3. Bolka

Bolka


  • This isn't a Tales by the Fire, and it isn't mine, but it's super awesome sauce that everyone should get to see 🙂

    One of the 'clues' someone found while researching for Banish Misfortune. It's actually about something completely different and totally unrelated to the plot! Great fun running around after it (and the other 100 red herrings!) anyway 🙂

    Kudos to Lagermane for coming up with it, and to the person who found it and let me see it.

    Have fun completing the translation if you fancy 🙂

    Ahg horemn na bolka chu, na horemn toghja da boda, chav togh na serdi modri.

    "There were four, that fit into (don't know this word?) and so maintained the (don't know this word either), and it was a moveable feast." – Kh
    It was a moveable feast? -- KDM
    Modri can be 'moveable feast' or 'a blessing from the gods' -- W
    The Viles lexicon gives 'bolka' as 'instrument to measure weights or length'. That would be the first word. -- KDM
    I think the second unknown is a priest caste term for the System of the World; ie, the hierarchy of the gods and planes. It's sufficiently obscure enough that I've never been very confident of the meaning, and they have it spelled somewhat differently here. -- W

    Kaeri sicarii na velo, sicar ratiko ap conser, muho shinry oja mola ja longam.

    Something, something, fire, bondage… "he was horny, he engaged in bondage with fire and a rod, he stuck the rod forcefully up his-" Am I reading this right?!? -- KDM
    Not exactly. "Being filled with desire, he bound the rod of fire to himself, he...." I don't know these words. -- Kh
    I think it's saying he placed the 'rod' inside himself, or merged himself with it. 'Mola' shows up in Codex 78b, and the connotation there is that two bureaucracies merge to form one, with one of the two being more dominant in the new than the other. -- W
    So it's not ancient bondage porn. I'm almost disappointed. -- KDM
    We know. -- Kh

    Majil ho na gomjka losco; seviri na fero conser duum, ga kedri mar. Na daji cho bolka wijkapa na cun.

    "Then his fellows were afraid; they could not take back his rod, without risking flatulence. They dared not cause this harm to the 'bolka' (measuring instrument?) they so had anal intercourse with." – Kh
    That last word is wrong; it's fooled me too in the past. It can also mean 'deeply loved and desired' as well as 'performing backdoor carnality.' -- KDM
    Well that's a relief and throws a whole new light on certain passages, and makes certain access procedures in Mintas rather more palatable. -- W
    Admit it, you were considering it anyway. -- KDM
    I say nothing. - Kh
    To change the subject, you also can substitute 'flatulence' with 'destructive explosion'; they use the same word and I think the latter is probably more applicable in this case. -- W

    Homli cho hagto, fro ma donla na bej, crumli cho ma querli. Mag rata na hol, sevro sha gomgha. Havjoko damre.

    "So they tied him to a bed and somethinged him, until he passed out. Then they hid the other three rods, each near (a pleasing concubine?). And so it remains." – KDM
    I think someone has a one-track mind. -- W
    You have a better translation I'd love to hear it. -- KDM
    About that first line.... it's not exactly tied him to a bed. I think more accurately it is, 'they imprisoned him to a device for sleep.' -- Kh
    Tied him to a bed, yes. -- KDM
    Or in some sort of stasis prison. That first unknown word, I think I've seen it in reference to putting out fires.-- Kh
    I know the term you mean and it isn't quite the same. Different dialect too. Could be related or a loan-word though. -- W
    And the concubines? -- KDM
    That can also mean 'something or someone that meshes or is of the same nature as you in a pleasing and intimate way' -- W
    Just a quick note; the word translated as 'rod' doesn't neccessarily mean a short stick; the connotation is more of a token of rulership or power. -Kh