As for Balbec, it was one of those names in which, as on an old piece of Norman pottery that still keeps the colour of the earth from which it was fashioned, one sees depicted still the representation of some long-abolished custom, of some feudal right, of the former condition of some place, of an obsolete way of pronouncing the language, which had shaped and wedded its incongruous syllables and which I never doubted that I should find spoken there at once, even by the inn-keeper who would pour me out coffee and milk on my arrival, taking me down to watch the turbulent sea, unchained, before the church; to whom I lent the aspect, disputatious, solemn and mediaeval, of some character in one of the old romances.
Balbeci zegokionez, berriz, izen haietariko bat zen non, erauzia izan den lur-buztinaren kolore berari eusten dion normandiar pitxar zahar baten azalean bezala, oraindik antzeztua ikus daitekeen antigoaleko usadio debekaturen bat, eskubide feudalen bat, tokiko aztura antzinakoren bat, silaba heteroklito pare hura uztartua zuèn ahoskera ahantzi zizkolatsu harekin, zeina bizi-bizirik kausituko bainuen, zalantzarik gabe, herrira iritsi berritan, baita kafesnea zerbitzatuko zidàn eta elizaren aurrera itsaso irakina begiztatzera eramango ninduèn ostalariarengan ere, zeinari, aldez aurretik, fabliau-etako pertsonaia baten aiurri erronka-jole, arranditsu eta erdiarotar peto-petoa egozten bainion. Nire osasuna apur bat suspertu eta gurasoek baimenik emanez gero, Balbecen egonaldi bat egitera joateko ez bazen ere, gutxienez behin bederen, Normandiako edo Bretainiako arkitektura eta paisaien lehen ezagutza egitearren, irudimenean hainbeste aldiz igoa nintzèn ordu bata eta hogeita bi minutuko tren hura hartzeko, gehienbat, hiririk ederrenetan gustatuko zitzaidakeen geldialdia egitea;