nitho howeli nela sorae — The North Wind and the Sun

Aesop's fable of the wind, the sun, and the traveler's cloak is the story linguists traditionally use to display a language's sounds and structures, and it asks of Phi everything the Metta Sutta does not: narrative past-tense chains, sequenced events, dialogue, the causative, indirect questions, and comparison. The text transmuted here is the 1919 Aesop for Children. whuo lurekoi, without fruit, carries "in vain" and the moral alike, and the famous correlative ("the harder... the tighter...") becomes paired mo sentences, since Phi has no correlatives by design. Canon's refusals shape the telling without thinning it: the quarrel cools to shareo (discuss), no one wins or loses anywhere in the telling, and the moral lands as a statement about what bears fruit.

Each block below carries four lines: the Phi sentence, its word-by-word gloss, a back-translation into English, and the original wording, so a reader can see exactly what the transmutation kept and what it changed.

shareo — The quarrel

nitho howeli nela sorae sua mo kema nai to shareo.
north wind COORD sun who CMPR strong be PST discuss.
(The North Wind and the Sun discussed who was the stronger.)
aesop: "The North Wind and the Sun had a quarrel about which of them was the stronger."

lo shia roe sheloi thero nela theisa haoni to shareo.
PL 3SG INS MANY fire COORD loud voice PST discuss.
(They discussed it with much fire and loud voice.)
aesop: "While they were disputing with much heat and bluster,"

ta rena laniru miona nia ruela to thalo.
one REL journey person ON path PST walk.
(A person on a journey came walking along the road.)
aesop: "a Traveler passed along the road"

shia roe wethalu to se lomare.
3SG INS garment PST PASS embrace.
(He was wrapped in a cloak.)
aesop: "wrapped in a cloak."

Notes: Phi has no word for quarreling, so the two great powers of the sky hold a shareo, a discussion, and the fable changes temperature in its first sentence; what the quarrel felt like survives anyway, roe sheloi thero nela theisa haoni, with much fire and loud voice, which is "heat and bluster" said plainly, and quietly names the two contestants' own natures. "Which of them was the stronger" embeds on the bare question-word: sua mo kema nai, who is more strong, sitting in the object position with no complementizer needed. The traveler is rena laniru miona, one who journeys, the relative clause outperforming a category noun as it always has; the cloak is wethalu, the garment-word whose own entry lists the cloak first; and "wrapped in" is the passive embrace, roe wethalu se lomare, the same idiom that wraps a sick child in a shawl elsewhere on this shelf.

nawo — The wager

sorae shola su lo mia nawo sholo to haolu.
sun QUOT.COMP OPT PL 1SG agree QUOT.COMP.CLOSE PST speak.
(The Sun said: "Let us agree.")
aesop: "\"Let us agree,\" said the Sun,"

shola rena ha laniru miona wethalu ka po leiro miona mo kema nai sholo.
QUOT.COMP REL PROX journey person garment CAUS POT release person CMPR strong be QUOT.COMP.CLOSE.
("The one who can make that traveler release his cloak is the stronger.")
aesop: "\"that he is the stronger who can strip that Traveler of his cloak.\""

nitho howeli shola lia sholo roe keloa haoni to haolu.
north wind QUOT.COMP yes QUOT.COMP.CLOSE INS rough voice PST speak.
(The North Wind said, in a rough voice: "Yes.")
aesop: "\"Very well,\" growled the North Wind,"

shia nosa wea laniru miona ta pelui theisa howeli to sepho.
3SG now TOWARD journey person one cold loud wind PST send.
(And at once he sent a cold, howling wind toward the traveler.)
aesop: "and at once sent a cold, howling blast against the Traveler."

Notes: the wager is dialogue in the source and stays dialogue here: the Sun proposes with the optative, su lo mia nawo, may we agree, nawo being agreement's own verb, accord arrived at after honest exchange, which is precisely the scene. The wager's content is the deepest nesting on the shelf: a relative clause holding a causative, rena ha laniru miona wethalu po ka leiro miona, the one who can make that traveler release the garment, with "strip" dissolving into leiro, the release-verb of subtraction and letting-go, so that in Phi undressing a cloak and releasing an attachment are one gesture. The Wind's growl is his instrument: roe keloa haoni, with a rough voice, and his "Very well" is a plain lia, yes, the grudge living in the voice rather than the word. The blast he sends is ta pelui theisa howeli, one cold loud wind, sepho (send) making the attack a delivery, which is as close to aggression as the lexicon goes.

