Mooregoo the Mopoke, and Mooninguggahgul the Mosquito Bird

An old man lived with his two wives, the Mooninguggahgul sisters, and his two sons. The old man spent all his time making boomerangs, until at last he had four nets full of these weapons. The two boys used to go out hunting opossums and iguanas, which they would cook in the bush, and eat, without thinking of bringing any home to their parents. The old man asked them one day to bring him home some fat to rub his boomerangs with. This the boys did, but they brought only the fat, having eaten the rest of the iguanas from which they had taken the fat. The old man was very angry that his sons were so greedy, but he said nothing, though he determined to punish them, for he thought "when they were young, and could not hunt, I hunted for them and fed them well; now that they can hunt and I am old and cannot so well, they give me nothing." Thinking of his treatment at the hands of his sons, he greased all his boomerangs, and when he had finished them he said to the boys: "You take these boomerangs down on to the plain and try them; see if I have made them well. Then come back and tell me. I will stay here."

ある老人が、二人の妻であるムーニングガグルの姉妹と、二人の息子とともに暮らしていた。老人は時間をすべてブーメラン作りに費やし、とうとうこの武器で網四つ分を満たすほどになった。二人の息子はフクロネズミやイグアナを狩りに出て、それを藪で焼いて食べ、親に持ち帰ることなど思いもしなかった。ある日、老人は息子たちに、ブーメランに塗る脂を少し持ち帰ってくれと頼んだ。息子たちはそうしたが、持って来たのは脂だけで、脂を取ったイグアナの残りは自分たちで食べてしまっていた。老人は息子たちの強欲さにたいそう腹を立てたが、何も言わなかった。それでも罰してやろうと心に決めた。こう思ったのである。「あれらが幼くて狩りができなかったころ、わしが狩って腹いっぱい食わせてやった。いまあれらは狩れるようになり、わしは年老いてあまり狩れなくなった。それなのに何もくれん。」息子たちの仕打ちを思いながら、老人はブーメランに残らず脂を塗り、塗り終えると息子たちに言った。「このブーメランを平原へ持って行って試してみろ。うまくできているか見て、戻って来て教えてくれ。わしはここにいる。」

The boys took the boomerangs. They threw them one after another; but to their surprise not one of the boomerangs they threw touched the ground, but, instead, went whirling up out of sight. When they had finished throwing the boomerangs, all of which acted in the same way, whirling up through space, they prepared to start home again. But as they looked round they saw a huge whirlwind coming towards them. They were frightened and called out "Wurrawilberoo," for they knew there was a devil in the whirlwind. They laid hold of trees near at hand that it might not catch them. But the whirlwind spread out first one arm and rooted up one tree, then another arm, and rooted up another. The boys ran in fear from tree to tree, but each tree that they went to was torn up by the whirlwind. At last they ran to two mubboo or beef-wood trees, and clung tightly to them. After them rushed the whirlwind, sweeping all before it, and when it reached the mubboo trees, to which the boys were clinging, it tore them from their roots and bore them upward swiftly, giving the boys no time to leave go, so they were borne upward clinging to the mubboo trees. On the whirlwind bore them until they reached the sky, where it placed the two trees with the boys still clinging to them. And there they still are, near the Milky Way, and known as Wurrawilberoo. The boomerangs are scattered all along the Milky Way, for the whirlwind had gathered them all together in its rush through space. Having placed them all in the sky, down came the whirlwind, retaking its natural shape, which was that of the old man, for so had he wreaked his vengeance on his sons for neglecting their parents.

息子たちはブーメランを持って行った。次々に投げてみた。ところが驚いたことに、投げたブーメランは一本も地面に落ちず、代わりにぐるぐる舞い上がって見えなくなった。どれも同じように宙へ舞い上がり、ブーメランを投げ終えると、二人は家へ帰る支度をした。ところが見回すと、巨大なつむじ風がこちらへ来るのが見えた。二人は怖くなって「ウラウィルベルー」と叫んだ。つむじ風の中には悪霊がいると知っていたからである。捕まらないよう、すぐそばの木にしがみついた。けれどもつむじ風はまず一本の腕を伸ばして一本の木を根こそぎにし、次にもう一本の腕を伸ばしてもう一本を根こそぎにした。二人は怖がって木から木へ走ったが、行く先の木はどれもつむじ風にもぎ取られた。とうとう二本のムブー、すなわちビーフウッドの木のところへ走り、きつくしがみついた。つむじ風はその後を追い、行く手のすべてをなぎ払って来た。そして二人のしがみつくムブーの木に着くと、それを根から引き抜いて素早く上へ運んだ。二人には手を放す間も無く、ムブーの木にしがみついたまま上へ運ばれた。つむじ風は二人を運び続け、とうとう空に着くと、二本の木を、まだしがみついている二人もろともそこに置いた。二人はいまもそこ、天の川の近くにいて、ウラウィルベルーとして知られている。ブーメランは天の川沿いに散らばっている。つむじ風が宙を駆けるあいだにみな拾い集めたからである。それらをすべて空に置くと、つむじ風は下りて来て本来の姿に戻った。その姿とは、あの老人だった。こうして老人は、親を顧みなかった息子たちに仕返しを遂げたのである。

