Repository path: workshop/translations/koyhaa-kansaa/R05-v2-span1/translation.md · rendered 2026-09-09

T-koyhaa-kansaa-R05-v2 — «Köyhää kansaa» span 1 (¶2–75), the reviser's pass

ARM-atelier-cycle step 8; E-20260806d. Span 1 re-rendered whole from E-20260806d/materials/span1-copytext.txt — the 1886 copy-text — under register.md as closed at span 7, without opening R05-v1's span-1 English or its decision log D1–D23. Frozen here before any diff was computed and before any span-1 English was read.

Contamination none, unmeasured, and the basis is unchanged from v1: no English rendering of this work or of any Canth prose was found on three documented search routes (../contamination.md). The partial non-blindness that does exist is to v1 itself, through the register's quoted lexis, and it is declared in E-20260806d §3.

74 source paragraphs to 74 English paragraphs, no split or merge (V5).

The text

[2] Anni was ill. She never closed her eyes the whole night through, only whimpered and fretted. The mother sat up by the cradle, rocking and singing. She tried, turn and turn about, to take her up on her arm and hush her quietly there, tried to give her the breast, tried to press her gently against herself, tried to quiet her with caresses. All for nothing. She twisted and cried; her mouth was hot, her body burned, and she breathed in gasps. And there was not even a light; the little end of tallow candle had burned out in the early part of the night; the wick dropped down into the socket and went out. Mari was left in the black dark with her sick child. A tear or two started to her eyes, but she wiped them away and tried to swallow the bitter lump in her throat. Crying was no help, when all was said; she knew that of old. It eased the mind for a little while, right enough, but what of that, when the eyes began to ache instead.

[3] The night was long, there was no end to be got of it. The room felt bleak; she sat on the edge of the bed with a little tatter of a skirt round her. Her feet hung down bare; they were cold, but she did not care to get up and look for stockings, for she was used to bearing worse, and thought nothing of the like of this. Gladly enough she would have stretched her tired body out on the bed, but that Anni would not let her do.

[4] The man lay on the wall side and snored. He never woke the whole night, though the child whined. Not till the morning began to break did he turn over, and open his eyes a little at the same time.

[5] "What ails her?" he asked.

[6] "She's ill, I dare say."

[7] The man hardly heard the answer; he had fallen asleep again. The older children were sleeping heavily too on the floor, Hellu, Petu and Ville. A thin coverlet was over them; the mother spread her jacket besides over the younger ones, Petu and Ville. She had not the heart to wake even Hellu yet, but went herself to fetch wood from the shed to get a fire into the stove, and left Anni to her own devices for that while. But when she came back Hellu was on her knees beside the cradle already, clapping her hands, cooing and playing a thousand tricks for Anni, who screamed in spite of it all as if she were at her last gasp. The mother threw the logs down in front of the stove and took the child in her arms. She bade Hellu make the fire. The man was awake again too. He watched how the mother worked, before at long last she got the child a little quieted.

[8] "Hadn't you better go to the doctor with her?" he said.

[9] "I don't know," the mother answered wearily, "whether there's any help in that physic either."

[10] "There'd be no harm in the trying, all the same."

[11] "And will they trouble themselves that much over a poor body's child, to give her right proper stuff at all."

[12] "That Wialén has the name of a good-natured man."

[13] The wife answered nothing; that bitter lump had risen in her throat again and the tears ran down her cheeks in plenty.

[14] "I'll go and ask the district inspector for a ticket, then you can get to the doctor's this morning."

[15] "Do that," the wife answered quietly, and wiped the water off her face on the rag that was round the child.

[16] Hellu blew into the stove and could not get it to catch, for the wood was wet. The mother went to help her, the child on her arm.

[17] Then she took the little black coffee-pot from the corner and poured a little water on the old grounds.

[18] "Don't go out before you've drunk a drop of coffee," she said to the man, who had got his clothes on.

[19] The man said nothing, only threw a long look at the pot.

[20] "Thinking it's bare water?" said the wife, who saw the look. "Not so, then; there's grounds at the bottom, and there'll be chicory put in besides."

