English translation of “No oyes ladrar los perros” by Juan Rulfo. Sorry if something is translated wrong. i put some translation notes in [] to help you understand it better.
-Hey you up there, Ignacio, tell me if you can not hear a signal of something or see some light somewhere.
-Nothing can be seen
-We should be close already
-Yes, but nothing can be heard.
-Look well
-I can’t see anything
-Poor you, Ignacio.
The long dark shadow of the men continued moving up and down, tripping over the rocks, shrinking and growing according to the shore of the river. It was a solo shadow, wobbling.
The moon came over the earth, like a round blaze of fire.
-We should be arriving at that town, Ignacio. You who have ears free to hear, look and see if you can hear the barking of the dogs. Keep in mind that that will tell us Tonaya is just around the mount. And it has been hours since we left the mount. Remember that, Ignacio.
-Yes, but I don’t see a sign of anything.
-I am tired.
-Put me down.
The old man walked backwards until he reached a wall and he rearranged his load there, without releasing it from his shoulders. Although his legs were buckling, he did not want to sit down, because afterwards he would be unable to lift the body of his son, since back there, hours before, they had helped him load him on his back. And this is how he was carried since then.
-How do you feel?
-Bad.
They spoke little. Each time less. At times he seemed to be sleeping. At times he seemed to be cold. Trambling. He knew when the trembling would seize his son because of the jerkings he felt, and because he would dig his feet into his loins like spurs. Later the hands of his son, locked around his neck shook his head vigorously like a rattle.
He gritted his teeh so that he would not bite his tongue, and when his son finished he would ask:
-Does it hurt a lot?
-Somewhat- his son answered.
At first he had said: “Let me down here… put me down here… go on alone. I will catch up to you tomorrow or whenever I recover a bit”. He had said this like fifty times. But now he never said that.
There was the moon. In front of them. A big and colored moon that filled their eyes with light and that stretched and obscured more their shadow over the earth.
-I can’t see where I am going- he said.
But no one answered him.
The other was sitting up there, completely illuminated by the moon, with his pale face, without blood, reflecting the opaque light. And he was below.
-Did you hear me, Ignacio? I’m telling you that you aren’t looking well.
The other remained silent.
He continued walking, stumblingly. He slouched his body and later straightened to return to stumbling again.
-This is not a road. They told us that behind the hill was Tonaya. We have already passed the hill. And Tonaya can not be seen, nor is any noise letting us know that we are close to it. Why do you not want to tell me what you see, you up there, Ignacio?
-Put me down, father.
-You feel bad?
-Yes.
-I will take you to Tonaya no matter what. There I will find someone to care for you. They said there was a doctor there. I will take you to him. I have carried you for hours and I am not going to leave you thrown aside here so that you die. [literal: “so that they end who you are.”]
He trembled a bit. He walked a few steps sideways and returned to straightening up.
-I will take you to Tonaya.
-Put me down.
His voice became soft, he barely whispered:
-I want to rest a bit.
-Sleep up there. After all, I have a good grip on you.
The moon continued rising, almost blue, into the clear sky. The face of the old man, wet with sweat, was filled by the moon. He hid his eyes to block what was in front of him [the moonlight] since he couldn’t bend his head held tightly by the hands of his son.
-All that I do, I don’t do for you. I do it for your deceased mother. Because you were her son. That’s why I do this. She would reprimand me if I left you there, where I found you, and I would not have picked you up to take you to be cured, as I am doing. It is her that has given me courage, not you. Firstly because to you I do not owe anything more than difficulties, absolute martification, absolute shame. [he means that the son only gave those things to him, so that is what he should give back.]
He sweated to talk. But the night winde dried the sweat. And over the dry sweat, he began to sweat again.
