigurno već znaš za povećalo, ono okruglo staklo kao staklo od naočala, što sve pokazuje sto puta veće nego što je stvarno. Kada ga držiš pred okom i gledaš kap vode iz bare, u toj kapljici vidiš više nego hiljadu čudnih životinjica, koje inače nikada ne bi opazio, a koje tamo zaista postoje i žive. Gotovo da ti se čini da pred sobom vidiš pun tanjir nekih račića koji se guraju i preskaču i tako su proždrljivi da jedni drugima odgrizaju ruke i noge, prednjicu i zadnjicu, pa ipak su nekako na svoj način veseli i zadovoljni. | Of course you know what is meant by a magnifying glass—one of those round spectacle-glasses that make everything look a hundred times bigger than it is? When any one takes one of these and holds it to his eye, and looks at a drop of water from the pond yonder, he sees above a thousand wonderful creatures that are otherwise never discerned in the water. But there they are, and it is no delusion. It almost looks like a great plateful of spiders jumping about in a crowd. And how fierce they are! They tear off each other's legs and arms and bodies, before and behind; and yet they are merry and joyful in their way. |
| A bio jednom jedan starac koga su svi zvali Krible Krable, jer tako mu je i bilo ime. On je uvijek htio da iz svega izvuče ono najbolje, a kada to nije mogao, on se laćao neke čarolije. | Now, there once was an old man whom all the people called Kribble-Krabble, for that was his name. He always wanted the best of everything, and when he could not manage it otherwise, he did it by magic. |
| Tako je jednog dana sjedio za stolom i kroz svoje povećalo posmatrao kap vode uzetu iz lokve u jarku. Nevjerovatno! Šta sve u toj kapljici vode nije gmizalo i puzalo. Hiljade nekih životinjica je skakalo i skakutalo, razdiralo i žderalo jedno drugo. | There he sat one day, and held his magnifying-glass to his eye, and looked at a drop of water that had been taken out of a puddle by the ditch. But what a kribbling and krabbling was there! All the thousands of little creatures hopped and sprang and tugged at one another, and ate each other up. |
| – Pa to je jezivo! – užasnuo se Krible Krable. Zar oni ne bi mogli da žive u miru i prijateljstvu i da svak za sebe odgovara?! | "That is horrible!" said old Kribble-Krabble. "Can one not persuade them to live in peace and quietness, so that each one may mind his own business?" |
| Razmišljao je starac i razmišljao, ali ništa nije mogao da smisli, pa je odlučio da se prihvati čarolije. | And he thought it over and over, but it would not do, and so he had recourse to magic. |
| – Moram ih obojiti da se bolje vide! – odlučio je starac i toj kapljici dodao kao neku kapljicu vina, ali to nije bilo vino nego ona od dva šilinga najfinija vrsta vještičje krvi. I sve one čudne životinjice najednom postadoše sasvim ružičaste. Sada je to sve izgledalo kao neki grad pun golih divljaka. | "I must give them color, that they may be seen more plainly," said he; and he poured something like a little drop of red wine into the drop of water, but it was witches' blood from the lobes of the ear, the finest kind, at ninepence a drop. And now the wonderful little creatures were pink all over. It looked like a whole town of naked wild men. |
| – Šta je to? – pitao ga je jedan drugi stari čarobnjak, koji nije imao imena i upravo time se razlikovao od drugih. | "What have you there?" asked another old magician, who had no name—and that was the best thing about him. |
| – Ako pogodiš šta je, poklanjam ti ga! – odgovorio je Krible Krable. | "Yes, if you can guess what it is," said Kribble-Krabble, "I'll make you a present of it." |
| – Ali to nije lako pogoditi ako ne znaš o čemu se radi! | But it is not so easy to find out if one does not know. |
| Kad bezimeni čarobnjak pogleda kroz povećalo, učini mu se da zaista vidi čitav grad u kojem bezglavo jure goli ljudi! Užas jedan! Ali je još strašnije bilo gledati kako ti ljudi jedan drugog udaraju i guraju, kako se grizu i čupaju. Onaj što je bio gore, učas se nađe dolje, a onaj što je bio dolje, opet se nađe gore. Pogledaj! Pogledaj! Njegove noge su duže od mojih! Ćap! I više ih nema. Evo jednoga što za uhom ima neku kvržicu. Ona je mala, ali ga boli. Pa neka ga onda još više boli! | And the magician who had no name looked through the magnifying-glass. It looked really like a great town reflected there, in which all the people were running about without clothes. It was terrible! But it was still more terrible to see how one beat and pushed the other, and bit and hacked, and tugged and mauled him. Those at the top were being pulled down, and those at the bottom were struggling upwards. "Look! look! his leg is longer than mine! Bah! Away with it! There is one who has a little bruise. It hurts him, but it shall hurt him still more." |
| I oni ga tuku, oni ga trgaju i najzad ga požderu, a sve zbog te kvržice. Tamo opet sjedi neki čovjek, sjedi tiho i povučeno kao neka nevina djevojka, on želi samo mira i spokojstva. Ali ne! I njega počeše da vuku i najzad ga progutaše. | And they hacked away at him, and they pulled at him, and ate him up, because of the little bruise. And there was one sitting as still as any little maiden, and wishing only for peace and quietness. But now she had to come out, and they tugged at her, and pulled her about, and ate her up. |
| – Izvanredno zanimljivo! – reče bezimeni čarobnjak. | "That's funny!" said the magician. |
| – A šta misliš šta je to? – pitao ga je Krible Krable. – Možeš li se dosjetiti? | "Yes; but what do you think it is?" said Kribble-Krabble. "Can you find that out?" |
| – Pa jasno! – odgovorio je bezimeni. – To je Kopenhagen ili neki drugi velegrad, svi su oni slični. Velegrad, velegrad! | "Why, one can see that easily enough," said the other. "That's Paris, or some other great city, for they're all alike. It's a great city!" |
| – Pa to je eto ta vodurina iz jarka! – rekao je Krible Krable. | "It's a drop of puddle water!" said Kribble-Krabble. |