Clever Gretel

There was once a cook named Gretel, who wore shoes with red heels, and when she walked out with them on, she turned herself this way and that, was quite happy and thought: ‘You certainly are a pretty girl!’ And when she came home she drank, in her gladness of heart, a draught of wine, and as wine excites a desire to eat, she tasted the best of whatever she was cooking until she was satisfied, and said: ‘The cook must know what the food is like.’

むかし、グレーテルという名の料理番がいた。赤い踵の靴を履いていて、それを履いて出かけると、あちらへこちらへ体をひねって、すっかり上機嫌でこう思うのだった。「あなたはたしかにきれいな娘だこと」そして家に帰ると、嬉しさのあまり葡萄酒をひと口飲んだ。そして葡萄酒は食欲をそそるので、煮炊きしているもののうちいちばんよいところを、満足するまで味見して、こう言うのだった。「料理番は料理の味を知っていなければね」

It came to pass that the master one day said to her: ‘Gretel, there is a guest coming this evening; prepare me two fowls very daintily.’ ‘I will see to it, master,’ answered Gretel. She killed two fowls, scalded them, plucked them, put them on the spit, and towards evening set them before the fire, that they might roast. The fowls began to turn brown, and were nearly ready, but the guest had not yet arrived. Then Gretel called out to her master: ‘If the guest does not come, I must take the fowls away from the fire, but it will be a sin and a shame if they are not eaten the moment they are at their juiciest.’ The master said: ‘I will run myself, and fetch the guest.’ When the master had turned his back, Gretel laid the spit with the fowls on one side, and thought: ‘Standing so long by the fire there, makes one sweat and thirsty; who knows when they will come? Meanwhile, I will run into the cellar, and take a drink.’ She ran down, set a jug, said: ‘God bless it for you, Gretel,’ and took a good drink, and thought that wine should flow on, and should not be interrupted, and took yet another hearty draught.

さてある日、主人が彼女に言った。「グレーテル、今晩客が来る。鶏を二羽、たいそう上等に用意してくれ」「承知しました、旦那さま」とグレーテルは答えた。彼女は鶏を二羽絞め、湯をかけ、毛をむしり、串に刺して、夕方近くに火の前に据えて焼きはじめた。鶏は茶色く色づきはじめ、ほとんど出来上がったが、客はまだ来なかった。そこでグレーテルは主人に呼びかけた。「お客さまがおいでにならないなら、鶏を火から下ろさねばなりません。でも、いちばん汁気のあるうちに召し上がっていただけないのは、罪でもあり惜しいことでもあります」主人は言った。「わたしが自分で走って客を連れてこよう」主人が背を向けると、グレーテルは鶏の刺さった串を脇に置いて思った。「あんなに長く火のそばに立っていたら、汗もかくし喉も渇く。いつおいでになるか分かりゃしない。そのあいだに地下蔵へ走って、ひと口飲んでこよう」彼女は駆け下りて壺を据え、「あなたに神さまの祝福を、グレーテル」と言ってたっぷり飲んだ。そして葡萄酒は流れつづけるべきで途切れさせてはいけないと思い、もうひと口たっぷり飲んだ。

Then she went and put the fowls down again to the fire, basted them, and drove the spit merrily round. But as the roast meat smelt so good, Gretel thought: ‘Something might be wrong, it ought to be tasted!’ She touched it with her finger, and said: ‘Ah! how good fowls are! It certainly is a sin and a shame that they are not eaten at the right time!’ She ran to the window, to see if the master was not coming with his guest, but she saw no one, and went back to the fowls and thought: ‘One of the wings is burning! I had better take it off and eat it.’ So she cut it off, ate it, and enjoyed it, and when she had done, she thought: ‘The other must go down too, or else master will observe that something is missing.’ When the two wings were eaten, she went and looked for her master, and did not see him. It suddenly occurred to her: ‘Who knows? They are perhaps not coming at all, and have turned in somewhere.’ Then she said: ‘Well, Gretel, enjoy yourself, one fowl has been cut into, take another drink, and eat it up entirely; when it is eaten you will have some peace, why should God’s good gifts be spoilt?’ So she ran into the cellar again, took an enormous drink and ate up the one chicken in great glee. When one of the chickens was swallowed down, and still her master did not come, Gretel looked at the other and said: ‘What one is, the other should be likewise, the two go together; what’s right for the one is right for the other; I think if I were to take another draught it would do me no harm.’ So she took another hearty drink, and let the second chicken follow the first.

