PoveyTrans (X) (asker) Jul 23, 2007:

By 'ancient' I meant that the tales are generally set in biblical times, they appeared in print as per my previous note and have been updated for the German version. Hope that clarifies. The 'healer' is one of a number of physicians sent by a Persian King to King Solomon to seek the milk of a lioness to cure his master. Exciting stuff.

PoveyTrans (X) (asker) Jul 23, 2007:

Well, it is a series of Jewish fairytales and legends which have been taken from a German collection published around 1840 but which date back much earlier. A few are from a 1934 collection. Those published in the 19th century were from a German publishing house in Prague, the latter from a Berlin based publishing house. The German has been updated - 'Die Texte wurden behutsam dem heutigen Sprachgebrauch angenähert'. They are being published by a Prague publishing house, perhaps as part of a series celebrating Jewish / German culture in the pre-war City. Regarding the intended audience, I have no specific information and none were given for the translation. There is no introduction or otherwise to the text. If I need to ask any further question (which I am sure will be the case!) I will paste a large chunk of text and try to give more context. I am working to a tight deadline sadly. Thanks for your interest and questions.

Francis Lee (X) Jul 23, 2007:

And which figure ("der Heiler") is this about?

Francis Lee (X) Jul 23, 2007:

Simon, can you provide some background info on your series of questions? It'd be useful to know e.g. what purpose your translation will serve, i.e. what's your target readership? Plus: how does the text continue?

PoveyTrans (X) (asker) Jul 23, 2007:

Yes, doh!

Jonathan MacKerron Jul 23, 2007:

do you mean the verb "rechten"?

Agnieszka Hayward (X) Jul 23, 2007:

Isn't the invinitive in the original "rechten"? I've read your sentence 3 times :o) and I think it's not "rechen", it's "rechten". Then again, I'm not a native speaker. Let's see what they say. Regards.