Little Red-cap [little Red Riding Hood]

Once upon a time there was a dear little girl who was loved by everyone who looked at her, but most of all by her grandmother, and there was nothing that she would not have given to the child. Once she gave her a little cap of red velvet, which suited her so well that she would never wear anything else; so she was always called ‘Little Red-Cap.’

むかし、かわいい小さな娘がいた。見る者はみなこの子を愛したが、なかでもいちばん愛したのは祖母で、この子に与えられないものは何一つなかった。あるとき祖母は赤い天鵞絨の小さな頭巾を贈った。それがたいそうよく似合ったので、娘はもうほかのものをかぶろうとしなかった。そこで娘はいつも「赤ずきん」と呼ばれた。

One day her mother said to her: ‘Come, Little Red-Cap, here is a piece of cake and a bottle of wine; take them to your grandmother, she is ill and weak, and they will do her good. Set out before it gets hot, and when you are going, walk nicely and quietly and do not run off the path, or you may fall and break the bottle, and then your grandmother will get nothing; and when you go into her room, don’t forget to say, “Good morning”, and don’t peep into every corner before you do it.’

ある日、母が娘に言った。「おいで、赤ずきん。ここに菓子がひと切れと葡萄酒が一瓶あります。おばあさんのところへ持っておいき。病気で弱っているから、これで元気になるでしょう。暑くなる前に出かけなさい。そして行くときには、行儀よく静かに歩いて、道をそれて走ったりしてはいけませんよ。転んで瓶を割ったら、おばあさんには何も残らないのだから。それから、おばあさんの部屋に入ったら『おはよう』と言うのを忘れずに。それを言う前に、あちこちの隅を覗きまわったりしないように」

‘I will take great care,’ said Little Red-Cap to her mother, and gave her hand on it.

「よく気をつけます」と赤ずきんは母に言い、その手を取って約束した。

The grandmother lived out in the wood, half a league from the village, and just as Little Red-Cap entered the wood, a wolf met her. Red-Cap did not know what a wicked creature he was, and was not at all afraid of him.

祖母は村から半里離れた森のなかに住んでいた。そして赤ずきんが森に入ったちょうどそのとき、狼に出会った。赤ずきんは狼がどんな悪い生きものか知らず、まるで怖がらなかった。

‘Good day, Little Red-Cap,’ said he.

「こんにちは、赤ずきん」と狼は言った。

‘Thank you kindly, wolf.’

「ありがとう、狼さん」

‘Whither away so early, Little Red-Cap?’

「こんなに早くどこへ行くんだい、赤ずきん」

‘To my grandmother’s.’

「おばあさんのところへ」

‘What have you got in your apron?’

「前掛けに何を持っている」

‘Cake and wine; yesterday was baking-day, so poor sick grandmother is to have something good, to make her stronger.’

「菓子と葡萄酒よ。昨日はパンを焼く日だったから、病気で弱ったおばあさんに、元気が出るおいしいものをあげるの」

‘Where does your grandmother live, Little Red-Cap?’

「おばあさんはどこに住んでいるんだい、赤ずきん」

‘A good quarter of a league farther on in the wood; her house stands under the three large oak-trees, the nut-trees are just below; you surely must know it,’ replied Little Red-Cap.

「森をもう四分の一里ほど行ったところよ。家は三本の大きな樫の木の下にあって、すぐ下に胡桃の木があるの。きっと知っているでしょう」と赤ずきんは答えた。

The wolf thought to himself: ‘What a tender young creature! what a nice plump mouthful--she will be better to eat than the old woman. I must act craftily, so as to catch both.’ So he walked for a short time by the side of Little Red-Cap, and then he said: ‘See, Little Red-Cap, how pretty the flowers are about here--why do you not look round? I believe, too, that you do not hear how sweetly the little birds are singing; you walk gravely along as if you were going to school, while everything else out here in the wood is merry.’

狼は心のうちで思った。「なんと柔らかい若い生きものだ。なんとうまそうなふっくらしたひと口だろう。婆さんより食べごたえがある。両方とも捕らえられるよう、うまくやらねば」そこで狼はしばらく赤ずきんと並んで歩き、それから言った。「ごらん、赤ずきん、このあたりの花はなんときれいだ。どうして見まわさないんだい。それに、小鳥たちがどんなに甘く歌っているかも聞こえないようだね。まるで学校へ行くように真面目に歩いている。この森の外では何もかも陽気なのに」

Little Red-Cap raised her eyes, and when she saw the sunbeams dancing here and there through the trees, and pretty flowers growing everywhere, she thought: ‘Suppose I take grandmother a fresh nosegay; that would please her too. It is so early in the day that I shall still get there in good time’; and so she ran from the path into the wood to look for flowers. And whenever she had picked one, she fancied that she saw a still prettier one farther on, and ran after it, and so got deeper and deeper into the wood.

