Hover over Guaraní morphemes written in purple to see their syntactic function.

Audio for Story #8:

Three monkeys had a birthday, it turns out,

Tres monos estaban de cumpleaños, había sido,

and early afternoon they went to the big forest.

y a la siesta se fueron al gran bosque.

They climbed up on the tree branches, because they were afraid of the tiger,

Se subieron entre las uniones de las ramas del árbol, porque tenían miedo del tigre,

in case he comes to eat them.

por si viene a comerles.

There they made a fire, and they were already heating up the water to eat.

Ahí hicieron fuego, ya estaban calentando agua, para comer.

It is that the water was boiling there, in a big pot. [emphasis on 'big']

Se dice que hervía el agua allí, en una olla gigante.

And at that moment, suddenly, a fox was getting close to them.

Y en ese momento, de repente, se iba acercándose a ellos un zorro.

The monkeys pretended that they did not see the one that recently arrived.

Los moños se hicieron los que no vieron al que recién llegaba.

"What are you cooking there, my friends?"

"Qué están cocinando ahí, los amigos?"

it is said that the fox said, with joy/confidence.

se dice que dijo el zorro, con confianza/con alegría.

"A big hen with lots of eggs,"

"Una gran gallina con muchos huevitos,"

it is said that one of the monkeys said to him.

se dice que le dijo uno de los monos.

The fox was already salivating and asked again:

Salivaba todo ya el zorry y volvió a preguntar:

"And how, my monkey friends, will we be able to get up to where you are?"

"Y como, amigo mono, podemos subirnos junto a ustedes?"

"That is not difficult," a female monkey said to him.

"No cuesta nada eso," le dijo una mona.

"You will go up with your butt up and your head down (towards the ground)."

"Vas a subirte con la cola hacia arriba y tu cabeza hacia abajo."

And the fox tried it out: he put himself upside down (head down).

Y el zorro se puso a probar: se puso de cabeza [para abajo].

He stuck his feet on the tree trunk and he climbed up slowly towards them.

Clavaba las pezuñas por el tronco del árbol y se subió lentamente junto a ellos.

At the moment when he was half way up, he was about to reach

En el momento que iba por la mitad, estaba por alcanzar

where the monkeys were, they [the monkeys] suddenly knocked over the [contents of the entire] big pot.

donde estaban los monos, ellos [los monos] volcaron de repente la olla grande.

And cháu! They threw out the hot water on his side.

Y cháu! Volcaron por su cadera el agua caliente.

And you see, the guy fox came down on his nose to the ground.

Y ya ves como se vino el zorro de nariz al suelo.

He was searched for in the middle of the forest,

En el medio del bosque se le buscó,

and from then on very few wanted to befriend the monkeys.

y desde ahí muy pocos quisieron hacerse amigos de los monos.