Iom poste alvenis en la vilagon Now, some time after there arrived h.o.m.oj el aliaj lokoj, kunportantaj in the village men from other diversajn semojn. Ciu el ili places, bringing with them various laudis sian propran semon, seeds. Each of them praised his dirante ke li estas kreskiginta own seed, telling how he had grown belan arbon el tia semo, kaj a fine tree from such seed, and postulante ke la vilaganoj plantu urging the villagers to plant his nur liajn semojn. Tiam iuj diris, seeds only. Then certain of them "Ni metu ciujn la diversajn said, "Let us put all the divers semojn kunen, kaj ni kreskigu el seeds together, and let us grow ili unu bonan arbon." Kaj tiuj from them one good tree." And ci petis Namezon ke li neniigu these begged Namezo to destroy[1]

sian arbon kaj pistu giajn semojn his own tree and pound its seeds kaj almiksu ilin en la kunmetatan and stir them into the compound semajon, por ke unu bona arbo seedstuff, that one good tree elkresku. might grow out of it.

Tiel ili babiladis kaj bataladis Thus they babbled and kept inter si; kaj ili cirkau iradis quarrelling among themselves; en la vilago, montrante modelojn and they went round about in the de siaj arboj kaj pruvante, ciu village showing models of their ke la sia estas la plej bona. Kaj trees and proving each that his fine la vilaganoj enuigis kaj own was the best. And at last denove volis dehaki ciun kaj the villagers grew weary of it, cies arbon. and wanted again to hew down every tree, no matter to whom it belonged.[2]

[1]Destroy. Nothing = _neni-o_; suf. _-ig_ denotes causation. [2]No matter to whom it belonged. Lit. every one's.

Sed Namezo kaj liaj amikoj havis But Namezo and his friends had jam du au tri grandajn arbojn, by this time two or three big kaj gis nun prosperis al ili trees, and up to this day they defendi ilin kontrau la atakoj de have succeeded in defending them la vilaganoj. Kaj ciam, kiam la against the villagers' attacks.

vetero estas varmega, ili sidas And always, when the weather is sub la arboj vespere kaj guas very hot, they sit under their la fresecon. Tamen ili havas trees in the evening and enjoy the nur duonan profiton el ili, car coolness. Yet have they only half la vilaganoj malpermesas planti profit by them, for the villagers ian arbon en la vilago, kaj tial forbid them to plant any tree la arbanoj devas ciufoje marsi in the village, and so the tree malproksimen kaj aparte viziti people have to walk a long way siajn arbojn, anstatau havi ilin each time and have to make special apud siaj pordoj. visits to their trees, instead of having them at their doors.

Kaj la plej granda parto de la And the greater part of the vilaganoj, malgrau ke oni povas villagers, though the trees are facile piediri al la arboj, diras within a walk, still say, "Trees ankorau, "Arbo estas neebla." are impossible."

Kaj la diablo ridas. And the devil laughs.

III

GRAMMAR

1. There is one definite article, _la_, invariable. There is no indefinite article.

2. Nouns always end in _-o_. Ex. _patro_ = father.

3. Adjectives always end in _-a_. Ex. _patra_ = paternal.

4. The plural of nouns, adjectives, participles, and p.r.o.nouns (except only the personal p.r.o.nouns) ends in _j_. Ex. _patroj_ = fathers; _bonaj patroj_ = good fathers.

5. The accusative (objective) case always ends in _-n_. Ex. _Mi amas mian bonan patron_ = I love my good father. _Ni amas niajn bonajn patrojn_ = we love our good fathers.

6. Adverbs always end in _-e_. Ex. _bone_ = well; _patre_ = paternally.

(There are a few non-derived adverbs without the ending _-e_, as _jam, ankau, tiel, kiel_).

7. The personal p.r.o.nouns are:

mi = I si = she ni = we vi = you gi = it vi = you li = he oni = one ili = they

Also a reflexive p.r.o.noun, _si_, which always refers to the subject of its own clause.

All these p.r.o.nouns form the accusative case by adding _-n_.

8. The verb has no separate ending for person or number.

The present ends in _-as_. Ex. _mi amas_ = I love.

The past ends in _-is_. Ex. _vi amis_ = you loved.

The future ends in _-os_. Ex. _li amos_ = he will love.

The conditional ends in _-us_. Ex. _ni amus_ = we should love.

The imperative ends in _-u_. Ex. _amu_ = love! _ni amu_ = let us love.

This form also serves for subjunctive. Ex. _Dio ordonas ke ni amu unu la alian_ = G.o.d commands us to love one another.

The infinitive ends in _-i_. Ex. _ami_ = to love.

There are three active participles.

The present participle active is formed by _-ant_. Ex. _amanta_ = loving; _amanto_ = a lover.

The past participle active is formed by _-int_. Ex. _aminta_ = having loved; _la skribinto_ = the author (lit. the man who has written).

The future participle active is formed by _-ont_. Ex. _amonta_ = being about to love.

There are three pa.s.sive participles.

The present participle pa.s.sive is formed by _-at_. Ex. _amata_ = being loved.

The past participle pa.s.sive is formed by _-it_. Ex. _amita_ = having been loved.

The future participle pa.s.sive is formed by _-ot_. Ex. _amota_ = being about to be loved.

All compound tenses, as well as the pa.s.sive voice, are formed by the verb _esti_ (to be) with a participle. Compound tenses are employed only when the simple forms are inadequate. Ex. _mi estas aminta_ = I have loved (lit. I am having loved); _vi estis aminta_ = you had loved (lit.

you were having loved); _ili estas amataj_ = they are loved; _si estas amita_ = she has been loved; _ni estis amitaj_ = we had been loved; _ili estos amintaj_ = they will have loved; _si estus aminta_ = she would have loved; _mi estus amita_ = I should have been loved.

IV

LIST OF AFFIXES

I. _Prefixes_

_bo-_ denotes relation by marriage: _bopatro_ = father-in-law.

_dis-_ denotes dissemination, division: _dismeti_ = to put apart, about, in pieces.

_ek-_ denotes sudden action or beginning: _ekdormi_ = to fall asleep; _ekiri_ = to start.

_ge-_ denotes both s.e.xes: _gepatroj_ = parents; _geviroj_ = men and women.

_mal-_ denotes the opposite: _bona_ = good; _malbona_ = bad.

_re-_ denotes back, again: _repagi_ = to repay; _rekomenci_ = to begin again.

II. _Suffixes_

_-ad_ denotes continuation: _penadi_ = to keep striving, to make continued effort.

_-aj_ denotes something concrete, made of the material, or possessing the qualities of the root to which it is attached: _bovo_ = ox; _bovajo_ = beef; _okazi_ = to happen; _okazajoj_ = happenings, events.

(For English speakers a good rule is to add "thing" or "stuff" to the English word; _propra_ = one's own, _proprajo_ = own-thing, property; _vidindajoj_ = see-worthy-things, notable sights. N.B.: _-aj_ added to transitive verbal stems generally has a pa.s.sive sense: _tondi_ = to clip, _tondajo_ = clipped-thing, clippings; whereas _tondilo_ = clipping-thing, shears.) See Zamenhof's explanation of -aj, _La Revuo_, Vol. I., No. 8 (April), pp. 374-5.