Juan Rulfo – “No oyes ladrar los perros” Translation « 5613love’s Weblog 5/24/11 12:40 PM

5613love’s Weblog
♥

Juan Rulfo – “No oyes ladrar los perros” Translation

January 13, 2009 in Uncategorized | Tags: analysis, english, english translation, juan rulfo, no oyes ladrar
los perros, spanish, summary, translation | by 5613love

English translation of “No oyes ladrar los perros” by Juan Rulfo. Sorry if something is translated wrong. i
put some translation notes in [] to help you understand it better.
-Hey you up there, Ignacio, tell me if you can not hear a signal of something or see some light
somewhere.
-Nothing can be seen
-We should be close already
-Yes, but nothing can be heard.
-Look well
-I can’t see anything
-Poor you, Ignacio.
The long dark shadow of the men continued moving up and down, tripping over the rocks, shrinking and
growing according to the shore of the river. It was a solo shadow, wobbling.
The moon came over the earth, like a round blaze of fire.
-We should be arriving at that town, Ignacio. You who have ears free to hear, look and see if you can
hear the barking of the dogs. Keep in mind that that will tell us Tonaya is just around the mount. And it
has been hours since we left the mount. Remember that, Ignacio.
-Yes, but I don’t see a sign of anything.
-I am tired.
-Put me down.
The old man walked backwards until he reached a wall and he rearranged his load there, without
releasing it from his shoulders. Although his legs were buckling, he did not want to sit down, because
afterwards he would be unable to lift the body of his son, since back there, hours before, they had helped
him load him on his back. And this is how he was carried since then.
-How do you feel?
-Bad.
They spoke little. Each time less. At times he seemed to be sleeping. At times he seemed to be cold.
Trambling. He knew when the trembling would seize his son because of the jerkings he felt, and because
he would dig his feet into his loins like spurs. Later the hands of his son, locked around his neck shook
his head vigorously like a rattle.
He gritted his teeh so that he would not bite his tongue, and when his son finished he would ask:
-Does it hurt a lot?
-Somewhat- his son answered.
At first he had said: “Let me down here… put me down here… go on alone. I will catch up to you
tomorrow or whenever I recover a bit”. He had said this like fifty times. But now he never said that.
There was the moon. In front of them. A big and colored moon that filled their eyes with light and that
stretched and obscured more their shadow over the earth.

http://5613love.wordpress.com/2009/01/13/juan-rulfo-no-oyes-ladrar-los-perros-translation/ Page 1 of 12
Juan Rulfo – “No oyes ladrar los perros” Translation « 5613love’s Weblog 5/24/11 12:40 PM

-I can’t see where I am going- he said.

But no one answered him.
The other was sitting up there, completely illuminated by the moon, with his pale face, without blood,
reflecting the opaque light. And he was below.
-Did you hear me, Ignacio? I’m telling you that you aren’t looking well.
The other remained silent.
He continued walking, stumblingly. He slouched his body and later straightened to return to stumbling
again.
-This is not a road. They told us that behind the hill was Tonaya. We have already passed the hill. And
Tonaya can not be seen, nor is any noise letting us know that we are close to it. Why do you not want to
tell me what you see, you up there, Ignacio?
-Put me down, father.
-You feel bad?
-Yes.
-I will take you to Tonaya no matter what. There I will find someone to care for you. They said there was
a doctor there. I will take you to him. I have carried you for hours and I am not going to leave you thrown
aside here so that you die. [literal: "so that they end who you are."]
He trembled a bit. He walked a few steps sideways and returned to straightening up.
-I will take you to Tonaya.
-Put me down.
His voice became soft, he barely whispered:
-I want to rest a bit.
-Sleep up there. After all, I have a good grip on you.
The moon continued rising, almost blue, into the clear sky. The face of the old man, wet with sweat, was
filled by the moon. He hid his eyes to block what was in front of him [the moonlight] since he couldn’t
bend his head held tightly by the hands of his son.
-All that I do, I don’t do for you. I do it for your deceased mother. Because you were her son. That’s why
I do this. She would reprimand me if I left you there, where I found you, and I would not have picked you
up to take you to be cured, as I am doing. It is her that has given me courage, not you. Firstly because to
you I do not owe anything more than difficulties, absolute martification, absolute shame. [he means that
the son only gave those things to him, so that is what he should give back.]
He sweated to talk. But the night winde dried the sweat. And over the dry sweat, he began to sweat again.
-I will break my back, but I will carry you to Tonaya, so that they cure the wounds they have done to you.
[the two "they"s refer to different groups of people- the doctors will cure the wounds that the bad people
did to the son.] And I am sure that, when you feel better, you will return to your evil ways. This is not
what is important to me. As long as you go far away, where I will not have to know anything about you.
Provided that happens… Because to me you are already not my son. I have cursed the blood that you got
from me. My part is cursed. I have said: “May the blood that I gave you rot in your kidneys!” I said that
whenever I found out that you were wandering the streets, living by robbery and killing people… good
people. And if you don’t believe me, there is my friend Tranquilino. He baptized you. He gave you your
name. He also received bad luck from knowing you. Since then I have said: “This could not be my son.”
-Look to see if you can see something. Or if you hear anything. You that can do that from up there,
because I am already deaf.
-I see nothing.
-Worse for you, Ignacio.
-I’m thirsty.
-Hold on! We are already close. What’s happening is that it is night and they have turned off the lights in

