О МАРИИ,
которая гримасничала,
и её достойном сожаления замужестве
Хилэр Беллок
Мария корчила гримасы,
Но не такие, как подчас мы
В веселье строим для бабули:
"А вот тебе четыре дули!" –
Нет! Скручивая нос и рот
(Представьте, этакий урод,
Когда лицо – сплошной дефект), -
Отталкивающий эффект
На всех вокруг производила.
Однажды – утром дело было –
Она гримасничала вновь –
Да так, что леденило кровь!
О, где былое обаянье?!
Её мамаша, впав в отчаянье,
Тут к массажисту за советом
(Весьма известному, при этом)
Помчалась. Тот как старый друг
Пять дней, не покладая рук,
Массировал, но стало ясно,
Что всё впустую, всё напрасно!
Мария расцвела с годами –
Английской розы лепестками
Благоухали ум и стать,
Умела петь, стихи читать,
Играла в гольф, на фортепьяно
(От форте отличая пьяно),
Могла шалить и так и сяк
(А что гримасы? – Ах, пустяк!);
Вела французский разговор,
Немецкий… Да, пила ликёр,
Солдатский юмор понимала,
Великолепно танцевала,
Порой бывал её язык
Остёр и ранил, будто штык,
Блюла и знала все законы –
Со ссылками на все резоны,
Могла прочесть сонеты, стансы…
Ах, если б не её гримасы!
Её талант гремел повсюду,
Родители честному люду
О том трубили ночь и день,
И знали все, кому не лень:
Приданое – вам не приснится! –
Примерно миллионов тридцать.
И не пытались скрыть от света
Её ужасного дефекта,
Но юности очарованье,
Манеры, деньги, воспитанье –
Немало, думали они, -
Чтоб выйти замуж в наши дни.
Всё ж ближних этим не прельстишь.
А что Афины, Рим, Париж?..
Да, был большой для них соблазн,
И женихи из разных стран
Примчались стаей, косяком –
Кто на коляске, кто пешком –
Искать Марииной руки:
Тюрбаны, букли, парики,
Без королевства короли,
Секретари со всей земли,
Послы и папские легаты,
Великий Герцог и магнаты –
Шли к ней, мечтая, что однажды…
Но каждый – уверяю, каждый! –
Хоть был решительно настроен,
Её увидев, беспокоен
Вдруг становился наш жених,
Как будто получил под дых,
Промямлив что-то, шаркал ножкой
И ускользал своей дорожкой.
Где они? Не осталось и следа.
И Мария за сквайра-соседа
Вышла замуж. Причина проста:
Он не видел. Его слепота
Дополнялась унылостью хмурой,
Был он мерзкой, ничтожной фигурой,
Агрессивен и глуп каждый миг!..
А теперь перейдём к Саре Бинг.
16.06.12
О Марии, которая гримасничала... Хилэр Беллок
© Copyright: Марк Полыковский, 2012
Свидетельство о публикации №112061805216
Свидетельство о публикации №112061805216
Рецензии
MARIA,
Who made Faces and a Deplorable
Marriage
Hilaire Belloc
Maria loved to pull a face:
And no such commonplace grimace
As you or I or anyone
Might make at grandmamma for fun.
But one where nose and mouth and all
Were screwed into a kind of ball,
The which - as you may well expect -
Produced a horrible effect
On those it was directed at.
One morning she was struck like that! -
Her features took their final mould
In shapes that made your blood run cold
And wholly lost their former charm.
Mamma, in agonised alarm,
Consulted a renowned Masseuse
- An old and valued friend of hers -
Who rubbed the wretched child for days
In five and twenty different ways
And after that began again.
But all in vain! - But all in vain!
The years advance: Maria grows
Into a Blooming English Rose -
With every talent, every grace
(Save in this trifle of the face).
She sang, recited, laughed and played
At all that an accomplished maid
Should play with skill to be of note -
Golf, the Piano, and the Goat;
She talked in French till all was blue
And knew a little German too.
She told the tales that soldiers tell,
She also danced extremely well,
Her wit was pointed, loud and raw,
She shone at laying down the law,
She drank liqueurs instead of tea,
Her verse was admirably free
And quoted in the latest books -
But people couldn't stand her looks.
