Kumagdlak and the living arrows

Kumagdlak, men say, lived apart from his fellows. He had a wife, and she was the only living being in the place beside himself.

クマグドラクは、人の話では、仲間から離れて暮らしていた。男には妻がいて、その地で生きているものは男のほかにはその妻だけだった。

One day his wife was out looking for stones to build a fireplace, and looking out over the sea, she saw many enemies approaching.

ある日、妻が炉をこしらえる石を探しに出ていて、海を見わたすと、大勢の敵が近づいてくるのが見えた。

"An umiak and kayaks," she cried to her husband. And he was ill at ease on hearing this, for he lay in the house with a bad leg.

「ウミアクとカヤックよ」と妻は夫に叫んだ。これを聞いて夫は落ち着かなくなった。脚を悪くして家に寝ていたからである。

"My arrows--bring my arrows!" he cried. And his wife saw that all his arrows lay there trembling. And that was because their points were made of the shinbones of men. And they trembled because their master was ill at ease.

「わたしの矢を——矢を持ってこい!」と男は叫んだ。すると妻は、男の矢がみな震えながらそこに置いてあるのを見た。それは矢の先が人の脛の骨でできていたからである。そして矢が震えていたのは、持ち主が落ち着かなかったからである。

Kumagdlak had made himself arrows, and feathered them with birds' feathers. He was a great wizard, and by breathing with his own breath upon those arrows he could give them life, and cause them to fly towards his enemies and kill them. And when he himself stood unprotected before the weapons of his enemies, he would grasp the thong of the pouch in which his mother had carried him as a child, and strike out with it, and then all arrows aimed at him would fly wide of their mark.

クマグドラクは自分で矢をこしらえて、鳥の羽で矢羽をつけていた。男は偉大な魔法使いで、その矢に自分の息を吹きかけると命を与えることができ、矢を敵のほうへ飛ばして殺させることができた。そして自分が身を守るものもなく敵の武器の前に立つときには、子どものころ母が自分を入れて運んだ袋の紐をつかんで、それで打ち払った。すると自分に向けて放たれた矢はみな的をそれて飛んでいくのだった。

Now all the enemies hauled up on shore, and the eldest among them cried out:

さて、敵はみな舟を岸に引き上げ、そのなかのいちばん年長の者が叫んだ。

"Kumagdlak! It is time for you to go out and taste the water in the land of the dead under the earth--or perhaps you will go up into the sky?"

「クマグドラク! そろそろ地の下の死者の国へ行って水を味わう時だぞ——それとも空へ昇っていくかな。」

"That fate is more likely to be yours," answered Kumagdlak.

「その定めはお前のほうに来そうだ」とクマグドラクは答えた。

And standing at the entrance to his tent, he aimed at them with his bow. If but the first arrow could be sent whirling over the boats, then he knew that none of them would be able to harm him. He shot his arrow, and it flew over the boats. Then he aimed at the old man who had spoken, and that arrow cut through the string of the old man's bow, and pierced the old man himself. Then he began shooting down the others, his wife handing him the arrows as he shot. The men from the boats shot at him, but all their arrows flew wide. And his enemies grew fewer and fewer, and at last they fled.

そして天幕の入口に立って、弓で敵をねらった。最初の矢さえ舟の上をうなりを上げて飛び越えさせられれば、敵の誰も自分を傷つけられないと男は知っていた。男が矢を放つと、矢は舟の上を飛び越えた。それから男は口をきいた老人をねらった。その矢は老人の弓の弦を断ち切り、老人自身を射抜いた。それから男はほかの者たちを射倒しはじめ、妻は男が射るのに合わせて矢を渡した。舟の男たちも男を射たが、矢はみなそれて飛んでいった。そして敵はどんどん減って、とうとう逃げていった。

And now Kumagdlak took all the bodies down by the shore and plundered them, taking their knives, and when the boats had got well out to sea, he called up a great storm, so that all the others perished.

そしてクマグドラクは死体をみな浜に下ろして身ぐるみはぎ、小刀を奪い取った。そして舟が十分沖へ出たところで大嵐を呼び起こしたので、残りの者はみな死んだ。

But the waves washed the bodies this way and that along the coast, until the clothes were worn off them.

けれども波が死体を海岸に沿ってあちこちへ打ち寄せたので、とうとう着物がすり切れてなくなった。

Here ends this story.

この話はこれでおしまい。