Аннотация: Snape tells Naruto about the Tower of Babel and shows him an old book in Japanese. Naruto volunteers to translate after talking to the snake.
Part 1. Chapter 11. The Tower of Babel
August 16, 1988
England, Cokworth, Spinners' Cul-de-sac, Severus Snape's house
"Still, people have created a lot of problems for themselves when they came up with such a huge number of languages," I said, swallowing "in your world."
Sensei proved to me that it's true about languages. He showed me the books. There were also radically different letters! He called them "Latin", "Cyrillic" and "runes". Each language has its own alphabet, its own words, its own spelling and rules for spelling these words! It's eerily simple. Snape-sensei said that even in the United Kingdom, which includes England, there are a couple of languages and their own dialects.
"Muggles have a biblical legend about the Tower of Babel," The teacher told me with a chuckle. "It says that once upon a time the language of all peoples was one, or rather, in ancient times, the people were one. And one day people wanted to build a huge tower, as high as the sky. With their pride, they angered God, and he gave each of the builders their own language so that people would not understand each other. Because of this, the construction of the tower stopped, and people dispersed around the world, nations appeared, and each nation has its own language.
"mm..." I wonder if this God's name is 'Payne' by any chance? It's kind of very cruel for a simple tower. "So God was afraid that people would reach heaven, get him, and he would no longer be able to be God?" I asked.
"Hmm..." thought Snape-sensei. "I think this story implies something like that it is impossible to become equal to God."
Yeah, I know a couple with "divine power" - they all ended badly.
"But if God has prevented people from reaching himself and seeing what he is like, then there is something wrong," I said. "Because otherwise, if people reached him and saw him, they would definitely say that there is a God, and everyone would bow before his greatness and all that...."
"Hmm... theological debates are not my thing," Sensei smiled for half a second. "But your words make some sense. Wizards are not religious like Muggles. Because most of them can do what Muggles attribute to various Gods and Messiahs."
"So, theoretically, that God from the legends could be some very cool wizard?" I asked.
Basically, Shinobi are similar to magicians in this sense. We rely on our own strength. Even the "Will of Fire", which is considered something like a religion, is a belief in the principles of the village, looking back at the old generation, patronage and education of the young. The Shinobi Code, finally, with its own rules and laws. But it's not blind faith in some uncle in heaven who will tell people how to live and what to do. Therefore, all the Countries and Hidden Villages, despite their differences and old grudges, quickly united when another "divine arbiter of fate" appeared...
"Perhaps," shrugged Snape-sensei. "We commemorate Merlin, Mordred and Morgana, whose names and deeds are so great or so terrible that they are remembered after thousands of years."
Yeah, someone like Rikudo-sennin. The coolest and most legendary Shinobi, who is said to have been the ancestor of the Great Clans, which included the Sasuke Uchiha clan. And Grandma Tsunade's Senju clan. As well as the Uzumaki and Kaguya clans.
"So, I'll show you the last book and go back to the lab," the teacher reminded himself.
I nodded.
"I bought this book on rare potions during my trip to Japan," and a light folio floated towards us from the top shelf. "Magic lists from some scrolls... Unfortunately, I couldn't figure it out. Apparently, the language has changed over time or something, but the meaning of half the phrases escapes me."
"Wow!" when I opened this book, I couldn't help but sigh loudly.
"Yes, these are hieroglyphs. They are considered one of the most difficult scripts", Sensei deciphered my stupefaction in his own way.
And I almost looked at my native language with tears in my eyes!* Moreover, the book was written in a High-pitched Speech.
So what does it turn out to be? Is this world, with a huge number of languages, some kind of crossroads of worlds? Maybe my world is even a local satellite? Otherwise, how can I explain that the language of my world is... Japanese? Just one in seven thousand...
"Please read something," I asked Sensei. "I want to hear how it sounds."
"Genzai made no jikan no kaishi kara sukurer kenke suiyaki" is the title.
"The Scroll of medicinal Potions from the beginning of time to the present day" was instantly "translated" by me.
A bold title for a book with two hundred pages offhand. Either there aren't many potions, or they're very versatile.
"Was it expensive?" I asked, clutching the book with a death grip.
"Something like fifteen re," and I almost flinched when I heard the name of the currency very similar to our "rie". "They have their own money. Re is about three galleons, so in galleons..."
"Forty-five," I finished for him. "Is that a lot?"
