At the door
Let whoever wishes come in.
Que entre el que quiera.
Drag to look, W or arrows to walk; on touch, hold the round button.
Passages are quoted from the Spanish original and translated for this page.
Jorge Luis Borges, 1947
You live in this house, alone; none of its doors is locked, and you are not a prisoner. This afternoon you will walk through the doors. The sun is still high; your shadow is short at your feet. You are the one who lives here: waiting for your redeemer, never told what you are.
Let whoever wishes come in.
Que entre el que quiera.
Drag to look, W or arrows to walk; on touch, hold the round button.
“Can you believe it, Ariadne?” said Theseus. “The minotaur barely fought back.”
—¿Lo creerás, Ariadna? —dijo Teseo—. El minotauro apenas se defendió.
Let whoever wishes come in.
Que entre el que quiera.
Everything is there many times over, fourteen times, but two things in the world seem to be there once only: up above, the intricate Sun; down below, Asterion.
Todo está muchas veces, catorce veces, pero dos cosas hay en el mundo que parecen estar una sola vez: arriba, el intrincado Sol; abajo, Asterión.
He has a word for fourteen and none for more.
Every nine years nine men come into the house so that I may free them from all evil.
Cada nueve años entran en la casa nueve hombres para que yo los libere de todo mal.
One after another they fall, and I never bloody my hands.
Uno tras otro caen sin que yo me ensangriente las manos.
One of the nine foretold the redeemer; hence the ninth’s turn toward the west door.
May he take me somewhere with fewer galleries and fewer doors. What will my redeemer be like, I wonder.
Ojalá me lleve a un lugar con menos galerías y menos puertas. ¿Cómo será mi redentor?, me pregunto.
“Can you believe it, Ariadne?” said Theseus. “The minotaur barely fought back.”
—¿Lo creerás, Ariadna? —dijo Teseo—. El minotauro apenas se defendió.