L’Aventuros d’Alis in Marvoland
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland in Neo

By Lewis Carroll, translated into Neo by Ralph Midgley

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“Longale et veg,” cir lo Kat, indikande pel zampo totume, “abitar un Capist: e longale yena veg,” cir lo Kat, indikande pe l’osa zampo, “abitar un Mars-Lep. Vizitu eo ki te plor: ambas sar fola.”		“In that direction,” the Cat said, waving its right paw around, “lives a Hatter: and in that direction,” waving the other paw, “lives a March Hare. Visit either you like: they’re both mad.”
“Mo mi no var gi inte fola jensos,” cir Alis.		“But I don’t want to go among mad people,” Alice remarked.
“Oh, so no par eviti eto,” cir lo Kat. “Nos tos sar fola ik. Mi sar fola. Tu sar fola.”		“Oh, you ca’n’t help that,” said the Cat: “we’re all mad here. I’m mad. You’re mad.”
“Kom spar vu ke mi sar fola?” cir Alis.		“How do you know I’m mad?” said Alice.
“Tu shar si fola,” cir lo Kat, “ose tu no sur ik.”		“You must be,” said the Cat, “or you wouldn't have come here.”
Lewis Carroll sar plumnam. Charles Lutwidge Dodgson sir lo vera nam del autor, ki sir profesor de matematio she Christ Church, Oxford. Dodgson ensir et istorel lo 4. Jul nel anyo 1862 van il fir un jit in ropabatel ol flum Thames in Oxford, kompanat pel Rev. Robinson Duckworth, kon Alice Liddell (isanya), fel del Dekan de Christ Church, e la du soros, notye: Lorina (istreanya) ed Edith (otanya). Sar evidenta dal poem al enso del libro, ke lo tre yuninos askir Dodgson rakonti a zel un istorel. Toprime, epete ezitanda, il ensir en rakonti a zel lo prima versyon. Totye nel texto del libro, ki sir ende publikat nel anyo 1865, il riferar a zel mulyes nel libro, mo lesmode semiskelat.		Lewis Carroll is the pen-name for Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, who was a lecturer of mathematics at Christ Church, Oxford. Dodgson started the telling of this tale on July 4, 1862 during a rowing boat tour on the Thames River at Oxford. Pastor Robinson Duckworth and three girls were members of the party: Alice Liddell, the ten-year old daughter of the dean of Christ Church, and her sisters Lorina, aged thirteen, and Edith, eight years of age. The poem at the beginning of the story states that the threesome urged Dodgson to tell them a story. And so he set out to present the first version of the tale, admittedly with some initial reluctance. Now and then, within the broader tale, reference is made to all five of the boat party; the story first appeared in print in 1865.
Arturo Alfandari sir nasat in Italyo lo 8. Jun 1888, e laborir as exporter, pre sirvir as belga diplomat. Nel anyo 1937, van parir ke un guer sir neevibla, Alfandari decidir ke il vir fi somo po elpi kambi lo perspektivos del komunio inter­nasyona tange lo viv generale, plu pekule meze komunikilo, ke tos pur uti. Alfandari, ki bone spir sep linguos, examir Esperanto, mo krir ke it sar tro komplikat; konseke il ensir inventi sa propa linguo ki sir plu simpla e plu regla, kon radik-vortos plu kurta. Nel anyo 1961, il publikir un manual ligalat d’et linguo internasyona titlat “Neo”, ke Paul Rasquin deskribir as “lo natura devolvo noevibla de Esperanto”. Aldo Lavagnini it an deskribir as “un mezo radika e satisfa del riformo de Esperanto, ki pur si axeptat pel Esperantistos as simplazo de za linguo”.		Arturo Alfandari was born in Italy on 8 June 1888, and worked as an exporter before serving as a Belgian diplomat. In 1937 when it looked as though war was inevitable, Alfandari decided that he wanted to do something to help to change people’s outlook on life, and to do so by making available a means of communication which everyone could use. A polyglot, Alfandari examined Esperanto, but believed that it was too com­plicated, and he set about devising a language which was simpler and more regular, with shorter root words. In 1961 he published a bound manual of his international language Neo, which was described by Paul Rasquin as “the natural and inevitable further development of Esperanto” and by Aldo Lavagnini as “a radical and satisfy­ing way for a reform of Esperanto, which could have been accepted by Esperantists even as a simplification of their language.”