[21] Hellu was warming herself in front of the stove. She held out her small thin hands towards the blaze and rubbed them together now and again. She was a pitiful sight, the poor girl, her eyes bad, with one she still saw a little and with the other not at all. There was a great scar on her neck, and her body was so wretchedly withered that one would not have taken her for more than five at the most, though she had turned eight already. But she was always quiet and content; she minded little Anni the day long and was like a right hand to her mother. That was why she could not be sent to the infirmary either, for she was needed at home; the mother could not have got away from the child for a minute without her.

[22] The coffee-pot was boiling already; Mari laid Anni in the cradle and asked Hellu to rock her. The child had gone off to sleep; they all kept as quiet as they could, so that she should not wake.

[23] While the coffee was settling, the mother hunted out what was left of the sugar; there was so much of it that a scrap came to each of them. She broke it up small on the soft pillow of the bed, so that it should not clatter in Anni's ears. For herself she chose the smallest share and gave the man the biggest. Then she poured it into the cups, and all three of them drank. It was hot, at any rate, and it did them good; Hellu's small brown eyes shone with content even in their darkness, where she squatted on the floor drinking and moving the cradle with her left hand. She bit off only the tiniest piece of sugar at a time and it went a long way, though it melted in her mouth in no time at all.

[24] The man pulled on his jacket, took his cap from the nail and went off. The wife looked after him, saw how his trousers had gone at the back, and sighed. Where was she to get a patch for them again, and where thread. The point was broken off her needle too, but maybe Tiina Katri would lend her one of hers. Tiina Katri was better off than most. She had only the one child and an uncommonly provident man. Holpainen looked after his own too, right enough, and he did not waste it on drink when he got a penny. But he was slow by nature and was generally too late when there was work to be had anywhere. The others were always before him, and more than ever now, when every soul was short of a wage. The wife often fretted over it to herself; but she had not the heart to say much of anything to the man, seeing the poor creature was vexed enough as it was. And what could he help it, when he did his best and did not manage it even so.

[25] Petu and Ville woke; they were both of them healthy, merry boys, though a trifle too wild, one five years old and the other three. But they ate a great deal, nothing would go round. They were always hungry and always at her for bread. And the mother could not easily get them to mind her; their father they were a little afraid of, at least. Let him snap out a hard word and the boys did not dare draw breath; they only sat nicely to one side and goggled up at him from under their brows for a while.

[26] The mother had kept the pot warm in the mouth of the stove; she poured them out a drop of coffee and gave them each their share of sugar. The boys wrangled between themselves over whose was the bigger; they measured and compared the pieces against each other. But then they were in a hurry, when Hellu reminded them that the coffee was getting cold.

[27] The mother made up the bed and tidied the room, the boys got up to dress. They were soon ready, for they had not many pieces of clothing between them. Petu had nothing but an old girl's frock the mayor's wife had given, flounced and trimmed, but very much faded. The buttons were gone from the back; the mother pinned it at the top, and it was no matter at all if his shirt would push out through the long opening. Nobody would have known Petu for a boy now, but he cared not a rap about that; there were trimmings on the skirt of the frock, and he looked at them with pleasure. Ville, for his part, had a sort of trousers, given by a certain lady too, and they had pockets in them, in which Ville's hands were uncommonly comfortable.

[28] As soon as the boys were in their clothes, they began, almost with one mouth, to want bread. But the mother scolded them.

[29] "You've hardly got your eyes open before you're hungry," she said. "You might at least get out of the way for a while, out into the yard there, till I've cleaned the room."

[30] The boys minded her this time; they pulled the old broken shoes onto their feet and went off to the field like good children, without grumbling.

[31] The mother swept the floor, saw to the stove, set things straight and put them to rights. Anni was sleeping peacefully now, Hellu sat beside her and rocked away faithfully. When Anni moved a hand or turned her head she would begin to sing, "hush-sh, hush-sh, ah-ah, ah-ah," and Anni sank back into sleep directly. The boys stayed out a good long while, but Mari had not had time to wonder at it yet before Tiina Katri came flying in, out of breath.

