Happily ever after

[yakalskovich]

The 16-year-old son of Svava the cat's owner just rang my doorbell to ask how fairy tales are supposed to end in English. They start with 'Once upon a time', he said, but what is the closing formula? He gave the standard closing formula in German, as an example.

"And they lived happily ever after," I said.

"Happily ever after. Thanks," he said, and loped off.

Oh dear, I thought, I hope the poor kid doesn't take the concept seriously.

And then I giggled out loud, startling my cat.-

Comments

[tekalynn.livejournal.com]

What's the standard closing formula in German?

[yakalskovich]

'Und wenn sie nicht gestorben sind, dann leben sie noch heute.'

[tekalynn.livejournal.com]

"And if they're not dead, they're still alive now."

I thought that might be it, but I've only seen that phrase in translation, when translators try to keep more closely to the German idiom. Thanks!

[yakalskovich]

You're welcome!

I think 'and they lived happily ever after' is still the right translation, because you don't want to translate stuff literally. That really jars the reading experience - and reading out loud is even worse. The German translation of 'Watership Down' that I read to little Paul next door when he was still little? Totally sucked Ankh water. I had to improvise and turn sentences around and correct mistranslations on the fly - from the German version! That was one bad and fugly translation.-