The very obstinate man

There was once an Obstinate Man--no one in the world could be as obstinate as he. And no one dared come near him, so obstinate was he, and he would always have his own way in everything.

むかし、強情な男がいた——世界じゅうの誰も、この男ほど強情にはなれなかった。そしてあまりに強情なので、誰もこの男に近づこうとせず、男は何事もいつも自分の思いどおりにしなければ気がすまなかった。

Once it came about that his wife was in mourning. Her little child had died, and therefore she was obliged to remain idle at home; this is the custom of the ignorant, and this we also had to do when we were as ignorant as they.

あるとき、男の妻が喪に服していた。小さな子が死んだので、妻は家で何もせずにいなければならなかった。これは物を知らない者たちのしきたりで、わたしたちも彼らと同じように物を知らなかったころは、そうしなければならなかったのである。

And while she sat thus idle and in mourning, her husband, that Obstinate One, came in one day and said:

そして妻がこうして喪に服して何もせずに座っていると、ある日、夫のあの強情者が入ってきて言った。

"You must sew the skin of my kayak."

「わしのカヤックの皮を縫え。」

"You know that I am not permitted to touch any kind of work," said his wife.

「わたしはどんな仕事にも手を触れてはならないと知っているでしょう」と妻は言った。

"You must sew the skin of my kayak," he said again. "Bring it down to the shore and sew it there."

「わしのカヤックの皮を縫え」と夫はまた言った。「浜へ持っていって、そこで縫え。」

And so the woman, for all her mourning, was forced to go down to the shore and sew the skin of her husband's kayak. But when she had been sewing a little, suddenly her thread began to make a little sound, and the little sound grew to a muttering, and louder and louder. And at last a monster came up out of the sea; a monster in the shape of a dog, and said:

そこで女は、喪中だというのに浜へ下りていって夫のカヤックの皮を縫うほかなかった。ところが少し縫っていると、突然糸が小さな音を立てはじめ、その小さな音がつぶやきになって、どんどん大きくなった。そしてとうとう海から怪物が上がってきた。犬の姿をした怪物で、こう言った。

"Why are you sewing, you who are still in mourning?"

「まだ喪中のお前が、どうして縫い物をしているのだ。」

"My husband will not listen to me, for he is so obstinate," she said.

「夫がわたしの言うことを聞かないのです。とても強情なので」と女は言った。

And then the mighty dog sprang ashore and fell upon that husband.

すると大きな犬は岸に飛び上がって、その夫に襲いかかった。

But that Obstinate One was not abashed; as usual, he thought he would get his own way, and his way now was to kill the dog. And they fought together, and the dog was killed.

けれどもあの強情者はひるまなかった。いつものように自分の思いどおりにしてやろうと思い、今の思いは犬を殺すことだった。そして両者は取っ組み合い、犬は殺された。

But now the owner of the dog appeared, and he turned out to be the Moon Man.

ところがそこへ犬の持ち主が現れた。それは月の男だった。

And he fell upon that Obstinate One, but the Obstinate One would as usual not give way, but fell upon him in turn. He caught the Moon Man by the throat, and had nearly strangled him. He clenched and clenched, and the Moon Man was nearly strangled to death.

そして月の男は強情者に襲いかかったが、強情者はいつものように引き下がらず、逆に月の男に襲いかかった。強情者は月の男ののどをつかんで、あやうく絞め殺しそうになった。締めに締めて、月の男はもう少しで絞め殺されるところだった。

"There will be no more ebb-tide or flood if you strangle me," said the Moon Man.

「わたしを絞め殺したら、もう潮の満ち引きがなくなるぞ」と月の男は言った。

But the Obstinate One cared little for that; he only clutched the tighter.

けれども強情者はそんなことはほとんど気にかけず、ますます強く締めつけるばかりだった。

"The seal will never breed again if you strangle me," cried the Moon Man.

