ʻO Tāfaoga a ʻĀlise i le Nuʻu o Mea Ofoofogia
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland in Samoan

By Lewis Carroll, translated into Samoan by Luafata Simanu-Klutz

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Na faʻasino le lima taumatau o le Pusi ma fai atu, “ʻI le itū le lā, ʻe nofo ai le Faipūlou: ʻi le itū le lā,” ma talotalo le isi lima, “ʻe nofo ai le Lāpiti o Mati. Asiasi ʻiā ʻi lāʻua ʻuma pe ʻā ʻe manaʻo ai: e taufai leaga ʻuma ulu.”		“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.”
“ʻOuke lē fia alu i gi kagaka e leaga ulu,” ʻo le oso atu lea a ʻĀlise.		“But I don’t want to go among mad people,” Alice remarked.
“ʻOi, ʻe leai sau mea e mafai ʻiai,” ʻo le fai ane lea a le Pusi, “e leaga ʻuma o mātou ulu. ʻE leaga foʻi loʻu ulu. ʻE leaga foʻi lou ulu.”		“Oh, you ca’n’t help that,” said the Cat: “we’re all mad here. I’m mad. You’re mad.”
“ʻE faʻafefea oga ʻē iloa e leaga loʻu ulu?” ʻo le fesili lea a ʻĀlise.		“How do you know I’m mad?” said Alice.
“Ana lē leaga lou ulu,” ʻo le fai atu lea a le Pusi, “ʻe te lē sau ʻiʻinei.”		“You must be,” said the Cat, “or you wouldn't have come here.”
ʻO lēnei fāgogo—ʻO Tāfaoga a ʻĀlise i le Nuʻu o Mea Ofoofogia—na tūsia e Charles Lutwidge Dodgson i lalo o lona igoa fai, o Lewis Carroll, ma na uluaʻi lolomiina ʻiā Iulai 1865. Na soifua mai Lewis Carroll ʻiā Ianuari 27, 1832 i le nuʻu o Daresbury, Chesire, i le atunuʻu o Egelani. ʻO ona tuaʻā o ni faifeʻau ma ʻo ia o le ulumatua a ona mātua; e toʻasefulu ona uso ma tuafāfine. E ui ʻina sa iai ni faʻalētonu o lona tino, lana tautala, ma le faʻalogo, ʻae na iā te ia le tāleni o le faifāgogo ma le tusitala, ma ʻo le tusi muamua lenei na taʻutaʻua ai ʻo ia i Egelani; i le tausaga e 1932, o se tasi lēnei o tala aupito taʻutaʻua i le lalolagi ʻātoa. Na āʻoga Lewis Carroll i le āʻoga e taʻua o Christ Church lea foʻi sa faiāʻoga ai i le matāʻupu o le Matematika. ʻO ia ʻo se tagata matamuli ʻae sa fiafia e fatu ni fāgogo mo tamaiti. Na maliu ʻo ia i le tausaga e 1898.		Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland was written by Charles Lutwidge Dodgson under the pen name Lewis Carroll and was originally published in 1865. Lewis Carroll was born on 27 January 1832 in Daresbury, Chesire, England. He studied at Christ Church where he also taught Mathematics. He was the eldest son of a church minister and although a very shy individual, he loved to entertain his younger siblings with fabulous imaginary animals and unusual creatures, and humans doing extraordinary fetes. In spite of a debilitating stammer and poor hearing, Carroll possessed a talent in storytelling and writing which enter­tained many generations to come. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland made him famous in England and by 1932, it had become the most popular story around the world. Carroll died in 1898.