Her parents had with thoughtful care
Proclaimed her genius everywhere,
Nor quite concealed a wealth which sounds
Enormous - thirty million pounds -
And further whispered it that she
Could deal with it exclusively.
They did not hide her chief defect,
But what with birth and intellect
And breeding and such ample means,
And still in her delightful 'teens,
A girl like our Maria (they thought)
Should make the kind of match she ought.
Those who had seen her here at home
Might hesitate: but Paris? Rome? . . .
- The foreigners should take the bait.
And so they did. At any rate,
The greatest men of every land
Arrived in shoals to seek her hand,
Grand Dukes, Commanders of the Fleece,
Mysterious Millionaires from Greece,
And exiled Kings in large amounts,
Ambassadors and Papal Counts,
And Rastaqoueres from Palamerez
And Famous Foreign Secretaries,
They came along in turns to call
But all - without exception, all -
Though with determination set,
Yet, when they actually met,
Would start convulsively as though
They had received a sudden blow,
And mumbling a discreet good-day
Would shuffle, turn and slink away.
The upshot of it was Maria
Was married to a neighbouring Squire
Who, being blind, could never guess
His wife's appalling ugliness.
The man was independent, dull,
Offensive, poor and masterful.
It was a very dreadful thing! . . .
Now let us turn to Sarah Byng.
Марк Полыковский 18.06.2012 15:31 • Заявить о нарушении
Who made Faces and a Deplorable
Marriage
Hilaire Belloc
Maria loved to pull a face:
And no such commonplace grimace
As you or I or anyone
Might make at grandmamma for fun.
But one where nose and mouth and all
Were screwed into a kind of ball,
The which - as you may well expect -
Produced a horrible effect
On those it was directed at.
One morning she was struck like that! -
Her features took their final mould
In shapes that made your blood run cold
And wholly lost their former charm.
Mamma, in agonised alarm,
Consulted a renowned Masseuse
- An old and valued friend of hers -
Who rubbed the wretched child for days
In five and twenty different ways
And after that began again.
But all in vain! - But all in vain!
The years advance: Maria grows
Into a Blooming English Rose -
With every talent, every grace
(Save in this trifle of the face).
She sang, recited, laughed and played
At all that an accomplished maid
Should play with skill to be of note -
Golf, the Piano, and the Goat;
She talked in French till all was blue
And knew a little German too.
She told the tales that soldiers tell,
She also danced extremely well,
Her wit was pointed, loud and raw,
She shone at laying down the law,
She drank liqueurs instead of tea,
Her verse was admirably free
And quoted in the latest books -
But people couldn't stand her looks.
Her parents had with thoughtful care
Proclaimed her genius everywhere,
Nor quite concealed a wealth which sounds
Enormous - thirty million pounds -
And further whispered it that she
Could deal with it exclusively.
They did not hide her chief defect,
But what with birth and intellect
And breeding and such ample means,
And still in her delightful 'teens,
A girl like our Maria (they thought)
Should make the kind of match she ought.
Those who had seen her here at home
Might hesitate: but Paris? Rome? . . .
- The foreigners should take the bait.
And so they did. At any rate,
The greatest men of every land
Arrived in shoals to seek her hand,
Grand Dukes, Commanders of the Fleece,
Mysterious Millionaires from Greece,
And exiled Kings in large amounts,
Ambassadors and Papal Counts,
And Rastaqoueres from Palamerez
And Famous Foreign Secretaries,
They came along in turns to call
But all - without exception, all -
Though with determination set,
Yet, when they actually met,
Would start convulsively as though
They had received a sudden blow,
And mumbling a discreet good-day
Would shuffle, turn and slink away.
The upshot of it was Maria
Was married to a neighbouring Squire
Who, being blind, could never guess
His wife's appalling ugliness.
The man was independent, dull,
Offensive, poor and masterful.
It was a very dreadful thing! . . .
Now let us turn to Sarah Byng.
Марк Полыковский 18.06.2012 15:31 • Заявить о нарушении
Пришлось выложить оригинал отдельно от перевода, поскольку совместно их поместить никак не удавалось, несмотря на многочисленные попытки. Система все время давала сбой.
Марк Полыковский 18.06.2012 15:34 Заявить о нарушении
Марк Полыковский 18.06.2012 15:34 Заявить о нарушении