Ligurian:
A Tore di Babòlli

L’emiro Fakreddin o no veddeiva voentea o sô a-o tramonto; verso seia o comensava sentindo di rigoî in sciô còllo e o no quëtava ciù. O diao, de nomme Iblis, o sciortiva d’inte un pertuso inta miagia da stançia da letto, o strisciava fin a-i seu pê, sotta forma de un gròsso lagheu, o ghe montava in sciâ gamba, dapeu in sce unna spalla e o se metteiva raxonandoghe inte unn’oegia con quella lengua da sagueggia de cöse de ciù brutte e sosse che se peu imaginâ. L’emiro Fakreddin o l’aiva un poffo gròsso comme unna cà, co-o diao, o gh’ea debitô da seu moscitæ stramesuâ, de palanche che gh’aivan permisso de comensâ à tiâ sciù a tore ch’a l’anava in çê, da-a quæ ertixe l’emiro o l’aviæ posciuo vedde i exerçiti  nemixi de Gògga e Magògga ch’arrivava, quande foïsan intræ in guæra, segondo a profeçia; de de là l’emiro o poeiva dirizze a sciòrte da battaggia, e tramandâ o giorno da seu fin, con tutto che l’exito o foïse za stabilio da-o prinçipio di tempi; soviatutto, da quella tore, l’emiro o l’avieiva posciuo arrivâ à toccâ o çê che, comme tutti san, o l’é fæto de saffiro, e coscì – inte de ertiscime cave – impadronîse da preçiosa pria, e in sciâ fin menassâ i angei de guardia a-o Pareiso e o mæximo baccan do çê e de tutte e cöse, o Segnô ch’o peu tutto, e piggiâghe o pòsto; coscì o gh’aiva promisso o diao, ch’o voeiva vengiâse de un çerto rubatton, ch’o l’ea stæto arrægou à fâ, quarche miggiæa de anni avanti. E o diao à l’emiro o ghe commandava de fâ quello e quell’atro e quell’atro ancon; ma no l’é che tutte e vòtte o ghe disse de strangoâ uña de seu moggê ò de taggiâ o còllo à un di seu figgi; ançi e ciù tante vòtte o ghe ordenava de cöse innoçente, comme beive un gòtto d’ægua fresca, ò arvî unna çerta pòrta che à unna çert’oa do giorno a dà in sce un giardin tutto scioe e fontañe schillente d’ægua netta, tanto che, à unn’atra oa, a mette inte un ascoso e luvego sotterraneo, coscì sensa unna raxon ciæa; ma o l’ea o fæto de dovei obedî ch’o ghe dava breiga, à l’emiro, de dovei stâ à dispoxiçion de un baccan. Stavòtta, dapeu, o Iblis, che tanti acciamman Shaitan, o gh’aiva commandou de montâ in çimma a-a tore ch’a va in çê, che tanti â ciammavan a Tore di Babòlli, apreuvo ch’a l’aiva de drento un muggio de nii de babòlli, mascimo a-i primmi cen.

“Ma montâghe sciù pe anâ à fâ cöse?” o gh’aiva domandou o Fakreddin a-o diao. Ninte, coscì, o gh’aiva repricou o lagheu, tanto pe anâ à piggiâ de l’äia, vanni à fâ unn’esploraçion di teu possedimenti e di teu sudditi. Perché beseugna savei che in sciâ tore, pe tutta a seu longhixe, ch’a l’arrivava de za ertiscima in çê, de de là de nuvie, gh’ea de tribù bedoiñe, che se gh’ea stançiæ, e no ne vegnivan zu tòsto mai, ma viveivan lì, e de belle vòtte se favan fiña guæra tra de lô; e i operäi ascì, che travaggiavan pròpio in çimma, pe fâ cresce a Tore da maniman de ciù, omai no chinavan mai à tæra, ma s’aivan portou apreuvo e seu famigge e anavan avanti à construe e ghe vegnivan vegi inte quello travaggio, unna generaçion apreuvo à l’atra. E l’emiro o l’aiva fæto e valixe, e in compagnia de dötrei dignitäi, di messaggê, di erfê co-e insegne e bandee, di trombettê che davan l’annonçio do seu arrivo, o s’ea misso à montâ verso a çimma. Avuo camminou de bon passo pe chinze giorni, ancon no se veddeiva a fin, ma de spòrzise da-e luxee da tore, se veddeiva un mâ de nuvie là sotta, in basso. O diao in sciâ spalla, delongo in forma de lagheu, o l’à dito: “O cammin ch’o ne pòrta in çê o l’é longo; giorno pe giorno anemmo verso o nòstro destin, ma a quantitæ de momenti che compoñe a nòstra vitta o no l’à de fin e a peu ëse definia solo che in senso negativo: a no l’à de paxe, a no l’à de sciato, a no l’à de forma, a no l’à de cô, ma tutto o ghe vëgne da-o de feua. Ciaschidun momento o l’é sensa fin, ma tutti insemme, in bon ponto, finiscian, e solo pe comensâ torna. Pægio a-o tempo o l’é o spaçio: o no finisce mai, ma a-a cheita s’attrovemmo ch’o l’é finio pe delongo, ma pe recomensâ da un ponto che se segge. À son d’anâ, l’é comme se foïscimo za arrivæ in çimma, ma into mæximo tempo l’é comme se foïscimo ancon in fondo. E o fondo o l’é pægio che a çimma.” E, tanto ch’o diva de coscì, da-i zinæ do mondo l’é comensou vegnindo sciù i exerçiti nemixi de Gògga e Magògga. Coscì, maniman pe-a primma vòtta inta seu vitta, o Fakreddin o l’à piggiou unna deçixon da pe lê e o s’é cacciou de sotta; pe l’äia co-i vestî a-o vento o l’é xeuou, e alò ch’o tocchesse tæra i exerçiti nemixi aivan scassou da-o mondo a seu capitale, cacciou zu a Tore, fæto tanta tonniña di seu ministri, e a seu anima a l’ea à l’inferno, dond’a l’ea sempre stæta, za alò de nasce, tanto che a-o pòsto da seu çittæ, in sce un ponto che se segge da sfera do tempo, gh’ea za i giardin de scioe, tra e fontañe schillente d’ægua netta, donde i figgeu s’anavan à demoâ.