ʻO Tāfaoga a ʻĀlise, ʻe ʻautū i se teineitiiti e igoa ʻiā ʻĀlise. ʻE faʻapea le tala, na faʻavae e Carroll lenei tusi ʻi le āfafine o le pule o le āʻoga a Christ Church, lea sa faiāʻoga ai ʻo ia, ʻe igoa foʻi ʻiā ʻĀlise, ma e fitu foʻi ona tausaga. ʻAʻo faitau tusi la ʻĀlise ma lona uso matua i se mea maupuʻepuʻe o le fanua, sa teʻi ʻina ua tau lana vaʻai i se Lāpiti Paʻepaʻe o savali ane ma autilo i se uati ʻaʻo āgaʻi ma nimo ifo i se pū i lalo o le pā lāʻau. ʻO ʻiʻinā na ʻāmata ai loa tāfaoga ofoofogia nei a ʻĀlise ma sa ia feiloaʻi ai ma ni mea ʻese ʻe pei ʻo meaola ma ni tagata e foliga mai e pei ʻo ata o se pelē—o le Ka ma le Teine ʻAta, Siaki, Tamaʻitaʻisā, ma isi meaola e pei o le Pusi Tiesara, Faipūlou, Lāpiti o Mati, ma le ʻIsumu Matamoe. Na fefefe ʻuma ʻi lātou i le sauā o le Teine ʻAta lea e faʻaigoa i lenei tusi, ʻo le Masiofo ʻAta, ʻona e faʻaiʻu lava ana tala i le luʻi e tatipi ʻuma ulu poʻo ua o tagata e lē fiafia ʻiai. ʻAe fōliga mai ʻe faʻalēiloa lelei e le Masiofo ʻona faʻavasega ʻĀlise ma ona uiga, ʻae maise le femoumouaʻi o lona tino, ʻauā ʻo le taimi ʻua telē, ʻo le taimi ʻua mimigi, e fuafua lava i le mea na te ʻaia ma inu ʻaʻo i totonu o le pū.		Alice is about a young girl named Alice whose character was based on the seven-year old daughter of Henry Liddell, Dean of Christ Church, whose name was also Alice. It was summer in England and Alice and her older sister were reading a book out in the fields. Suddenly, she spotted the White Rabbit hurrying by, stopping to look at a pocket watch, and then disappearing through a rabbit hole under a hedge. Alice’s adventures took place in the White Rabbit’s hole where she met all kinds of wondrous animals and a kingdom made of a pack of cards—the King and Queen of Hearts, Jack, a Duchess, and other creatures such as the Cheshire Cat, Hatmaker, March Hare, and Dormouse. All are threatened to be beheaded by the Queen of Hearts whose cry “Off with his head!” sent her subjects into madness and fear. However, it appears that the queen was not quite sure about how to deal with Alice who either grew bigger or smaller depending on what she ate or drank while in the rabbit’s hole.
ʻO le uluaʻi faʻalilīuga lenei o tāfaoga a ʻĀlise i le nuʻu o mea ofoofogia, ʻae lē ʻo se faʻalilīuga muamua lea o tala mai i nuʻu i fafo e pei o Europa. ʻO le uluaʻi faʻalilīuga o tusi mai i le Faʻaperetania poʻo le Igilisi i le Faʻasāmoa, o le Tusi Paʻia. Na māʻea le faʻalilīuga o lenei tusi ʻātoa e misionare i le tausaga 1862, i le faʻatoʻā tolusefulu lua o tausaga talu ona taunuʻu tāpuaʻiga Faʻakerisiano i Sāmoa, lea na molimoli ane e le faifeʻau Peretania o Ioane Viliamu o le LĀMŌSĀ. ʻO le taimi foʻi lenā na faʻavae ai le Pī Tautau i mataʻitusi e 19, ʻe aofia ai mataʻitusi faʻapapālagi o le he, ka, ro, le mataʻitusi o le komaliliu (ʻ) ma le faʻatonu leo o le faʻamamafa (¯). Na tūsia ai foʻi ma le tusi kalama o le gagana Sāmoa ma le uluaʻi tusi o ʻupu ma o lātou uiga, poʻo le dictionary.		Samoan readers, particularly the children, are familiar with various retellings of fairytale classics such as Cinderella, Snow White, or Uncle Remus’ Tales, and religious texts such as biblical stories in Samoan; but this is the first known published translation of Alice in their language. In fact, the first translation of an English text to Samoan was the Holy Bible which was completed in 1862, three years before Carroll’s book was published and thirty two years after John Williams of the London Missionary Society (LMS) introduced Christianity in 1830. The first Samoan dictionary and grammar text were also established as was the Samoan alphabet of nineteen letters including the derived he, ka, ro, the glottal stop (‘), and macron (¯).