「わたしを絞め殺したら、アザラシはもう二度と子を産まなくなるぞ」と月の男は叫んだ。

But the Obstinate One did not care at all, though the Moon Man threatened more and more.

けれども月の男がどれほど脅しを重ねても、強情者は少しも気にかけなかった。

"There will never be dawn or daylight again if you kill me," said the Moon Man at last.

「わたしを殺したら、もう二度と夜明けも昼の光も来なくなるぞ」ととうとう月の男は言った。

And at this the Obstinate One began to hesitate; he did not like the thought of living in the dark for ever. And he let the Moon Man go.

するとこれに強情者はためらいはじめた。永久に闇のなかで暮らすと思うと嫌だったのである。そして強情者は月の男を放した。

Then the Moon Man called his dog to life again, and made ready to leave that place. And he took his team and cast the dogs up into the air one by one, and they never came down again, and at last there was the whole team of sledge dogs hovering in the air.

それから月の男は犬を生き返らせ、その地を去る支度をした。そして自分の犬の群れを取って、一頭ずつ空へ放り上げた。犬たちは二度と落ちてこず、とうとう橇犬の群れがまるごと空に浮かんだ。

"May I come and visit you in the Moon?" asked the Obstinate One. For he suddenly felt a great desire to do so.

「月へあなたを訪ねていってもいいですか」と強情者は尋ねた。突然、行ってみたくてたまらなくなったのである。

"Yes, come if you please," said the Moon Man. "But when you see a great rock in your way, take great care to drive round behind it. Do not pass it on the sunny side, for if you do, your heart will be torn out of you."

「ああ、来たければ来るがいい」と月の男は言った。「けれども途中で大きな岩を見かけたら、よくよく気をつけてそのうしろをまわっていくのだぞ。日の当たる側を通ってはならぬ。そちらを通れば、心臓を引き抜かれてしまうからな。」

And then the Moon Man cracked his whip, and drove off through the naked air.

それから月の男は鞭を鳴らして、何もない宙を走り去った。

Now the Obstinate One began making ready for his journey to the moon. It had been his custom to keep his dogs inside the house, and therefore they had a thick layer of ingrown dirt in their coats. Now he took them and cast them out into the sea, that they might become clean again. The dogs, little used to going out at all, were nearly frozen to death by that cold water; they ran about, shivering with the cold.

さて、強情者は月への旅の支度をはじめた。強情者は犬を家のなかで飼うのが習いだったので、犬たちの毛には汚れが厚くこびりついていた。そこで強情者は犬たちをきれいにしようと、海へ投げ込んだ。犬たちは外へ出ることさえほとんどなかったので、その冷たい水であやうく凍え死にしそうになり、寒さに震えながら走りまわった。

Then the Obstinate One took a dog, and cast it up in the air, but it fell down heavily to earth again. He took another and did so, and then a third, but they all fell down again. They were still too dirty.

それから強情者は一頭の犬を取って空へ放り上げたが、犬はどさりと地面へ落ちてきた。もう一頭取ってそうし、三頭目もそうしたが、みな落ちてきた。まだ汚れすぎていたのである。

But the Obstinate One would not give in, and now he cast them out into the sea once more.

けれども強情者はあきらめようとせず、もう一度犬たちを海へ投げ込んだ。

And when he then a second time tried casting them up in the air, they stayed there. And now he made himself a sledge, threw his team up in the air, and drove off.

そして二度目に空へ放り上げてみると、犬たちはそこにとどまった。そこで強情者は橇をこしらえ、犬の群れを空へ放り上げて走り去った。

But when he came to the rock he was to drive round, this Obstinate One said to himself:

ところがまわっていくはずの岩まで来ると、この強情者は心のなかで言った。

"Why should I drive round a rock at all? I will go by the sunny side."

「どうしてわざわざ岩をまわっていかなければならないのだ。日の当たる側を通っていこう。」

When he came up alongside, he heard a woman singing drum songs, and whetting her knife; she kept on singing, and he could hear how the steel hummed as she worked.