howeli — The wind tries

roe nu ta howeli lo wethalu shuna roa laniru miona weloni to tiripe.
INS ORD one wind PL garment edge AROUND journey person body PST quiver.
(With the first wind, the cloak's edges whipped about the traveler's body.)
aesop: "With the first gust of wind the ends of the cloak whipped about the Traveler's body."

whekai shia nosa roa miso wethalu to noshi phelu.
CONTR 3SG now AROUND REFL garment PST near hold.
(But at once he wrapped the cloak close around himself.)
aesop: "But he immediately wrapped it closely around him,"

howeli mo kema to whesu. miona wethalu mo kema to phelu.
wind CMPR strong PST blow. person garment CMPR strong PST hold.
(The harder the wind blew, the harder the person held the cloak.)
aesop: "and the harder the Wind blew, the tighter he held it to him."

nitho howeli roe korua thero wethalu to natu.
north wind INS heart fire garment PST pull.
(The North Wind tore at the cloak with heart-fire.)
aesop: "The North Wind tore angrily at the cloak,"

whekai theula shia theko whuo lurekoi to nai.
CONTR UNIV 3SG craft WITHOUT fruit PST be.
(But all his work was without fruit.)
aesop: "but all his efforts were in vain."

Notes: the whipping cloak-ends ride tiripe, the quiver-verb, cloth in a gale being exactly the fast involuntary motion that verb was made for; the traveler answers with noshi phelu, holding near, the steady-pressure hold that carries every clasping on this shelf. The famous correlative has no construction in Phi, which refuses correlatives by design, so it stands as two parallel mo sentences whose escalation the listener feels in the repetition: the wind more strongly blew, the person more strongly held. The blowing itself is whesu, the wind's own verb. The Wind's anger is the registry's korua thero, heart-fire, riding as instrument on natu (pull), which is what tearing at something is; and the verdict on all of it is whuo lurekoi, without fruit, effort measured by harvest, a phrase the moral is waiting to use again.

sorae — The sun

pheo thena sorae to pa phelo loa.
POST thing sun PST INCH light give.
(Then the Sun began to give light.)
aesop: "Then the Sun began to shine."

mua thorui shia phelo loa moli to nai.
LOC beginning 3SG light give gentle PST be.
(At first his light-giving was gentle.)
aesop: "At first his beams were gentle,"

pheo nitho howeli puko pelui welao sulae to shua.
POST north wind bitter cold good warm PST come.
(After the North Wind's bitter cold, a good warmth came.)
aesop: "and in the pleasant warmth after the bitter cold of the North Wind,"

laniru miona wethalu to phae.
journey person garment PST open.
(The traveler opened his cloak.)
aesop: "the Traveler unfastened his cloak"

wethalu nia shia talua to luwi manolu.
garment ON 3SG shoulder PST flexible stay.
(It stayed loose upon his shoulders.)
aesop: "and let it hang loosely from his shoulders."

sorae phelo loa mo sulae to kelu. shia mo sulae to kelu.
sun light give CMPR warm PST become. 3SG CMPR warm PST become.
(The sun's light grew warmer, and warmer again.)
aesop: "The Sun's rays grew warmer and warmer."

miona miso koma wethalu to leiro. shia miso menoa to hewe.
person REFL head garment PST release. 3SG REFL face PST wipe.
(The man took off his head-garment and wiped his brow.)
aesop: "The man took off his cap and mopped his brow."

pheo laeno shemu shia ru sulae to kelu. thelao shia miso wethalu to leiro.
POST long moment 3SG INTS warm PST become. CONS 3SG REFL garment PST release.
(At last he became so heated that he released his cloak.)
aesop: "At last he became so heated that he pulled off his cloak,"

shia phei rena thape sorae phelo loa to wepu.
3SG AWAY REL burn sun light give PST go.
(He went away from the sun's burning light.)
aesop: "and, to escape the blazing sunshine,"

sio ruela ta shiro to whano. miona muo rena whelani shomelu miso to wapho.
BESIDE path one tree PST stand. person INTO REL welcome shadow REFL PST throw.
(A tree stood beside the road, and the man threw himself into its welcoming shade.)
aesop: "threw himself down in the welcome shade of a tree by the roadside."

