Translation Exercise: Probable-Possible

Here's a translation exercise.  The English original is by Frederick
Winsor, and all were published in _The Space Child's Mother Goose_.

Probable-Possible, my black hen,
She lays eggs in the Relative When.
She doesn't lay eggs in the Positive Now
Because she's unable to postulate how.

Plus-que-Possible, ma poule noire,
Elle pond ses oeufs dans le Quand-Provisoire.
Elle ne pond point dans une periode sure
Car l'experience serait bien trop dure.  (tr. Rene Bourquin)

Moeglich-Warscheinlich, mein' Schwartzhenn',
Legt ihr Ei in das Relativwenn.
Sie legt keine Eier ins Positivdann
Weil sie postulieren nun einmal nicht kann.  (tr. Alois Groh)

Alektruwn filh 'sti moi, thi ounom' estin Eikos
ta d' wia tiktei toi logoi, sofistri ornis ousa
ergoi men ou ti gar pleon; kreisswn logos gar ergou.
	(tr. Adam Parry)

Matago ya kuku mweusi, nadhani,
Ni mbali mbele au nyuma;
Haikuta mayai kuku huku au sasa --
Ni kwa hivi hiapatikani.  (tr. Grace and Alfred Harris)

(There's a Chinese version too, but I don't have the energy to
look up the characters and Unicode them.)

--
Business before pleasure, if not too bloomering long before.
        --Nicholas van Rijn
                John Cowan <cowan@...>
                        http://www.ccil.org/~cowan  http://www.reutershealth.com

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