Herria eta hizkuntza

Land and Language

Herria eta hizkuntza

One day in the past, in a tavern,Iragan egun batez, Ostatu batean,
two friends were chatting, not just for show;bi lagun ari ziren ez ta bai betean;
both were honest Basques, after all,biak ziren euskaldun zintzoak ustean,
yet unable to agree with each other;halere ezin adi elgarren artean;
I find myself listening in a sad mood.entzuten egona naiz umore tristean.

I can't fully grasp a parable,Ez dut osorik hartu baten parabola,
spoken in Spanish, he knew how:erderaz mintzo baitzen, berak jakin nola:
caring for our beloved land,gure herri maiteaz zuela axola,
this, his main concern, the other's mind elsewhere,hau, bere gain beharra, bertzen men dagola,
'Long live the Basque Country,' in French he'd vow."Gora Euskal-Herria", frantsesez ziola.

The other one burst out in pure Basque:Bertzea oldartu zen euskara garbian:
'Our language will not be lost for sure!"Gure hizkuntza ez da galduko agian!
That's our essence in the Basque Country,Hori dugu bereixik guk Euskal Herrian,
we stand out in others' winter;Gainerakotan gaude bertzen negurrian;
we've been French-made for too long!'frantsez egina gira joan den aspaldian!"

In those two men, a good treeBi gizon horietan, zugaitz onekoa
one had the fruit, the other the branch;batek ondoa zuen, bertzeak ostoa;
that strange thing I don't like,gauza arraro hori ez dut gustoka,
even though I live in the mountains, I seemendian bizi arren, dut ikustekoa
the acorn disguised as a chestnut.gaztainaren aldaxkez janzirik pagoa.

One raising the land as a plow,Bat herria goratzen arrotz baten gisa,
the plow desiring the land's word;arrotz nahiak berriz herriaren hitza;
ours has been done, speaking clearly,gureak ja egin du, gaiten garbi mintza,
lost like a shadow in the foglainopean bezala galduak gabiltza
they can't both serve the same master!ez daizke bi nagusi batean zerbitza!

As they argue with each other,Elgarri direlakotz bi gizon jazarri,
they both have the same thing in mind;gauza bat bera dute bi pusketan zarri;
I want to show them the ropes,erakatsi nahi dut nik puskak elgarri,
our language and our Basque Countrygure hizkuntza eta gure Euskal Herri
I compare them to a single existence.Konparatzen baititut izaite bateri.

Listen, siblings, to my voice:Anai-arrebak entzun ene ahotsa:
an existence can't be filled with bones;izaite bat ez daike hezur utsez osa;
the land is the body, the language the heart;herria da gorputza, hizkuntza bihotza;
from each other, a piece of each,bertzetik bereixtean bitarik bakotxa,
for the existence of horror, death is certain.izaite horrendako segurra hilotza.

Some forget about the land, neglecting Basque,Batzu herriaz orroit, euskaraz ahantzi
others love Basque, despising the land;bertzek euskara maite, herria gaitzetsi;
language and land don't go separately,hizkuntza ta herria berex ez doatzi,
they want to make it clearberek nahi daukute konpreniarazi
without one another, they can't live.bata bertzea gabe ez daizkela bizi.