Manuelita la Tortuga
Editorial Introduction. — This section is devoted to poetry involving turtles, representing either reprinted previously published or new unpublished material. We encourage our readers to submit poetry or songs for consideration, either their own material or work by other authors. Poems may be submitted to Anders G.J. Rhodin, Chelonian Research Foundation, E-mail: RhodinCRF@aol.com.
Our desire is to share with our readers the beauty and wonder of turtles as expressed through the art of the poem or song. In the sense that the relationship between man and turtles is multifaceted, so too is turtle poetry. The poems we publish here will reflect that complexity, from poems of pure admiration for the creatures themselves to others reflecting the utilization of turtles and their products. Some poems will reflect man's use of the turtle for sustenance, others will stress man's need to preserve and protect turtles. Some will deal with our emotional interactions with turtles, others will treat turtles light-heartedly or with seeming disrespect, but all will hopefully help us to better understand both the human and the chelonian condition, and remind us that the turtle holds a sacred place in all our hearts.
Manuelita la Tortuga 1
María Elena Walsh
Manuelita vivía en Pehuajó
pero un día se marchó.
Nadie supo bien por qué
a París ella se fue
un poquito caminando
y otro poquitito a pie.
Manuelita, Manuelita,
Manuelita ¿dónde vas
con tu traje de malaquita
y tu paso tan audaz?
Manuelita una vez se enamoró
de un tortugo que pasó.
Dijo: ¿Qué podré yo hacer?
Vieja no me va a querer.
En Europa y con paciencia
me podrán embellecer.
En la tintorería de París
la pintaron con barniz.
La plancharon en francés
del derecho y del revés.
Le pusieron peluquita
y botines en los pies.
Tantos años tardó
en cruzar el mar
que allí se volvió a arrugar
y por eso regresó
vieja como se marchó
a buscar a su tortugo
que la espera en Pehuajó.
Manuelita lived in Pehuajó,
but one day off she did go
To Paris she did fly,
and no one knew just why,
a little bit of roaming
and she just said good-bye.
Manuelita, Manuelita,
Manuelita, where do you go
with your shell of malachite
and your step so bold?
Manuelita once in love she fell
with a tortugo in his green shell.
And then she said: What shall I do?
I am old, he won’t pursue.
Perhaps in Europe with a little patience
they can make me pretty, too.
In a beauty shop in Paris
they painted her with varnish
They ironed her complete,
front and back she felt the heat.
They dressed her in a little wig,
little booties on her feet.
She took many years
to cross the sea,
becoming wrinkled as could be
as old as when she had left home,
she returned, no more to roam,
to find again her tortugo
waiting there in Pehuajó.
Editorial Comment. — Manuelita la Tortuga is a very popular Argentinian children’s song written by María Elena Walsh [1930–2011] that has been translated several times and has appeared on record albums and in movies and videos and can be found prominently on the internet. Here we present a new translation created by a group of college students in Indiana in the USA studying creative Spanish writing. In the poem, the word “tortugo” refers to a male turtle, in contrast to “tortuga” for Manuelita, the female turtle. A statue of Manuelita the Turtle stands in Pehuajó, Buenos Aires, Argentina, commemorating this iconic song and story.
