Day 11: House

The Solution

It falls to us to learn a language. Since the Bargainer Fiend introduced this language to us, we can call it "Fiendish." And it might be a fiendish language to learn, since one could argue it has no verbs. All the relations between nouns seem to be expressed by suffixes (or through word order).

Fortunately, we don't need to properly translate every term or understand every bit of the grammar to get an answer out of this puzzle, but I guess it makes sense to explain as much as we can before we get into translating the examples.

Grammar of Fiendish

Word order is Subject-(Indirect Object)-Object, where a case-marking-like suffix on the object conveys some adpositional or verbal information. Or you can probably interpret it other ways.

Lexicon of Fiendish

Functional Terms

Nouns

Suffixes

We should be able to figure almost all of this out by comparing the pictures to each other and correlating objects/relationships to morphemes. Morphemes critical for solving the puzzle include the suffix "-s" and the noun/suffix "vek"/"-vek."


Vey malba. Malba vekel. Malba "Mifsta"vek.
Here demon. Demon name-have. Demon "Mifsta"-named.
"Here's a demon. The demon has a name. The demon is named 'Mifsta.'"
(Our best chance to decode "vek" is in comparing this section to the section later where Mifsta gives the worm a name.)


Vey er.
Here house.
"Here's a house."


Mifsta erty.
Mifsta house-toward.
"Mifsta goes toward the house."


Mifsta erte.
Mifsta house-inside.
"Mifsta is in the house."


Er rolel. (Rol erte.)
House refrigerator-have. (Refrigerator house-inside.)
"The house has a refrigerator. (There is a refrigerator in the house.)"


Mifsta rydel.
Mifsta hunger-have.
"Mifsta is hungry."


Leng rolte.
Cheesecake refrigerator-inside.
"There's cheesecake in the refrigerator."


Mifsta leng pels.
Mifsta cheesecake hat-use_like.
"Mifsta uses the cheesecake as a hat."
(The suffix "-s" appears when Mifsta does silly things. When we learn "pel" later we'll be able to come back here and figure out that "-s" means "use [the indirect object] as..." or "acts as if [the indirect object] were...")


Mifsta lengsna.
Mifsta cheesecake-eat.
"Mifsta eats the cheesecake."


Mifsta bek rydel.
Mifsta no hunger-have.
"Mifsta is not hungry."


Vey din.
Here store.
"Here's a store."


Vey demal.
Here graveyard.
"Here's a graveyard."


Mifsta erper.
Mifsta house-away.
"Mifsta leaves the house."


Mifsta demalty.
Mifsta graveyard-toward.
"Mifsta goes toward the graveyard."


Wy demalte.
Skull graveyard-inside.
"There's a skull in the graveyard."


Wy pelel?
Skull hat-have?
"Does the skull have a hat?"


Wy bek pelel. Wy bek vekel. Wy bek erel.
Skull no hat-have. Skull no name-have. Skull no house-have.
"The skull has no hat. The skull has no name. The skull has no home."


Mifsta wysic.
Mifsta skull-acquire.
"Mifsta takes the skull."


Mifsta wyber erty.
Mifsta skull-with house-toward.
"Mifsta goes to the house with the skull."


Mim wyte!
Worm skull-inside!
"There's a worm in the skull!"


Mifsta mimsna?
Mifsta worm-eat?
"Does Mifsta eat the worm?"


Mifsta bek mimsna.
Mifsta no worm-eat.
"Mifsta doesn't eat the worm."


Mifsta mim lengder.
Mifsta worm cheesecake-give.
"Mifsta gives cheesecake to the worm."


Mim lengsic. Mim lengel.
Worm cheesecake-acquire. Worm cheesecake-have.
"The worm takes the cheesecake. The worm has cheesecake."


Mifsta mim askens!
Mifsta worm necklace-use_like!
"Mifsta uses the worm as a necklace!"
(Here's the other place where we can get data on "-s," but we have to come back here after we learn that "asken" means "necklace.")


Mim bek vekel. Mifsta mim vekder. Mifsta mim "La"vek. Mim vekel!
Mim no name-have. Mifsta worm name-give. Mifsta worm "La"-name. Worm name-have!
"The worm has no name. Mifsta gives the worm a name. Mifsta names the worm 'La.' The worm has a name!"
(If we've learned that "-el" means "possess," and "-der" means "give," then we see here that "vek" is something the worm doesn't have at first, but something that Mifsta can bestow. And apparently it's invisible. And it corresponds to something in quotation marks, "La," which we use to refer to the worm in the next sentence. So hopefully we can deduce that "vek" means "name.")


Mifsta Laber dinty.
Mifsta La-with store-toward.
Mifsta goes to the store with the worm.


Mifsta tersic.
Mifsta box-acquire.
"Mifsta buys a box."


Ter askente.
Box neklace-inside.
"There's a necklace in the box."


Mifsta askenel.
Mifsta necklace-have.
"Mifsta has a necklace."


Mifsta terder?
Mifsta box-give?
"Does Mifsta give the box?"


Bek.
No.
"No."

Mifsta seemingly offers the box to La the worm, but La refuses. Then we see La reclining inside the skull, with books and a clock and a picture of a relative and a diploma. Apparently La is using the skull as a house. If we translate this sentence into Fiendish, we get "La" "wy" (the skull) "er-s" ("use in the manner of a house") and so the answer to the puzzle can be LAWYERS.

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