Translation:The girl with a turned up nose/Chapter 1

by Monteiro Lobato

SLEEPING BY THE RIVER

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IN THAT little white house, — far away, lives a sad old woman, over seventy years old. Poor thing! She's at the end of her life, and she's shivering and catatonic, without a single tooth in her mouth — downcast and melancholy... Everyone pities her: — How sad to live alone in the middle of the woods...

Well, they're wrong. The old woman lives happily and contentedly, thanks to a little granddaughter, orphaned by her father and mother, who has lived there since she was born. She's a dark-haired girl with eyes as black as two jabuticabas grapes — and as playful as you can imagine! Her name is Lucia, but nobody calls her that. She has a nickname. Yayá? Nenê? Maricota? Not at all. Her name is "Narizinho Rebitado" (Little Turned Up Nose)^[1] — no need to say why. In addition to Lucia, there is Aunt Anastacia, an excellent black woman adored by everyone, and the Excellent Mrs. Emilia, a rag doll, made by the black woman and very ugly, the poor thing, with her eyes of black retrós sewing lines and her eyebrows so high that you can see a witch's face.

But despite this, Narizinho loves Mrs. Emilia very much. She talks to her all the time and never goes to bed without first tucking her into a hammock set up between two chair legs. Apart from this witch in a pannier, Narizinho's other interest is a stream that runs through the back of the orchard, with water so clear that you can see the rocks at the bottom and all the small fish.

Not a day goes by without Lucia sitting by the water's edge, at the root of an old ingázeiro tree, staying there for hours, listening to the sound of the current and feeding the fish. And they know her! As soon as the girl arrives, they all come running from afar, their heads held high, hungry beyond belief. First come the piquiras, the pot-bellied dusky millions fish with their eyes popping out; then come the risky red-tailed wrasses; and finally one or two suspicious parapitinga. And the little girl stays in this amusement until Aunt Anastacia appears at the gate of the orchard and shouts in her soothing voice: — Narizinho! Grandma's calling!

And so those three creatures lived, deep in the hollow of the ground, very content with life, with no worries or annoyances.

Once, when the little girl was by the river with her doll, she felt heavy-eyed and felt a great ache in her body. She stretched out on the grass and soon fell asleep, lulled by the murmur of the stream. She was already dreaming

a beautiful dream when she felt an itch on her face. She opened her eyes and, with great amazement, saw a little fish standing on the tip of her little nose. Dressed, yes! It was wearing a red coat, a top hat and a flower on its chest: it was beautiful! The little animal looked at her face with the air of someone who doesn't understand anything.

The girl was so amazed by the marvelous scene that she held her breath for fear of frightening the curious creature, and remained that way for some time until the buzz of an insect distracted her. It was a beetle that was flying over her head and, after a few turns, landed on her forehead. Narizinho, shivering, was about to swat it away with a good blow, when she noticed that it too was dressed like a person, with a coat, glasses and a cane. She stopped herself and stood still to see what would happen. The beetle, noticing Mr. Fish's presence, put his hand up to his hat and greeted him kindly:

— Hello, Master Scaly! How's your health?

— Something like this, my friend Thick Skin. I chipped three scales off my back yesterday and the doctor prescribed me some country air. I came to take the treatment, but here I found this hill that I don't recognize, and I'm wondering what the hell this white, smooth earth is. Is it marble?" he said, tapping Narizinho on the nose with the umbrella's toe.

The beetle, who knows a lot about dirt because he's

always digging holes, crouched down, put his glasses in his beak and, after examining the "dirt", said:

— It's not marble. It's more like rubber or cheese!...

— What about these leafless plants?" asked Scaly, showing his eyebrows.

— They must be wicker rods or fins, don't you see how flexible they are? I'm going to take a bundle of them to my friend the Cricket so that he can make me a sewing rack.

— And I'll take another for Mrs. Spider, the seamstress, to put in the corsets.

And the two of them set about pulling strands out of Narizinho's eyebrows. Each "fin" they pulled out was a sharp little pain, and the "land" felt like sweeping them away with a slap, but it endured everything, without the slightest grimace, so

interesting was it finding this singular adventure. And she remained motionless, spying on the antics of the curious little animals engaged in harvesting the fin sticks, thinking to herself:

— That's a good one! I feel like I've become a whale!

Then the little fish, with the bundle of fins under his arm, climbed down and began to examine the girl's lips and cheeks attentively. Before her nose, it stopped and, pointing at her nostrils, said:

— Well, here's a very nice burrow for a couple of beetles. Two rooms, one for the husband, one for the lady beetle. Great!...

— It's a good place, said the beetle, but I hope some damned scorpion doesn't live here!...

— I don't think so, replied the little fish. The scorpions have moved to the other side of the river, where there are lots of old termites.

— Nevertheless, added the beetle, "the word on the street is that one of them is here, ravaging these parts. And it may well be that he's hiding in this very cave.

— I don't think so, said the little fish. I have a good police force that informs me of the slightest steps of these monsters.

— In any case, let's see," said the beetle prudently, shaking his cane inside the "burrow":

— Hu! Hu! Get out, you devil!

But it happened that the cane tickled the girl's nostrils and she couldn't stop herself from sneezing: "Atchin!"

The two tiny creatures, taken by surprise, turned upside down and fell to the ground.

— Didn't I tell you?" exclaimed the beetle, standing up and wiping his dirt-smeared hat with his sleeve. Didn't I say there was "something" in there? It's the Black Scorpion's lair, there's no doubt about that, and I don't want any stories about poisonous stinging breeds! See you later, my friend Scaly, have a good day and be very happy. Goodbye!