赤ずきんが目を上げると、日ざしが木々のあいだであちらこちらに踊り、きれいな花がどこにも咲いているのが見えた。そこで娘は思った。「おばあさんに摘みたての花束を持っていったら、きっと喜ぶでしょう。まだ朝が早いから、十分間に合うわ」そして道をそれて森へ入り、花を探した。そして一輪摘むたびに、もっと先にもっときれいなのがあるように思えて、そちらへ走り、どんどん森の奥へ入り込んだ。

Meanwhile the wolf ran straight to the grandmother’s house and knocked at the door.

そのあいだに狼はまっすぐ祖母の家へ走って、戸を叩いた。

‘Who is there?’

「どなた」

‘Little Red-Cap,’ replied the wolf. ‘She is bringing cake and wine; open the door.’

「赤ずきんよ」と狼は答えた。「菓子と葡萄酒を持ってきたの。開けて」

‘Lift the latch,’ called out the grandmother, ‘I am too weak, and cannot get up.’

「掛け金を上げておくれ」と祖母は叫んだ。「わたしは弱りすぎていて起き上がれないんだよ」

The wolf lifted the latch, the door sprang open, and without saying a word he went straight to the grandmother’s bed, and devoured her. Then he put on her clothes, dressed himself in her cap laid himself in bed and drew the curtains.

狼は掛け金を上げ、戸が開いた。そしてひと言も言わずにまっすぐ祖母の寝床へ行って呑み込んでしまった。それから祖母の着物を着て、その頭巾をかぶり、寝床に横になって帳を引いた。

Little Red-Cap, however, had been running about picking flowers, and when she had gathered so many that she could carry no more, she remembered her grandmother, and set out on the way to her.

いっぽう赤ずきんは花を摘んで走りまわっていた。そしてもう持ちきれないほど集めると祖母のことを思い出して、そちらへ向かった。

She was surprised to find the cottage-door standing open, and when she went into the room, she had such a strange feeling that she said to herself: ‘Oh dear! how uneasy I feel today, and at other times I like being with grandmother so much.’ She called out: ‘Good morning,’ but received no answer; so she went to the bed and drew back the curtains. There lay her grandmother with her cap pulled far over her face, and looking very strange.

小屋の戸が開いているのを見て娘は驚いた。そして部屋に入ると、なんだか妙な感じがしてこう独り言を言った。「あらまあ、どうして今日はこんなに落ち着かないのかしら。いつもはおばあさんのところにいるのがとても好きなのに」娘は「おはよう」と呼んだが返事がなかった。そこで寝床へ行って帳を引いた。するとそこに祖母が、頭巾を顔の深くまでかぶって横たわっていて、たいそう妙に見えた。

‘Oh! grandmother,’ she said, ‘what big ears you have!’

「まあ、おばあさん」と娘は言った。「なんて大きな耳」

‘The better to hear you with, my child,’ was the reply.

「おまえの声がよく聞こえるようにさ、かわいい子や」という答えだった。

‘But, grandmother, what big eyes you have!’ she said.

「でも、おばあさん、なんて大きな目」と娘は言った。

‘The better to see you with, my dear.’

「おまえがよく見えるようにさ、かわいい子や」

‘But, grandmother, what large hands you have!’

「でも、おばあさん、なんて大きな手」

‘The better to hug you with.’

「おまえをよく抱きしめられるようにさ」

‘Oh! but, grandmother, what a terrible big mouth you have!’

「まあ、でも、おばあさん、なんておそろしく大きな口」

‘The better to eat you with!’

「おまえをよく食べられるようにさ」

And scarcely had the wolf said this, than with one bound he was out of bed and swallowed up Red-Cap.

狼はそう言うやいなや、ひと跳びで寝床から出て、赤ずきんを呑み込んでしまった。

When the wolf had appeased his appetite, he lay down again in the bed, fell asleep and began to snore very loud. The huntsman was just passing the house, and thought to himself: ‘How the old woman is snoring! I must just see if she wants anything.’ So he went into the room, and when he came to the bed, he saw that the wolf was lying in it. ‘Do I find you here, you old sinner!’ said he. ‘I have long sought you!’ Then just as he was going to fire at him, it occurred to him that the wolf might have devoured the grandmother, and that she might still be saved, so he did not fire, but took a pair of scissors, and began to cut open the stomach of the sleeping wolf. When he had made two snips, he saw the little Red-Cap shining, and then he made two snips more, and the little girl sprang out, crying: ‘Ah, how frightened I have been! How dark it was inside the wolf’; and after that the aged grandmother came out alive also, but scarcely able to breathe. Red-Cap, however, quickly fetched great stones with which they filled the wolf’s belly, and when he awoke, he wanted to run away, but the stones were so heavy that he collapsed at once, and fell dead.

