How the Pigeon Became a Tame Bird

Tame Bird

人になついた鳥

Once upon a time there was a father with three sons who had reached the age when they must go out into the world to earn their own living. When the time for parting came he gave to each of them a large melon with the advice that they open the melons only at a place where there was water nearby.

むかしむかし、三人の息子を持つ父親がいて、息子たちはみな、世の中へ出て自分で暮らしを立てねばならない年ごろになっていた。別れの時が来ると、父親は息子たちにそれぞれ大きなメロンを一つずつ与え、近くに水のある場所でなければメロンを開けてはならないと言い聞かせた。

The three brothers set out from their father's house, each taking a different path. As soon as the eldest son was out of sight of the house he opened his melon. A beautiful maiden sprang out of the melon saying, "Give me water or give me milk." There was no water nearby and neither did the young man have any milk to give her. She fell down dead.

三人の兄弟は父の家を出発し、めいめい別の道を行った。長男は家が見えなくなるとすぐにメロンを開けた。メロンから美しい乙女が跳び出してきて言った。「水をください、でなければ乳をください」近くに水はなく、若者は乳も持っていなかった。乙女は倒れて死んでしまった。

The second son left his father's house by a path which led over a steep hill. The large melon was heavy to carry and in a little while he became very tired and thirsty. He saw no water nearby and feared that there was no possibility of finding any soon, so he thought he would open the melon and use it to quench his thirst. Accordingly he opened his melon. To his great surprise, a beautiful maiden sprang forth saying, "Give me water or give me milk." Of course he had neither to give her and she fell down dead.

次男は険しい丘を越える道を通って父の家を出た。大きなメロンは運ぶのに重く、まもなく次男はひどく疲れてのどが渇いた。近くに水は見えず、すぐに見つかる見込みもなさそうだったので、メロンを開けてのどの渇きを癒そうと思った。そこで次男はメロンを開けた。たいそう驚いたことに、美しい乙女が跳び出してきて言った。「水をください、でなければ乳をください」もちろん次男はどちらも持っておらず、乙女は倒れて死んでしまった。

The third son also travelled by a path which led over a steep hill. He, too, became very tired and thirsty and he often thought how much he would like to open his melon. However, he remembered his father's advice to open it only where there was water nearby. So he travelled on and on hoping to find a spring of water on the hillside. He did not have the good fortune to pass near a spring either going up the hill or coming down on the opposite side. At the foot of the hill there was a town and in the centre of the town there was a fountain. The young man hurried straight to the fountain and took a long refreshing drink. Then he opened his melon. A beautiful maiden sprang forth saying, "Give me water or give me milk." The young man gave her a drink of water. Then he helped her to a hiding place among the thick branches of the tree which grew beside the fountain and went away in search of food.

三男もまた、険しい丘を越える道を旅した。三男もひどく疲れてのどが渇き、メロンを開けられたらどんなにいいかとたびたび思った。けれども、近くに水のある場所でなければ開けてはならないという父の言いつけを覚えていた。そこで丘の斜面に泉が見つからないかと願いながら、どこまでも旅を続けた。丘を登るときも、反対側を下りるときも、運悪く泉のそばを通らなかった。丘のふもとには町があり、町の真ん中には噴水があった。若者はまっすぐ噴水へ急ぎ、長々と水を飲んで元気を取り戻した。それからメロンを開けた。美しい乙女が跳び出してきて言った。「水をください、でなければ乳をください」若者は乙女に水を飲ませてやった。それから噴水のそばに生えている木の茂った枝のあいだの隠れ場所に乙女を上らせてやり、食べ物を探しに出かけた。

Soon a little black servant girl came to the fountain to fill a big water jar which she carried on her head. The maiden in the tree above the fountain peeped out through the branches. When the little black servant girl bent over the water to fill her jar she saw the reflection of a charming face in the water. "How beautiful I have become," she said to herself. "How ridiculous that any one as beautiful as I am should carry water on her head." She threw her water jar upon the ground in disdain and it broke into a thousand pieces.