-I will break my back, but I will carry you to Tonaya, so that they cure the wounds they have done to you. [the two “they”s refer to different groups of people- the doctors will cure the wounds that the bad people did to the son.] And I am sure that, when you feel better, you will return to your evil ways. This is not what is important to me. As long as you go far away, where I will not have to know anything about you. Provided that happens… Because to me you are already not my son. I have cursed the blood that you got from me. My part is cursed. I have said: “May the blood that I gave you rot in your kidneys!” I said that whenever I found out that you were wandering the streets, living by robbery and killing people… good people. And if you don’t believe me, there is my friend Tranquilino. He baptized you. He gave you your name. He also received bad luck from knowing you. Since then I have said: “This could not be my son.”
-Look to see if you can see something. Or if you hear anything. You that can do that from up there, because I am already deaf.
-I see nothing.
-Worse for you, Ignacio.
-I’m thirsty.
-Hold on! We are already close. What’s happening is that it is night and they have turned off the lights in the toen. But at least you should here if the dogs are barking. Try to hear.
-Give me water.
-Here there is no water. There is nothing but stones. Hold on. And even if there was, I wouldn’t let you down to drink water. No one could help me to lift you up again, and alone I can not.
-I am very thirsty and very tired.
-That reminds me of when you were born. That is how you were then. You awoke hungry and ate to fall asleep again. And your mother gave you water, because already you were finished with her milk. You coun’t be filled. And you were very rabid. I never thought that in time I would get so enraged at you… But that is what happened. Your mother, rest in peace, want you to grow strong. She believed that you would support her when you grew up. She didn’t have anything but you. The other son had to go and kill her. [meaning that she died in childbirth of having their second child.] You would have killed her again anyways if she had seen you at this point.
He felt that the man he carried on his shoulders had stopped tightening his knees and had begun to loosen his feet, balancing them on one side or the other. And it seemed that the head, up there, was sweating as if it was sobbing.
On his hair he felt big drops fall, like tears.
-Are you crying, Ignacio? It makes you cry to remember your mother, right? but you never did anything for her. You only paid us bad. [meaning: you only gave us bad things in return.] It seems that, instead of care, we gave you nothing but wickedness. And see? Now they wounded you. What happened to your friends? They killed them all. But they had no one. They could well have said: “We have no one to whom we can give our pain”. But you, Ignacio? [meaning: you always had someone who would care for you, so what is your excuse for turning into a bad person?]
* * *
There was the town. The roofs shone brightly under the light of the moon. He had the impression that he was being crushed by the weight of his son when the back of his knees bent in his final efforts[?]. Upon arriving at the first building, he rested briefly on the railing around it and let go of the limp body, as if it had been disjointed.
He unclasped with difficulty the fingers with which his son had been holding onto his neck, and, upon being free, heard on all sides the barking of the dogs. [his ears were covered by his sons hands, so he was unable to hear the dogs before this.]
-You didn’t hear that, Ignacio?- he said -You didn’t even help me with this hope. [meaning: you were bad your whole life, and even at the end, you couldn’t even tell me that you heard the dogs barking?]
—————-
The end!
In case you weren’t sure: Ignacio died. That’s why he is a limp body and his father just drops him on the floor. They didn’t actually get to a doctor.
*some comments are saying that he didn’t die. our teacher told us that he did. it makes sense with the final line of the story. “You didn’t even help me with this hope” is very final.
63 comments
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February 12, 2009 at 3:31 pm
mr. coulter
thanks i have a test on this story this morning
April 23, 2009 at 2:06 am
Cj
Thank you so much i have to turn in the questions for this tomorrow and this helped tremendously.
July 28, 2009 at 8:07 pm
Mel
This was extremely helpful. I would have had a really difficult time answering the questions about this story without the translation. Thanks.
September 10, 2009 at 12:18 am
JC
u rock dude now i won’t fail
September 10, 2009 at 11:50 pm
david
good translation and other notes
September 21, 2009 at 2:12 pm
Barry
Excellent job. Spot on. I have an essay due for this in an hour and this was exactly what I needed. Rock.
September 27, 2009 at 8:57 pm
sasha
I cannot tell you how much I LOVE YOU for doing this š
September 29, 2009 at 3:43 am
CL
bueno! gracias do translate more!