それから彼女は戻って鶏をまた火にかけ、脂を塗って、串を陽気に回した。だが焼き肉の匂いがあまりによかったので、グレーテルは思った。「何かおかしいかもしれない。味見しなくては」彼女は指で触れて言った。「ああ、鶏ってなんておいしいのかしら。ちょうどよい時に召し上がっていただけないなんて、たしかに罪で惜しいことだわ」彼女は窓へ走って、主人が客を連れて来ないか見たが、誰も見えなかった。そこで鶏のところへ戻って思った。「片方の手羽が焦げている。取って食べてしまったほうがいいわ」そこで彼女はそれを切り取って食べ、おいしくいただいた。そして食べ終えると思った。「もう片方も片づけなくては。でないと旦那さまが何か足りないと気づいてしまう」二つの手羽を食べてしまうと、彼女は主人を探しに行ったが、姿は見えなかった。そこでふと思いついた。「どうかしら。もしかしたらまるで来ないで、どこかへ寄っているのかも」それから彼女は言った。「さあグレーテル、楽しみなさい。鶏は一羽切ってしまったのだから、もうひと口飲んで、すっかり食べてしまいなさい。食べてしまえば心が休まる。神さまのよい賜物を無駄にすることがあるものですか」そこで彼女はまた地下蔵へ走ってたっぷり飲み、大喜びで鶏を一羽平らげてしまった。鶏が一羽呑み込まれても主人はまだ来なかったので、グレーテルはもう一羽を見て言った。「片方がそうなら、もう片方もそうであるべきだわ。二羽は一緒のもの。片方に正しいことは、もう片方にも正しいこと。もうひと口飲んでも害はないでしょう」そこで彼女はもうひと口たっぷり飲んで、二羽目の鶏を一羽目のあとに続かせた。

While she was making the most of it, her master came and cried: ‘Hurry up, Gretel, the guest is coming directly after me!’ ‘Yes, sir, I will soon serve up,’ answered Gretel. Meantime the master looked to see that the table was properly laid, and took the great knife, wherewith he was going to carve the chickens, and sharpened it on the steps. Presently the guest came, and knocked politely and courteously at the house-door. Gretel ran, and looked to see who was there, and when she saw the guest, she put her finger to her lips and said: ‘Hush! hush! go away as quickly as you can, if my master catches you it will be the worse for you; he certainly did ask you to supper, but his intention is to cut off your two ears. Just listen how he is sharpening the knife for it!’ The guest heard the sharpening, and hurried down the steps again as fast as he could. Gretel was not idle; she ran screaming to her master, and cried: ‘You have invited a fine guest!’ ‘Why, Gretel? What do you mean by that?’ ‘Yes,’ said she, ‘he has taken the chickens which I was just going to serve up, off the dish, and has run away with them!’ ‘That’s a nice trick!’ said her master, and lamented the fine chickens. ‘If he had but left me one, so that something remained for me to eat.’ He called to him to stop, but the guest pretended not to hear. Then he ran after him with the knife still in his hand, crying: ‘Just one, just one,’ meaning that the guest should leave him just one chicken, and not take both. The guest, however, thought no otherwise than that he was to give up one of his ears, and ran as if fire were burning under him, in order to take them both with him.

彼女が存分に楽しんでいると、主人が帰ってきて叫んだ。「急げ、グレーテル、客がすぐ後から来るぞ」「はい、旦那さま、すぐにお出しします」とグレーテルは答えた。そのあいだ主人は食卓がきちんと整っているか見て、鶏を切り分けるための大きな包丁を取り、玄関の段でそれを研いだ。まもなく客が来て、礼儀正しく丁重に戸を叩いた。グレーテルは走っていって誰か見た。そして客を見ると、指を唇に当てて言った。「しっ、しっ、できるだけ早くお逃げください。旦那さまに捕まったらひどいことになります。たしかに夕食にお招きしましたが、あなたの両耳を切り落とすおつもりなのです。そのために包丁を研いでいる音をお聞きください」客は研ぐ音を聞いて、できるだけ速くまた段を駆け下りた。グレーテルも休んではいなかった。彼女は叫びながら主人のところへ走って叫んだ。「立派なお客さまをお招きになったものですね」「どうした、グレーテル。どういう意味だ」「それが」と彼女は言った。「今お出ししようとしていた鶏を皿から取って、持ち逃げしてしまったのです」「それはひどい悪戯だ」と主人は言い、立派な鶏を惜しんだ。「せめて一羽残していってくれたら、わたしの食べるものが残ったのに」彼は客に止まれと呼びかけたが、客は聞こえないふりをした。そこで彼は包丁を手にしたまま追いかけて叫んだ。「一つだけ、一つだけ」それは、客が鶏を一羽だけ残して両方とも持っていかないように、という意味だった。だが客は、耳の片方を差し出せという意味にしか思わず、両方とも持ち帰ろうとして、足の下で火が燃えているかのように走った。