Dedicated to friends.
To Kishan and Kaïn.
I’m back in school. Might be a hectic term. And then because of the most recent headline-grabbing virus, no exchange students are coming in.
Fun fact: I have a book written in Dutch at home. I’ve never read it. I flipped to a random page one day and saw the line ‘He is dead’.
Welp.
I’ve basically copied the translations from the video below, adding just a few touches to make the translation seem more old-timey. But obviously, I don’t speak Dutch, so for a more accurate (and possibly readable) representation of the meaning, the video below will do much better.
First comment: WHERE’S THE NORTHWIND?
Ok, I get it, the first line mentions ‘North’, but… but…
It’s a different image, ok?
Yes, I know the line serves to introduce the river, which is a significant location in the plot of the movie, but…
I just want more wind… T_T
Rhyme scheme is solid though. AABB CCDD EFEF AAGG. I would have liked the last stanza to be AABB, mirroring the English version (and using a common line ‘all is found’), but the theme of this version is more clearly Ahtohallan, and at the end it slowly shifts to home. Not so vague, but hey, it’s not too bad I think.
And a bit of special mention to Dutch – there’s a strange familiarity I hear and read in the language. Perhaps it’s because English and Dutch could be linguistically closer than I realise. And with the vocals, there’s a strangely ordinary, quotidian feeling to the song for me. It’s not like I feel super soothed by listening to it – but I feel like I hear what English might have sounded like if history have turned a little bit more that way than this.
Or maybe, it’s just a coincidence that this song sounds like this.
Well, onto the song and lyrics! Tell me everything I got wrong friends~
Ahtohallan
Written by: Robert Lopez, Kristen Anderson-Lopez
Composed by: Christophe Beck
Performed by: Renée van Wegberg
In het noorden, ver van hier, / Stroomt een oude, magische rivier
In the north, far from here, / streameth an old, magical river
Ga maar slapen, lief, en droom / Al wat ooit was rust in haar stroom
Go to sleep, love, and dream / All that ever was resteth in her stream
In het water, diep en blauw / Schuilt het antwoord op de vraag van jou
In the water, deep and blue / Hideth the answer to the question of thine
Duik in tijden van weleer / Maar wie te ver gaat, keert nooit weer
Dive into times bygone / But whoever too far goeth, returneth never again
Ze zingt voor wie haar kan verstaan / Je zicht wordt door haar lied verbreed
She singeth for whoever can her understand / Thy sight shalt, through her song, be broadened
Kun jij je angsten straks weerstaan? / Kun je aan wat het water weet?
Canst thou thy fears soon withstand? / Canst thou handle what the water knows?
In het noorden, ver van hier, / Wacht een moeder, daar bij de rivier
In the north, far from hier, / Waiteth a mother, there by the river
Kom, m’n lief, keer terug naar huis / Ben je verdwaald? Dan kom je thuis
Come, my love, turn back for home / Art thou lost? Then shalt thou come home
Queendom of the Crocus 