Not sure if it's important, but just thought I might have found a little Easter egg here (heh)

This is a picture of Locke trying to draw the diagram. The interesting thing isn't what he is drawing, but what he's drawing on. It seems to be French, but I could be very wrong.



Can anyone help out on this one?

They've worked on it a bit on this site already"

http://home.blarg.net/~wayule/blog_cgi/blosxom.cgi/

Ah! Thank you! That's why I love this board, there's always someone who can point you in the right direction.

So I guess it turns out that there was no reason in particular for the paper of choice.

not so fast - you know how the writers like to jerk our chains. There could be a very specific reason for Locke having torn out this particular book page to scribble on, lol.

quote:

Originally posted by shakingthetree:
not so fast - you know how the writers like to jerk our chains. There could be a very specific reason for Locke having torn out this particular book page to scribble on, lol.

Such as, Danielle is French. It is possible that her claims are untrue and that she and/or some of her group were in the hatch.

As an alternative, she and her group were heading for the hatch and were waylaid.

Of course, there is absolutely no evidence or hints beyond that piece of paper to lead in that direction.

or maybe her and locke have a secret pact: locke might have stopped by to see her on the way back to the hatch so he could get some backup info about the map, how it relates to the island, and what she knows about the big "?"

quote:

Originally posted by gordonkid:
or maybe her and locke have a secret pact: locke might have stopped by to see her on the way back to the hatch so he could get some backup info about the map, how it relates to the island, and what she knows about the big "?"

You know, given his current leg problems I am not sure this is true BUT, it is one heck of an idea for future episodes. Locke could compare his rudimentary map to Danielle's travels and knowledge.

My French is *extremely* rusty, but here goes.

Here's my stab at a transcription of the text that appears mostly inside Locke's drawing:

"D... nos travers, nos rêves et nos gou...
Comparons à loisir le moderne et l'antique,...
Et ferraillons sous ces drapeaux...
Quand nous serons au bout de notre rh...
Deux enfants nés d'hier en sauront plu...

O jeunes coeurs remplis d'antique...
Soyez les bienvenus, enfants ché...
Vous avez le même âge et le me...
La douce clarte soit bé...
Que vous ramenez dans...

Allez! que le bonheur v...
...n'est pas du hasard un caprice ...
Qui vous fit naitre au me...
...mère ici-bas, c'est la Muse at...
...r le feu sacré veille éternellem..."

And here's my best stab at a translation:

"...our [journeys?], our dreams and our ...
Let us compare at leisure the modern and the antique
And reinforce under these flags ...
When we are at the end of our ...
Two children born yesterday know some ...

O young hearts filled with antique ...
Be [the welcome?], children ...
You have the same age and the [same] ...
The soft [clarte???] be ...
That you bring back in ...

Go! that happiness ...
... is not a chance whim ...
Which made you born ...
...mother over here, it is the MUSE...
...the holy fire [of yore?] before eternal[ly] ..."

quote:

Originally posted by pagecarl:
You know, given his current leg problems I am not sure this is true BUT, it is one heck of an idea for future episodes. Locke could compare his rudimentary map to Danielle's travels and knowledge.

It's been a long time coming! I've been wondering why the Lostees never tried to pry any info from her long ago. Maybe they were just put off by her craziness, and of course attempted kidnapping, I suppose. But for a long time, it's been one of those "Why don't they get busy?" kinda questions. So it's about time and I hope he pursues it!

It's interesting that this poem seems to indicate that children have the same knowledge that adults do.

Children are being "kidnapped" on the island? Maybe they are RUNNING the island.

It was previously mentioned that Walt might be HIM.

Hello,
I know it's late but I think I could help finishing to translate that poem.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by gnomon:
My French is *extremely* rusty, but here goes.

Here's my stab at a transcription of the text that appears mostly inside Locke's drawing:

"DISCUTONS nos travers, nos rêves et nos gouUTS...
Comparons à loisir le moderne et l'antique,...
Et ferraillons sous ces drapeaux...
Quand nous serons au bout de notre rhEOTRIQUE...
Deux enfants nés d'hier en sauront pluS...

O jeunes coeurs remplis d'antique...
Soyez les bienvenus, enfants chéRIS...
Vous avez le même âge et le me...
La douce clarte soit bé...
Que vous ramenez dans...

Allez! que le bonheur v...
...n'est pas du hasard un caprice ...
Qui vous fit naitre au meME...
...mère ici-bas, c'est la Muse at...
...r le feu sacré veille éternellem..."

And here's my best stab at a translation:

"DISCUSSING OUR DESAGREEMENT, our dreams and our TASTES
Let us compare at leisure the modern and the antique
And FIGHT under these flags ...
When we will be at the end of our DEBATE, IDEA?("rhétorique" referes to debate and discussions in the antique edge)...
Two children born yesterday will know some MORE...

O young hearts filled with antique ...
Be WELCOMED, DEAR children ...
You have the same age and the [same] ...
The sof CLEARNESS, (LIGHT) be (if think the word coming here is "BLESSED")...
That you bring back in ...

Go! Let happiness ...
... is not a chance whim ...
Which made you born AT THE SAME...
...mother over here, it is the MUSE...
...the holy fire TAKE CARE (OF YOU?) for ETERNITY

not sure it helps but I'd fun trying to complete the puzzle. Any suggestions? Bye

quote:

Originally posted by at:
"DISCUSSING OUR DESAGREEMENT, our dreams and our TASTES
Let us compare at leisure the modern and the antique
And FIGHT under these flags ...
When we will be at the end of our DEBATE, IDEA?("rhétorique" referes to debate and discussions in the antique edge)...
Two children born yesterday will know some MORE...

