The woman who had a bear as a foster-son

There was once an old woman living in a place where others lived. She lived nearest the shore, and when those who lived in houses up above had been out hunting, they gave her both meat and blubber.

むかし、ほかの人々も住んでいる土地に一人の老婆が住んでいた。老婆はいちばん浜に近いところに住んでいて、上のほうの家々に住む人々は狩りから帰ってくると、老婆に肉も脂身も分けてくれた。

And once they were out hunting as usual, and now and again they got a bear, so that they frequently ate bear's meat. And they came home with a whole bear. The old woman received a piece from the ribs as her share, and took it home to her house. After she had come home to her house, the wife of the man who had killed the bear came to the window and said:

そしてあるとき、人々はいつものように狩りに出ていた。ときおり熊がとれたので、人々はしばしば熊の肉を食べていた。そして人々は熊をまるごと一頭持って帰ってきた。老婆は分け前にあばらの肉をひときれもらって、自分の家へ持ち帰った。老婆が家に帰ると、熊を仕留めた男の妻が窓のところへ来て言った。

"Dear little old woman in there, would you like to have a bear's cub?"

「なかのおばあさん、熊の子が欲しくない?」

And the old woman went and fetched it, and brought it into her house, shifted her lamp, and placed the cub, because it was frozen, up on to the drying frame to thaw. Suddenly she noticed that it moved a little, and took it down to warm it. Then she roasted some blubber, for she had heard that bears lived on blubber, and in this way she fed it from that time onwards, giving it greaves to eat and melted blubber to drink, and it lay beside her at night.

そこで老婆は行って子熊をもらってきて家に入れ、ランプを動かして、子熊が凍えていたので、干し枠の上に載せて温めてとかした。すると突然、子熊が少し動いたのに気づいたので、老婆は子熊を下ろして温めてやった。それから老婆は脂身をあぶった。熊は脂身を食べて生きていると聞いていたからである。そしてそれからはこうして子熊を養い、脂かすを食べさせ、溶かした脂を飲ませた。そして子熊は夜には老婆のそばに寝た。

And after it had begun to lie beside her at night it grew very fast, and she began to talk to it in human speech, and thus it gained the mind of a human being, and when it wished to ask its foster-mother for food, it would sniff.

そして夜に老婆のそばに寝るようになると、子熊はたいそう早く大きくなった。老婆は子熊に人の言葉で話しかけるようになり、こうして子熊は人の心を持つようになった。そして養い母に食べ物をねだりたいときは、鼻をくんくん鳴らすのだった。

The old woman now no longer suffered want, and those living near brought her food for the cub. The children came sometimes to play with it, but then the old woman would say:

老婆はもう不自由することがなくなり、近くに住む人々は子熊のために老婆に食べ物を持ってきた。子どもたちもときどき子熊と遊びに来たが、そうすると老婆は言った。

"Little bear, remember to sheathe your claws when you play with them."

「子熊や、子どもたちと遊ぶときは爪をしまうのを忘れるんじゃないよ。」

In the morning, the children would come to the window and call in:

朝になると、子どもたちは窓のところへ来てなかへ呼びかけた。

"Little bear, come out and play with us, for now we are going to play."

「子熊、出てきて一緒に遊ぼう。これから遊ぶんだから。」

And when they went out to play together, it would break the children's toy harpoons to pieces, but whenever it wanted to give any one of the children a push, it would always sheathe its claws. But at last it grew so strong, that it nearly always made the children cry. And when it had grown so strong the grown-up people began to play with it, and they helped the old woman in this way, in making the bear grow stronger. But after a time not even grown men dared play with it, so great was its strength, and then they said to one another:

そして一緒に遊びに出ると、子熊は子どもたちのおもちゃの銛をこなごなに壊したが、子どもの誰かを押したいときは、いつも爪をしまっていた。けれどもとうとう子熊はあまりに強くなったので、ほとんどいつも子どもたちを泣かせるようになった。そしてそれほど強くなると、大人たちが子熊と遊ぶようになり、こうして熊をもっと強くするのに老婆に手を貸した。けれどもしばらくすると、大の男でさえ子熊と遊ぶ勇気がなくなった。それほど力が強かったのである。そこで人々は互いに言った。

"Let us take it with us when we go out hunting. It may help us to find seal."