[32] "Where are your boys?" she called, without saying good morning.

[33] "In the yard, why?"

[34] "Because they took a loaf from me, near a whole loaf, that I'd just taken out of the oven and set in the passage to cool. I'd only cut a little heel off the side of it."

[35] She stopped, out of breath.

[36] "Lord bless us!" said the mother, and struck her hands together.

[37] "You might keep your children in better order, all the same," Tiina Katri went on. "I'd not have minded a smaller piece, but when they snatched the whole loaf."

[38] "We'll find the boys; they'll hardly have had time to eat it yet."

[39] They went out together, the mother first, Tiina Katri behind. And the mother caught sight of Petu at once, who ran to hide behind the corner when he heard the door go.

[40] "Will you come out of that," she roared. "And this minute!"

[41] The boy had to come forward. Fear and the hope of escape came and went in his face. His hands were behind his back.

[42] "Where's the bread? Show me your claws here."

[43] Petu brought his hands out in front, they were empty.

[44] "I'll teach you," the mother threatened, and went to look behind the corner. But she did not find the bread there either.

[45] "And Ville? Where's he got to?"

[46] Petu pointed with his finger towards the woodshed and the two women went in there. They peered about them, but saw nothing.

[47] "Ville!" the mother called.

[48] No answer came. But now, when their eyes had got used to the dimness, they made out the boy in the corner. Scolding as she went, the mother climbed over the logs to him.

[49] "So you won't answer, you rascal, when you're called."

[50] Ville's mouth was full. He looked calmly at the ones coming and went on eating. In his hand there was still a piece of the soft of the new bread.

[51] "There it is, then," said Tiina Katri.

[52] The mother snatched the plunder from the boy and struck his fingers.

[53] "Where did you get it? Did Petu give it you? Don't cry, speak nicely when your mother asks you, speak, my child. Did Petu give it you?"

[54] "Petu, waah."

[55] "And where did Petu put the rest?"

[56] "Over there, waah."

[57] He pointed with his finger at an overturned tub and began to cry harder still, when he remembered his bit of the rye-cake, that had stayed in his mother's hand.

[58] The loaf was found under the tub; but there was nothing left of it but the crust; the inside all dug away. Tiina Katri threw a contemptuous look at it.

[59] "Let it be," she said, "I'll not be the poorer for that, I dare say."

[60] Angry she looked, all the same, when she turned to go.

[61] "I'll make this good, the minute I get to a baking," Mari said after her.

[62] "And when will that day dawn," Tiina Katri muttered, as she stepped out of the shed door into the yard.

[63] Mari did not rightly hear what she said, but she guessed at it. It was to be seen from her walk and her whole bearing that Tiina Katri was not in a good humour. This came hard on her; many a time in her want she had had help from Tiina Katri; now there would surely be an end of that, how should she ever dare to go and ask again.

[64] She put the crust of the loaf under her arm, snatched a switch out of the broom and took Ville by the arm. The boy was still bawling; he was afraid of what was coming to him.

[65] "Will you be quiet," said the mother, and took him in.

[66] Petu sat on the floor by the stove, his back leaning against the wall. He saw the switch in his mother's hand at once and began to cry. Rightly guessed: the mother came straight at him with a set face. And it was no use though the boy kicked, twisted, threw himself down at full length and screamed as loud as it would come out of his throat. The mother had still strength enough to spin him neatly over onto his stomach, lift up the skirts of the frock and lay about the bare skin with the switch.

[67] "Don't, mother dear, don't," Hellu managed to plead.

[68] But little Anni woke in the uproar and Hellu had her work cut out. It took both hands to rock, and singing as loud as Petu screamed. Little Anni did leave off at last to listen to the others' voices, when she could not get her own to carry over them. But she did not sleep any more, only turned her head this way and that, complained and looked about her uneasily.

[69] The mother took her in her arms and gave her the breast. The switch was in the crack of the wall. The mother's eyes went to it first, then moved to the boys, who were squatting quietly again by the stove, and at last to the little wretch on her arm. There they stayed; heavy thoughts pressed into her mind. What would become of those unlucky creatures in life? And what if she should live to see them in prison and in irons?