http://5613love.wordpress.com/2009/01/13/juan-rulfo-no-oyes-ladrar-los-perros-translation/ Page 2 of 12
Juan Rulfo – “No oyes ladrar los perros” Translation « 5613love’s Weblog 5/24/11 12:40 PM

the toen. But at least you should here if the dogs are barking. Try to hear.
-Give me water.
-Here there is no water. There is nothing but stones. Hold on. And even if there was, I wouldn’t let you
down to drink water. No one could help me to lift you up again, and alone I can not.
-I am very thirsty and very tired.
-That reminds me of when you were born. That is how you were then. You awoke hungry and ate to fall
asleep again. And your mother gave you water, because already you were finished with her milk. You
coun’t be filled. And you were very rabid. I never thought that in time I would get so enraged at you…
But that is what happened. Your mother, rest in peace, want you to grow strong. She believed that you
would support her when you grew up. She didn’t have anything but you. The other son had to go and kill
her. [meaning that she died in childbirth of having their second child.] You would have killed her again
anyways if she had seen you at this point.
He felt that the man he carried on his shoulders had stopped tightening his knees and had begun to loosen
his feet, balancing them on one side or the other. And it seemed that the head, up there, was sweating as if
it was sobbing.
On his hair he felt big drops fall, like tears.
-Are you crying, Ignacio? It makes you cry to remember your mother, right? but you never did anything
for her. You only paid us bad. [meaning: you only gave us bad things in return.] It seems that, instead of
care, we gave you nothing but wickedness. And see? Now they wounded you. What happened to your
friends? They killed them all. But they had no one. They could well have said: “We have no one to whom
we can give our pain”. But you, Ignacio? [meaning: you always had someone who would care for you, so
what is your excuse for turning into a bad person?]

***

There was the town. The roofs shone brightly under the light of the moon. He had the impression that he
was being crushed by the weight of his son when the back of his knees bent in his final efforts[?]. Upon
arriving at the first building, he rested briefly on the railing around it and let go of the limp body, as if it
had been disjointed.
He unclasped with difficulty the fingers with which his son had been holding onto his neck, and, upon
being free, heard on all sides the barking of the dogs. [his ears were covered by his sons hands, so he was
unable to hear the dogs before this.]
-You didn’t hear that, Ignacio?- he said -You didn’t even help me with this hope. [meaning: you were
bad your whole life, and even at the end, you couldn't even tell me that you heard the dogs barking?]

—————-
The end!
In case you weren’t sure: Ignacio died. That’s why he is a limp body and his father just drops him on the
floor. They didn’t actually get to a doctor.
*some comments are saying that he didn’t die. our teacher told us that he did. it makes sense with the
final line of the story. “You didn’t even help me with this hope” is very final.

