Audiobook: Multilingual Short Works Collection 031 - Poetry & Prose

This is our 31st collection of short pieces, poetry or prose, fiction and non-fiction, in several different languages (except standard English) as listed below. All chosen and recorded by Librivox volunteers. (Summary by ToddHW)

Description of Readings:

1. Bengali – দুই পাখি [Dui Pakhi] – 3:03
Rabindranath Tagore
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Keywords: A conversation between two birds: one free and the other captive.

2. Chinese – 水調歌頭 [shui tiao ge tou] – 4:12
Su Shi
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3. French – Les fraises de décembre – 9:36
Claudius Ferrand
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Keywords: A fairytale about a young girl and her awful mother-in-law and step-sister, à la Vassilissa or Cinderella; Fables et légendes du Japon

4. French – Trésor-des-Fèves et Fleur-des-Pois: conte des fées – 52:58
Charles Nodier
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Keywords: Conte Fées Jeunesse; Un joli bébé arrive dans une famille, la vieille dame l’appelle Trésor des Fèves, il est vif et intelligent. Ses parents l’adorent. Il part un jour … et fait la connaissance d’une gentille et jolie mignonne, Fleur des Pois… qui a une calèche magique…

5. German – Ein stummer Bericht von einem Schiffbruch – 8:47
Holger Drachmann (1846 – 1908)
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Keywords: Deutsch, Kurzgeschichte, Mystisch, Übersetzt von Otto Hauser

6. Hebrew – פגישה, חצי פגישה [Pgisha, Khatzi Pgisha] – 1:05
Rachel Bluwstein
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Keywords: meeting; lovers; emotion; memories; love; Hebrew; Israel

7. Irish – Amhrán an Tae – 4:08
Colm de Bhailís
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Keywords: Colm de Bhailís, Amhrán an Tae, Conamara, Marriage, Tea, Tobacco, Galway

8. Italian – Decameron, Quarta Giornata, Prima Novella – 26:36
Giovanni Boccaccio
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Keywords: ancient Italian, compelling romance, father and daughter conflict, love and death, italian noble court of XIV century, tragic ending

9. Italian – Ninna-nanna – 2:06
Trilussa
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Keywords: poem in Italian dialect (“Romanesco”), anti-war feelings, poem written in 1917 but unluckily up to date even today as a comment to the tragic current events

10. Luxembourgish – Kê Barométer mě – 0:52
Michel Lentz
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Keywords: bad weather, farmers, fancy-fair, clothes, poem, fun

11. Polish – Przygrywka – 2:52
Maria Konopnicka
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Keywords: poezja, marzenia, podróź

12. Romanian – Bunica – 1:18
Ștefan Octavian Iosif
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Keywords: Ștefan Octavian Iosif, lyric poetry, poezie lirică, the longing for grandmather, dorul de bunica, blândețea și frumusețea bunicii

13. Romanian – De sărbători – 1:31
Ștefan Octavian Iosif
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Keywords: The Christmas celebration, the longing for the homeland, sărbătoarea Crăciunului

14. Romanian – E împărţită omenirea – 2:41
Mihai Eminescu
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Keywords: Mihai Eminescu, E împărțită omenirea, oameni simpli, înțelepti, căință, Dumnezeu

15. Russian – Кукушка [Kukushka] – 0:36
Анна Ахматова
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Keywords: неволя, принуждение

16. Spanish – Redondilla I: A los hombres – 3:08
Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz
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Keywords: Poesía colonial Poesía del siglo XVII

17. Spanish – Temprano y con sol – 10:58
Emilia Pardo Bazán
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Keywords: young love

18. Swedish – Ett halvt ark papper – 4:42
August Strindberg
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Keywords: death, grief, melancholia, nostalgia, starting over, light in the darkness

19. Swedish – På rakstugan – 1:41
Albert Ulrik Bååth
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Keywords: barbershop, gossip, scandal, suicide, morality, hypocrisy, judgmentalism, fear of death.

20. Ukrainian – Безсонна ніч [bezsonna nich] – 2:04
Леся Українка
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Keywords: важкі часи, hard times