Lo manualos de Alfandari sir bone editat, ed il suxesir fi mul publicismo po Neo, uske skribi un kurt artiklo nel editazo datye 16. Jun nel anyo 1961 del periodik Life: “Mi eselir krei no nur un simpla linguo, mo un linguo an muy bela,” fyere car Arturo Alfandari, sepistreanya. Es la plan suxesor, sune lo mond komprenor lo ke il cir. Do duisqin anyos de rikiros, et exporter ritradat de Bruxelles, nasat in Italyo, ar ju prezentat un libro ki kontenar lo kompleta gramatik, asbene un vortuyo de 60.000 vortos del nuva linguo internasyona “Neo”. Il ar utat mul Latina radikos, Italala fonetik, un larga vortuyo inspirat pel Fransal, adverbos e konjuntelos Deucala, e lo gramatik Anglala e Rusala. Il deklarar ke il ze ar sildat in un mix plu klara, plu iza qam Esperanto, dey il ar prenat som struktur. Em Alfandari, Oficer okupat pe sekra kodos dal elt del Alta Komand Italala dul prima mond-guer, ki parolar sep linguos asbene sa propa linguo inventat, e ki deklarar ke so par apreni la baza principos inte is idos e gani kompetenso po se expresi nel linguo inte tre mesos. Mo malixe l’art de konverso nel nuva linguo sir epe limitat duntempe. Ben ke Alfandari ja ricar koryer de adeptos in Neo somsorta, fakte nur Alfandari ed un amiko lea sar lo sol jensos nel mond, ki spar it bone paroli etmomente.		Alfandari’s textbooks were well-produced, and he was successful in garnering publicity for Neo, even managing a short article in the 16 June 1961 edition of Life magazine: “Mi tralir krei no nur un simpla mo an un bel linguo,” says 73-year-old Arturo Alfandari proudly. If his plans work out, soon the world will understand that he said “I have tried to create not only a simple but also a beautiful language.” After 25 years of research, the Italian-born retired Brussels exporter has just pre­sented a 1,300-page volume containing the complete grammar and 60,000-word vocabulary of his new universal language, Neo. Using Latin for many roots of words, Italian for phonetics, a vocabulary range inspired by French, adverbs and conjunctions from German and grammar from English and Russian, he claims to have welded them into a clearer and more fluent mixture than Esperanto, from which he also borrowed some structure. Alfandari, World War I cipher officer for the Italian high command who speaks seven languages in addition to the one he invented, claims that the basics of Neo can be mastered in 10 days and complete fluency gained in three months. Trouble is that conversation will be limited for a while. Although he has already begun receiving fan male phrased in pidgin Neo, at the moment Alfandari and a friend are the only two people in the world who presently speak it.
Mi trovar ke Neo sar extreme concisa, e me plar it lekti. La gramatik sendube sar muy simpla, e, po elpi lo lekteros, mi ar riprodukat “Gramatik de Neo on Du Pajos”, on pajos 114–115).		I find Neo to be extremely concise and rather enjoyable to read. Its grammar is indeed very simple, and as an aid to the reader I have reproduced Alfandari’s “Neo Grammar in Two Pages” below on pages 114–115.
Ma kooperazo kon Ralph Midgley sir un gran plazo po mi dun la traduk de Alis a Neo. Il fir lo prelimena versyon metode in un anyo, e tradukir cire un paragraf shakide. Lo linguos internasyona sar esense desenat po eviti l’ambigueso, konseke sar temtempe dufa expresi vortulos e vorto-ludos, ki sar abitua nel nasyona linguos. L’Anglal kalembur tortoise~taught us sir muy dufa. Per Neo posedar nur un vort, tortugo, kol mindo ‘turtle, tortoise’; nos shir adopti turbot~turbat ‘turbot/confused’ etpropone. Oselte, dank rikeso de Neo, van Carroll kalemburar du mindos del Anglala vort drawing: Neo ne ofrar e traki ‘to extract’ e traci ‘to trace’. Kalembur muy dufa po kelosa traduker sar lo riplaso del suta termenos soles and heels ‘semelos e takos’ pel marina termenos solgos ed anguilos ‘soles and eels’. Anuve nos boncanse pir riplasi semelos e takos meze shelos ed astakos ‘shells and lobsters’. Em exemplos nur tre.		It has been a pleasure working with Ralph Midgley as he translated Alice into Neo. He worked methodically on the first draft over a year, doing a paragraph or so a day. Inter­national Auxiliary languages are by their nature designed to avoid ambiguity, so it is often difficult to achieve some of the puns and word-play that are so common in natural lan­guages. The tortoise~taught us pun gave us much difficulty, because Neo only has tortugo ‘turtle, tortoise’; we settled on turbot~turbat ‘turbot/confused’ for this. We were quite fortunate on the other hand, by the richness of Neo: where Carroll puns on two meanings of drawing, Neo offers both traki ‘to extract’ and traci ‘to trace’. One of the most difficult puns for any translator is the replacement of the footwear terms soles and heels by the marine terms soles and eels. In Neo again, we were fortunate to replace semelos e takos ‘soles and heels’ with shelos ed astakos ‘shells and lobsters’. And these are but three of many examples.