O young hearts filled with antique ...
Be WELCOMED, DEAR children ...
You have the same age and the [same] ...
The sof CLEARNESS, (LIGHT) be (if think the word coming here is "BLESSED")...
That you bring back in ...

Go! Let happiness ...
... is not a chance whim ...
Which made you born AT THE SAME...
...mother over here, it is the MUSE...
...the holy fire TAKE CARE (OF YOU?) for ETERNITY

Well, now it's starting to make a little more sense.

I don't think the page has any import and I don't speak french but just for the sake of argument, I suspect the word "antique" as used in the text should be translated as "ancient"

quote:

Originally posted by intrepid:
I don't think the page has any import and I don't speak french but just for the sake of argument, I suspect the word "antique" as used in the text should be translated as "ancient"

If it were "ancient", I'd expect "ancien". I'd guess it's more like "old-fashioned" - like the juxtaposition of the old and the new in the hatch.

As for other stuff in the text, a fight of some kind does look like it's in the offing. And I'm thinkin' the mention of children ain't just a coincidence. But we'll see.

Why are dusting off our french-english dictionaries? This is a fairly well-known poem by Alfred Musset and its translation is on the net....

quote:

Originally posted by bellnier:
Why are dusting off our french-english dictionaries? This is a fairly well-known poem by Alfred Musset and its translation is on the net....

(Do you have the link to the correct poem? The only link I've seen seems to be to a different work by Musset.)
Forget that, I just found the correct poem myself. Just the original French, though. That doesn't help all that much when one's French has been out of use for more years than I'd like to admit.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: gnomon,

quote:

Originally posted by gnomon:
...Just the original French, though. That doesn't help all that much when one's French has been out of use for more years than I'd like to admit.

Boy, do I hear you, gnomon. A friend asked me to translate about half a page of description of an antique French coin & it took me three-four hours, & that contained a good bit of approximation & extrapolation. A semester in France 21 years ago doesn't do much for the ol' linguistic abilities...

Hi !

I know, this is a very old topic, but it seems I'm able to give you some answers, so if anyone is still interested in this poem he might be happy to find this message.

I'm a french guy, currently watching Lost. When I saw this poem, and asked myself "why did they put a french poem here ?" and decided to find the original. This research brought me to this forum, and... well, that's all

First, I apologize myself for my english wich is not very good, but I'll do my best to help you to have a good translation. If you found some words followed by (?) it means that's I'm very not sure about what I'm writing... shame on me !

Next, for information, this poem is from a well known french writer called Alfred de Musset. This is not exactly a poem, but a part from an article (?) that he wrote for a newspaper. You can find it here :
Original poem
I am surpised to see this. There a very few of french who really knows Alfred de Musset, and this poem is not from one of his books, so I really ask myself who did find this and decided to put it in Lost. This person as made a lot of studies.

Congratulations to the guys who tried to translate this : this helped me a lot. They did some good job, and I used their translation to do mine (some times, I even just had to fill the blanks !).

Here is the thing.

Discutons nos travers, nos rêves et nos goûts,
> Discuss our desagreement, our dreams and our tastes,

Comparons à loisir le moderne et l'antique,
> Compare at leisure the modern and the antique

Et ferraillons sous ces drapeaux jaloux.
> And fight under these jealous flags
(this is an awfull translation, but I really can't do it in english. Even some french people couldn't exactly understand this sentence. The french word "ferraillons" is more a practice of the fight than a fight. Like a duel between friends. The words "drapeaux jaloux" is an image to express the opinion of each "fighter")

Quand nous serons au bout de notre rhétorique,
> When we will be at the end of our debate,
(<<"rhétorique" referes to debate and discussions in the antique edge>> said at. The translation is quite good, the definition of rhétorique not exact : in france, this word is used when 2 people are discussing, each about his own idea about something. Just like 2 politics with different ideas : it is not made to convince the other, but to knock him down. We love to do this in france : sometimes we even don't care to be right or wrong, we just want to have the last word. Very funny and absolutely idiot. We know that, but we don't say it )

Deux enfans nés d'hier en sauront plus que nous.
> Two children born yesterday will know some more than us.

O jeunes cœurs remplis d'antique poésie,
> O young hearts filled with antique poetry,

Soyez les bienvenus, enfants aimés des dieux!
> Be welcomed, children loved by the gods!

Vous avez le même âge et le même génie.
> You have the same age and the same genius.

La douce clarté soit bénie
> The soft CLEARNESS, (LIGHT) be (if think the word coming here is "BLESSED")
(good job, you're totally right !)

Que vous ramenez dans nos yeux !
> That you bring back in our eyes !

Allez, que le bonheur vous suive!
> Go! That happiness follows you !

Ce n'est pas du hasard un caprice inconstant
> this is not from random an caprice inconstant (inconstant caprice ?)
(thoose seem to be the good words, but I really don't know if this sentence means something in english. Just in case, this sentence means that it is not hazardous : the random wanted it to be like it is)

Qui vous fit naître au même instant.
> That made you born at the same time (moment ?)

Votre mère ici-bas, c'est la Muse attentive
> Your mother over here, it is the carrying Muse

Qui sur le feu sacré veille éternellement.
> That take care of the holy fire for eternity.
("veille" could here be understand as well as "taking care" than "protect")



I don't know what you can understand in this un perfect tranlation, but reading the original version, I can see a lot of links with Lost. I.E the parts speaking about the fate and the fact that there is nothing hazardous : all that happens has a reason.
Beside, the all debate part could be associated to the means caracters and the way they disagree each other or work alone without listening their friends.

Well, I'll finish here : that's long enough. Hope this will interest or be used to someone.

Bye !

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Yabokaky,