October 7, 2009 at 3:25 am
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[…] bright side of things, since fb wasn’t working properly I actually finished an analysis over No oyes ladrar los perros. I hope you like the only English translation I cuold find for ya’ll. It’s an ok […]
October 7, 2009 at 6:15 am
Colin
Solid work, came through in the clutch.
October 9, 2009 at 1:41 am
Alex
you are a stud. this was awesome
October 9, 2009 at 3:10 am
heyhey
great translation, great story. Thanks for helping me clear up a few details with the story.
November 2, 2009 at 2:09 pm
me
Very good translation. But no where in the story does it say that Ignacio dies. The author wants to leave that up to imagination. A dead man is no more limp than an incapacitated one.
January 19, 2011 at 2:32 am
thaman
hey. you have to assume that. my teacher said that too. his father’s “last hope” was saving Ignacio and seeing if just maybe he would become good. but he failed in the last hope, and Ignacio didn’t help there either – he dies.
January 19, 2011 at 2:33 am
troll
yes you are very stupid whoever commented that
November 12, 2009 at 6:16 am
Arnesh
dude ur the best
i love u man
i have a test on this tom nd question to do for hw
November 23, 2009 at 4:03 am
NC
hey, so pretty good translation, very helpful to have this to compare to the spanish version- only issue is that monte means woodland/forest not mount.. but thanks so much for translating this!
December 2, 2009 at 5:24 am
weeman
i have a test tomorrow morning and this really is going to help a lot. thanks
December 7, 2009 at 6:11 am
johnnygee
thank you thank you thank you soooooo much!!!!
January 11, 2010 at 11:40 pm
linda
thanks so much!
January 12, 2010 at 2:09 am
jessekirk11
Great job. Thanks a lot.
January 13, 2010 at 12:27 am
eunii
thanks so much ^^
January 15, 2010 at 4:35 am
weatherman
dude, you rock. I have a quiz on this and I suck at spanish.
January 30, 2010 at 10:18 pm
Lina
you just saved my butt. thank you!
February 10, 2010 at 3:01 am
JP
Thank you so much!
I have an essay do on this story due tomorrow!
You’re the best.
February 10, 2010 at 11:05 pm
Matchu
+1 on “monte” note
February 15, 2010 at 1:52 am
ST
thanks so much! i needed this as a make-up grade & u sooo saved me!!!
February 21, 2010 at 7:46 pm
Krogerman
Thanks so much. I’m in a spanish lit class and it always helps to reread the story in English š I am so grateful This was a great translation š
February 24, 2010 at 1:35 am
Gita
Wow this was quite good thanks. The stories itself are good too. I am definitely gonna pass my test thanks =)
March 1, 2010 at 11:32 am
Royce
Thanks a lot, this has been extremely helpful.
March 7, 2010 at 10:52 pm
ss
dayumm! rockstar!
March 10, 2010 at 1:50 am
ALPHIE
THANK YOU FOR TAKING TIME TO TRANSLATE THIS WORK. MANY MANY THANKS, AND IT IS MUCH APPRECIATED!
March 14, 2010 at 12:16 am
another guy
thank you for posting this. i had a test on this. i’m writing an essay on it now
March 23, 2010 at 3:32 pm
julia
Omg this really helped me out a lot I had to read it in Spanish and didn’t understand! Now I understand completely! Thankz!
March 30, 2010 at 1:56 pm
Kendra
Thank you so much! You translated well! I read the story in Spanish, but the ending confused me. This cleared everything up…thanks!
April 9, 2010 at 3:12 am
tanwe
thank you so much for the translation! it helped a lot!
April 16, 2010 at 12:42 am
rdtyert
thanks for this(:
i read the story in spanish in my textbook but didn’t understand anything,
so this really helped!
:DD
August 13, 2010 at 12:36 am
alexa
thankyou!!!!!!!
September 2, 2010 at 8:33 am
Julie
Thank you for this, it was very helpful to read along with the story! So much more efficient than typing every other line into google translate, haha.
