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Eliot, T. S.: Gusz, a színházi macska (Gus: The Theatre Cat in Hungarian)

Portre of Eliot, T. S.
Portre of Weöres Sándor

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Gus: The Theatre Cat (English)

Gus is the Cat at the Theatre Door.

His name, as I ought to have told you before,

Is really Asparagus.  That's such a fuss

To pronounce, that we usually call him just Gus.

His coat's very shabby, he's thin as a rake,

And he suffers from palsy that makes his paw shake.

Yet he was, in his youth, quite the smartest of Cats--

But no longer a terror to mice and to rats.

For he isn't the Cat that he was in his prime;

Though his name was quite famous, he says, in its time.

And whenever he joins his friends at their club

(Which takes place at the back of the neighbouring pub)

He loves to regale them, if someone else pays,

With anecdotes drawn from his palmiest days.

For he once was a Star of the highest degree--

He has acted with Irving, he's acted with Tree.

And he likes to relate his success on the Halls,

Where the Gallery once gave him seven cat-calls.

But his grandest creation, as he loves to tell,

Was Firefrorefiddle, the Fiend of the Fell.

 

"I have played," so he says, "every possible part,

And I used to know seventy speeches by heart.

I'd extemporize back-chat, I knew how to gag,

And I knew how to let the cat out of the bag.

I knew how to act with my back and my tail;

With an hour of rehearsal, I never could fail.

I'd a voice that would soften the hardest of hearts,

Whether I took the lead, or in character parts.

I have sat by the bedside of poor Little Nell;

When the Curfew was rung, then I swung on the bell.

In the Pantomime season I never fell flat,

And I once understudied Dick Whittington's Cat.

But my grandest creation, as history will tell,

Was Firefrorefiddle, the Fiend of the Fell."

 

Then, if someone will give him a toothful of gin,

He will tell how he once played a part in East Lynne.

At a Shakespeare performance he once walked on pat,

When some actor suggested the need for a cat.

He once played a Tiger--could do it again--

Which an Indian Colonel purused down a drain.

And he thinks that he still can, much better than most,

Produce blood-curdling noises to bring on the Ghost.

And he once crossed the stage on a telegraph wire,

To rescue a child when a house was on fire.

And he says: "Now then kittens, they do not get trained

As we did in the days when Victoria reigned.

They never get drilled in a regular troupe,

And they think they are smart, just to jump through a hoop."

And he'll say, as he scratches himself with his claws,

"Well, the Theatre's certainly not what it was.

These modern productions are all very well,

But there's nothing to equal, from what I hear tell,

  That moment of mystery

  When I made history

As Firefrorefiddle, the Fiend of the Fell."



Uploaded byP. T.
Source of the quotationhttp://www.moggies.co.uk/html

Gusz, a színházi macska (Hungarian)

Gusz a színház kapujába' vár.

Neve, mondhattam volna már,

Aszparágusz. S ez komplikált,

Nevéből hát a Gusz kivált.

Gereblye-sovány, bundája se dús,

Tappancsa remeg, paralitikus.

Elegáns cica volt annak idején,

Már nem fél tőle patkány, sem egér.

Egykor virult s elhervadott,

Pedig nagy hírre jutott.

Barátai közt klubban pihen

(A szomszéd kocsma mélyiben).

Ő szórakoztat, más fizet.

Mond hajdan esett történeteket:

Sztár volt, első-vonal-beli,

Fellépteté őt Irving s Tree,

S amikor döntő sikerét kifogta,

A karzat hétszer kinyávogta,

De mégis legnagyobb szerepe

A Tűzfagyhegedű Ördöge.

 

Mesél: "Minden jót eljátszottam,

Száz tirádát betéve tudtam,

Improvizáltam, bűvészkedtem,

És zsákból macskát eregettem,

Játszott fark-csóvám, gerinc-ívem,

Egy óra próba, s rendbe minden.

Nyávogásommal szívhez szóltam,

Ha főszerep, ha jellem voltam.

Ültem kis Nellnél ágy-szegélyen,

Himbálóztam harangkötélen,

Pantomimban se maradtam hoppon,

Voltam macskád, ó, Dick Whittington!

De életem legfőbb szerepe

A Tűzfagyhegedű Ördöge."

 

S ha részesül egy pofa gin-ben,

Elmondja, mint volt az East Lynne-ben.

Egyszer Shakespeare volt műsoron,

Épp egy cica kellett, bizony!

S tigrist játszott - győzné ma is -,

Volt kergetés, csatorna is.

De torka ma is könnyen kiad

Dermesztő szellem-hangokat.

Egyszer sürgönydróton tipegett,

Égő házból mentett gyereket.

S szólal:"Hanyatlik a mai cica,

Más volt, amíg Viktória

Uralkodott: fegyelem ám!

S ma? - büszkén ugrálnak karikán."

És mancsával mosakodva szólt:

"A színház nem az már, ami volt.

Modern előadás? no de

Kérem! akármi felérhet-e

A titokzatos villanással,

Mikor történelmet csináltam,

Mint Tűzfagyhegedű Ördöge."



Uploaded byP. T.
Source of the quotationhttp://jazsoli5.freeblog.hu/archives

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