Notes: the sun does not perform at the traveler; he gives, phelo loa, the registry's shine-compound, whose event noun carries "beams" and "rays" without a dedicated word: the gentle light-giving, the light-giving grown warmer. The warming escalates the way the blowing did, in paired mo sentences, so the two contestants' efforts stand in the same grammatical shape and the listener can measure them fairly. The disrobing keeps the source's two stages: first phae, the cloak opened, hanging luwi, loose, on the shoulders; only later leiro, released entirely, the same verb the wager named, so the Sun wins the exact contest that was set. The cap is koma wethalu, the head-garment, built like the stocking's foot-garment; the brow softens to menoa (face), which is where a brow lives. "To escape" is phei, away-from, motion doing what English does with a fear-word, and the shade that receives him is a relative clause with a warm verb inside it: rena whelani shomelu, the shade that welcomes.

lurekoi — The moral

moli nela phena haolu lurekoi thola.
gentle COORD kind speak fruit bring.
(Gentleness and kind speech bring fruit.)
aesop: "Gentleness and kind persuasion win"

puro nela theisa whuo lurekoi nai.
strength COORD loud WITHOUT fruit be.
(Force and bluster are without fruit.)
aesop: "where force and bluster fail."

Notes: the moral keeps both of Aesop's pairs and none of his scoreboard. "Persuasion" is phena haolu, kind speech, the act itself rather than its effect on the listener; "bluster" is theisa, loudness, the quality the quarrel opened with. Winning and failing are contest words canon refuses, so the moral states what each pair yields: fruit, or no fruit, in the tenseless present of things that are simply true. The judgment was already delivered inside the story, in the same words: all the Wind's work was whuo lurekoi. Aesop's point is Phi's point; the language just removes the bluster from the telling, which is what the Sun does in the story.

The complete text

nitho howeli nela sorae

nitho howeli nela sorae sua mo kema nai to shareo. lo shia roe sheloi thero nela theisa haoni to shareo. ta rena laniru miona nia ruela to thalo. shia roe wethalu to se lomare.

sorae shola su lo mia nawo sholo to haolu. shola rena ha laniru miona wethalu ka po leiro miona mo kema nai sholo. nitho howeli shola lia sholo roe keloa haoni to haolu. shia nosa wea laniru miona ta pelui theisa howeli to sepho.

roe nu ta howeli lo wethalu shuna roa laniru miona weloni to tiripe. whekai shia nosa roa miso wethalu to noshi phelu. howeli mo kema to whesu. miona wethalu mo kema to phelu. nitho howeli roe korua thero wethalu to natu. whekai theula shia theko whuo lurekoi to nai.

pheo thena sorae to pa phelo loa. mua thorui shia phelo loa moli to nai. pheo nitho howeli puko pelui welao sulae to shua. laniru miona wethalu to phae. wethalu nia shia talua to luwi manolu. sorae phelo loa mo sulae to kelu. shia mo sulae to kelu. miona miso koma wethalu to leiro. shia miso menoa to hewe. pheo laeno shemu shia ru sulae to kelu. thelao shia miso wethalu to leiro. shia phei rena thape sorae phelo loa to wepu. sio ruela ta shiro to whano. miona muo rena whelani shomelu miso to wapho.

moli nela phena haolu lurekoi thola. puro nela theisa whuo lurekoi nai.

What the transmutation changed

Gap log: quarrel and disputing → shareo (discuss), canon's refusal of quarrel-words, with the scene's heat kept as roe sheloi thero nela theisa haoni, with much fire and loud voice; traveler → rena laniru miona, one who journeys; cloak → wethalu, the garment-word, worn as roe wethalu se lomare, wrapped in its embrace; "Let us agree" → the optative with nawo, agreement's own verb; strip → leiro (release), the letting-go verb, inside the wager's causative relative; growled → roe keloa haoni, with a rough voice, and "Very well" → lia, yes; blast → ta pelui theisa howeli, one cold loud wind, sent (sepho) rather than hurled; gust → nu ta howeli, the first wind; whipped → tiripe (quiver); the harder/the tighter → paired mo sentences, since Phi has no correlatives by design, and the Sun's warmer-and-warmer takes the identical shape; tore angrily → roe korua thero ... natu, pulled with heart-fire; in vain → whuo lurekoi, without fruit; shine → phelo loa, the registry's give-light, its event noun carrying beams and rays; unfastened and hanging loose → phae (open) then luwi manolu (stayed loose), keeping the two-stage disrobing distinct from the final leiro; cap → koma wethalu, the head-garment; brow → menoa (face); escape → phei, motion away; the welcome shade → rena whelani shomelu, the shade that welcomes; win and fail → refused with the rest of the contest vocabulary, the moral stated as what bears fruit and what is without it. Nothing was coined; every word was already in the lexicon.