A Real Story But Stranger Than Fiction

[Ayed]

Hi, all of my teachers and visitors!Are you right right?I hope that

Stranger than Fiction
Written by Dr.Abdulwadood Shulubi
Translated by me

Had not the following strange unusual story narrated by an ex-Police Commander , published by the authentic scientific Magazine, “Civilization of Islam”issued in Syria during 1950s and edited by the famous scholar , the departed Dr.Mustufa Al-Suba’i , I would not believe a character of it at all .
Suliman Al-Alousi , an ex-General who worked for the Police narrates:
” At a hot summer night when the air got as tongues of flame , I walked to the Tigris river ; seeking for a breath of cool breeze to refresh myself.Sat on the shore at “1 .A.M”, I saw a surprising strange scence I have never ever seen in my life .I saw a frog coming in a hurry from the opposite shore .No sooner had it got to where I sitting , than a scorpion crawled down from the frog’s back heading to a pile of hay nearby.After some minutes ,the scorpion crawled back and hopped on the waiting frog’s back heading back to where they came from.”walked towards the pile of hay to figure out this strange mysterious trip, I found a guy lying on the piled hay . I thought:” The guy must have been stung to death by the scorpion that crawled away and carried by the frog that left “,Suliman added.
Perceived my presence ,the guy woke up asking me whether or not the time of Fajr(dawn)prayer had approached!Out of the blue, a stranger moment , a dead snake still bleeding closer to the guy !I recognized that the scorpion had stung the snake to death that was about to bite the guy. I contemplated :”would this happen in these nowadays!?It is a miracle from Allah, the Exalted for the guy’s sake that saved him from death. Suliman added:”As an ex-officer worked for the Police ,I sought information about the guy’s life .One of my previous assistant officers told me that the guy had been well known for his righteousness and piety .He he had been entirely dutiful to his crippled parents with diseases and he had often stayed up all nights for some years so late that he did not sleep until it started to dawn .He spent all his fortunes he had for his parents’ sake , for their health , for their peace of mind and for their good treatment until they passed away while they supplicating Allah , the Exalted to save and enter their son into the Paradise on the Judgment Day.
How is my translation?Clumsy!Ok !Thumb up or down?

[Tdol]

It's an enteraining and lively read- I enjoyed it. Thumbs up. And good on the frog and the scorpion.

[Ayed]

Thank you tdol for your comments.
We still waiting to come over here. :wink:

[Tdol]

You're welcome, Ayed. I do like the image of a frog giving a scorpion a lift to help.

[RonBee]

Hi, all of my teachers and visitors!Are you right right?

"Are you right right?" is not a common English expression, but I rather like it. :wink:

Stranger than Fiction
Written by Dr.Abdulwadood Shulubi
Translated by me

Had not the following strange unusual story narrated by an ex-Police Commander , published by the authentic scientific Magazine, “Civilization of Islam”issued in Syria during 1950s and edited by the famous scholar , the departed Dr.Mustufa Al-Suba’i , I would not believe a character of it at all .

You need a verb in there. Try:

• Had not the following strange and unusual story been narrated by an ex-Police Commander , published by the authentic scientific Magazine, “Civilization of Islam”issued in Syria during 1950s and edited by the famous scholar , the departed Dr.Mustufa Al-Suba’i , I would not believe a bit of it.

Suliman Al-Alousi , an ex-General who worked for the Police narrates:
” At a hot summer night when the air got as tongues of flame , I walked to the Tigris river ; seeking for a breath of cool breeze to refresh myself.Sat on the shore at “1 .A.M”, I saw a surprising strange scence I have never ever seen in my life .I saw a frog coming in a hurry from the opposite shore .No sooner had it got to where I sitting , than a scorpion crawled down from the frog’s back heading to a pile of hay nearby.After some minutes ,the scorpion crawled back and hopped on the waiting frog’s back heading back to where they came from.”walked towards the pile of hay to figure out this strange mysterious trip, I found a guy lying on the piled hay . I thought:” The guy must have been stung to death by the scorpion that crawled away and carried by the frog that left “,Suliman added.

A few things.

Say:

• On a hot summer night when the air was as hot as tongues of flame, I walked to the Tigris river.

Don't use "for" with "seeking". ("Seeking" is equivalent to "looking for", so I guess you could say the "for" is built in.)

I'll be back with more comments later.

:)

[Ayed]

Here you go!
The fat is in the fire!My topic is in RonBean grinder
Just give back some bones

[RonBee]

Sat on the shore at “1 .A.M”, I saw a surprising strange scence I have never ever seen in my life .

You can't use the past tense there. Such a phrase requires a participle. Also, that sentence is rather redundant. Try:

• Sitting on the shore at 1am, I saw something I had never seen before in my life.

Of course, you don't have to put it exactly that way. There are several ways to say that. (Note that I omitted the scare quotes from "1am" in my revision.)

I saw a frog coming in a hurry from the opposite shore.

How did you know the frog was in a hurry?
:wink:

(Perhaps you could say it was moving very fast.)

No sooner had it got to where I sitting , than a scorpion crawled down from the frog’s back heading to a pile of hay nearby.

I think you left out something there. Didn't the frog stop before the scorpion crawled off the frog's back?

Rather than heading, say and headed. Also, delete the comma after was sitting. (I know, the was isn't exactly there, but it should be.)

After some minutes ,the scorpion crawled back and hopped on the waiting frog’s back heading back to where they came from.

Rather than heading back, say and they headed back. Thus, it would read:

• After some minutes, the scorpion crawled back and hopped on the waiting frog's back, and they headed back to where they came from.

A rather strange scene indeed!

:)

[Ayed]

Thank you Mr.RonBee. I appreciate your responses,man!

shokrun luka

[RonBee]

walked towards the pile of hay to figure out this strange mysterious trip, I found a guy lying on the piled hay .

Perhaps:

• I walked towards the pile of hay to see if I figure out what was going on, and when I got closer I saw a man lying on the pile of hay.

The word "guy" is okay for informal speech, but it does not work very well in a narrative.

:)

[RonBee]

I thought:” The guy must have been stung to death by the scorpion that crawled away and carried by the frog that left “,Suliman added.

You don't need the quote marks there. (In fact, it is a little confusing.) Try:

• I thought the man must have been stung to death by the scorpion that left on the back of the frog.

:)