「狩りに出るとき、あいつを連れていこう。アザラシを見つけるのを手伝ってくれるかもしれない。」

And so one day in the dawn, they came to the old woman's window and cried:

そこである日の夜明け、人々は老婆の窓のところへ来て叫んだ。

"Little bear, come and earn a share of our catch; come out hunting with us, bear."

「子熊、獲物の分け前を稼ぎにおいで。熊、一緒に狩りに出よう。」

But before the bear went out, it sniffed at the old woman. And then it went out with the men.

けれども熊は出かける前に、老婆のにおいをくんくん嗅いだ。それから男たちと一緒に出かけた。

On the way, one of the men said:

途中で男の一人が言った。

"Little bear, you must keep down wind, for if you do not so, the game will scent you, and take fright."

「子熊、お前は風下にいなければいけないよ。そうしないと、獲物がお前のにおいを嗅ぎつけて逃げてしまうから。」

One day when they had been out hunting and were returning home, they called in to the old woman:

ある日、人々は狩りから帰ってくると、老婆になかへ呼びかけた。

"It was very nearly killed by the hunters from the northward; we hardly managed to save it alive. Give therefore some mark by which it may be known; a broad collar of plaited sinews about its neck."

「あいつはもう少しで北の狩人たちに殺されるところだった。やっとのことで生きたまま救い出したよ。だから見分けられるように何かしるしをつけてやってくれ。首に腱を編んだ幅の広い首輪をな。」

And so the old foster-mother made a mark for it to wear; a collar of plaited sinews, as broad as a harpoon line.

そこで年老いた養い母は熊につけるしるしをこしらえた。銛綱ほどの幅のある、腱を編んだ首輪である。

And after that it never failed to catch seal, and was stronger even than the strongest of hunters, and never stayed at home even in the worst of all weather. Also it was not bigger than an ordinary bear. All the people in the other villages knew it now, and although they sometimes came near to catching it, they would always let it go as soon as they saw its collar.

そしてそれからは、熊はアザラシをとりそこなうことは決してなく、いちばん強い狩人よりさらに強く、どんなひどい天気でも決して家にじっとしてはいなかった。それに体はふつうの熊より大きくはなかった。今ではほかの村の人々もみなこの熊を知っていて、ときにはもう少しでつかまえそうになることがあっても、首輪を見るといつも逃がしてやった。

But now the people from beyond Angmagssalik heard that there was a bear which could not be caught, and then one of them said:

ところがアンマクサリクの向こうの人々が、つかまえてはならない熊がいると聞いた。すると彼らの一人が言った。

"If ever I see it, I will kill it."

「そいつを見かけたら、殺してやる。」

But the others said:

けれどもほかの者たちは言った。

"You must not do that; the bear's foster-mother could ill manage without its help. If you see it, do not harm it, but leave it alone, as soon as you see its mark."

「そんなことをしてはいけない。熊の養い母はあの熊の助けがなくてはやっていけないのだ。見かけても傷つけず、しるしを見たらすぐに放っておけ。」

One day when the bear came home as usual from hunting, the old foster-mother said:

ある日、熊がいつものように狩りから帰ってくると、年老いた養い母は言った。

"Whenever you meet with men, treat them as if you were of one kin with them; never seek to harm them unless they first attack."

「人間に出会ったら、いつも身内のように扱うんだよ。向こうから襲ってこないかぎり、決して傷つけようとしてはいけないよ。」

And it heard the foster-mother's words and did as she had said.

熊は養い母の言葉を聞いて、言われたとおりにした。

And thus the old foster-mother kept the bear with her. In the summer it went out hunting in the sea, and in winter on the ice, and the other hunters now learned to know its ways, and received shares of its catch.

