I’m still piecing this sentence together, but I’ve just found out that てはいられない is a grammar point meaning “can’t afford to/unable to” so… “As if he can’t afford to lose”? I don’t have the book in front of me, so will have to look later to figure out how it works with rest of sentence.
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I’m glad you responded on this, AmomentOfMusic , because I’d meant to, and had forgotten.
The という tells me I can imagine quotes to help visualize the line:
足もとでは黒猫のジジも「負けてはいられない」というように、横から鏡をのぞきこんでは、体をのばしたり、ちぢめたりしています。
Rather than Jiji actually saying the line, the ように gives a sense of “like he said” or “as if he said”.
黒猫のジジも「負けてはいられない」というように
As if Jiji were to say, “I mustn’t lose out”… (followed by his actions).
…if I understand it correctly. (I look forward to any corrections!)
Further reading:
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Oof. Missed a day. Well, plenty of time to catch up, I suppose. I should still make it at a pace of 2 pages per day.
Questions from the first two pages of chapter 3, read two days ago:
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鏡の前で前をむいたりうしろをむいたり、大さわぎです。- What does the 大さわぎ mean here? I can take some guesses, but since none of them really mean ‘uproar’, they’re just guesses.
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そうじゃなくても魔女のことをとやかくいう人が多いんだから - I understand the words, but I’m having trouble parsing the grammar here. What is being said?
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パンに入れる薬草になにやら魔女をかけることを知っててね - What does “かけること” mean here? My best understanding of the sentence as a whole is Witches know something about putting medicinal herbs in bread. The next sentence seems to mean “That way, (the bread) doesn’t spoil or get hard”, but it’s still somewhat confusing even with this context.
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should be とうとう-- “finally”
I think your guesses are good. It’s not really an “uproar” here, just that she is very busy/agitated (not the correct English term, I guess, maybe “fuss” is more appropriate).
そうじゃなくても even without taking that into account (reference to the previous sentence and looking elegant and so on)
魔女のことを about witches
とやかくいう complain (that’s a set expression)
人が people
多いんだから because they are numerous
→ even without taking that into account, there are many people who complain about witches (so it’s best to not give them even more reasons to complain).
(NB: that’s the mother’s opinion, not mine. Kiki should be able to wear whatever she wants.) That’s not the time for that discussion.
That’s 魔法, not 魔女 
魔法をかける → to cast magic. So she (the grandma) knew the way to add some medicinal herbs and cast a lil bit of magic to make the bread not spoil.
Edit: somehow the “lil bit of magic” made me think of this video (not a rickroll). Now I know what I’ll be listening on loop today.
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And what exactly did Kiki’s mother herself? Because at first mother says:
なるべくくさらないように薬草入れてつくってあるわ。 たいせつに食べるのよ。
And then she starts talking about how her mother, Kiki’s grandma, was able to:
パンに入れる薬草になにやら魔法をかけることを知っててね、 そうするとくさらないし、かたくもならなかったのよ。
So what’s the difference? Was just grandma’s magic stronger and better?
Well, kinda. Not stronger, but she knew things that have been lost. Grandma had herbs + magic, Mom only has herbs.
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Oh, I get it now. So Mom’s herbs are just herbs, not magic-infused herbs. Thanks!
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Thank you very much! 
Thank you for the clarification.
But I still don’t see what is なるべくくさらないように doing at the beginning of the sentence. Mum put some herbs so that the food doesn’t get spoilt, but those herbs don’t have any magic?
I think the key word there is なれべく なるべく, which means “as much as possible”. So what she is saying is that “As much as I can, for the purpose of not spoiling, I’ve put in some medicinal herbs” but then she goes on to explain how her own mother was able to do even better, casting magic as well as just putting in some herbs. At least that is my interpretation!
edit fixed typo
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oops! That’s a typo, I swear I actually read it correctly…
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Oh, sorry, now I see! I somehow thought you wanted to correct Tonina’s writing 
Just ignore me, okay?
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Thank you very much. I get it now! 
Bookwalker: 22 - 31 this week 
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Reading this first portion of chapter 3 makes me appreciate Studio Ghibli’s animated adaptation even more. (And I already really, really like the movie.)
「いつのまにこんなに大きくなっちゃったんだ。」
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Hoo boy. These last two pages were definitely the roughest thus far. Not a lot of individual sentences or bits that are easy to ask questions about, either. Hopefully context will help put everything in place as I go.
From pages 3-4 of Chapter 3:
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あたしはね、ひとになんていわれるか、いつも気にして生きるのはいやよ。- Does this mean As for me, I don’t want to live a life always worrying about what people are saying?
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「ほう、キキも言うじゃないか」- I read this as “Oh, so Kiki can talk too?”, but I’m pretty sure that’s incorrect.
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でもたいていの人たちは、そんな人たちを悪いことむすびつけて考えてしまったのよ - Just making sure I’m getting the subject correct, this overall section is Kokiri warning Kiki that people sometimes associate witches with evil things and deeds, right?
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よくいわれる、しぼりたてのミルクに魔女がカビをはやしたってことでも、あれはとくべつなチーズをつくるためだったていいますよ。- Is this a metaphor? I’m not sure I’m comprehending it.
Ah. I feel a lot better having gone over it again. Now I can withdraw from my computer desk to a comfortable couch for the next pair of pages.
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Pretty much. 言われる is the “suffering” passive in this case, but I don’t really know how to integrate that bit of information in the English translation. “people are saying about me” maybe.
I don’t have the book with me right now, but it would be Oh, even Kiki says so. cf discussion below.
right
It is not 
She is literally saying that people often say (complain) that witches have made their fresh milk spoil/mold, even though it is said it was just an attempt to make some special cheese. (People did not understand the intent of the witches and decided they had bad intentions)
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Bit of a late start on Chapter 3, but happy I’m still able to work through it!
Already have some questions with the first few pages:
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When Kiki and Jiji are playing around in the mirror, the snippet of text about Jiji is throwing me off, particularly the phrase 負けてはいられな. My initial guess here is that since this page is mostly the pair clowning around in front of the mirror, this could roughly be read: “As if he couldn’t afford to lose (against his reflection), Jiji peered into the mirror and stretched his body all around.”
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When talking to her mother about how she doesn’t like her new dress, Kiki says “もうすこし足が見えたほうがすてきだおもうわ”. However, I can only find definitions of すてき as a positive exclamation/description. Is there some other usage of the word that I’m missing?
That’s adorable. And yeah, same here! Kiki’s Delivery Service is my personal favorite Ghibli movie and the one that’s stuck with me all these years. I’m pleasantly surprised to see that (so far) the adaptation captures a decent amount of the lackadaisical whimsy that I’m finding in the books.
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