English translation:
The Tower of Beetles

The emir Fakreddin did not welcome the sun at sunset; toward evening he would begin to feel shivers on the back of his neck and was no longer at ease. The devil, by name Iblis, would come out of a hole in the wall of the bedchamber, would creep up to his feet, in the form of a large green lizard, would climb up one of his legs, then onto his shoulder, and would begin speaking in his ear, with that serpent’s tongue, of the most foul and filthy things imaginable. The emir Fakreddin was in debt up to his eyes with the devil, indebted to him for his measureless wealth, for the money that had allowed him to begin building the tower that rose to the sky, from whose height the emir would be able to see the enemy armies of Gog and Magog arriving, when they entered into war, according to the prophecy; from up there the emir could direct the fate of the battle, and postpone the day of his end, though the outcome had been settled from the beginning of time; above all, from that tower the emir would be able to reach up and touch the sky which, as everyone knows, is made of sapphire, and thus – in lofty quarries – take possession of the precious stone, and finally threaten the angels who guard Paradise and the very Master of Heaven and of all things, almighty God, and take his place; so the devil had promised him, wishing to avenge himself for a certain fall which he had been forced to take, some thousands of years earlier. And the devil would order the emir to do this and that and the other; it wasn’t that every time he told him to strangle one of his wives or cut the throat of one of his children; on the contrary, very often he ordered innocent things, such as drinking a glass of cool water, or opening a certain door which at a certain hour of the day gave onto a garden all flowers and fountains glittering with clean water, while at another hour gave onto a hidden and gloomy cellar, just like that, for no precise reason; but it was the fact of having to obey that the emir could not bear, of having to be at the disposal of a master. This time, moreover, Iblis, whom many call Shaitan, had commanded him to climb up the tower that rises to the sky and that many call the Tower of Beetles, since it contained a multitude of beetle nests, especially on the lower floors.

“But climb up there to do what?” Fakreddin had asked the devil. Nothing, just so, the green lizard had answered him, just to take some air, go and make an exploration of your possessions and of your subjects. For it must be known that on the tower, along its whole length, which already reached very high, beyond the clouds, there were Bedouin tribes, who had settled there and almost never came down, but lived up there, and many times even waged war among themselves, and even the workmen who labored up there at the very top, to make the tower keep growing taller, no longer came down to earth, but had brought their families with them and went on building and grew old in that work, one generation after another. And the emir had packed his bags and, in the company of two or three dignitaries, of messengers, of standard-bearers with the ensigns and banners, of trumpeters who announced his arrival, had begun to climb toward the summit. After walking at a good pace for fifteen days, still no end was in sight, but leaning out from the loopholes of the tower one saw a sea of clouds down there, below. The devil on his shoulder, still in the form of a green lizard, said: “The road that leads us to heaven is long, day by day we go toward our destiny, but the quantity of moments that compose our life has no end and can be defined only in a negative sense: it has no peace, makes no sound, has no form, has no color, but everything comes to it from outside. Every moment is endless, but all together, when the hour comes, they end, and only to begin again. Like time is space, it never ends, but suddenly we find that it has ended forever, only to begin again from some point or other. By dint of going, it is as though we were already at the top, but at the same time as though we were still at the bottom. And the bottom is equal to the top.” And as he was speaking thus, from the horizons of the world the enemy armies of Gog and Magog began to rise. So, perhaps for the first time in his life, Fakreddin took a decision on his own and threw himself off; he flew through the air with his robes streaming in the wind, and before he touched the ground the enemy armies had wiped his capital from the world, had cast down the Tower, slaughtered his ministers, and his soul was in hell, where it had always been, even before he was born, so that in the place of his city, at some point or other on the sphere of time, there were already the gardens of flowers and fountains glittering with clean water, where children went to play.