Was the author of this piece saying sooth?

[JPablo]

I guess this may be a good practice for English speakers...

Era un buen día de noche,
los rayos del sol helaban la tierra...

Yo solo, con dos de mis compañeros,
caminábamos sentados
sobre una piedra de madera...

A la luz de una vela apagada,
divisamos el cadáver de un ser viviente...
y yo, que cogí mi puñal
que no tenía ni hoja ni mango...
y le di tres terribles puñaladas...
Y el cadáver me contestó:
¡Ay, sinvergonzón:
que me has matado a traición!

I tried to find the above in the web, but couldn't find it. I learned it from my mom when I was a kid... as well as song named "Vamos a contar mentiras"... at any rate... I hope it is useful for your edification... and Crotalito's kids!

[pjt33]

Me parece que haya leído ese poema en inglés, pero no recuerdo la letra suficientemente para encontrarlo en Google.

Sí que recuerdo algunas líneas de otro poema paradójico:

One fine day in the middle of the night
Two dead boys got up to fight;
Back to back they faced each other,
Drew their swords and shot each other.
One was blind and the other couldn't see
So they chose a dummy for a referee.
A blind man went to see fair play,
A dumb man went to shout "hooray!"
A paralysed donkey passing by,
Kicked the blind man in the eye,
Knocked him through a nine inch wall
Into a dry ditch and drowned them all.
A deaf policeman heard the noise
And came to arrest the two dead boys.
If you don't believe this story's true,
Ask the blind man: he saw it too!

[JPablo]

¡Muy bueno!

Aquí hay una de las muchas versiones de "vamos a contar mentiras"

[Perikles]

It was Christmas day at Easter
The snow was raining fast
A bare-footed boy with clogs on
Came slowly whizzing past
He turned a straight crooked corner
To see a dead donkey die
Pulled out his gun to stab it
And it punched him one in the eye.......

[JPablo]

(Don't you remember how it follows?)

[Perikles]

Originally Posted by JPablo

(Don't you remember how it follows?)

I'm afraid not.

[JPablo]

But don't be afraid!

The spirits that know the future have told me this: “Don’t be afraid, Macbeth. No man born from a woman will ever defeat you.”

[Perikles]

Originally Posted by JPablo

The spirits that know the future have told me this: “Don’t be afraid, Macbeth. No man born from a woman will ever defeat you.”

If you are going to quote, at least get it right:
for none of woman born
Shall harm Macbeth.

[JPablo]

Man, you speak sooth!
But "be not afeard"!

I found this interesting place,
http://shakespeare.about.com/od/teac...eare_words.htm

They say (The bold is mine)

A key absence from Shakespearian English is “don’t”. This word simply wasn’t around then. So, if you said “don’t be afraid” to a friend in Tudor England, you would have said “be not afeard.” Where today we would say “don’t hurt me,” Shakespeare would have said “hurt me not.” The words “do” and “did” were also uncommon, so rather than saying “what did he look like?” Shakespeare would have said “what looked he like?” And instead of “did she stay long?” Shakespeare would have said “stayed she long?” This difference accounts for the unfamiliar word order in some Shakespearian sentences.

(But I guess this is another subject!)

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

¡Muy divertido, Pablo!

Aquí los niños recitan algo similar (el lenguaje es algo impolitically correct, pero igual chistoso):

A la luz de una lámpara apagada,
sentados en un banco sin asiento,
un manco escribía lo que un mudo le dictaba.
"Oigo pasos", dijo el sordo.
"Veo a alguien venir", dijo el ciego.
"¡Corramos, porque nos atrapan!", dijo el tullido.

[JPablo]

¡Muy bueno!