The Wolf and the Seven Little Kids

There was once upon a time an old goat who had seven little kids, and loved them with all the love of a mother for her children. One day she wanted to go into the forest and fetch some food. So she called all seven to her and said: ‘Dear children, I have to go into the forest, be on your guard against the wolf; if he comes in, he will devour you all--skin, hair, and everything. The wretch often disguises himself, but you will know him at once by his rough voice and his black feet.’ The kids said: ‘Dear mother, we will take good care of ourselves; you may go away without any anxiety.’ Then the old one bleated, and went on her way with an easy mind.

むかしあるところに、七匹の子やぎを持つ年取った母やぎがいて、母が子を思うかぎりの愛で子どもたちを愛していた。ある日、母やぎは森へ食べ物を取りに行こうと思った。そこで七匹をみな呼んで言った。「かわいい子どもたち、わたしは森へ行かねばなりません。狼に気をおつけ。もし入って来たら、おまえたちを皮も毛も何もかも食べてしまいますよ。あの悪者はよく姿を変えるけれど、しわがれた声と黒い足ですぐに分かります。」子やぎたちは言った。「お母さん、よく気をつけます。何も心配せずに行っていらして。」そこで母やぎは一声鳴いて、安心して出かけて行った。

It was not long before someone knocked at the house-door and called: ‘Open the door, dear children; your mother is here, and has brought something back with her for each of you.’ But the little kids knew that it was the wolf, by the rough voice. ‘We will not open the door,’ cried they, ‘you are not our mother. She has a soft, pleasant voice, but your voice is rough; you are the wolf!’ Then the wolf went away to a shopkeeper and bought himself a great lump of chalk, ate this and made his voice soft with it. Then he came back, knocked at the door of the house, and called: ‘Open the door, dear children, your mother is here and has brought something back with her for each of you.’ But the wolf had laid his black paws against the window, and the children saw them and cried: ‘We will not open the door, our mother has not black feet like you: you are the wolf!’ Then the wolf ran to a baker and said: ‘I have hurt my feet, rub some dough over them for me.’ And when the baker had rubbed his feet over, he ran to the miller and said: ‘Strew some white meal over my feet for me.’ The miller thought to himself: ‘The wolf wants to deceive someone,’ and refused; but the wolf said: ‘If you will not do it, I will devour you.’ Then the miller was afraid, and made his paws white for him. Truly, this is the way of mankind.

まもなく誰かが家の戸を叩いて呼んだ。「戸を開けておくれ、かわいい子どもたち。お母さんですよ、おまえたち一人ひとりにお土産を持って帰りましたよ。」けれども子やぎたちは、しわがれた声でそれが狼だと分かった。「戸は開けないよ」と子やぎたちは叫んだ。「おまえはお母さんじゃない。お母さんは柔らかくて気持ちのいい声なのに、おまえの声はしわがれている。おまえは狼だ!」そこで狼は店屋へ行って白墨を大きなかたまりで買い、これを食べて声を柔らかくした。それから戻って来て家の戸を叩き、呼んだ。「戸を開けておくれ、かわいい子どもたち。お母さんですよ、おまえたち一人ひとりにお土産を持って帰りましたよ。」ところが狼は黒い前足を窓にかけていたので、子どもたちはそれを見て叫んだ。「戸は開けないよ。お母さんはおまえみたいに黒い足じゃない。おまえは狼だ!」そこで狼はパン屋へ走って行って言った。「足を怪我した。おれの足に生地を塗ってくれ。」パン屋が足に生地を塗ってやると、狼は粉屋のところへ走って行って言った。「おれの足に白い粉を振りかけてくれ。」粉屋は心の中で「狼は誰かを騙すつもりだな」と思って断った。けれども狼は言った。「やらなければおまえを食ってしまうぞ。」そこで粉屋は怖くなって、足を白くしてやった。まったく、人というものはこういうものである。

So now the wretch went for the third time to the house-door, knocked at it and said: ‘Open the door for me, children, your dear little mother has come home, and has brought every one of you something back from the forest with her.’ The little kids cried: ‘First show us your paws that we may know if you are our dear little mother.’ Then he put his paws in through the window and when the kids saw that they were white, they believed that all he said was true, and opened the door. But who should come in but the wolf! They were terrified and wanted to hide themselves. One sprang under the table, the second into the bed, the third into the stove, the fourth into the kitchen, the fifth into the cupboard, the sixth under the washing-bowl, and the seventh into the clock-case. But the wolf found them all, and used no great ceremony; one after the other he swallowed them down his throat. The youngest, who was in the clock-case, was the only one he did not find. When the wolf had satisfied his appetite he took himself off, laid himself down under a tree in the green meadow outside, and began to sleep. Soon afterwards the old goat came home again from the forest. Ah! what a sight she saw there! The house-door stood wide open. The table, chairs, and benches were thrown down, the washing-bowl lay broken to pieces, and the quilts and pillows were pulled off the bed. She sought her children, but they were nowhere to be found. She called them one after another by name, but no one answered. At last, when she came to the youngest, a soft voice cried: ‘Dear mother, I am in the clock-case.’ She took the kid out, and it told her that the wolf had come and had eaten all the others. Then you may imagine how she wept over her poor children.