September 13, 2010 at 4:30 am
v
life saverrrr
September 17, 2010 at 3:55 am
chuliita
Thaaaaaaank you ā¤ you're just fantastic!
October 6, 2010 at 12:40 am
Harry
That was incredible. Any chance you could translate La noce boca arriba, el etnografo, las medias rojas, and la camisa de margarita in the next 12 hours for me?
October 7, 2010 at 2:18 am
swtsrwlove
not gonna happen, Harry.
October 7, 2010 at 3:33 am
Tom
Thank you for providing this translation! I now understand the story much more. However, my teacher told us that no one died in this story… *shrugs* Different teachers, different opinions, I suppose.
Yet again, thank you. Now I can re-read the Spanish version of the story and understand more of what’s happening.
October 17, 2010 at 3:35 am
chefbexter
Thanks! It really helps to read the Spanish version when I know what it says. You’re a lifesaver!
November 1, 2010 at 2:51 am
Brian
You’re the best!
November 21, 2010 at 9:19 pm
Sarah
I honestly cannot thank you enough. š
You saved my a$$ from failing my spanish project. I LOVE YOU. <33
December 8, 2010 at 6:30 pm
Kristen
Thank you. I really needed to find a version of this in english. I really appreciate your hard work! Now hopefully that I know what happened, i can actually write an analysis in class over this. Wish me luck!
January 12, 2011 at 5:05 pm
eli
Thank you so much! Wouldn’t be able to get through my hispanic lit class with out this š
January 28, 2011 at 4:11 am
Shawn
Dude, you rock.
February 8, 2011 at 8:22 pm
Jennie
You did an excellent job translating! Thanks soo much for posting this! You saved me the time of having to translate it myself to make sure I understood everything!
I’ll have to follow you!
February 28, 2011 at 4:09 pm
missy
I LOVE YOU š This was super helpful!
February 28, 2011 at 10:26 pm
Shelia
You are wonderful! I owe you a lot!!!
May 1, 2011 at 10:20 pm
Steph
Thank you so much! I have a Spanish Literature final in the morning (I’m in college) and this translation helped so much!
May 5, 2011 at 3:20 pm
Gray
Great effort! A few minor things, but good overall. However…
It is unclear whether he dies; the original commenter on that is right. Your teacher is wrong and it’s pretty disappointing that he/she would have told you guys that. His limpness is vague – that can be from death but just as easily from having passed out.
Consider this: the fact that his fingers are tightly clinched around the father’s neck at the end actually point more to his being alive at that time. A dead person’s hands would be limp – rigor mortis doesn’t set in for at least 3 hrs and Ignacio had just been murmuring right before they get there.
Still, I’m so disappointed to learn that there are teachers out there teaching this as a closed ending. Leading you guys to believe that he dies is so irresponsible; it completely ignores the concept of an open ending.
May 11, 2011 at 12:57 am
Rachel
Wow…thanks! I have to write a summary on this story and this translation really helped me understand it š
May 13, 2011 at 12:50 am
MVP
Thanks! This was a huge help for me. I have a test on this tomorrow and I wasn’t here when the teacher translated this for us. I really get the story now. It’s great that people like you exist to help others like me.
August 28, 2011 at 10:07 pm
Josh
thanks dude. you rock
August 29, 2011 at 2:33 am
Anonymous
Thank you SO SO much! This makes understanding my spanish professor easier…. continue the good work!
September 12, 2011 at 2:31 am
zari
ommggg thanks i now get my hw š this help
September 14, 2011 at 5:53 am
Nick Halden
So, yeah even though I’m just repeating what everyone else said, thank you so much for translating this!
September 18, 2011 at 12:44 pm
Calida
Haha, everyone’s already said this but thanks so much! this cleared up many questions for me regarding the text.
November 17, 2011 at 5:39 am
Siv
Gracias! Cleared up a lot of things for me so at least I know what’s going on when I get picked on in class tomorrow!