Kom ons stuur vir Tasu – Maretha
Maartens
Tasu is happy (bly) that oom Pypies drinks so much brandy (brandewyn). Oom
Pypies drinks brandy from these small, flat (plat) bottles. Then he throws these
little bottles away (gooi weg) behind the pepper tree/Shinus Molle. That’s where
Tasu collects (tel op) the empty (leë) brandy bottles.
Tasu now has 57 (sewe en vyftig) of these bottles, all of them full of tiger’s eye
stones (tieroogklippe). When he was nine, his brother, Sterkman, showed
(gewys) him where to dig up (te grawe) these stones (klippe) from the ground.
It takes a long time to fill up a bottle. The stones hide (kruip weg) away: you
have to know what they look like and then you have to grind (slyp) them down
as well. And Sterkman is very strict (beduiweld) about his grindstone
(slypsteen). Tasu may only grind (slyp) the stones if Sterkman is standing next
to (langs) him. Sterkman fights (baklei) with him the whole time while he grinds
away (wegslyp) the rough (growwe) outer layer (buitekant) of the stones so that the
glowing (gloeiende), stripy (streperige) tiger’s eyes (tieroë) can peek (loer) at you
through the stones.
Tasu wants to (wil) have one hundred (eenhonderd) bottles full of these stones
before his fourteenth (veertiende) birthday. There is no other child in
Griekwastad’s school that has this many (soveel) tiger’s eyes. Today Tasu is busy
grinding down a big stone. There is a massive (yslike) tiger in the stone: Tasu gets
goosebumps (hoendervleis) when the yellow and brown striped eye
(gestreepte) eye starts looking at him.
Evelina comes over to tell Tasu that their mom is crying (huil). Tasu puts the stone
in which the tiger lives (bly), down (neer) and asks why. His mother cries often
(dikwels). She cries when there are grain weevils (miet) in the flour (mieliemeel)
because then they cannot eat it. She cries if the locusts (sprinkane) eat the
small green mielie plants. She cries if Tasu and Sterkman grows (groei) too fast
and the seams (nate) of their pants start to tear (skeur). She cries about letters
(briewe) and dust storms (stofstorms), about her sister who had to go buy
aprons (voorskote) and brought her back the ugliest (lelike) colourful (bont)
thing from town. She even (selfs) cries about the primus that doesn’t want to
burn (brand).
PROPERTY OF M SOUNES NO COPYING, SHARING OR DISTRIBUTION
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, Evelina tells Tasu that she is crying about the grandmother (Ouma), so Tasu puts
the stone down and tells Evelina to leave his things as they are, he is going to check
on their mother.
His mom is sitting by the kitchen table (kombuistafel). There is a letter on the
table. It appears to be soaking wet (papnat), as if it rained on the kitchen table.
Tasu asks his mom what is wrong (wat makeer) and she replies that it’s their
grandmother: she is all alone (stoksielalleen) on Paardeberg and she says all her
herbal medicine (kruiemedisyne) is finished. The grandmother cannot walk due
to the pain, and she cannot sleep because of all the pain, pain, pain, and she
doesn’t have a drop of the mother’s herbal medicine left (oor nie).
Tasu asks his mom if she still has some of the herbal medicine (kruiemedisyne) and
she replies that of course (natuurlik) she has since oom Pypies still came to buy
some from her the previous day. She wonders how they will get the medicine to
the grandmother and Tasu suggests that his father can take it to the grandmother.
His mom replies that the car’s brakes (remme) need to be replaced along with the
tyres (bande) so the dad cannot drive with the car.
Evelina suggests Sterkman to take it and Tasu answers that Sterkman is busy
with his matric exam (skryf matriek). Evelina then comes up with the plan that
they send her and Tasu with oom Jollyman’s taxi.
Her mom suddenly perks up and replies that she won’t send Evelina as she has no
wisdom (verstand), but that Tasu might just do. Her face becomes sad (treurig)
again, saying that it costs too much money as oom Jollyman charges R35 to
Kimberley and then Tasu still has to travel further to Paardeberg and back which
means that it won’t cost anything less than R60, R70. And besides (buitendien):
Tasu has never been gone by himself.
Tasu answers that he is fourteen already and Evelina chirps in cheekily (snipperig),
saying everyone thinks Tasu is 9 because he hasn’t grown (gegroei) much and
still talks like a girl.
Tasu asks his mom if she will be able to get R60, but his mom says she can forget
about that. Tasu doesn’t give up, asking if they can borrow (leen) it somewhere
(iewers) but his mom is too proud for that. Tasu then suggests that they sell
(verkoop) something like eggs. His mom says they eat their own chicken’s
PROPERTY OF M SOUNES NO COPYING, SHARING OR DISTRIBUTION
2
ALLOWED
Maartens
Tasu is happy (bly) that oom Pypies drinks so much brandy (brandewyn). Oom
Pypies drinks brandy from these small, flat (plat) bottles. Then he throws these
little bottles away (gooi weg) behind the pepper tree/Shinus Molle. That’s where
Tasu collects (tel op) the empty (leë) brandy bottles.