岩の横まで来ると、女が太鼓の歌を歌いながら小刀を研いでいる声が聞こえた。女は歌い続け、仕事をするにつれて鋼がうなるのが聞こえた。

Now he tried to overpower that old woman, but lost his senses. And when he came to himself, his heart was gone.

そこで強情者はその老婆を組み伏せようとしたが、気を失ってしまった。そしてわれに返ると、心臓がなくなっていた。

"I had better go round after all," he thought to himself. And he went round by the shady side.

「やっぱりまわっていったほうがよさそうだ」と強情者は思った。そして日陰の側をまわっていった。

Thus he came up to the moon, and told there how he had lost his heart merely for trying to drive round a rock by the sunny side.

こうして強情者は月に着き、そこで、日の当たる側を通って岩をまわろうとしただけで心臓をなくしてしまったと話した。

Then the Moon Man bade him lie down at full length on his back, with a black sealskin under, which he spread on the floor. This the Obstinate One did, and then the Moon Man fetched his heart from the woman and stuffed it in again.

すると月の男は強情者に、床に広げたワモンアザラシの皮の上にあおむけに長々と寝るよう言った。強情者がそうすると、月の男は女のところから心臓を取ってきて、また詰め込んでやった。

And while he was there, the Moon Man took up one of the stones from the floor, and let him look down on to the earth. And there he saw his wife sitting on the bench, plaiting sinews for thread, and this although she was in mourning. A thick smoke rose from her body; the smoke of her evil thoughts. And her thoughts were evil because she was working before her mourning time was passed.

そして強情者がそこにいるあいだに、月の男は床の石をひとつ取り上げて、強情者に地上を見下ろさせてやった。するとそこに、喪中だというのに寝台に座って糸にする腱を編んでいる妻が見えた。妻の体からは濃い煙が立ちのぼっていた。妻の悪い考えの煙だった。そして妻の考えが悪いのは、喪の期間が過ぎないうちに仕事をしていたからだった。

And her husband grew angry at this, forgetting that he had himself but newly bidden her work despite her mourning.

そして夫はこれに腹を立てた。喪中だというのに仕事をしろと、ついこのあいだ自分が命じたことを忘れていたのである。

And after he had been there some time, the Moon Man opened a stone in the entrance to the passage way, and let him look down. The place was full of walrus, there were so many that they had to lie one on top of another.

そして強情者がそこにしばらくいると、月の男は通路の入口の石を開けて見下ろさせてやった。そこはセイウチでいっぱいで、あまりにたくさんいるので、重なり合って寝そべらなければならないほどだった。

"It is a joy to catch such beasts," said the Moon Man, and the Obstinate One felt a great desire to harpoon one of them.

「こういう獣をとるのは楽しいぞ」と月の男は言った。すると強情者はその一頭に銛を打ち込みたくてたまらなくなった。

"But you must not, you cannot," said the Moon Man, and promised him a share of the catch he had just made himself. But the Obstinate One would not be content with this; he took harpoons from the Moon Man's store, and harpooned a walrus. Then he held it on the line--he was a man of very great strength, that Obstinate One--and managed to kill it. And in the same way he also dealt with another.

「だがお前はしてはならぬ、お前にはできぬ」と月の男は言って、自分がとったばかりの獲物を分けてやると約束した。けれども強情者はこれでは満足せず、月の男の蓄えから銛を取ってセイウチに打ち込んだ。それから綱で押さえ込み——あの強情者はたいそう力の強い男だった——なんとか仕留めた。そして同じようにしてもう一頭も仕留めた。

After his return from the Moon Man's place, he left off being obstinate, and never again forced his wife to work while she was in mourning.

月の男のところから戻ってくると、強情者は強情をやめ、二度と喪中の妻に無理に仕事をさせなかった。