Deereeree the Wagtail, and the Rainbow

Deereeree was a widow and lived in a camp alone with her four little girls. One day Bibbee came and made a camp not far from hers. Deereeree was frightened of him, too frightened to go to sleep. All night she used to watch his camp, and if she heard a sound she would cry aloud: "Deerceree, wyah, wyah, Deereeree," Sometimes she would be calling out nearly all night.

ディレリーは寡婦で、四人の幼い娘と一緒に野営地に暮らしていた。ある日ビビーが来て、その近くに野営を張った。ディレリーはビビーが怖くて、怖くて眠れなかった。夜じゅうビビーの野営地を見張り、物音がすると声を上げて叫ぶのだった。「ディレリー、ワイヤー、ワイヤー、ディレリー。」ひと晩じゅう叫び通しのこともあった。

In the morning, Bibbee would come over to her camp and ask her what was the matter that she had called out so in the night. She told him that she thought she heard some one walking about and was afraid, for she was alone with her four little girls.

朝になるとビビーがやって来て、夜にあんなに叫んでいたのはどうしたのかと尋ねた。ディレリーは、誰かが歩き回る音が聞こえたような気がして怖かった、四人の幼い娘と自分きりなのだから、と答えた。

He told her she ought not to be afraid with all her children round her. But night after night she sat up crying: "Wyah, wyah, Deereeree, Deereeree."

ビビーは、子どもたちがまわりにいるのだから怖がることはないと言った。けれどもディレリーは夜ごとに起きていて、「ワイヤー、ワイヤー、ディレリー、ディレリー」と叫ぶのだった。

At last Bibbee said! "If you are so frightened, marry me and live in my camp. I will take care of you." But Deereeree said she did not want to marry. So night after night was to be heard her plaintive cry of "Wyah, wyah, Deereeree, Deereeree." And again and again Bibbee pressed her to share his camp and marry him. But she always refused. The more she refused the more he wished to marry her. And he used to wonder how he could induce her to change her mind.

とうとうビビーは言った。「そんなに怖いなら、おれと結婚しておれの野営地で暮らせ。おれが守ってやる。」けれどもディレリーは結婚したくないと言った。それで夜ごとに、あの物悲しい「ワイヤー、ワイヤー、ディレリー、ディレリー」という叫びが聞こえた。そしてビビーは何度も何度も、野営地を分け合って結婚してくれと迫った。けれどもディレリーはいつも断った。断られれば断られるほど、ビビーは結婚したくなった。そしてどうすれば心変わりさせられるかと考えるようになった。

At last he thought of a plan of surprising her into giving her consent. He set to work and made a beautiful and many coloured arch, which, when it was made, he called Euloowirree, and he placed it right across the sky, reaching from one side of the earth to the other. When the rainbow was firmly placed in the sky, and showing out in all its brilliancy, of many colours, as a roadway from the earth to the stars, Bibbee went into his camp to wait. When Deereeree looked up at the sky and saw the wonderful rainbow, she thought something dreadful must be going to happen. She was terribly frightened, and called aloud: "Wyah, wyah." In her fear she gathered her children together, and fled with them to Bibbee's camp for protection.

とうとうビビーは、不意を打って承知させる手を思いついた。仕事にかかって、美しい色とりどりの弓なりのものをこしらえ、でき上がるとそれをユールーウィリーと名づけて、空にまっすぐ架け渡した。大地の端から端まで届く長さだった。虹がしっかりと空に据えられ、多くの色を輝かせて、大地から星々への道のように見えると、ビビーは自分の野営地へ入って待った。ディレリーは空を見上げて、その不思議な虹を見たとき、何か恐ろしいことが起ころうとしているに違いないと思った。ひどく怖くなって、声を上げて叫んだ。「ワイヤー、ワイヤー。」恐ろしさのあまり子どもたちを集め、守ってもらおうとビビーの野営地へ逃げ込んだ。

Bibbee proudly told her that he had made the rainbow, just to show how strong he was and how safe she would be if she married him. But if she would not, she would see what terrible things he would make to come on the earth, not just a harmless and beautiful roadway across the heavens, but things that would burst from the earth and destroy it.

ビビーは誇らしげに、あの虹は自分が作ったのだ、自分がどれほど強いか、結婚すればどれほど安全かを示すためだ、と告げた。けれどももし結婚しないなら、自分が大地にどんな恐ろしいものを来させるか見ることになるぞ、と言った。天を渡る無害で美しい道などではなく、大地から噴き出して大地を滅ぼすようなものを、と。

So by working on her mixed feelings of fear of his prowess, and admiration of his skill, Bibbee gained his desire, and Deereeree married him. And when long afterwards they died, Deereeree was changed into the little willy wagtail who may be heard through the stillness of the summer nights, crying her plaintive wail of "Deereeree, wyah, wyah, Deereeree."

こうしてビビーは、その腕前への恐れと、その技への感嘆という入り混じった気持ちにつけ込んで望みを遂げ、ディレリーはビビーと結婚した。そしてずっとのちに二人が死んだとき、ディレリーは小さなセキレイに変えられた。夏の夜の静けさの中で、「ディレリー、ワイヤー、ワイヤー、ディレリー」という物悲しい嘆きを鳴くのが聞こえる、あの鳥である。

And Bibbee was changed into the woodpecker, or climbing tree bird, who is always running up trees as if he wanted to be building other ways to the than the famous roadway of his Euloowirree, the building of which had won him his wife.

そしてビビーはキツツキ、すなわち木を登る鳥に変えられた。いつも木を駆け上がっている鳥である。まるで、妻を得させたあの名高いユールーウィリーの道のほかにも、別の道を作ろうとしているかのように。