Like 4 bloggers like this post.

http://5613love.wordpress.com/2009/01/13/juan-rulfo-no-oyes-ladrar-los-perros-translation/ Page 3 of 12
Juan Rulfo – “No oyes ladrar los perros” Translation « 5613love’s Weblog 5/24/11 12:40 PM

41 comments
Comments feed for this article

February 12, 2009 at 3:31 pm

mr. coulter

thanks i have a test on this story this morning

Reply
April 23, 2009 at 2:06 am

Cj

Thank you so much i have to turn in the questions for this tomorrow and this helped tremendously.

Reply
July 28, 2009 at 8:07 pm

Mel

This was extremely helpful. I would have had a really difficult time answering the questions about this
story without the translation. Thanks.

Reply
September 10, 2009 at 12:18 am

JC

u rock dude now i won’t fail

Reply
September 10, 2009 at 11:50 pm

david

good translation and other notes

http://5613love.wordpress.com/2009/01/13/juan-rulfo-no-oyes-ladrar-los-perros-translation/ Page 4 of 12
Juan Rulfo – “No oyes ladrar los perros” Translation « 5613love’s Weblog 5/24/11 12:40 PM

Reply
September 21, 2009 at 2:12 pm

Barry

Excellent job. Spot on. I have an essay due for this in an hour and this was exactly what I needed. Rock.

Reply
September 27, 2009 at 8:57 pm

sasha

I cannot tell you how much I LOVE YOU for doing this

Reply
September 29, 2009 at 3:43 am

CL

bueno! gracias do translate more!

Reply
October 7, 2009 at 3:25 am

Oh Facebook… « That Tall Girl

[...] bright side of things, since fb wasn’t working properly I actually finished an analysis over No oyes
ladrar los perros. I hope you like the only English translation I cuold find for ya’ll. It’s an ok [...]

Reply
October 7, 2009 at 6:15 am

Colin

Solid work, came through in the clutch.

Reply
October 9, 2009 at 1:41 am

Alex

http://5613love.wordpress.com/2009/01/13/juan-rulfo-no-oyes-ladrar-los-perros-translation/ Page 5 of 12
Juan Rulfo – “No oyes ladrar los perros” Translation « 5613love’s Weblog 5/24/11 12:40 PM

you are a stud. this was awesome

Reply
October 9, 2009 at 3:10 am

heyhey

great translation, great story. Thanks for helping me clear up a few details with the story.

Reply
November 2, 2009 at 2:09 pm

me

Very good translation. But no where in the story does it say that Ignacio dies. The author wants to leave
that up to imagination. A dead man is no more limp than an incapacitated one.

Reply
November 12, 2009 at 6:16 am

Arnesh

dude ur the best

i love u man
i have a test on this tom nd question to do for hw

Reply
November 23, 2009 at 4:03 am

NC

hey, so pretty good translation, very helpful to have this to compare to the spanish version- only issue is
that monte means woodland/forest not mount.. but thanks so much for translating this!

Reply
December 2, 2009 at 5:24 am

weeman

http://5613love.wordpress.com/2009/01/13/juan-rulfo-no-oyes-ladrar-los-perros-translation/ Page 6 of 12
Juan Rulfo – “No oyes ladrar los perros” Translation « 5613love’s Weblog 5/24/11 12:40 PM

i have a test tomorrow morning and this really is going to help a lot. thanks

Reply
December 7, 2009 at 6:11 am

johnnygee

thank you thank you thank you soooooo much!!!!

Reply
January 11, 2010 at 11:40 pm

linda

thanks so much!

Reply
January 12, 2010 at 2:09 am

jessekirk11

Great job. Thanks a lot.

Reply
January 13, 2010 at 12:27 am

eunii

thanks so much ^^

Reply
January 15, 2010 at 4:35 am

weatherman

dude, you rock. I have a quiz on this and I suck at spanish.

http://5613love.wordpress.com/2009/01/13/juan-rulfo-no-oyes-ladrar-los-perros-translation/ Page 7 of 12
Juan Rulfo – “No oyes ladrar los perros” Translation « 5613love’s Weblog 5/24/11 12:40 PM

Reply
January 30, 2010 at 10:18 pm

Lina

you just saved my butt. thank you!

