Jungle no Ouja Taa-chan 7

Even the king of the jungle has talents aside from saving animals...of course, it always does seem to lead to peculiar situations.

No. 7: Ta-chan’s Talent

51.
Gorilla: Oh--!!
SFX: Don don don
SFX: Ji
SFX: Za za za za za
SFX: Don don don don
Ta-chan: Done!!

52.
Helen: I’m surprised that you have this talent, Ta-chan.
Caption: Helen-chan, who came to play.
Ta-chan: This is self-taught, but I’ve loved well whittling wood and making things since I was a child.
Ta-chan: Other than those, I’ve done “Lion Running in the Field” and “Elephant Pouring Wtaer”. Of course I carve people too but
Ta-chan: This is my self-prided work: “The Think……
Helen: That’s Rodan’s—
Ta-chan: …ing Dromedary”
(TN: This is a really clever joke Ta-chan makes: obviously the work that Helen thought of when Ta-chan started his comment about “The Think” is Auguste Rodin’s “The Thinker”, his most famous work created in 1902 with the main one in his museum in Paris and with many other cast versions found in many parts of the world. Even in Japanese, “The Thinker” is “Kaeru Hito”, which literally translates into “the thinking person”. But what Ta-chan ended up making (and was revealing before being interrupted) was “Kaeru Hitokoburakuda” with “hitokoburakuda” being a “dromedary” or, literally, the “one-hump camel”. The joke is perfect, but I had to be careful in how to translate it, doing so by making him say “The Think” before he is interrupted and says the rest. I sort of wished I could have kept the full Japanese version since Ta-chan does literally call it “Kaeru Hito” before being interrupted, but that’s what happens at times)
Tokuhiro: Camel you see that animals will appear by all means?
Editor: It’s on porpoise since they live in Africa!!
(TN: Yeah, these are terrible jokes but Tokuhiro and the editor both add in animal-endings at this point and I had no choice but to play along. Tokuhiro says “rakuda”, thus I had to use “camel”, leading to the “camel you see” part; but the editor uses “iruka”, which is actually “dolphin” (used in connection to “iru ka” or “to be”), but I couldn’t make it work so I went with the old “on porpoise” standby)
Caption: In truth there are camels in Africa!!
(TN: Note that sort of helps to know, since so many people forget that Egypt is a part of Africa)

53.
Helen: Ca…can’t you carve me as a model?
Helen: E…even a nude would be fine but……
Ta-chan: That’s fine; so then I must choose some good wood. I’ll choose a form with the poses from the shape of my wood material…
Ta-chan: Hm—m
Helen: Huh, he’s seriously choosing.
Ta-chan: With this, she’ll have a pose where she raises her arms.
Helen: Somehow I can’t embarrass myself in my modeling desire with my suggestive aims.
Ta-chan: This is fine.
SFX: Kuru

54.
Ta-chan: It will be really great when I carve it using the position of the stump… (Haa haa haa haa haa haa)
Jane: What will be great?
Helen: Good day, sorry for disturbing you.
SFX: Peko
Helen: I’ve been talking unreasonably…
Caption: Jane’s slap put on him the instant Helen bowed.
Jane: Please carve her.
Ta-chan: ?

55.
SFX: Goro
SFX: Gu~~gu~~
SFX: Zan zan zan zan zan
Ta-chan: What’s wrong, Jane!?
Jane: My head suddenly hurts.
Ta-chan: Hold on!

56.
Ta-chan: You caught a fever. It’s the hundred-year snow of Kilimanjaro.
Jane: You had gone to that far away…
(TN: Mt. Kilimanjaro, BTW, is in an inactive volcanic area of northeastern Tanzania)
Jane: Its cold……
Caption: Etekichi

57.
Helen: Thanks, Ta-chan, I’ll treasure it.
Caption: That night.
Ta-chan: ?
Jane: It’s been a while since you’ve carved.
SFX: Sha sha sha sha sha
SFX: Sha sha
Ta-chan: I must carve through diligently; it’s filled with earwax, Jane.
(TN: A silly punchline: “horu” can be used for two different verbs based on its use: one with a meaning of “to carve”, the other for “to dig”. I kept it as “carve” as if to keep the chapter’s context.)
Caption: Earpick

58.
Me and Animals: #4

In my university days, I stayed in a minshuku in the middle of the mountains of Ehime for a kenpou club trip. It was filled with wild monkeys there. The window called the window of the minshuku had a net stuck to it and prevented the monkeys from trespassing. However!! A watermelon that was placed in my room was eaten by a monkey through a chink in a portion.
(TN: A “minshuku” is a private home providing lodging for travelers)

Caption 1: Worn out just here.
Caption 2: At a glance, a safe watermelon.
Caption 3: A monkey thrusted it’s hand in, dug in and ate it.
Caption 4: Imagination Drawing
Tokuhiro: It’s magnificently hollow!!

TN: I think the whole chapter was worth it for the "Thinker" joke admittedly. Sure there were some nice, touching moments with Ta-chan and Jane's courtship and the nice woodwork he made of her and the whole situation with her getting sick and what he'd do for her (leading to that bizarre/sick Etekichi joke) and we further get a bit more on Ta-chan and Jane's love for each other. But somehow the "Thinker" joke just overshadowed all that in my head...probably because of how brilliant it was. (and because it didn't involve monkey scrotums)