JSLL #58 - The Spider's Thread, part 6

 One day I'll resume translating multiple sentences per blog post. But today is not that day.

この犍陀多と云う男は、人を殺したり家に火をつけたり、いろいろ悪事を働いた大泥坊でございますが、それでもたった一つ、善い事を致した覚えがございます。

このかんだたというおとこは、ひとをころしたりいえにひをつけたり、いりろおくじをはたらいたおおどろぼうでございますが、それでもたったひとつ、よいことをいたしたおぼえがございます。

Vocabulary

• 火をつける means "to set fire to"
• 悪事を働く is "to commit a crime, to do evil"
• 大 is a prefix meaning "major, serious, big"
• 泥坊 means "thief, burglar, robber"
• たった一つ means "single, solo, solitary, just one, only one"
• 善い事 means "good thing, nice thing"
• 致す is the humble version of する "to do"
• 覚え means "memory, sense, experience"
• ございます is the polite version of ある "to be (for things without a heart)" --not to be confused with でございます, which is the polite version of です, the coupling verb "to be."

Kanji

Kanji	N-level	Occurs in how many common words?
悪	N4	42
働	N3	19
泥	N2	4
坊	None, but it is a jouyou kanji	9
善	N1	15
致	N1	16
覚	N3	25

 Grammar

This sentence contains a somewhat unusual use of the たり verb ending, which normally occurs in an enumeration of the form たり...たり...たりする. Also, the sentence is written in the present tense.

Translation

この犍陀多と云う男は、人を殺したり家に火をつけたり、いろいろ悪事を働いた大泥坊でございますが、それでもたった一つ、善い事を致した覚えがございます。

This man called Kandata had was a hardened criminal who had killed people, set houses on fire and done all sorts of evil things, but there was a memory nonetheless that he had done one single good thing.