The Old Man and the Sea Page #4

I must eat the bonito...

...not to lose my strength.

Do not blame the hand.

It is not the hand's fault.

And you have been a long time

with fish.

How do you feel, hand?

Or is it too early to know?

Maybe it will open with the sun.

If I have to open it, I will open it.

Cost whatever it cost.

"God help me to have the cramp go,"

he thought.

"Because I don't know what the fish

is going to do.

But he seems calm and following his plan,

but what is his plan?

What is mine?

Mine I must improvise to his

because of his great size.

If he will jump, " he thought,

"I can kill him."

Hand. Come on, hand.

He's coming up. Hand.

He's longer than the skiff.

Oh, he's a great fish.

Thank God they are not as intelligent

as we who kill them.

Although they are more noble...

...and more able.

I wonder why he jumped.

It's almost as though he jumped

just to show me how big he was.

Bad news for you, fish.

It was getting late in the day now, and

the skiff still moved slowly and steadily.

The old man was suffering...

... although he did not admit

to suffering at all.

I am not religious...

...but I will say 10 Our Fathers and

I will also make a pilgrimage

to the Virgin of Cobre.

That is a promise.

"Our Father, who art in heaven,

hallowed be thy name."

He commenced to say his prayers

mechanically.

Sometimes he would be so tired

that he could not remember the prayer.

Then he would say them so fast,

they would come automatically.

"Hail Marys are easier to say

than Our Fathers, " he thought.

The old man felt very tired, and he knew

that the night would come soon...

... and he tried to think of other things.

He thought of the big leagues.

To him, they were the gran ligas.

And he knew that the Yankees of New York

were playing the Tigers of Detroit.

"This is the second day now that I do not

know the results of the games, " he thought.

Then, to give himself more confidence...

... he remembered the time

in the tavern at Casablanca...

... when he played the hand game

with a Negro from Cienfuegos...

... who was the strongest man

on the docks.

He was not an old man then,

but he was in his prime.

He and the Negro had gone

one day and night...

... with their elbows on a chalked line

on the table.

There was much betting, and the odds

changed back and forth all night...

... and they changed the referees

every four hours...

... so that the referee

could get some sleep.

They fed the Negro rum.

Once, after the rum,

the Negro made his all-out bid.

But the old man raised his hand

up to dead even again.

He was sure that he had the Negro,

who was a fine man and a great athlete...

... beaten.

At daylight, when bettors were asking him

to call it a draw...

... because they had to go to work

on the docks...

... the old man unleashed

his greatest effort.

He knew that he had broken

the confidence of the Negro...

... and now he finished the bout

before anyone had to go to work.

For a long time after that,

everyone had called him "the champion."

How do you feel, fish?

I feel fine.

My left hand is better.

Pull the boat, fish.

Just before it was dark, as they passed

the great island of sargasso weed...

... that heaved and swung

as though the ocean were making love...

... with something under

a yellow blanket...

... his small line had been taken

by a dolphin...

... and he had brought it into the skiff.

What an excellent fish dolphin is...

...to eat cooked...

...and what a miserable fish raw.

"I had better keep the fish quiet now

and not disturb him too much at sunset.

The setting of the sun

is a difficult time for all fish. "

It was darker now, as it becomes dark

quickly after the sun sets in September.

The first stars were out.

He did not know the name of Rigel,

but he saw it...

... and knew soon they would be out,

and he would have all his distant friends.

"The fish is my friend too," he thought.

Never have I seen or heard

of such a fish.

But I must kill him.

I'm glad I do not have to kill the stars.

Imagine how it would be if, every day,

a man had to try to kill the moon.

The moon runs away.

But think what it would be if, every day,

he had to try to kill the sun.

We're born lucky.

"It was half a day and a night, and now

another day, and you have not slept.

If you do not sleep,

you might become unclear in the head.

Rest now, old man.

Let him do the work.

Until it is time...

... for your next journey. "

He lay forward, cramping himself

against the line with his body...

... putting all his weight on his left hand,

and he was asleep.

He did not dream of the lions,

but instead, of a vast school of porpoises...

... that stretched for eight or 10 miles,

and it was in the time of their mating.

And they would leap high into the air...

... and return in the same hole they

made in the water when they leaped.

Then he dreamed he was in the village,

on his bed.

And there was a norther,

and he was very cold.

And his arm was asleep because his head

had rested on it instead of a pillow.

After that, he began to dream of

the long yellow beach...

... and he saw the first of the lions.

And he waited to see if there would be

more lions, and he was happy.

Then he dreamed of the whales

that passed along this coast in the fall.

And of their mating too, and of their

friendliness with each other, and their play.

The moon had been up for a long time,

but he slept on.

And the fish pulled on steadily,

and the boat moved into a tunnel of clouds.

He woke with a jerk of his fist coming up,

and the line burning out through his hand.

This is what we waited for.

Now let us take it.

Make him pay for the line.

Make him pay for it.

"I will show him what a man can do

and what a man endures, " he thought.

The thousand times he had proved it

meant nothing.

Now he was proving it again.

Each time was a new time...

... and he never thought about the past

when he was doing it.

"If the boy were here, he could wet

the coils of the line, " he thought.

"Yes, if the boy were here,

if the boy were here. "

"Now he has jumped and filled

the sacs along his back with air.

Now he cannot go down deep to die.

He will start circling soon,

then I must start working on him. "

Well, you didn't do so badly...

...for something that is worthless.

Now I have done my best.

He will begin to circle soon.

Let the fight come.

The sun was rising for the third time

since he had put out to sea.

The fish was circling slowly,

and the old man was wet with sweat...

... and tired deep into his bones.

I could not fail myself now...

...and die on a fish like this.

Now that I have him coming so beautifully,

God help me to endure.

I will say 100 Our Fathers

and 100 Hail Marys.

But I cannot say them now.

Please consider them said.

I will say them later.

For an hour, he had been seeing spots

before his eyes.

Twice he had felt faint and dizzy...

... and that had worried him.

Then suddenly, he saw a dark shadow...

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