As time went on, the mothers wondered why their sons did not return. It struck them as strange that the old man expressed no surprise at the absence of the boys, and they suspected that he knew more than he cared to say. For he only sat in the camp smiling while his wives discussed what could have happened to them, and he let the women go out and search alone. The mothers tracked their sons to the plain. There they saw that a big whirlwind had lately been, for trees were uprooted and strewn in every direction. They tracked their sons from tree to tree until at last they came to the place where the mubboos had stood. They saw the tracks of their sons beside the places whence the trees had been uprooted, but of the trees and their sons they saw no further trace. Then they knew that they had all been borne up together by the whirlwind, and taken whither they knew not. Sadly they returned to their camp. When night came they heard cries which they recognised as made by the voices of their sons, though they sounded as if coming from the sky. As the cries sounded again the mothers looked up whence they came, and there they saw the mubboo trees with their sons beside them. Then well they knew that they would see no more their sons on earth, and great was their grief, and wroth were they with their husband, for well they knew now that he must have been the devil in the whirlwind, who had so punished the boys. They vowed to avenge the loss of their boys.

時が経つうちに、母たちは息子がなぜ帰らないのかと訝った。老人が息子たちの不在に少しも驚かないのが妙に思われ、言いたがらない何かを知っているのではないかと疑った。老人は、妻たちが息子に何があったのかと話し合っているあいだ、ただ野営地に座って笑っているばかりで、女たちだけで探しに行かせたのである。母たちは息子の跡を平原までたどった。そこで、近ごろ大きなつむじ風が通ったことが分かった。木が根こそぎになり、あちこちに散らばっていたからである。母たちは木から木へと息子の跡をたどり、とうとうムブーの立っていた場所に着いた。木が根こそぎにされた跡のかたわらに息子たちの足跡が見えたが、木も息子たちも、それ以上の跡は見えなかった。そこで母たちは、みな一緒につむじ風に運ばれて、どことも知れぬところへ連れ去られたのだと悟った。悲しみながら野営地へ戻った。夜になると、息子たちの声と分かる叫びが聞こえた。ただしそれは空から降って来るように響いた。また叫びが聞こえたので母たちが声の方を見上げると、そこにムブーの木と、そのかたわらに息子たちが見えた。そのとき母たちは、もう地上で息子たちに会うことはないとはっきり悟った。その嘆きは深く、夫への怒りも激しかった。あの男こそつむじ風の中の悪霊であり、息子たちをそうやって罰したのだと、いまやはっきり分かったからである。二人は息子を失った仇を討つと誓った。

The next day they went out and gathered a lot of pine gum, and brought it back to the camp. When they reached the camp the old man called to one of his wives to come and tease his hair, as his head ached, and that alone would relieve the pain. One of the women went over to him, took his head on her lap, and teased his hair until at last the old man was soothed and sleepy. In the meantime the other wife was melting the gum. The one with the old man gave her a secret sign to come near; then she asked the old man to lie on his back, that she might tease his front hair better. As he did so, she signed to the other woman, who quickly came, gave her some of the melted gum, which they both then poured hot into his eyes, filling them with it. In agony the old man jumped up and ran about, calling out, "Mooregoo, mooregoo," as he ran. Out of the camp he ran and far away, still crying out in his agony, as he went. And never again did his wives see him though every night they heard his cry of "Mooregoo, mooregoo." But though they never saw their husband, they saw a night hawk, the Mopoke, and as that cried always, "Mooregoo, moregoo," as their husband had cried in his agony, they knew that he must have turned into the bird.

あくる日、二人は出かけて松脂をたくさん集め、野営地へ持ち帰った。野営地に着くと、老人が妻の一人を呼んで、頭が痛いから髪を梳いてくれ、それだけが痛みを和らげるのだと言った。一人が寄って行き、老人の頭を膝に載せて髪を梳き、とうとう老人は気持ちよくなって眠たげになった。そのあいだにもう一人の妻は脂を溶かしていた。老人のそばにいる方が、もう一人にそっと近寄れと合図した。それから老人に、前髪をもっとよく梳けるよう仰向けに寝てくれと頼んだ。老人がそうすると、もう一人に合図した。もう一人は素早く来て、溶けた脂を渡した。そして二人で熱いそれを老人の目に注ぎ込み、いっぱいに満たした。老人は苦しみのあまり跳び起き、走り回りながら「ムーレグー、ムーレグー」と叫んだ。野営地を出て遠くへ走り、走りながらなお苦しみに叫び続けた。そして妻たちは二度とその姿を見なかったが、夜ごとに「ムーレグー、ムーレグー」という叫びを聞いた。けれども夫の姿は見なかったものの、夜の鷹、アオバズクを見た。そしてそれがいつも、夫が苦しみに叫んだとおりに「ムーレグー、ムーレグー」と鳴くので、夫はその鳥になったに違いないと分かった。

After a time the women were changed into Mooninguggahgul, or mosquito birds. These birds arc marked on the wings just like a mosquito, and every summer night you can hear them cry out incessantly, "Mooninguggahgul," which cry is the call for the mosquitoes to answer by coming out and buzzing in chorus. And as quickly the mosquitoes come out in answer to the summons, the Mooninguggahgul bid them fly everywhere and bite all they can.

しばらくして、女たちはムーニングガグル、すなわち蚊の鳥に変えられた。この鳥は翼にちょうど蚊のような模様があり、夏の夜ごとに絶え間なく「ムーニングガグル」と鳴くのが聞こえる。その鳴き声は、蚊たちに出て来て合唱で応えよという呼びかけである。そして呼びかけに応えて蚊たちが素早く出て来ると、ムーニングガグルは、あちこち飛んで刺せるだけ刺せと命じるのである。