Na iai foʻi isi tala na faʻaliliuina i le senituri luasefulu e pei o le tusi a Alesana Tumasi na faʻaigoaina ʻO le Tulipe Uliuli, le tusi a H. Raita Hakata, ʻO ʻOloa a Solomona, ma tala na tūsia e Ioelu Sanalera Elise ʻua taʻua o Tala a Lēmusu, lea sa maua ai ni aʻoaʻoga tāua e ala mai ʻi āmio ma faiga a meaola ʻe pei ʻo ālope ma lāpiti, ʻūrosa ma laumei. ʻO le Tulipe Uliuli ma le ʻO ʻOloa o Solomona na faʻaliliuina e Fanaafi Maʻiaʻi, ʻi le ʻōgātotonu o le senituri luasefulu ma ʻoute manatua na sagisagi tagata ʻuma i pō o Aso Toʻonaʻi e faʻalogologo i faitauga o nei tala i le leitio. ʻO le tasi lenei ʻo ala na maua ai e tagata Sāmoa tala mai isi nuʻu ma atunuʻu, e faʻaopoopo ʻiā lātou faigāfāgogo e pei ona māsani ai.		Other published translations took place in the mid-twentieth century such as Alexander Dumas’ The Black Tulip, H. Rider Haggard’s King Solomon’s Mines, and individual stories from Joel Chandra Harris’ Uncle Remus’ Tales; the latter were locally published for classroom use and for useful lessons about human behavior and character from the fox, rabbit, wolves, and turtles they contained. These classics were translated by Fanaafi Maʻiaʻi. I remember how the people of Sāmoa in the mid-twentieth century would crowd around a transistor radio to listen to how people in other lands dealt with various aspects of life. The radio stories added to and enhanced Samoa’s traditional practice of faigāfagogo.
Sa leʻi faigofie le faʻalilīuga o Tāfaoga a ʻĀlise, ʻona, ʻo ni itūʻāiga o meaola ma se pelē e faia lō lātou lava mālō, ʻe lē maua i le lalolagi o tagata ola. ʻE lē gata i lea, ʻaʻo muāgagana ma aganuʻu a Egelani, e ʻese mai i lō le Faʻa­sāmoa; ʻae sa taumafai pea ʻina ia maua ni faʻaʻupuga e tutusa pe felātaʻi, ʻe aunoa ma le seʻe ʻese mai i le tala ʻe pei ona māfaufauina e le tusitala. Ma le isi, ʻātonu e faʻalēfetaui i māfaufau o ni isi o le ʻaufaitau le mafai e meaola ma pepa o se pelē ʻona tautatala, peitaʻi, ʻua tele tusi ma ata a tamaiti i ona pō nei e maua ai mea faʻapea. ʻE lē gata i lea, ʻe iai foʻi tala ma talitonuga o Sāmoa i aso ʻae leʻi taunuʻu mai papālagi, na tautatala ai lupe, peʻa, ʻisumu, tulī, puaʻā, gogosina, laumei, ma isi meaola; ʻe ui ina leai ni lāpiti, ʻisumu matamoe, lori ma ni dodo i Sāmoa, ʻae tele paʻa ma ula e fiafia tamaiti Sāmoa e taumafa. ʻE leai foʻi se fāgogo a Sāmoa e lē aofia ai se tagi, ʻe pei ʻona faʻaalia i solo ma pese i le Matāʻupu III, VII ma le Matāʻupu X ʻo lenei tusi.		Translating Alice’s wanderings in the land of wondrous things was not easy given the different kinds of unfamiliar environments, animals such as the Mock Turtle and the Gryphon, and a kingdom created from a pack of cards which existed only in Carroll’s imagination. What might not have been possible in Samoan card games is the fact that cards could talk back. Never­theless, an amazing thing about this story is the fact that a kingdom made of a pack of cards was enslaving its people in the rabbit hole; that is, by the King and Queen of Hearts. What is not known though is the reason why the Samoans refer to the King and Queen of Hearts as Ka and Teine (girl) ʻAta instead of Tupu (king) and Masiofo (queen); ʻAta is a transliteration of “heart” though the Samoan word for “heart” is fatu.