まもなく、小さな黒人の召使いの娘が、頭に載せて運んできた大きな水瓶に水を汲みに噴水へやって来た。噴水の上の木にいた乙女は、枝のあいだからそっとのぞいた。小さな黒人の召使いの娘は、水瓶を満たそうと水の上にかがんだとき、水に映る魅力的な顔を見た。「わたし、なんてきれいになったのかしら」と娘は独りごちた。「わたしみたいにきれいな者が頭に水を載せて運ぶなんて、ばかげているわ」娘は水瓶をさげすむように地面に投げつけ、水瓶は粉々に砕けた。

When the little maid reached home with neither water nor water jar her mistress punished her severely and sent her again to the fountain with a new water jar to fill. This time the maiden in the tree gave a little silvery laugh when the black servant girl bent over the water. The little maid looked up and spied her in the tree. "O, it is you, is it, who are responsible for my beating?" she said. She pulled a pin out of her camisa and, reaching up, she stuck it savagely into the beautiful maiden in the tree. Then a strange thing happened. There was no longer any beautiful maiden in the tree. There was just a pigeon there.

小さな召使いが水も水瓶も持たずに家へ帰ると、女主人はひどく罰して、新しい水瓶を持たせてもう一度噴水へ水を汲みにやった。今度は、黒人の召使いの娘が水の上にかがむと、木の上の乙女が銀の鈴のような小さな笑い声をたてた。小さな召使いは見上げて、木の上にいる乙女を見つけた。「おや、わたしがぶたれたのは、あんたのせいだったのね」と娘は言った。娘はカミーザ(肌着)からピンを一本抜き、手を伸ばして、木の上の美しい乙女に荒々しく突き刺した。すると不思議なことが起こった。木の上にはもう美しい乙女はいなかった。ただ一羽の鳩がいるばかりだった。

At that moment the young man came back to the tree with the food he had procured. When the little black maid heard his footsteps she was frightened nearly to death. She hid herself quickly among the thick branches of the tree. The young man was very much surprised to find a little black maid in the tree in the place of the beautiful maiden he had left there. "What has happened to you during my absence" he asked in horror as soon as he saw her. "The sun has burned my complexion. That is all. It is nothing. I shall be myself again when I get away from this hot place," the little maid replied.

ちょうどそのとき、若者が手に入れた食べ物を持って木のところへ戻ってきた。若者の足音を聞くと、小さな黒人の召使いの娘は死ぬほど怯えた。娘はすばやく木の茂った枝のあいだに隠れた。若者は、置いていった美しい乙女のかわりに小さな黒人の娘が木の上にいるのを見て、たいそう驚いた。「わたしがいないあいだに、いったい何があったのだ」と、娘を見るなり若者はぞっとして尋ねた。「日に焼けて肌の色が変わったのです。それだけです。何でもありません。この暑いところを離れれば、もとに戻ります」と小さな召使いは答えた。

The young man married the little black maid and took her away out of sunny places hoping that she would soon be again the beautiful maiden she was when he left her by the fountain in search of food. But she always remained black.

若者は小さな黒人の召使いの娘と結婚し、食べ物を探しに噴水のそばに置いていったときのような美しい乙女にすぐ戻ってくれることを願って、日の当たる場所から連れ出した。けれども娘はずっと黒いままだった。

Years passed and the young man became very rich. He lived in a beautiful mansion. All around the house there was a wonderful garden full of lovely flowers and splendid trees where birds loved to sing sweet songs and build their nests. In spite of his beautiful home the young man was not very happy. It was a great trial to have a wife who was so black. He often walked up and down the paths in his garden at the close of the day and thought about how beautiful his wife had been the first time he ever saw her. As he walked in the garden there was always a pigeon which followed him about. It flew about his head in a way that annoyed him, so one day when his wife was sick and asked for a pigeon to be roasted for her dinner he commanded that this particular pigeon should be killed.

