JSLL #64 - The Spider's Thread, part 12

We're entering part II of the Spider's Thread.

Sentence 1:

こちらは地獄の底の血の池で、ほかの罪人と一しょに、浮いたり沈んだりしていた犍陀多でございます。

こちらはじごくのそこのちのいけで、ほかのざいにんといっしょに、ういたりしずんだりしていたかんだたでございます。

Vocabulary

• こちら means "over here"
• 血 means "blood"
• 浮く means "to float"
• 沈む means "to sink"

Kanji

浮 is an N3 kanji that occurs in 17 common words.

沈 is an N2 kanji found in 8 common words.

Translation

Over here, in the lake of blood at the bottom of hell, together with other criminals, was Kandata, floating and sinking.

Sentence 2:

何しろどちらを見ても、まっ暗で、たまにそのくら暗からぼんやり浮き上がっているものがあると思いますと、それは恐ろしい針の山の針が光るのでございますから、その心細さと云ったらございません。

なにしろどちらをみても、まっくらで、たまにそのくらやみからぼんやりうきあがっているものがあるとおもいますと、それはおそろしいはりのやみのはりがひかるのでございますから、そのこころぼそさといったらございません。

Vocabulary

• 何しろ means either "anyhow, anyway" or "because, since, for, after all"
• どちら means "which way, which direction, where"
• まっ暗 means "pitch-dark, completely dark." This uses the same まっ prefix found in all-white, pitch-black and so on.
• たまに means "occasionally, once in a while, now and then"
• くら暗 mean "the dark, darkness," but the way it's written seems to be a spelling error. The book says it's pronounced くらやみ, but the kanji 暗 is never pronounced やみ and has its most common pronunciation as くら. If you look up くらやみ in the dictionary, it's written as 暗闇, with the kanji 暗 as the first kanji. 
• ぼんやり means "dimly, faintly, vaguely"
• 浮き上がる means "to float, to rise to the surface"
• 光る means "to shine, to glitter, to be bright"
• 心細い means "helpless, forlorn, hopeless, discouraging, disheartening"

Kanji

• 光 is an N3 kanji found in 22 common words
• 細 is an N2 kanji found in 27 common words

Grammar

This is a long and difficult sentence. First of all, the で after まっくら is a te-form of です。Second, the ending 云ったらございません is translated by Google as "cannot describe."

Translation

何しろどちらを見ても、まっ暗で、たまにそのくら暗からぼんやり浮き上がっているものがあると思いますと、それは恐ろしい針の山の針が光るのでございますから、その心細さと云ったらございません。

Anyway, no matter where you looked, it was pitch-dark, and when you thought that there was something that  was occasionally rising to the surface from that darkness, that was a terrible needle from the mountain of needles that glimmered, so it was indescribably hopeless.