And off he went through the air, buzzing like an airplane...

The little fish, however, was a brave dusky millions fish who was never afraid of cucas, and so he remained there, increasingly interested in deciphering the riddle. He thought for a long time, with his hands on his chin, and suddenly, seeing the doll next to the girl, he slapped his forehead in great joy:

— And this! Well, isn't that Narizinho Rebitado, our little friend who always shows up? What a nice meeting! I'm going to invite her to visit the Clear Waters Kingdom. He stood up straight, fixed his tie and shouted in her ear:

— Anyone at home!?

— Who is this? replied Narizinho, pretending not to know anything.

— It's me, Prince Scaly, silver dusky millions fish at your service.

— And what do you want, little fish?

— I would like to invite you to my domains in the city of Round Stones, in the Clear Waters Kingdom.

Narizinho, who wanted nothing more, clapped his hands with joy and exclaimed:

— With pleasure! I'm at your service, kind Silver Scamy Prince.

Saying this, he stood up, gave her his arm, and followed by Emilia, who, very teary, was following the girl like a maid, the two of them set off, like a pair of sweethearts, in the direction of Clear Waters Kingdom.

After a long walk, they came to a large quarry at a bend in the stream.

— The entrance to my kingdom is this way, said Scaly, pointing to a hole between the rocks and giving the girl his hand to help her up. They entered. But the darkness was worse than a starless night, and Narizinho stopped, full of fear. The little fish smiled and said:

— The children of humankind can only see when there is light, but the children of the waters are like owls: they can see as well in the light as in the dark. And he pulled out of his pocket a bright-eyed firefly, hanging from a little wire. The cave lit up in the light of the lantern, and Narizinho could see that she was in a long corridor, like a tunnel, with a closed door at the end. Leaning against this door was a striped toad, with a sword at his waist, a helmet on his head and a spear in his hand. He was the palace guard. But he was sleeping soundly, happily!

— This is it! exclaimed the prince, furious. I pay Master "Grab - and - Don't - Let - Go" five hundred flies a day to watch this door for me and as soon as I leave, the thief falls asleep! But this time he'll pay me! he said, preparing to wake him up with a kick.

— No! No! intervened Narizinho. Let's play a good trick on him instead. We'll take away the sleeper's weapons and dress him in Emilia's clothes. Imagine his astonishment when he wakes up!

Scaly thought it was a great idea and, both of them jumping for joy, they undressed the frog very slowly: then they tied Emilia's red dotted petticoat around his waist, put the doll's cap on his head and, in place of the spear, an umbrella. The poor frog was so funny that the little girl couldn't stop laughing.

— Let's wake him up now," said Scaly, giving him a formidable kick in the stomach.

— Hum! moaned the frog, his eyes widening and his mouth dropping open, astonished to see the prince in the company of an unknown girl and a doll lady who was very embarrassed to find herself in diapers. Scaly, very tense, he thickened his voice and grunted:

— What a beauty, Master Grab. Dressed as a woman, you, the palace guard!

— Dressed as a woman? Me? said the astonished frog.

— Look in this mirror, said the prince.

Only then did the frog realize what a mockery he had been the victim of. He looked at the prince, the girl and the mirror, without understanding anything about the whole affair.

— Now, as a punishment," said the prince, "instead of the five hundred flies in our deal, you're going to swallow five hundred round pebbles today.

The frog had an extremely sad expression and went to hide in a corner, very unhappy with his life, while Narizinho laughed until she was tired.

Then Scaly opened the door and, taking the girl's hand, led her into a large room where there was a throne.

— This is the hall of government, where I give audiences to my subjects and dispense justice, punishing the bad and rewarding the good.

He sat on the throne and struck a bronze gong with a silver mallet: pom! pom! pom! Immediately a detachment of uniformed crickets appeared under the command of Captain Grasshopper. They all stood as still as if they were made of wood.

— Get up! ordered the prince. The captain stood up and came to stand in front of the throne.

— Just what news is there in the kingdom?

— Not much, Your Majesty. There's been a crime at the Black Burrow. The green frog got drunk and entered the house of a family of cockroaches, killed the mother cockroach, seriously injured the father cockroach and ate all the daughter cockroaches.

— Have the criminal hanged from a large hawthorn branch. What else?

— There's news that the Black Scorpion is prowling around the kingdom, on the side of White Stone.

— Bad news! exclaimed the prince, frowning. The Scorpion is our worst enemy. We need to reinforce the border walls. What else?

— Two yellow catfish were found unconscious, floating in the small pond. I've taken them to the infirmary and they're being cared for by Doctor Snail, who has prescribed a purgative and swabs.

— That's it. What else?

— Your Majesty will know that's all.

— Perfectly, said the prince. It is now necessary for the kingdom to know of the presence among us of this beautiful princess with the black eyes, so that the people and the nobility can pay her every homage. I want a big party like never before. Notify the court and give the necessary orders, but firstly, send for the royal coach. The captain saluted militarily and left accompanied by his guards.

It wasn't long before a carriage pulled up at the door, drawn by three pairs of wrasses.

The coachman was a handsome red-footed shrimp, who was very sore at the top of his tail. As soon as the prince and the girl got into the carriage, Master Shrimp cracked his whip and the wrasses took off like lightning.

1. Wikisource note: While her name is Lucia, the text treats the nikname "Narizinho" as her common name.