ʻO se mea ofoofogia ʻo lenei tala, ʻo le faʻapologaina lea o tagata o le mālō i totonu o le pū o le lāpiti, e le K ma le Teine ʻAta (King and Queen of Hearts) ʻo le pelē, lea e faʻaigoaina ʻo le Tupu ma le Masiofo i le faʻalilīuga lenei ʻona o igoa ia o taʻitaʻi o se mālō e pei o le mālō o Peretania poʻo ʻEgelani. ʻE leʻi maua se faʻamatalaga pē ʻaiseā na lē taʻua ai e Sāmoa le K o le Tupu, ma le Teine (Q) ʻo le masiofo; ʻae lē āfaina—ʻia manatua pea, o le Tupu ma le Masiofo i le tala lenei o ʻĀlise, ʻo le K ma le Teine ʻAta lea i le pelē.		Readers may think it unrealistic for animals or playing cards to talk, but it was not uncommon for pigeons, bats, rats, terns, pigs, white terns, turtles, and pigs to talk in fāgogo, prior to the arrival of Grimm Brothers’ and Hans Christian Andersen’s fairytales; and although there were and are still no rabbits, lori, dodo, or dormice in Sāmoa, there are crabs and lobsters which children love to catch and—well—eat. Nonetheless, an attempt was made to find correspon­dences which neither compromised the nuances and sensi­bilities of both cultures, nor the general sense of the story as originally crafted by the author.
Sa faigofie ʻona filifilia le tautala lelei e faʻaliliu ai lenei tala ʻona ʻo le māsani lea o tusitusiga Faʻasāmoa. ʻO lea lā ʻua tusia ai lenei faʻalīliuga i le tautala lelei (t ma le n), ʻe lē gata i lona faʻamatalaina, ʻae faʻapea ma tala a tagata, vāganā ai tala a ʻĀlise, ma le ʻaufaitogālāʻau e toʻatolu i le Matāʻupu VIII, ʻoloʻo tūsia i le tautala leaga (k ma le g). Manatua, o le toʻatele o tamaiti Sāmoa o le tupulaga a ʻĀlise, faʻapea ma tagata tautua e iai le ʻaufaitogālāʻau, lātou te tautatala i le k ma le g.		Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland is translated in the t-style except Alice’s speech throughout the book; and also that of the three gardeners in Chapter VIII. The decision to translate Alice in the t-style (e,g, lāpiti, rabbit) was not difficult to make since this is how most of the texts are written in Samoan and has been the norm since literacy was introduced in the nineteenth century—this, in spite of the fact that most Samoans speak in the colloquial k-style. Writing and speaking in the k-style (lāpiki, rabbit) was discouraged particularly for people in the public or civil services—but, Samoans are more comfortable speaking in this fashion.
ʻO se tasi itū e mafaufau foʻi ʻiai, ʻo le faʻapupuʻuina lea e tagata Sāmoa ʻo a lātou tala, ʻae maise lava le tupulaga talavou. ʻOloʻo maua faʻamaoniga o lēnei manatu pe ʻā talanoa ʻĀlise faʻapea: Goʻu vaʻai aku …, ʻae lē ʻo le: Ga ʻou, poʻo le: Na ʻou … i le tautala lelei.		Contractions are also popular with the native speakers and this is evident in Alice’s speech. Words and phrases such as goʻu (ga ʻou) alu, ‘I went’ and mau ke (makou ke) o, ‘we are going’ appear. In the t-style, it would be noʻu (na ʻou) alu and mau te (matou te) o. Finally, the glottal stop and macron are added for pronunciation purposes. In the second half of the twenti­eth century, the Samoan language was written without glottal stops and macrons except for the names of people, places, and events. The idea was that people could get the correct pronunciation and meaning from context clues in the passage. This was fine for native speakers who had experi­ence of local contexts; but people wanting to learn Samoan such as those residing abroad found it difficult to read and understand the texts without the diacritics. Since the turn of the twenty-first century, efforts to return the orthography to its original form have been evident in creative writing and cellular phone texting; this translation is one of those attempts.
