You Might Have Seen Them (2) Tal vez los hayas visto E-Book

Jorge Humberto Villegas Alzate

• Herausgeber: BookRix
• Kategorie: Fremdsprachen
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2017

Beschreibung

A collection of stories in English and Spanish, based on video clips... Useful for EFL/ESL classes (Creative Commons). This is the second issue. More to come... 

Leseprobe

Jorge Humberto Villegas Alzate

You Might Have Seen Them (2) Tal vez los hayas visto

BookRix GmbH & Co. KG80331 Munich

Circus of Life

Circus of Life:

A fable about a bear who could not see his family for a long time

A narration inspired by the short animated film “Bear Story” / “Historia de un Oso” (2014) by Gabriel Osorio and Punk Robot Studio, available at the URL https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOjMr9nK_cs

As a curiosity, the short film story was written by Gabriel Osorio, Leopoldo Osorio’s grandson. His grandfather was in jail after the coup d’etat in Chile to Salvador Allende by Augusto Pinochet. Then he was in exile for a long time and came back to Chile recently to celebrate the Oscar award with his grandson for his best animated short 2016.

***

   The clock smith bear had been living alone in a country far away from his family for many years. Every day he synchronized his clockwork mechanism for many hours before he got out to the streets with his magic box and a bell to call kids to see his show. Every gear had to be lubricated with a drop of oil or replaced with a new one as it got worn out. It displayed a lot of tricks and effects made only possible by his expert hands that depicted an exact copy of his hometown, the streets and the landscapes he missed every day. Sometimes he had to stay up all night long trying to set up a new chapter into his syncopated story. After a short nap, he got up from his desk and stopped briefly in his room to take a glimpse at the stuffed teddy bear that belonged to his son, another beloved possession that helped him thrive daily.

He wandered up and down the streets in order to find a family with kids who were curious enough to ask their parents for a coin to see his magic show. Every day he waited with patience and tolled his small bell from time to time until he got the audience to give him a coin to pay for a piece of bread for the day.

The clock smith bear wund up the device and, as it started working, he narrated the sad story:

“Once upon a time, there was a very proud lion who wanted to rule a village but could not win elections, so he decided to oust the Bee who had cleanly won its place. Many heads of families who had voted for the Bee and had obtained important jobs in the village had to hide at home; however, the lion sent his tamer clowns after them. The next night after the lion had taken over the control by force, his clowns broke into their apartment building and kidnapped them all: Mr Mountain Lion, Mrs Seal, Mrs Monkey, Mr Giraffe, Mrs Elephant, Mr Bear and many others. They were asked to do many odd things for the crazy lion during many years so that the other animals could see he had the power in the circus. No one wanted to end up like those poor animals, locked up in cages and in chains, so they never questioned the lion’s acts. The only memory Mr Bear had from his family was a small picture of his family in his pocket watch, but that was enough for him to continue living. One day he was asked to perform an acrobatic act with a bike and, with his knowledge, he modified it in order to develop more speed and be able to escape from the circus… He was very successful indeed and made it back home, even though the tamer clowns ran after him. His apartment was almost in ruins, but his wife and son were still there waiting for him among the ruins and the food scraps they could hardly get.”

“Is it a real story?” the little kid asked. “Partly,” answered the clock smith sadly, and he extended a tin cup to receive the voluntary contribution from the kid. As the kid walked away, the clock smith took the coin and thought to himself: “Another loaf of bread and some vegetables.” Then he continued walking up and down the streets tolling his bell as he dreamt that one day he would collect enough coins to travel back to his home country and see his family again.

A story by Jorge Humberto Villegas Alzate, November 25th, 2016.

El circo de la vida, una fábula sobre un oso que fue alejado de su familia por un largo tiempo.

Historia inspirada en el corto animado chileno “Historia de un oso” (2014) de Gabriel Osorio y el Estudio Punk Soft, disponible en la URL

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOjMr9nK_cs

Como dato curioso, el corto animado fue escrito por Gabriel Osorio, nieto de Leopoldo Osorio quien estuvo en prisión después del golpe de estado a Salvador Allende por Augusto Pinochet. Luego estuvo en el exilio por largo tiempo y regresó recientemente a Chile para celebrar el premio Oscar otorgado a su nieto por su corto animado en 2016.

***

El oso relojero tuvo que vivir solo en un país alejado de su familia. Todos los días calibraba sus mecanismos de reloj por muchas horas antes de salir a las calles con su caja mágica y una campana para llamar a los niños a ver su show. Cada pieza al interior de la caja tenía que lubricarse con una gota de aceite o ser remplazada si se desgastaba. La caja  desplegaba una variedad de trucos y efectos visuales solamente posibles por sus manos expertas que redibujaban una copia exacta de su ciudad natal, las calles y paisajes que extrañaba tanto cada día que salía a trabajar. Algunas veces tenía que pasar despierto toda la noche tratando de sincronizar los movimientos de un nuevo capítulo en su historia sincopada. Después de una pequeña siesta, se levantaba de su escritorio y hacía una breve pausa en su cuarto para dar un vistazo al oso de peluche que reposaba en su cama y que pertenecía a su hijo, otra amada posesión que le ayudaba a prosperar en sus objetivos a diario.

