Monday, February 16, 2009

The old man and the father gazelle


But, thank God, they are not as intelligent as we who kill them; although they are more noble and more able.

'I'll kill him though,' he said.  'In all his greatness and his glory.' Although it is unjust, he thought.  But I will show him what a man can do and what a man endures.

He always thought of the sea as la mar which is what people call her in Spanish when they love her...the old man always thought of her as feminine and as something that gave or withheld great favors, and if she did wild or wicked things it was because she could not help them.

But it is good that we do not have to try to kill the sun or the moon or the stars.  It is enough to live on the sea and kill our true brothers.

Besides, he thought, everything kills everything else in some way.  Fishing kills me exactly as it keeps me alive.

'Ay,' he said aloud.  There is no translation for this word and perhaps it is just a noise such as a man might make, involuntarily, feeling the nail go through his hands and into the wood.

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I woke up at 5:30 this morning after a 24-hour trip back from Abu Dhabi.  One of our stops on the trip was a fishmarket.  I bought The Old Man and the Sea at the airport in Frankfurt on the way home.  I read it this morning as the sun came up.  These are some of my favorite quotations.  If you haven't read it you should.  More on Abu Dhabi to come.

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