The Magic Eye in Transcription

I am now completing the transcription of the final letter. It is delightfully easy compared with many of the others. Yet even the more difficult become easier as you go along.

Something happens that is a little like what occurs when you look at a Magic Eye picture. You stare and stare, and finally when you relax you suddenly see the image. In the letters I stare and stare at the words and suddenly they make sense.

Some of it is because I am getting used to the quirks of the script – I know full well that what looks like “n6” actually says “es” (it) and that what really looks like “fünf” (five) actually says “Euch” (second person plural familiar, accusative and dative). There are quite a few more like that. Even those with clearer writing write “u” with a dash across the top to show that it is not an “n”! Unfortunately this can look like “ü” and the meaning of a word can change drastically.  

I guess at some point I shall have to go back and work some more on the gaps. I wonder whether the Magic Eye will work here? Maybe I shall have to be more scientific and examine very closely all of the texts that my mother-in-law had already transcribed and translated.

Whichever way it works, though, I’ve broken the back of this particular section of work. The first attempt should be complete tomorrow.