年月が過ぎ、若者はたいそう金持ちになった。美しい屋敷に住んだ。家のまわりには、きれいな花と見事な木々でいっぱいのすばらしい庭があり、鳥たちは好んでそこで甘い歌を歌い、巣をかけた。美しい家に住んでいても、若者はあまり幸せではなかった。こんなに黒い妻を持っているのはたいそうつらいことだった。若者は日暮れにたびたび庭の小道を行ったり来たりしながら、初めて会ったとき妻がどれほど美しかったかを思った。庭を歩いていると、いつも一羽の鳩が若者のあとをついてきた。鳩が若者の頭のまわりを飛びまわるのがうるさかったので、ある日、妻が病気になって夕飯に鳩を焼いてくれと頼んだとき、若者はこの鳩を殺せと命じた。

When the cook was preparing the pigeon for her mistress to eat for dinner she noticed a black speck on the pigeon's breast. She thought that it was a speck of dirt and tried to brush it away. To her surprise she could not brush it off easily because it was a pin firmly embedded in the pigeon's breast. She pulled and pulled but could not pull it out so she sent for her master to come and see what he could do to remove it. He at once pulled out the pin and then a wonderful thing happened. The pigeon was transformed into a beautiful maiden. He at once recognised her as the same lovely maiden who had sprung forth from his melon by the fountain and whom he had left hidden in the tree.

料理女が女主人の夕飯に鳩をさばいていると、鳩の胸に黒い点があるのに気づいた。汚れの点だと思って払い落とそうとした。驚いたことに、たやすく払い落とせなかった。鳩の胸にしっかり刺さったピンだったのである。料理女は引っぱりに引っぱったが抜けなかったので、どうにかして取ってもらおうと主人を呼びにやった。主人がすぐにピンを引き抜くと、不思議なことが起こった。鳩が美しい乙女に変わったのである。主人はすぐに、噴水のそばで自分のメロンから跳び出し、木の上に隠して置いていった、あの愛らしい乙女だとわかった。

When the young man's black wife learned that her husband had found the beautiful maiden again after all these years she confessed her deceit and soon died. The young man married the beautiful maiden who was still just as beautiful as she was the first time he saw her. They were very happy together but the wife never forgot about the time she had been a pigeon.

若者の黒い妻は、夫がこれほどの年月のあとで美しい乙女をまた見つけたと知ると、自分のたくらみを白状し、まもなく死んだ。若者は、初めて会ったときと少しも変わらず美しい乙女と結婚した。二人はたいそう幸せに暮らしたが、妻は自分が鳩だったころのことを決して忘れなかった。

Up to that time pigeons had been wild birds who built their nests in the deep forest. The wife often wished that they would build their nests in her beautiful garden so she had little bird houses built and set up there.

そのころまで、鳩は深い森に巣をかける野鳥だった。妻は鳩たちが自分の美しい庭に巣をかけてくれたらと、たびたび願った。そこで小さな鳥小屋をこしらえさせて庭に据えた。

One day a pigeon, bolder than the rest, flew through the garden and spied the little bird houses. He moved his family there at once and told the other pigeons that there were other houses there for them too. The other pigeons were timid and so they waited to see what terrible calamity might happen to the bold pigeon and his family, but not a single unpleasant thing occurred. They were just as happy as happy could be in their new home.

ある日、ほかの鳩より大胆な一羽の鳩が庭を飛んできて、小さな鳥小屋を見つけた。鳩はすぐに家族をそこへ移し、ほかの鳩たちにも、あそこにお前たちの家もあると教えた。ほかの鳩たちは臆病だったので、大胆な鳩とその家族にどんな恐ろしい災難が起こるか様子を見ていたが、嫌なことは一つとして起こらなかった。鳩の一家は新しい家でこのうえなく幸せだった。

After a while other pigeon families moved into the garden and were happy too. Thus it came about that after years and years the pigeons no longer build their nests in the deep forest, but they always make their homes near the homes of men. The pigeons, themselves, do not know how it all came about, but the beautiful woman who was once a pigeon, when she had children of her own, told them about it, and they told their children. Thus it happens that the mothers in Brazil tell their children this story about the pigeon.

しばらくすると、ほかの鳩の家族も庭に移ってきて、やはり幸せに暮らした。こうして、何年も何年もたつうちに、鳩はもう深い森に巣をかけず、いつも人の家の近くに住まいを作るようになったのである。鳩自身はどうしてそうなったのか知らないが、かつて鳩だった美しい女が、自分の子どもができるとその話をし、子どもたちがまたその子どもたちに話した。こうしてブラジルの母親たちは、子どもたちにこの鳩の話をするのである。