Dun Ralph e miself pripir et tradukazo, nos skoprir ke, inte l’anyos 1961 e 1966, Alfandari ir aplikat plul kambos muy interesa, los ke fir Neo plu koncisa, cet: lo riplasazo de expresyonos as el dicir a se selfa pe el dicisir (meze infix -is- insertat dol verba radik) kol sama mindo.		While Ralph and I were preparing this we discovered that between 1961 and 1966 Alfandari applied a number of significant changes to Neo. One of these is a very interesting change which made Neo much more concise: the replacement in expressions like el dicir a se selfa ‘she said to herself’ with an infixed particle -si- with the same meaning: el dicisir.
Neo ar at sem e kurta, e longa formos de serta verbos komuna. Nel gramatik 1961 en sir mulas; nel gramat ik 1966, dok, qar d’et kurta verbos sir abolat (nel list unte meze risendonot (†) indikat), asbene lo longa formo d’osa verb (nel list unte meze flesh (→) indikat). Gre lo kurta formo ci sir omitat dal korpo del gramatik 1966, it sir fakte inkludat nel suplement del sama libro.		Neo has always had both short and long forms of a number of common verbs. In the 1961 grammar there were many of these; in the 1966 grammar four of these short-form verbs were abolished (marked with a dagger in the list below) and one of them had its long form changed (shown with an arrow in the list below). Although the short form ci ‘to say’ was omitted from the body of the 1966 grammar, it was included in the supplement in the back of the book.
i~avi ‘to have’   pli~plazi ‘to please’ bi~bevi (*) ‘to drink’   pri~preni (†) ‘to take’ ci~dici ‘to say’   ri~riri (†) ‘to return’ di~doni ‘to give’   si~esi ‘to be’ fi~fari ‘to do/make’   shi~shali ‘to have to’ fli~flugi ‘to fly’   ski~aski (†) ‘to ask’ gi~igi ‘to go’   spi~sapi ‘to know’ ji~iji ‘to become’   sti~risti → esti ‘to stay, to be’ kli~klozi (†) ‘to close’   ti~meti (*) ‘to put’ kri~kredi ‘to believe’   tri~trovi (*) ‘to find’ li~lati (*) ‘to leave/let’   vi~voli ‘to wish/will’ pi~posi ‘to be able’		i~avi ‘to have’   pli~plazi ‘to please’ bi~bevi (*) ‘to drink’   pri~preni (†) ‘to take’ ci~dici ‘to say’   ri~riri (†) ‘to return’ di~doni ‘to give’   si~esi ‘to be’ fi~fari ‘to do/make’   shi~shali ‘to have to’ fli~flugi ‘to fly’   ski~aski (†) ‘to ask’ gi~igi ‘to go’   spi~sapi ‘to know’ ji~iji ‘to become’   sti~risti → esti ‘to stay, to be’ kli~klozi (†) ‘to close’   ti~meti (*) ‘to put’ kri~kredi ‘to believe’   tri~trovi (*) ‘to find’ li~lati (*) ‘to leave/let’   vi~voli ‘to wish/will’ pi~posi ‘to be able’
Pe grun de stil, nos ar ende decidat uti lo kurta form ci nel rakontazo; oselte nos utor lo longa formo dici nel dialogo. Samtempe nos akordir ke som formos kurta (meze asterisk (*) indikat nel oba list) vere no kontribir al klareso del linguo; konseke nos decidir uti nur lo longa formos d’et verbos cefende (exepte virsos, es lo metro ze nesir).		As a matter of style, we have decided to make use of the short form ci in the narration, but dici in the speech of the characters. We also agreed that some of the short forms (marked with an asterisk in the list above) did not really make the language clearer and we agreed to use the long forms only of those verbs throughout the text.
Arturo Alfandari promovir Neo meze un grup namat Amikos de Neo, ed evente fondir l’Akademio de Neo, Mo il mortir lo 1. Meyo nel anyo 1969. Es il ur vivat plu longatempe, Neo forse ur at plu amikos qam nun. Po mi, as publiker de Carroll, mi sar ixa par introduki Neo al admireros de Marvoland.		Arturo Alfandari promoted Neo through a group called Amikos de Neo ‘Friends of Neo’ and eventually formed the Neo Academy. But he died on 1 May 1969; if he had lived longer, Neo may have had more friends than it does. For my part as a Carrollian publisher I am pleased to be able to introduce Neo to the admirers of Wonderland.
—Michael Everson		—Michael Everson