wawa tawa pi soweli tawa li wawa ala/The Horse Wasn't Fast

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mipaev
Posts: 3
Joined: Thu Feb 25, 2016 11:11 pm

wawa tawa pi soweli tawa li wawa ala/The Horse Wasn't Fast

Post by mipaev »

jan ali o, suno pona!

nimi mi li Mike. mi sin la kama sona e toki pona. o lukin e toki lili ni. toki lili ni li tan jan Kun sewi pi toki sewi (6.15).

wawa tawa pi soweli tawa li wawa ala (The Horse Wasn’t Fast 馬不進也)

jan Kun sewi li toki e ni: (Master Kong said: 子曰:)
jan Men Sipan li toki suli ala. (Meng Zhifan didn’t boast. 孟之反不伐)
jan utala mute li anpa la jan Men li awen lon monsi pi jan utala. (In a rout, he remained in the rear of the soldiers. 奔而殿)
kama tawa lupa pi ma tomo la ona li palisa e soweli tawa ona. (As he came towards the city gate, he whipped his horse. 將入門,策其馬)
ona li toki e ni: (He said: 曰)
mi anpa tan wile wawa ala. (I did not stay behind because of my bravery. 非敢後也)
taso mi anpa tan wawa tawa pi soweli tawa mi li wawa ala. (But because my horse was not fast. 馬不進也)

Feel free to comment on grammar/vocabulary/style.
janKipo
Posts: 3064
Joined: Fri Oct 09, 2009 2:20 pm

Re: wawa tawa pi soweli tawa li wawa ala/The Horse Wasn't Fast

Post by janKipo »

not sure what the 'wawa' in 'wawa tawa' does; 'tawa' seems enough, or even 'soweli tawa li tawa ala wawa.'
'toki suli' is nice
maybe 'awen lon monsi' rather than 'anpa'. 'ala' goes with the verb
'taso mi anpa tan NI: wawa tawa pi soweli tawa mi li wawa ala.' (characters seem to say only "My horse did not go", not that it went, but slowly)

pona!
mipaev
Posts: 3
Joined: Thu Feb 25, 2016 11:11 pm

Re: wawa tawa pi soweli tawa li wawa ala/The Horse Wasn't Fast

Post by mipaev »

Great comments all. Thanks!

By "wawa tawa" I was trying to indicate "strength of movement." I can see your point about simplifying this phrase.
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