そこで悪者は三度目に家の戸口へ行き、戸を叩いて言った。「戸を開けておくれ、子どもたち。おまえたちのかわいいお母さんが帰りましたよ。森からおまえたち一人ひとりにお土産を持って来ましたよ。」子やぎたちは叫んだ。「まず前足を見せて。かわいいお母さんかどうか分かるように。」そこで狼が窓から前足を差し入れると、子やぎたちはそれが白いのを見て、言うことがみな本当だと信じ、戸を開けた。ところが入って来たのは狼だった! 子やぎたちは怯えて隠れようとした。一匹めは食卓の下へ、二匹めは寝床の中へ、三匹めは炉の中へ、四匹めは台所へ、五匹めは戸棚の中へ、六匹めは洗い桶の下へ、七匹めは柱時計の箱の中へ跳び込んだ。けれども狼はみな見つけ出し、たいした手間もかけず、次から次へと喉へのみ込んだ。柱時計の箱にいたいちばん末の子だけは見つからなかった。狼は腹がふくれると立ち去って、外の緑の草原の木の下に寝そべり、眠り始めた。まもなく母やぎが森から帰って来た。ああ、そこで目にしたものといったら! 家の戸は大きく開いたまま。食卓も椅子も腰掛けも投げ倒され、洗い桶は粉々に割れ、掛け布団も枕も寝床から引きはがされていた。母やぎは子どもたちを探したが、どこにも見あたらない。一匹ずつ名を呼んだが、誰も答えない。とうとういちばん末の子の名を呼ぶと、小さな声がこう叫んだ。「お母さん、わたしは柱時計の箱の中よ。」母やぎがその子を出してやると、子やぎは、狼が来てほかのみんなを食べてしまったと話した。母やぎが哀れな子どもたちを思ってどんなに泣いたか、想像がつくだろう。

At length in her grief she went out, and the youngest kid ran with her. When they came to the meadow, there lay the wolf by the tree and snored so loud that the branches shook. She looked at him on every side and saw that something was moving and struggling in his gorged belly. ‘Ah, heavens,’ she said, ‘is it possible that my poor children whom he has swallowed down for his supper, can be still alive?’ Then the kid had to run home and fetch scissors, and a needle and thread, and the goat cut open the monster’s stomach, and hardly had she made one cut, than one little kid thrust its head out, and when she had cut farther, all six sprang out one after another, and were all still alive, and had suffered no injury whatever, for in his greediness the monster had swallowed them down whole. What rejoicing there was! They embraced their dear mother, and jumped like a tailor at his wedding. The mother, however, said: ‘Now go and look for some big stones, and we will fill the wicked beast’s stomach with them while he is still asleep.’ Then the seven kids dragged the stones thither with all speed, and put as many of them into this stomach as they could get in; and the mother sewed him up again in the greatest haste, so that he was not aware of anything and never once stirred.

とうとう母やぎは嘆きのあまり外へ出て行き、末の子やぎも一緒に走った。草原に来てみると、狼が木のそばに寝そべって、枝が揺れるほど大きないびきをかいていた。母やぎは狼をあちこちから眺めて、ふくれた腹の中で何かが動き、もがいているのを見た。「ああ、まさか」と母やぎは言った。「あれに夕飯としてのみ込まれた哀れな子どもたちが、まだ生きているなんてことがあるかしら?」そこで子やぎが家へ走って鋏と針と糸を取って来て、母やぎは怪物の腹を切り開いた。ひと切れ入れるか入れないかのうちに、子やぎが一匹頭を突き出し、もっと切ると、六匹が次々に跳び出して来た。みな生きていて、怪我ひとつしていなかった。がつがつしていた怪物が、丸のままのみ込んだからである。その喜びようといったらなかった! 子やぎたちは大好きな母に抱きつき、婚礼の日の仕立屋のように跳ね回った。けれども母やぎは言った。「さあ行って大きな石を探しておいで。あの悪い獣がまだ眠っているうちに、腹をそれでいっぱいにしてやりましょう。」そこで七匹の子やぎは大急ぎで石を引きずって来て、入るだけこの腹に詰め込んだ。そして母やぎが大急ぎで縫い合わせたので、狼は何も気づかず、身じろぎひとつしなかった。

When the wolf at length had had his fill of sleep, he got on his legs, and as the stones in his stomach made him very thirsty, he wanted to go to a well to drink. But when he began to walk and to move about, the stones in his stomach knocked against each other and rattled. Then cried he:

とうとう狼が眠り足りて立ち上がると、腹の石のせいでひどく喉が渇いたので、水を飲みに井戸へ行こうとした。ところが歩いて動き回り始めると、腹の中の石がぶつかり合ってがらがら鳴った。そこで狼は叫んだ。

‘What rumbles and tumbles Against my poor bones? I thought ‘twas six kids, But it feels like big stones.’

「がたがた、ごろごろ、おれの哀れな骨に当たるのは何だ? 子やぎが六匹だと思っていたのに、どうも大きな石らしい」

And when he got to the well and stooped over the water to drink, the heavy stones made him fall in, and he drowned miserably. When the seven kids saw that, they came running to the spot and cried aloud: ‘The wolf is dead! The wolf is dead!’ and danced for joy round about the well with their mother.

そして井戸に着いて水を飲もうと身をかがめると、重い石のせいで落ちてしまい、みじめに溺れ死んだ。七匹の子やぎはそれを見ると、その場へ駆けて来て声高に叫んだ。「狼が死んだ! 狼が死んだ!」そして母やぎと一緒に井戸のまわりで喜びの踊りを踊った。