thiku miona lue silero
from The Little Prince
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's Le Petit Prince is the most-translated book outside scripture, and language-builders have a particular affection for it: the fox's secret may be the most-rendered sentence in constructed languages. These are Phi's excerpts: three short passages from Katherine Woods's 1943 translation, each transmuted with notes. The book remains in copyright, so the units carry no source-citation lines and the English appears only in these short quoted excerpts.
The first choice is in the title. "Prince" stays in the source as a rank Phi does not lexicalize. The Phi title describes the figure within the story instead: thiku miona lue silero, the small person from the stars, a child tending a small world alone.
The request
"If you please—draw me a sheep!"
pi no wei mia ta mophira kire.
Word-by-word gloss: POL IMP DAT 1SG one sheep shape.
Literal English: (Please, shape me a sheep.)
The secret
"And now here is my secret, a very simple secret: It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."
ha mia kupela nai. ru siloma kupela.
Word-by-word gloss: PROX 1SG secret be. INTS simple secret.
Literal English: (Here is my secret. A very simple secret.)
miona li roe korua po theali nila.
Word-by-word gloss: person RESTR INS heart POT fitting see.
Literal English: (Only with the heart can one see rightly.)
lo mirae whu noetha nai po ma nila.
Word-by-word gloss: PL eye REL essential be POT NEG see.
Literal English: (The eyes cannot see what is essential.)
The responsibility
"You become responsible, forever, for what you have tamed."
theula thimu. thia wei whu thia nua ki nolami thonai kelu.
Word-by-word gloss: UNIV time. 2SG DAT REL 2SG COM PFV bond responsible become.
Literal English: (Forever: you become responsible for the one with whom you have bonded.)
What the transmutation changed
Gap log: prince → retained in the source title while the Phi title becomes thiku miona lue silero, the small person from the stars; draw → kire (shape); a very simple secret → ru siloma kupela, simplicity under the intensifier; see rightly → theali (fitting) under the possibility modal po; tame → nolami (bond) under the fox's own explanation, with its comitative grammar intact; have tamed → perfective ki nolami. New words coined: none.