ʻOloʻo faʻaaogāina i lenei faʻalilīuga komaliliu ma faʻama­mafa e faʻatonutonu ai le faʻaleoga saʻo o le gagana e pei ʻona saunoa pe tautatala ai tagata Sāmoa. ʻE leʻi faigatā ʻona fai lenei tonu ʻina ʻia faʻafaigōfie ai e le ʻau faitau ʻona mālamalama i le faʻaleoga ma le faʻauīgaga o le gagana. ʻE ui ʻina ʻo le toʻatele o le atunuʻu ʻoloʻo mafai ʻona saunoa ʻi leo saʻo, ʻae ʻo se vaʻaiga ʻua mātauina e faiāʻoga ma isi e āʻoʻoga i le gagana, ʻua tele ʻina molemole leo o le gagana Sāmoa, ma lē saʻosaʻo le sipelaga o ʻupu ma le faʻaaogāina o le kalama, ʻe pei ʻona faʻavaeina e misionare. ʻO le uiga o le nei tala, ʻua lē namu Sāmoa le tautala a isi, ʻae maise lava tupulaga talavou. ʻOute talitonu, ʻoleʻā lē āfāina lenei tonu ʻona e mafai e tagata e ā lātou le gagana ʻona faitau komaliliu ma faʻamamafa, ʻae ʻe faigatā i alo ma fānau ʻua ola aʻe i suiga ʻua iai nei ōlaga o tagata Sāmoa, ʻe lē gata i Sāmoa ma Amerika Sāmoa, ʻae maise lava i nuʻu i fafo.		Finally, the rhymes in Alice were difficult to translate and sustain, but I have made every effort to understand what they mean and to stay as closely as possible to the rhyme scheme Carroll used. The iambic pentameter is also a popular rhyme scheme for the Samoan solo as in Chapter VII ʻO le Inugātī Faʻavāsivasi, but it is not purely so, as evident in parts of the rhymes in Chapter X.
ʻE momoli atu laʻu faʻafetai i susuga a Jon Lindseth ma Michael Everson mo le faʻamāopoopoga o lenei galuega tele; faʻafetai foʻi i lau Susuga Lāsei John Mayer, le taʻitaʻi o le Polokalama o le Gagana Samoa i le Iunivesite o Hawaiʻi-Mānoa—ʻo lē na ʻou iloa ai lenei galuega; faʻapea ma le susuga a R. Keao NeSmith o le Gagana Hawaiʻi, mo le faʻamalosiʻau na faigofie ai lenei faʻalilīuga. ʻIa i luga ʻo loʻu ulu ni ʻaleu o lenei galuega. Talosia ʻia aogā lenei tala mo alo ma fanau a Sāmoa i soʻo se itūlagi. Manuia lau faitau.		I wish to thank Jon Lindseth and Michael Everson for their tremendous effort in coordinating such a large scale international project and for their professional support. Faʻafetai i lau Susuga Lasei Dr. John Mayer, founder of the Samoan Program and current Chair of the Indo-Pacific Languages and Literatures department at the University of Hawaiʻi at Manoa, for encouraging me to take on this challenge. Mahalo also to Dr. R. Keao NeSmith of the Hawaiian Language at UHM for his support. All errors in this translation and in linguistic decisions are solely my responsibility. May our Samoan readers find Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland as entertaining and instructive as I have.
—Luafata Simanu-Klutz		—Luafata Simanu-Klutz