[70] The bitter tears ran down in a stream and dropped on Anni. Again she shook her fist at Petu.

[71] "Mind, now, mind! If ever you go touching anybody's property again, I'll thrash you into a cripple."

[72] Petu glanced up fearfully at the switch and then turned to his mother. With his eyes wide he waited and watched whether the danger was there at this present moment, or whether he was to be let alone for the time being.

[73] The mother remembered the crust of the loaf and put a large piece of it into Hellu's hand. She could not eat it herself, but Hellu bit and chewed at it with a great appetite.

[74] "This is so sweet, mother," she said.

[75] It was weeks indeed since she had had new bread. They had lived a long while on dry heels of loaves gathered by begging and on cold potatoes. That was why it tasted so good to her now. The mother gave her another piece besides and told her to put the rest in the cupboard for their father.

Translator's log — R1–R16

Frozen before the diff against R05-v1 was computed and before any span-1 English of v1 was read. Decisions and alternatives, not quality claims. Numbered R for reviser so the log cannot be confused with v1's continuous D series.

R1 — What was in front of the reviser, and what was not. The copy-text; register.md whole; all five errata; collation.md. Not v1's span-1 English and not D1–D23. The register quotes v1's lexis by design — right enough, not a rap, the minute I get to a baking, mother dear, waah, a body, and every terminology row — and all of those were used where their sites came up. That is what a register is for, and it means agreement at rule-governed sites is cheap evidence.

R2 — ¶10 «Olishan koettaa, yhtäkaikki» is a zero person whose implied agent is one named woman, and neither V15 nor V24 governs it. V15 gives a plain male speaker a man; but Heikura is not talking about men, he is talking about his wife taking the baby to the doctor, so a male generic would put the wrong person in. V20's gender-match applies only where the speaker is inside the generic, and he is outside it. V24's bare imperative is for a command to oneself, and this is not one. Taken: "There'd be no harm in the trying, all the same" — an English construction with no person in it at all, which is V24's principle (do not put somebody where the source puts nobody) applied outside V24's stated case. Rejected: "A man might try", "You might try" (supplies the addressee the Finnish withholds), "It's worth the trying" (contemporary).

R3 — ¶68 «Molemmin käsin täytyi tuudittaa» is the same construction and takes the same treatment. A necessive with no subject, referring to Hellu specifically. "It took both hands to rock, and singing as loud as Petu screamed." Rejected: "She had to rock with both hands", which supplies a subject and reads as narration where the Finnish is inside the effort. R2 and R3 together are a fourth class of zero person — agent-suppressed, single specific referent — beside V15's propositional generic, V24's command to oneself and D120's agent suppression in the doctor's argument. No rule is written: the register is closed at V28 and this belongs to the craft report (the same disposition D121 took at ¶541).

R4 — the span's zero-person count looks higher than the register's 2. Beyond R2 and R3: ¶21 «ettei olisi luullut häntä kuin viisivuotiaaksi» (narrator's generic — one would not have taken her, V15's third class) and «Siksipä ei voinut häntä lasareettiinkään viedä» (agentless, rendered she could not be sent to the infirmary either); ¶63 «Näkyipä käynnistä ja koko olennosta» (it was to be seen from her walk); ¶22 «koetettiin olla hiljaa» and ¶49 «vaikka huudetaan» (passives, which register.md §Settled-2 item 3 counts). That is six or seven where the whole-work figure of 53 carries 2 for this span. Recorded as a discrepancy to check against v1's log after the freeze, not as a correction: the register's count may be of a narrower class than the one counted here, and D45 enumerates span 2's eight while span 1's two are enumerated nowhere the reviser was permitted to read.

R5 — ¶57 kakkunsa, and the terminology row strains. The table binds kakku = rye-cake on D59 (span 3), where the referent is a whole flat rye loaf. Here it is a three-year-old's handful of the crumb he has stolen. Taken: "his bit of the rye-cake", which keeps the bound word and marks the partitive that the possessive is doing. Rejected: "his cake" (loses D59's whole point), "his piece of bread" (abandons the word).

