I read a german essay where God asks a donkey, a dog, a monkey, and a human if they'd want 30 years to live. The donkey, dog and monkey refuse The human asks for the years they refused. Anyway, there is one line I couldn't translate correctly. This is last part of conversation between God and the donkey. Here's how it goes: ,,Ach'', sagte der Esel, ,,das ist eine Lange Zeit. Mein Leben ist schwer. Lass mich nicht so lange leben!'' ,,Nun gut'', sprach Gott, ,,dann will ich dir achtzehn Jahre schenken, und do sollst nur zwolf Jahre leben.'' *** How does: dann will ich achtzehn Jahr schenken --> translate to --> I will take away your 18 years. Shouldn't it be: dann will ich dir achtzehn Jahre wegnehmen. I searched google but schenken always translated as send/give. It's not take away. Is this a typo in the book?
"dann will ich dir achtzehn Jahre schenken" You forgot to add "dir" in your question. I used a translator aswell to check the meaning of this phrase and its meaning is "then I will give you eighteen years". I think that we might understand that not every single time we should translate a phrase word by word and yes the whole expression.
Hmm... Is there any expression dir schenken that implies take away from you. Idk.. I google searched a lot but couldn't find.
The human comes later in the scene. First scene is between God n donkey Second is between God n dog 3rd between God n monkey. Here is a photo of the essay: the line is in 1st paragraph, last sentence
I see. Then the gift of 18 years means that he will make the donkey 18 years old, leaving him with 12 left till 30.