Waters Within Waters (Air di Dalam Mata Air)

  • Linear Location

    At Pondok Tingal, near Borobudur, Magelang, Jawa Tengah, Indonesia. (7°36'21"S 110°12'54"E)

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Text of this Marker

The part of the story installed here:

Waters Within Waters

All around you once would have been a kind of a place known as a vela/: where the dreams of imaginary creatures come to life. And not only creatures imagined by humans, but those imagined by the many other thinking beings as well, such as xthaengra, rabansg, wise microbes, and wry/ansk shapes. Though the creatures such beings imagined were fictional, their dreams were very real. Indeed, while some, such as the Puhnee, the Tarqsl and even Kmpass avoided the impossibility of this place, the heartbroken (like the boy who called himself 62), and many others besides, came here to immerse themselves in a healing sea of fully present impossibilities.

Indeed, what this is written on is not just a shape, but a word—a bit more precisely: the form of a Nyelvate word meaning “waters within waters” (Nyelvate languages are the ones where words are spoken not as sounds, but as physical shapes). Long ago,this Nyelvate word was found on a distant beach, washed up by the sea, then carried to this place in the talons of a Yaarayehyay, the great five-and-a-half-winged bird. Though long since worn away, its shape, meaning and even much of the enunciation of the original are well-captured in this relic, which is the honored seed of many stories here told.

And in Indonesian...

Air di Dalam Mata Air

Pada suatu saat, Anda mungkin pernah berada di suatu tempat yang dikenal sebagai vela/: tempat di mana impian tentang mahluk-mahluk imajiner menjadi kenyataan. Dan bukan hanya mahluk-mahluk yang dibayangkan oleh manusia, namun juga oleh mahluk-mahkluk lain yang memiliki pikiran, seperti xthaengra, rabansg, mikroba bijaksana, dan bentuk-bentuk wry/ansk. Meskipun mahluk-mahluk itu bersifat fiktif, namun impian mereka sangatlah nyata. Memang, meskipun beberapa di antaranya, seperti Puhnee, Tarqsl dan bahkan Kmpass, menjauhi kemustahilan tempat ini, orang-orang yang patah hati (seperti anak muda yang menamai dirinya 62), dan banyak orang lain juga, datang kesini untuk menenggelamkan diri di lautan kesembuhan yang penuh kemustahilan.

Apa yang tertulis bukan hanya bentuk, melainkan sebuah kata-lebih tepatnya: bentuk kata Nyelvate yang berarti ‘air di dalam mata air’ (bahasa Nyelvate adalah bahasa di mana kata-kata tidak diucapkan sebagai suara, melainkan bentuk fisik). Di masa lalu, kata Nyelvate ini ditemukan di sebuah pantai terpencil, terdampar di laut, kemudian dibawa oleh cakar Yaarayehyay, burung besar bersayap lima-setengah, ke tempat ini. Meskipun lama setelah aus, bentuk, arti dan bahkan sebagian besar lafal aslinya, masih tersimpan
baik dalam pusaka peninggalan ini, yang menjadi awal mulia dari kisah-kisah yang diceritakan di sini.

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