Caminaba las calles de arriba a abajo para encontrar alguna familia que estuviera caminando con sus hijos cuya curiosidad fuera suficiente para pedir a sus padres una moneda para ver su show mágico. Todos los días esperaba con paciencia y repicaba su pequeña campana con alguna frecuencia hasta conseguir la audiencia que le diera una moneda para conseguir el pan de cada día.

Le daba cuerda a su aparato mágico y mientras las escenas corrían adentro, el narraba la triste historia:

“Érase una vez un león muy orgulloso que quería gobernar una aldea pero no pudo ganar las elecciones, así que decidió desterrar a la abeja que había ganado en forma legal su lugar. Muchas cabezas de familia que habían votado por la abeja y que habían obtenido puestos importantes en la aldea, se tuvieron que esconder en sus casas. Sin embargo, el león envió a sus payasos domadores tras ellos, armados con látigos. A la noche siguiente del león haber tomado el poder, sus payasos irrumpieron en el edificio de apartamentos y arrestaron a varios: El señor León de Montaña, la señora Foca, la señora Mona, el señor Jirafa, la señora Elefanta, el señor Oso y muchos más en otros edificios alrededor. Todos ellos fueron forzados a realizar actividades ridículas para el león loco durante varios años para demostrar al resto de animales de la aldea el poder que él tenía en su circo. Nadie más quería acabar como sus amigos animales, encerrados en jaulas y encadenados, así que nunca se atrevieron a cuestionar los actos del león. La única memoria que el señor Oso conservó de su familia era una pequeña fotografía de su familia en su reloj de bolsillo, pero eso era suficiente para mantenerse con vida. Una vez le pidieron que preparara un acto acrobático con una bicicleta y él, con sus habilidades extraordinarias, modificó la bicicleta para que pudiera desarrollar más velocidad y así poder huir del circo… Tuvo éxito de hecho, y logró regresar a su casa en ruinas a pesar de que los payasos domadores trataran de alcanzarlo. Su esposa y su hijo aún lo esperaban allí entre las ruinas y las migajas de comida que a duras penas podían conseguir”.

“¿Es una historia real?” Preguntó el pequeño. “En parte,” respondió el relojero con una expresión triste mientras extendía un vaso desde la máquina para recibir la contribución voluntaria del chico. A medida que el chico se alejaba, el relojero tomó la moneda y pensaba para sus adentros: “Otra hogaza de pan y algunos vegetales”. Luego continuó recorriendo las calles de arriba a abajo, sonando su campanita mientras soñaba que algún día recogería tantas monedas como para viajar de vuelta a su tierra natal y volver a ver a su familia.

JHVA, Nov 25, 2016.

Playing On Thin Ice

Playing on thin ice

A narration inspired by the short animated film “Nokomi” (2012) By ESMA, available at the URL https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKaj7MLXe6s

I am just starting to learn to manage friendship or stay away from it. Too many years in the eternal snows alone have brought an innocent friendship from time to time, but I did not know how to manage proximity to humans. They always got scared and even tried to kill me when I was just trying to be friendly.

I could finally find a place where I could hide and keep myself and humans at a safe distance. Even though the icy walls looked fragile, they allowed me to enjoy myself in the natural frozen water slides under the snow. I had given up to get any contact with humans and had learnt to entertain myself by playing music with the ice stalactites that formed over the years as ice slowly melted from the cave’s roof. But my childish spirit still survived deep inside me.

My last friend got scared because of my playfulness… I have known how to manage a little carelessly the thin ice for ages, but humans are very distrusting of any danger, especially on steep mountains where an avalanche could bury them or on thin ice they could die because of hypothermia in icy waters. At the beginning I thought that we could become very good friends when she arrived by accident to my cave in her sleigh… She had a natural ability to play music by ear… I was trying a new tune on my improvised ice xylophone when she came in for the first time. She followed each of my notes easily and we started to play them together.

Surprisingly, she was not afraid of me and we slid together in my natural playground under the ice. We were having fun together, but she had to go back home where her father was expecting her to be all the time. She was reluctant to leave, but her father must had been worried by then. In her second visit, the child surprised me as I was playing with snow figures. I got really excited and exceeded in my games. All the ice started to crack under our feet and she got really scared… I was ready to catch her at any moment, but it was not funny for her… That was the last time I saw her in my cave.

She is now more involved with her shelter activities with her father, especially when she almost got lost in the snow storm after she left my cave that last day when I forgot the strength of my abominableness. From time to time I sneak from the peaks of the snow dunes to her shelter… I wonder if she will come back some day so I can say I am sorry…

I am engraving the tunes I create every day on the walls… Perhaps she will come here some day and she will remember me when she sees the songs carved on the eternal ice walls from my cave. By now, that music will only be heard inside these walls, muffled by the wild winds outside, as far as I can keep carving each note for her. The music of the snow will be heard some day in a concert hall performed by that child who will probably attend a good conservatory.

JHVA. Nov 29th, 2016.

Jugando sobre hielo delgado