狼は食欲を満たすとまた寝床に横になり、眠り込んで大きないびきをかきはじめた。ちょうど猟師が家の前を通りかかって、心のうちで思った。「あの婆さんはずいぶんいびきをかいている。何か入り用ではないか見てやらねば」そこで彼は部屋に入り、寝床のところへ来ると、そこに狼が寝ているのを見た。「ここで会ったな、この老いぼれの悪党め」と彼は言った。「長いこと探していたぞ」そして撃とうとしたとき、狼が祖母を呑み込んだのかもしれない、まだ助けられるかもしれないと思い当たった。そこで撃たずに鋏を取り、眠っている狼の腹を切り開きはじめた。二度切ると小さな赤い頭巾が光るのが見え、もう二度切ると小さな娘が跳び出してきて叫んだ。「ああ、どんなに怖かったことか。狼のお腹のなかはなんて暗かったこと」そのあと年老いた祖母も生きて出てきたが、やっと息ができるほどだった。だが赤ずきんは急いで大きな石を取ってきて、それで狼の腹を詰めた。そして狼は目を覚ますと逃げようとしたが、石があまりに重かったのでたちまち崩れ落ちて死んだ。

Then all three were delighted. The huntsman drew off the wolf’s skin and went home with it; the grandmother ate the cake and drank the wine which Red-Cap had brought, and revived, but Red-Cap thought to herself: ‘As long as I live, I will never by myself leave the path, to run into the wood, when my mother has forbidden me to do so.’

そこで三人はみな喜んだ。猟師は狼の皮を剥いで家へ持ち帰り、祖母は赤ずきんの持ってきた菓子を食べ葡萄酒を飲んで元気を取り戻した。だが赤ずきんは心のうちで思った。「生きているかぎり、おかあさんに禁じられたら、けっして一人で道をそれて森へ走り込んだりしない」

It also related that once when Red-Cap was again taking cakes to the old grandmother, another wolf spoke to her, and tried to entice her from the path. Red-Cap, however, was on her guard, and went straight forward on her way, and told her grandmother that she had met the wolf, and that he had said ‘good morning’ to her, but with such a wicked look in his eyes, that if they had not been on the public road she was certain he would have eaten her up. ‘Well,’ said the grandmother, ‘we will shut the door, that he may not come in.’ Soon afterwards the wolf knocked, and cried: ‘Open the door, grandmother, I am Little Red-Cap, and am bringing you some cakes.’ But they did not speak, or open the door, so the grey-beard stole twice or thrice round the house, and at last jumped on the roof, intending to wait until Red-Cap went home in the evening, and then to steal after her and devour her in the darkness. But the grandmother saw what was in his thoughts. In front of the house was a great stone trough, so she said to the child: ‘Take the pail, Red-Cap; I made some sausages yesterday, so carry the water in which I boiled them to the trough.’ Red-Cap carried until the great trough was quite full. Then the smell of the sausages reached the wolf, and he sniffed and peeped down, and at last stretched out his neck so far that he could no longer keep his footing and began to slip, and slipped down from the roof straight into the great trough, and was drowned. But Red-Cap went joyously home, and no one ever did anything to harm her again.

また、こんな話も伝わっている。あるとき赤ずきんがまた年老いた祖母に菓子を届けていると、別の狼が話しかけてきて、道からそらせようとした。だが赤ずきんは用心していて、まっすぐ自分の道を進み、祖母に、狼に出会ったこと、狼が「おはよう」と言ったが、その目があまりに邪悪だったので、もし公の道でなかったらきっと食べられていただろうと話した。「では」と祖母は言った。「戸を閉めておきましょう。そうすればあれは入ってこられません」まもなく狼が戸を叩いて叫んだ。「戸を開けて、おばあさん。赤ずきんよ。菓子を持ってきたの」だが二人は口もきかず戸も開けなかった。そこでこの灰色髭は家のまわりを二度三度忍び歩き、とうとう屋根に跳び上がった。赤ずきんが夕方家へ帰るのを待って、そのあとをつけて暗がりで呑み込もうという魂胆だった。だが祖母はその考えを見抜いた。家の前に大きな石の桶があったので、祖母は子に言った。「手桶をお取り、赤ずきん。昨日腸詰を煮たから、その煮汁を桶へ運んでおくれ」赤ずきんは大きな桶がいっぱいになるまで運んだ。すると腸詰の匂いが狼に届き、狼は鼻を鳴らして下を覗き込み、とうとう首をあまりに長く伸ばしたので足場を保てなくなって滑りはじめ、屋根からまっすぐ大きな桶に滑り落ちて溺れてしまった。だが赤ずきんは喜んで家へ帰り、その後、誰も娘に害を加えることはなかった。