Reply
February 10, 2010 at 3:01 am

JP

Thank you so much!

I have an essay do on this story due tomorrow!
You’re the best.

Reply
February 10, 2010 at 11:05 pm

Matchu

+1 on “monte” note

Reply
February 15, 2010 at 1:52 am

ST

thanks so much! i needed this as a make-up grade & u sooo saved me!!!

Reply
February 21, 2010 at 7:46 pm

Krogerman

Thanks so much. I’m in a spanish lit class and it always helps to reread the story in English I am so
grateful This was a great translation

Reply

http://5613love.wordpress.com/2009/01/13/juan-rulfo-no-oyes-ladrar-los-perros-translation/ Page 8 of 12
Juan Rulfo – “No oyes ladrar los perros” Translation « 5613love’s Weblog 5/24/11 12:40 PM

February 24, 2010 at 1:35 am

Gita

Wow this was quite good thanks. The stories itself are good too. I am definitely gonna pass my test thanks
=)

Reply
March 1, 2010 at 11:32 am

Royce

Thanks a lot, this has been extremely helpful.

Reply
March 7, 2010 at 10:52 pm

ss

dayumm! rockstar!

Reply
March 10, 2010 at 1:50 am

ALPHIE

THANK YOU FOR TAKING TIME TO TRANSLATE THIS WORK. MANY MANY THANKS, AND
IT IS MUCH APPRECIATED!

Reply
March 14, 2010 at 12:16 am

another guy

thank you for posting this. i had a test on this. i’m writing an essay on it now

Reply
March 23, 2010 at 3:32 pm

http://5613love.wordpress.com/2009/01/13/juan-rulfo-no-oyes-ladrar-los-perros-translation/ Page 9 of 12
Juan Rulfo – “No oyes ladrar los perros” Translation « 5613love’s Weblog 5/24/11 12:40 PM

julia

Omg this really helped me out a lot I had to read it in Spanish and didn’t understand! Now I understand
completely! Thankz!

Reply
March 30, 2010 at 1:56 pm

Kendra

Thank you so much! You translated well! I read the story in Spanish, but the ending confused me. This
cleared everything up…thanks!

Reply
April 9, 2010 at 3:12 am

tanwe

thank you so much for the translation! it helped a lot!

Reply
April 16, 2010 at 12:42 am

rdtyert

thanks for this(:

i read the story in spanish in my textbook but didn’t understand anything,
so this really helped! D

Reply
August 13, 2010 at 12:36 am

alexa

thankyou!!!!!!!

Reply
September 2, 2010 at 8:33 am

http://5613love.wordpress.com/2009/01/13/juan-rulfo-no-oyes-ladrar-los-perros-translation/ Page 10 of 12
Juan Rulfo – “No oyes ladrar los perros” Translation « 5613love’s Weblog 5/24/11 12:40 PM

Julie

Thank you for this, it was very helpful to read along with the story! So much more efficient than typing
every other line into google translate, haha.

Reply
September 13, 2010 at 4:30 am

life saverrrr

Reply
September 17, 2010 at 3:55 am

chuliita

Thaaaaaaank you <3 you're just fantastic!

Reply
October 6, 2010 at 12:40 am

Harry

That was incredible. Any chance you could translate La noce boca arriba, el etnografo, las medias rojas,
and la camisa de margarita in the next 12 hours for me?

Reply
October 7, 2010 at 2:18 am

swtsrwlove

not gonna happen, Harry.

Reply

LEAVE A REPLY

http://5613love.wordpress.com/2009/01/13/juan-rulfo-no-oyes-ladrar-los-perros-translation/ Page 11 of 12
Juan Rulfo – “No oyes ladrar los perros” Translation « 5613love’s Weblog 5/24/11 12:40 PM

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Name *

Email *

Website

Comment

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title="">
<b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <pre> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike>
<strong>

Post Comment

Notify me of follow-up comments via email.

Notify me of new posts via email.

http://5613love.wordpress.com/2009/01/13/juan-rulfo-no-oyes-ladrar-los-perros-translation/ Page 12 of 12