How Mushrooms First Grew

Long, long ago there dwelt in a town two brothers whose bad habits brought them much trouble. Day by day they got more deeply in debt. Their creditors gave them no peace, so at last they ran away into the woods. They became highway robbers.

ずっとずっと昔、ある町に、悪い癖のためにたいそう困っている兄弟が住んでいた。日ごとに借金はますますかさんでいった。貸し主たちが少しも放っておいてくれなかったので、とうとう二人は森へ逃げ込んだ。二人は追いはぎになった。

But they were not happy. Their minds were troubled by their evil deeds. At last they decided to go home, make a big farm, and pay off their debts gradually.

けれども二人は幸せではなかった。悪い行いに心を悩ませていた。とうとう二人は、家へ帰って大きな畑をこしらえ、少しずつ借金を返そうと決めた。

They accordingly set to work and soon had quite a fine farm prepared for corn. As the soil was good, they hoped the harvest would bring them in much money.

そこで二人は仕事にとりかかり、まもなくトウモロコシを植える立派な畑ができた。土がよかったので、収穫でたくさんの金が入るだろうと二人は望んだ。

Unfortunately, that very day a bushfowl came along. Being hungry, it scratched up all the newly planted seeds and ate them.

あいにく、まさにその日に一羽のヤマウズラがやって来た。腹をすかせていたので、植えたばかりの種をみな掘り返して食べてしまった。

The two poor brothers, on arriving at the field next day, were dismayed to find all their work quite wasted. They put down a trap for the thief. That evening the bushfowl was caught in it. The two brothers, when they came and found the bird, told it that now all their debts would be transferred to it because it had robbed them of the means of paying the debts themselves.

かわいそうな兄弟は、翌日畑に来てみて、仕事がすっかり無駄になっているのを見てうろたえた。二人は泥棒をつかまえる罠を仕掛けた。その晩、ヤマウズラが罠にかかった。二人の兄弟は来て鳥を見つけると、お前が自分たちの借金を返す手立てを奪ったのだから、これからは自分たちの借金はみなお前に移るのだと鳥に告げた。

The poor bird—in great trouble at having such a burden thrust upon it—made a nest under a silk-cotton tree. There it began to lay eggs, meaning to hatch them and sell the young birds for money to pay off the debt.

かわいそうな鳥は、そんな重荷を押しつけられてひどく困り、パンヤの木の下に巣をこしらえた。そこで卵を産みはじめた。卵をかえして、ひなを売って借金を返す金にしようと思ったのである。

A terrible hurricane came, however, and a branch of the tree came down. All the eggs were smashed. As a result, the bushfowl transferred the debts to the tree, as it had broken the eggs.

ところがひどい大嵐が来て、木の枝が一本落ちてきた。卵はみな割れてしまった。その結果、ヤマウズラは、卵を割ったのは木だからと、借金を木に移した。

The silk-cotton tree was in dismay at having such a big sum of money to pay off. It immediately set to work to make as much silk cotton as it possibly could, that it might sell it.

パンヤの木は、そんな大金を返さねばならなくなってうろたえた。木はすぐに、売るためにできるかぎりたくさんのパンヤの綿をこしらえる仕事にとりかかった。

An elephant, not knowing all that had happened, came along. Seeing the silk cotton, he came to the tree and plucked down all its bearings. By this means the debts were transferred to the poor elephant.

何が起こったのか知らない一頭の象がやって来た。パンヤの綿を見ると、木のところへ来て、実ったものをみなむしり取ってしまった。こうして借金はかわいそうな象に移った。

The elephant was very sad when he found what he had done. He wandered away into the desert, thinking of a way to make money. He could think of none.

象は自分のしたことを知ってたいそう悲しんだ。金をこしらえる手立てを考えながら、荒れ地へさまよっていった。何も思いつかなかった。

As he stood quietly under a tree, a poor hunter crept up. This man thought he was very lucky to find such a fine elephant standing so still. He at once shot him.

象が木の下にじっと立っていると、貧しい狩人が忍び寄ってきた。この男は、こんな立派な象がこんなにじっと立っているのを見つけて、たいそう運がいいと思った。狩人はすぐに象を撃った。

Just before the animal died, he told the hunter that now the debts would have to be paid by him. The hunter was much grieved when he heard this, as he had no money at all.

死ぬ間際に、象は狩人に、これからは借金はお前が払わねばならないと告げた。狩人は金をまったく持っていなかったので、それを聞いてたいそう嘆いた。

He walked home wondering what he could do to make enough money to pay the debts. In the darkness he did not see the stump of a tree which the overseers had cut down in the road. He fell and broke his leg. By this means the debts were transferred to the tree-stump.

狩人は、借金を返すだけの金をどうやってこしらえようかと考えながら家へ歩いていった。暗がりのなかで、監督たちが道で切り倒した木の切り株に気づかなかった。狩人は転んで脚を折った。こうして借金は木の切り株に移った。

Not knowing this, a party of white ants came along next morning and began to eat into the tree. When they had broken it nearly to the ground, the tree told them that now the debts were theirs, as they had killed it.

そのことを知らずに、翌朝シロアリの一隊がやって来て、切り株を食べはじめた。ほとんど地面すれすれまで食い崩したとき、切り株は、お前たちが自分を殺したのだから、これからは借金はお前たちのものだと言った。

The ants, being very wise, held a council together to find out how best they could make money. They decided each to contribute as much as possible. With the proceeds one of their young men would go to the nearest market and buy pure linen thread. This they would weave and sell and the profits would go to help pay the debts.

アリたちはたいそう賢かったので、どうすればいちばんよく金をこしらえられるか評議を開いた。めいめいができるだけ多く出し合うことに決めた。その売り上げで若者の一人がいちばん近い市場へ行って、上等な亜麻の糸を買う。それを織って売り、その儲けで借金を返す助けにするのである。

This was done. From time to time all the linen in stock was brought and spread out in the sunshine to keep it in good condition. When men see this linen lying out on the ant-hills, they call it ‘mushroom,’ and gather it for food.

そのとおりになった。ときどき、蓄えの亜麻布をみな運び出して、日に当てていい状態に保った。人々は蟻塚の上にこの布が広げてあるのを見ると、それを「きのこ」と呼んで、食べるために集めるのである。