IT HAPPENED/ ON CHANUKAH TRANSLATED

FRIEDMAN, STEVE

NATAN ALTERMAN IT HAPPENED/ ON CHANUKAH TRANSLATED BY STEVE FRIEDMAN It happened on Chanukah. so it is said, When all of the children had gone up to bed, The classroom was empty, and everything...

...No cowards are we We haven't forgotten what fun 'fun' can be...
...They all shook their heads and gave out with a sigh, •'I'm not Antiochus the Madman .. . not I." The game was in danger of falling apart For...
...It's made out of straw, but it's really exquisite...
...They trembled together, a little from cold...
...The clock on the shelf gathered courage and spoke...
...The little pup's cries didn't help anymore, For suddenly—whack—the beginning of war, And before he could find a dark corner to hide in, A big chair fell over and half crushed his side in...
...wake up...
...Look here...
...My city, Jerusalem, leave it alone, Or I'll beat you so hard that I break every bone...
...What are you anyway...
...1 or...
...He scratched and he bit, oh, how bravely he fought But nothing could help him...the puppy was caught...
...Hurrah!...Look and .see, We've won freedom and light with our great victory...
...Mattathias...
...And he looked like a devil come straight out of hell...
...It wasn't a cricket, I know...
...The broom...
...The dreidel stopped spinning and fell on his side iggSlM He stretched out on the floor and he happily cried...
...veiled out from the side...
...I'm just a poor puppy who'll soon be a ghost...
...Come on, let's get started...
...Let's go forward, you Maccabees, let your swords ring Till we capture the Madman, the Syrian king, "That's the way, that's the way—forward we go...
...The sound was so strange, and it frightened me so...
...You're our chief and our head...
...no one spoke For no one was willing to carry that yoke...
...Come on...
...With everything ready the game could begin And Judah yelled loudly, his face in a grin, "Take care, Antiochus, watch out what you're doing...
...he thought, i 'And I'll know how to choose once the battle's been fought...
...so it is said, When all of the children had gone up to bed, The classroom was empty, and everything still...
...What's going on...
...The sounds of the battle rose up from the floor From cellar to rafters and on out the door...
...Then in charge the elephants, straight in a row...
...The first candle flickered alone on the sill...
...Shall we be afraid of the Maccabees' force...
...If you try to escape—and you'd better not dare— If you do, you'll be captured and tied to a chair...
...The table was shaking—it really was scared...
...And for these parts, I think that the cacti will do...
...lacking a ruler, the play had no heart...
...J o discover which army will come out the best...
...Is this some kind of joke...
...And you, little potbellied stove over there, You will be Judah, my son and my heir...
...He squirmed and he twisted—went out of his mind...
...1 he elephants must be turned back—on the double...
...The shouts of the brave and the cries of the weak...
...The laugh of the mighty, the moans of the meek...
...A terrible something will happen tonight...
...Let's start with me, with my beard I'll admit it...
...f!^5 A wonderful miracle happened right here...
...The brave Judah Maccabee lowered his sword, And swung it with joy at the Syrian horde, His flying locks burned as the sword rose and fell...
...When I've finished, your moldy old corpse I'll bequeath To the birds of the sky and the beasts underneath...
...j^" And Judah cries...
...And a little from fear, so the story is told...
...Who whistled...
...SJM...
...I'm not the king of the Syrian host...
...boys, we're really in trouble...
...I'm perfectly right...
...From this time and forward, we all can be sure That under our king we'll be safe and secure...
...The puppy cried out to his mother in fright, "Mommy, why does this potbellied stove want to fight...
...And hand against hand, without any rest...
...Did you hea: The wind whispered something, just now, in my ear...
...NATAN ALTERMAN IT HAPPENED/ ON CHANUKAH TRANSLATED BY STEVE FRIEDMAN It happened on Chanukah...
...Into battle we're going, you brave fighting flowers Your spikes must be sharpened for hours and hours...
...The chairs got together and quickly decided And then, to the rest, their decision confided, "We'll be the Syrians, worry no more...
...Pay attention...
...And chaos arose, and a dreadful confusion, It looked like a terrible nightmare illusion...
...You'll see before sunrise...
...being quite clever, and being quite wise, And wanting to know who would take home the prize, i "I'll wait till the end of the battle...
...So get up—there's a war and you've got to take part With the hot burning flame of the Lord for your heart...
...My anger is boiling and cooking and stewing...
...But wait just a moment...
...And each one was thinking: ""What's that...
...When they saw his reluctance, the elephant said, "Shut up and be king...
...What we need now are some brothers for you...
...Nobody grabbed for the part And each of them wanted to cry in his heart...
...jSSP "Victory, victory, do you all hear...
...And what's crawling toward me from out of the dark...
...We're twice the men you are, our legs number four...
...It ended when suddenly, out of the gloom, In a voice made of iron and sounding like doom...
...Just household utensils alone on the ground...
...The poor little puppy, he cried and he whined...
...Anything goes...
...The puppy among them, too small yet to growl, Almost fainted each time that he heard the wind howl...
...We'll beat them on foot and we'll beat them on horse.'* The teapots came marching in milital rows, And each one was waving his long crooked nose...
...You're a warrior...
...The chairs gaily thundered, "Our elephants, they— We'll murder the Maccabees....Hip...
...Why does the floor seem to crackle and spark...
...Honored utensils Or tatters and dishrags and old pointless pencils...
...Let's play it and shut up that tock-ticking fool...
...So with your permission, without any bother, I'll be Mattathias, the Maccabees' father...
...Silence and darkness and no one around...
...We'll set up a game Just to put that old tick-tocking timepiece to shame...
...Yippee...
...full of courage and pride...
...An elephant wandered around like a mourner Until he bumped into the pup in the corner, When lifting him up in the air with his nose He trumpeted...
...The broom kept on giving out parts to his men Till he came to the Syrian soldiers...
...Our king," cried a chair, "Who's the king...
...Here he is...
...This one is trembling and that one is tense, The third one is moody—it doesn't make sense...
...An old, vvornout broom standing up at the wall Was even afraid to be frightened at all...
...Ihe dreidel alone, being calm and serene...
...And then He grew quiet...
...hip, hurray...
...The Syrian men Are retreating....The Maccabees conquer again...
...Being brilliant and clever, he's making a test...
...The utensils awoke, as it seemed, from a dream And with one voice, together they let out a scream, "Shut up, stupid ticker, up there on the shelf, You're only a dirty old dishrag yourself...
...Whirled forward and backward, surveying the scene...
...For they knew very well, and it wasn't a mystery, Syria lost in the pages of history...
...Head against head and chest against chest...
...The chair would have yelled out for help if it dared...
...When all the utensils were quiet at last The broom in the corner gave out with a blast, "The Chanukah game—we know every rule...

Vol. 2 • December 1976 • No. 3


 
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