こうして年老いた養い母は熊を手もとに置いていた。夏には熊は海へ狩りに出て、冬には氷の上へ出た。ほかの狩人たちも今では熊のやり方を知るようになって、その獲物の分け前をもらった。

Once during a storm the bear was away hunting as usual, and did not come home until evening. Then it sniffed at its foster-mother and sprang up on to the bench, where its place was on the southern side. Then the old foster-mother went out of the house, and found outside the body of a dead man, which the bear had hauled home. Then without going in again, the old woman went hurrying to the nearest house, and cried at the window:

あるとき嵐のさなか、熊はいつものように狩りに出ていて、夕方まで帰ってこなかった。それから熊は養い母のにおいを嗅いで、寝台の南側の自分の場所に飛び上がった。そこで年老いた養い母が家の外へ出てみると、外に、熊が引いて帰ってきた男の死体があった。すると老婆はなかへ戻らずに、いちばん近くの家へ急いでいって、窓から叫んだ。

"Are you all at home?"

「みんな家にいるかい。」

"Why?"

「どうして。」

"The little bear has come home with a dead man, one whom I do not know."

「子熊が死んだ男を連れて帰ってきたんだよ。わたしの知らない人だ。」

When it grew light, they went out and saw that it was the man from the north, and they could see he had been running fast, for he had drawn off his furs, and was in his underbreeches. Afterwards they heard that it was his comrades who had urged the bear to resistance, because he would not leave it alone.

明るくなるとみなは外へ出て、それが北の男だとわかった。そして男が毛皮を脱いで肌着の股引だけになっていたので、全速力で走っていたことがわかった。あとで人々は、男が熊を放っておこうとしなかったので、熊が手向かうようけしかけたのは男の仲間たちだったと聞いた。

A long time after this had happened, the old foster-mother said to the bear:

このことがあってから長いことたって、年老いた養い母は熊に言った。

"You had better not stay with me here always; you will be killed if you do, and that would be a pity. You had better leave me."

「いつまでもここでわたしと一緒にいないほうがいい。そうしていたら殺されてしまうし、それはかわいそうだ。わたしのもとを去ったほうがいい。」

And she wept as she said this. But the bear thrust its muzzle right down to the floor and wept, so greatly did it grieve to go away from her.

そして老婆はそう言いながら泣いた。けれども熊は鼻づらを床にすりつけて泣いた。老婆のもとを去るのがそれほど悲しかったのである。

After this, the foster-mother went out every morning as soon as dawn appeared, to look at the weather, and if there were but a cloud as big as one's hand in the sky, she said nothing.

このあと、養い母は毎朝夜が明けるとすぐ天気を見に外へ出て、空に手のひらほどの雲でもあれば何も言わなかった。

But one morning when she went out, there was not even a cloud as big as a hand, and so she came in and said:

けれどもある朝外へ出ると、手のひらほどの雲さえなかったので、老婆はなかへ入って言った。

"Little bear, now you had better go; you have your own kin far away out there."

「子熊や、もう行ったほうがいい。ずっと向こうにお前自身の身内がいるのだから。」

But when the bear was ready to set out, the old foster-mother, weeping very much, dipped her hands in oil and smeared them with soot, and stroked the bear's side as it took leave of her, but in such manner that it could not see what she was doing. The bear sniffed at her and went away. But the old foster-mother wept all through that day, and her fellows in the place mourned also for the loss of their bear.

けれども熊が出かける支度ができると、年老いた養い母はひどく泣きながら両手を油に浸して煤を塗り、別れを告げる熊の脇腹をなでてやった。けれども熊には自分のしていることが見えないようにしてなでた。熊は老婆のにおいを嗅いで去っていった。けれども年老いた養い母はその日一日じゅう泣き、その地の仲間たちも熊を失ったことを悲しんだ。

But men say that far to the north, when many bears are abroad, there will sometimes come a bear as big as an iceberg, with a black spot on its side.

けれども人の話では、ずっと北のほうで熊がたくさんうろついているとき、脇腹に黒いしみのある、氷山ほども大きな熊がときどき現れるという。

Here ends this story.

この話はこれでおしまい。