R6 — ¶70 happamet kyynelet collapses into ¶2's karvas pala. Canth writes sour tears here and a bitter lump at ¶2 and ¶13; English takes "bitter" for both, because sour tears reads as an error rather than as a figure. A declared collapse of two source words into one English word, recorded because V3's neighbouring losses are all phonological and this one is lexical.

R7 — ¶24 vaimo is Tiina Katri, not Mari, and V19 is what makes that renderable. The paragraph moves from Mari's man out of the door into Mari's free indirect thought about the Holpainen household, and «Vaimo siitä usein tuskitteli itsekseen» is Tiina Katri fretting about Holpainen. V19's own wording — the same two nouns do the same work in a household Mari has never met — was written at D48 for exactly this construction elsewhere. "The wife" is kept, with V2's declared cost: an English reader may take it for Mari for half a sentence.

R8 — ¶24 «Ja minkä hän sille voi» is about Holpainen, not about Tiina Katri. The following clause — «kun parastaan koetti eikä sittenkään onnistunut» — is the man's trying, not the wife's. Rendered "And what could he help it, when he did his best and did not manage it even so." Free indirect, inside her.

R9 — ¶27 leninki and hame are one garment and take one English word. The table binds hame = frock on the ¶187–192 joke (span 3). Petu's leninki at ¶27 and the hameen helma four clauses later are the same object, so both are frock and the second is the skirt of the frock. Rejected: "dress" for leninki, which would break the joke's word two spans later.

R10 — ¶45 se of Ville: "Where's he got to?" V22 (D67, span 4). The rule postdates this span; the site is one of its clearest.

R11 — ¶67 «Elkää, hyvä äiti, elkää» is rendered plain, on V18a, and mother dear is a bound string. V18a makes the honorific-to-a-parent a chosen loss at all four whole-work sites (D78), of which this is the one already translated when the census was run. V11 records that span 1 rendered some «hyvä äiti» as "mother dear" and built "master dear" to match it; ¶67 is the only candidate in the span. "Don't, mother dear, don't."

R12 — ¶31 tuuditti uskoa takes the table's "rocked away faithfully". D89 (span 5) refuted D17's span-1 suspicion of a compositor's slip by finding the phrase twice in both printings — ¶31 and ¶374 — and fixed the rendering. ¶31 is the other occurrence and no erratum was ever issued for it.

R13 — ¶2 «sydän porahti alas piippuun». sydän is the candle's wick and piippu its socket, not a heart and not a pipe. "The wick dropped down into the socket and went out." Recorded because it is the one place in the span where a wrong reading would be invisible in the English.

R14 — ¶12 «Hyvänluontoiseksihan sitä Wialénia kiitetään». A passive of praise with the familiar sitä. "That Wialén has the name of a good-natured man" — period, agentless, and it keeps the hearsay. Rejected: "They speak well of that Wialén" (supplies an agent), "That Wialén is cried up for" (period but louder than the Finnish).

R15 — the subject-drop chains in narration are not carried. ¶7 «Käski Hellun laittamaan tulta. … Katseli, kuinka äiti teki työtä», ¶21 «Ojensi pieniä, laihoja käsiään», ¶66 «Näki heti vitsan». Finnish drops the subject in a run of clauses about one person; English will not, and no register rule licenses an ellipsis here. Subjects supplied, sentences kept short. A declared loss of a narrative tempo, and the first time in this project the loss has been named as such rather than absorbed.

R16 — the register's binding on this span, counted before the diff. Rules created after span 1 that have a site here: V15/V20 (R2, R4), V16 (contractions for every speaker in the span — all five are plain), V19 (R7), V22 (R10), V24 (R2, R3 by principle), V28 (the address grid: every sinä in the span is kin, adult-to-child or the Mari ↔ Tiina Katri pair, and English carries none of it, so the grid changes no word), plus terminology rows kakku (R5), hame (R9), tuuditti uskoa (R12), penni, vaivainen. Erratum 5's ¶73 is already in v1. So the closed register's purchase on span 1 is about a dozen sites, of which the address grid — the largest thing the length taught — changes nothing at all.