"The goblin bank offers a rate of one galleon to five Muggle pounds, if that makes sense to you," Snape-sensei shrugged.
"Two hundred and twenty-five pounds," I counted and whistled.
That's almost as much as the Dursleys spend per month on the whole family....
I put the book in my native language on the table, thinking feverishly.
"Would you be very interested to know what it says, sen... sir?" I asked cautiously.
"Yes, but there are not so many magicians who are specialists in Old Japanese, and even in Japan itself, not to mention England, which is located on the other side of the world. I understand half of it, but without the second part, it comes down to trial and error. So I abandoned the translation."
"The book is very valuable, I realize that, but... it seemed to me that I understood what was written there." Having made up my mind, I said in a whisper and hunched my head into my shoulders. "Is this normal for... wizards?"
"Hmm..." Sensei was surprised. His eyebrow twitched up a couple of millimeters. "It's... unusual. But not unbelievable. Some wizards had and still have their own family gifts. Even how to understand the language of snakes is Parseltongue."
"Oh", I remembered that Harry had mentioned talking to snakes. "Oh-oh-oh!.."
What if I am too? Or is it a gift from Harry's soul? But if I got a bespectacled, frail body, why not get such a cool ability? I remember that the calls of Orochimaru and Sasuke were very impressive and dangerous. How many times have I been swallowed by creeping bastards?...
"What?" squinted Snape-sensei.
"And... I... once it seemed to me that a little snake in Aunt Petunia's garden said something to me. But I thought I was imagining things," I lied enthusiastically.
If he brings a snake, we can check it out. Yes, so yes, no, so no.
"So maybe you're also a snake eater?" Sensei asked.
"I wouldn't say that, sir. After all, it only happened once, and I might just have heard something from some nearby area." I replied, blinking my eyes diligently.
"Serpensortia!" Sensei immediately had his wand in his hands, and a rather large speckled viper, similar to those found in the Great Desert of the Wind Country, seemed to pour out of it.
I've never been afraid of snakes, and thanks to some evil geniuses and vivisectors from all over Konoha, I've even studied them from the inside out. Besides, Gaara's favorite food is baked snake.... It tastes like poultry meat.
"Should I talk to her?" I asked, interested.
"Be careful not to stick your hands in. But until I give a mental order, the snake must not attack," he replied. "If anything, I'll use a counter-spell."
I tried to tune in to the snake. For some reason, my conversation with toad sensei Fukasaku and my loyal friends Gamakichi and his idiot brother Gamatatsu came up before my eyes. In Myoboku, it took some effort to speak toad and not break into your native speech, and preferably to tune in so that you were the first to be spoken to.
The snake was silent and tried to crawl away. And then I heard a low hiss, which had some kind of panicked notes.
"Where am I? What's-s-s going on?"
"Hello," I said, drawing her attention. "And we've called you here a little bit...."
"After all, the snake catcher!" Sensei exclaimed.
"A speaker?" the snake turned around in surprise. "Have I been dumped?" she wagged her tongue in the air. "It's-s-s a sh-sh-shame."
"I agree," I nodded. "S-country is so s-so. I'm s-suffering myself."
I turned to Sensei and switched to English.
"She says it's cold in here and she wants to go home. Will you let her go?"
"Finite Incantatem," he waved his wand, and the snake disappeared.
I hope she returned to where she was called from. It's funny, the draft works, but without blood and a contract. I wonder if that's why she's so shallow about Sasuke and Orochimaru's snakes? Any kind of "bandwidth" magic? And where is she from? It's unlikely that the snake itself would have said this, but probably the spell selects some nearby instance. And if Harry could talk to all the snakes, then she was from this world.... Or snakes from some neighboring satellite world got here. Otherwise, where does intelligence and your own speech come from? It's possible that the Tower of Babel from the myths was actually some kind of teleportation device... We have ancient fuin teleporters from temple to temple all over the world...
"Well..." Sensei interrupted my thoughts. "It seems that we have found something with which you can "work out" this "training" from me. So you'll be translating for three hours a day... if you can, of course."
And I saw that his eyes were very bright and anticipatory.
"Very good, sir. I'll do my best, sir."
Earning bonuses from such a person is great. I hope I can handle it.
* Initially, Chinese characters were used in writing in some countries of the East, including Japan.
For more information, see the notes and explanations chapter.