Tasu now has 57 (sewe en vyftig) of these bottles, all of them full of tiger’s eye
stones (tieroogklippe). When he was nine, his brother, Sterkman, showed
(gewys) him where to dig up (te grawe) these stones (klippe) from the ground.
It takes a long time to fill up a bottle. The stones hide (kruip weg) away: you
have to know what they look like and then you have to grind (slyp) them down
as well. And Sterkman is very strict (beduiweld) about his grindstone
(slypsteen). Tasu may only grind (slyp) the stones if Sterkman is standing next
to (langs) him. Sterkman fights (baklei) with him the whole time while he grinds
away (wegslyp) the rough (growwe) outer layer (buitekant) of the stones so that the
glowing (gloeiende), stripy (streperige) tiger’s eyes (tieroë) can peek (loer) at you
through the stones.
Tasu wants to (wil) have one hundred (eenhonderd) bottles full of these stones
before his fourteenth (veertiende) birthday. There is no other child in
Griekwastad’s school that has this many (soveel) tiger’s eyes. Today Tasu is busy
grinding down a big stone. There is a massive (yslike) tiger in the stone: Tasu gets
goosebumps (hoendervleis) when the yellow and brown striped eye
(gestreepte) eye starts looking at him.
Evelina comes over to tell Tasu that their mom is crying (huil). Tasu puts the stone
in which the tiger lives (bly), down (neer) and asks why. His mother cries often
(dikwels). She cries when there are grain weevils (miet) in the flour (mieliemeel)
because then they cannot eat it. She cries if the locusts (sprinkane) eat the
small green mielie plants. She cries if Tasu and Sterkman grows (groei) too fast
and the seams (nate) of their pants start to tear (skeur). She cries about letters
(briewe) and dust storms (stofstorms), about her sister who had to go buy
aprons (voorskote) and brought her back the ugliest (lelike) colourful (bont)
thing from town. She even (selfs) cries about the primus that doesn’t want to
burn (brand).
PROPERTY OF M SOUNES NO COPYING, SHARING OR DISTRIBUTION
1
ALLOWED
, Evelina tells Tasu that she is crying about the grandmother (Ouma), so Tasu puts
the stone down and tells Evelina to leave his things as they are, he is going to check
on their mother.
His mom is sitting by the kitchen table (kombuistafel). There is a letter on the
table. It appears to be soaking wet (papnat), as if it rained on the kitchen table.
Tasu asks his mom what is wrong (wat makeer) and she replies that it’s their
grandmother: she is all alone (stoksielalleen) on Paardeberg and she says all her
herbal medicine (kruiemedisyne) is finished. The grandmother cannot walk due
to the pain, and she cannot sleep because of all the pain, pain, pain, and she
doesn’t have a drop of the mother’s herbal medicine left (oor nie).
Tasu asks his mom if she still has some of the herbal medicine (kruiemedisyne) and
she replies that of course (natuurlik) she has since oom Pypies still came to buy
some from her the previous day. She wonders how they will get the medicine to
the grandmother and Tasu suggests that his father can take it to the grandmother.
His mom replies that the car’s brakes (remme) need to be replaced along with the
tyres (bande) so the dad cannot drive with the car.
Evelina suggests Sterkman to take it and Tasu answers that Sterkman is busy
with his matric exam (skryf matriek). Evelina then comes up with the plan that
they send her and Tasu with oom Jollyman’s taxi.
Her mom suddenly perks up and replies that she won’t send Evelina as she has no
wisdom (verstand), but that Tasu might just do. Her face becomes sad (treurig)
again, saying that it costs too much money as oom Jollyman charges R35 to
Kimberley and then Tasu still has to travel further to Paardeberg and back which
means that it won’t cost anything less than R60, R70. And besides (buitendien):
Tasu has never been gone by himself.
Tasu answers that he is fourteen already and Evelina chirps in cheekily (snipperig),
saying everyone thinks Tasu is 9 because he hasn’t grown (gegroei) much and
still talks like a girl.
Tasu asks his mom if she will be able to get R60, but his mom says she can forget
about that. Tasu doesn’t give up, asking if they can borrow (leen) it somewhere
(iewers) but his mom is too proud for that. Tasu then suggests that they sell
(verkoop) something like eggs. His mom says they eat their own chicken’s
PROPERTY OF M SOUNES NO COPYING, SHARING OR DISTRIBUTION
2
ALLOWED
