Taube770: переводы

→In the beginning, when the world was still ripe and man had no magical powers against monsters, I was there to protect the good-hearted when they walked the dark of night. I lit their way so they arrived safely to their destinations. I smiled down on the righteous when they slept and dreamt of better days.

→Don’t stay for too long. You should be going back up there soon. Too many people in the Kingdom need you.

→I wasn’t old, though. I was forever young. I was about sixteen in human years. I was immortal. Not just in the sense that I was to live until the end of the world, but I knew, deep down, that I was going to live beyond that.

→As for me, I was created long ago by the creators of all creators, the makers of all makers, and the gods of all gods, whose name I am forbidden to reveal for reasons beyond your understanding. I had been here since some time after the earth sprang into existence, and before the first human heart ever ticked in the clockwork of life.

→The children and I had a secret, and it remained this way because parents were awful, unable to understand these things.

→Children loved me, waved at me and blew me kisses from behind foggy windows, wishing I’d always be there until they grew up and could defend themselves against the night. They saw me in my human form; a blonde girl hiding under a black cloak that only showed my eyes, trying my best to keep my bright light hidden under the cloak, although my bare feet always created haloes of light on the ground.

→But the children knew better. They knew that some of these stories were real. They knew that I was real, and that there was no girl controlling the moon, because the moon was always the beautiful girl in the sky whom the creatures of the night feared. The Boogeymen feared me, remaining hidden in their closets, unable to get out when I shone my light through the children’s windows. Even when evil goblins, who only dwelled in the dark, managed to sneak past my light blocked by tree canopies in hopes of hurting children, I was left with no choice but to descend down to earth and kick their scary butts away.

→They were considered beautiful lies, and beautiful was always forgiven, even when it came with a little ugliness on the side.

→Parents told their children stories they thought were only lies. Although lying wasn’t a virtue—something all parents taught their kids—no one had a problem with this sort of lie.

→In the Kingdom of Sorrow, children were told stories about me. I heard mothers tell their children that the moon was a balloon floating on the night sky above them. If the children tiptoed and squinted, they could see its eyes, nose, and a crescent smile. Other children were told that a beautiful girl was controlling the moon with a rope, like a kite in the sky, and that she only pointed it near the good-hearted children to keep them safe from the dark, especially the children who went to bed early and obeyed their parents.

→I was the moon. I was your light in your darkest night. I showed you the way, and I kept you company if you were riding on your own. I was the moon. My presence, when full, shot a Cupid’s arrow to your heart, enticing you into falling in love. I was bright in the middle of the night. I was round and tender against your sharp fear of the dark. I was far away, but always watching over you as you slept. You observed me, wrote about me, painted me, and chanted incantations to summon me. You knew me well, and you wished you owned a magical bicycle which you could steer high in the sky, reaching for me. I was here since long ago, for millions and millions of years. The one thing you don’t know about me is that I am a girl.

→Dear Diary,