The Ghost-Brahman

Once on a time there lived a poor Brahman, who not being a Kulin, found it the hardest thing in the world to get married. He went to rich people and begged of them to give him money that he might marry a wife. And a large sum of money was needed, not so much for the expenses of the wedding, as for giving to the parents of the bride. He begged from door to door, flattered many rich folk, and at last succeeded in scraping together the sum needed. The wedding took place in due time; and he brought home his wife to his mother. After a short time he said to his mother--"Mother, I have no means to support you and my wife; I must therefore go to distant countries to get money somehow or other. I may be away for years, for I won't return till I get a good sum. In the meantime I'll give you what I have; you make the best of it, and take care of my wife." The Brahman receiving his mother's blessing set out on his travels. In the evening of that very day, a ghost assuming the exact appearance of the Brahman came into the house. The newly married woman, thinking it was her husband, said to him--"How is it that you have returned so soon? You said you might be away for years; why have you changed your mind?" The ghost said--"To-day is not a lucky day, I have therefore returned home; besides, I have already got some money." The mother did not doubt but that it was her son. So the ghost lived in the house as if he was its owner, and as if he was the son of the old woman and the husband of the young woman. As the ghost and the Brahman were exactly like each other in everything, like two peas, the people in the neighbourhood all thought that the ghost was the real Brahman. After some years the Brahman returned from his travels; and what was his surprise when he found another like him in the house. The ghost said to the Brahman--"Who are you? what business have you to come to my house?" "Who am I?" replied the Brahman, "let me ask who you are. This is my house; that is my mother, and this is my wife." The ghost said--"Why herein is a strange thing. Every one knows that this is my house, that is my wife, and yonder is my mother; and I have lived here for years. And you pretend this is your house, and that woman is your wife. Your head must have got turned, Brahman." So saying the ghost drove away the Brahman from his house. The Brahman became mute with wonder. He did not know what to do. At last he bethought himself of going to the king and of laying his case before him. The king saw the ghost-Brahman as well as the Brahman, and the one was the picture of the other; so he was in a fix, and did not know how to decide the quarrel. Day after day the Brahman went to the king and besought him to give him back his house, his wife, and his mother; and the king, not knowing what to say every time, put him off to the following day. Every day the king tells him to--"Come to-morrow"; and every day the Brahman goes away from the palace weeping and striking his forehead with the palm of his hand, and saying--"What a wicked world this is! I am driven from my own house, and another fellow has taken possession of my house and of my wife! And what a king this is! He does not do justice."

むかしむかし、一人の貧しいバラモンがいた。クリーン(名門)の出ではなかったので、妻を娶ることが世にもっとも難しいことになっていた。金持ちのところへ行っては、妻を娶れるように金をくださいと乞うた。必要なのは大金であった。婚礼の費用そのものよりも、花嫁の親に渡す金がかさむからである。戸ごとに乞い、多くの金持ちに追従を言い、とうとう必要な額をかき集めることに成功した。婚礼はしかるべき時に行われ、バラモンは妻を母のもとへ連れ帰った。しばらくして、彼は母に言った。「母上、わたしにはあなたと妻を養う手立てがありません。ですから、どうにかして金を得るために遠い国へ行かねばなりません。何年も帰らないかもしれません。まとまった額を得るまでは帰りませんから。そのあいだ、手元にあるものはお渡しします。うまくやりくりして、妻の面倒を見てやってください。」バラモンは母の祝福を受けて旅に出た。ところがまさにその日の夕方、バラモンとそっくり同じ姿をした亡霊が家に入ってきた。嫁いだばかりの女は夫だと思って言った。「どうしてこんなに早くお戻りになったのです。何年も帰らないかもしれないとおっしゃったのに、なぜ気が変わったのです。」亡霊は言った。「今日は日が悪いので帰ってきたのだ。それにもう、いくらか金も手に入れた。」母もまた、これが息子であることを疑わなかった。こうして亡霊は、まるで家の主であるかのように、老女の息子であり若い女の夫であるかのように、その家に住みついた。亡霊とバラモンは何もかも豆と豆のようにそっくりだったので、近隣の人々もみな、亡霊のほうが本物のバラモンだと思った。何年かして、バラモンが旅から帰ってきた。家に自分とそっくりな者がいるのを見たときの驚きといったら。亡霊はバラモンに言った。「お前は誰だ。何の用があって俺の家へ来た。」「わたしが誰だと」とバラモンは答えた。「お前こそ誰だと訊きたい。これはわたしの家だ。あれはわたしの母で、こちらはわたしの妻だ。」亡霊は言った。「これは奇妙なことを言う。ここが俺の家で、あれが俺の妻で、あちらが俺の母であることは誰でも知っている。俺は何年もここに住んできた。それをお前は、ここが自分の家で、あの女が自分の妻だと言い張る。頭がどうかしたにちがいない、バラモンよ。」そう言って亡霊はバラモンを家から追い出した。バラモンは驚きのあまり口もきけなかった。どうしてよいか分からない。とうとう、王のところへ行って訴え出ることを思いついた。王は亡霊バラモンとバラモンの両方を見たが、一方は他方を写したかのようであった。それで王は困り果て、この争いをどう裁いてよいか分からなかった。バラモンは来る日も来る日も王のもとへ行き、家と妻と母を返してくださいと懇願した。王は毎回どう言えばよいか分からず、翌日まで待てと先延ばしにした。毎日、王は「明日また来い」と言う。そして毎日、バラモンは泣きながら宮殿を去り、掌で額を打ちながらこう言うのだった。「なんという邪悪な世の中だ。自分の家から追い出され、別の奴が家と妻を我が物にしている! それにこの王ときたら! 正義を行わない。」

Now, it came to pass that as the Brahman went away every day from the court outside the town, he passed a spot at which a great many cowboys used to play. They let the cows graze on the meadow, while they themselves met together under a large tree to play. And they played at royalty. One cowboy was elected king; another, prime minister or vizier; another, kotwal, or prefect of the police; and others, constables. Every day for several days together they saw the Brahman passing by weeping. One day the cowboy king asked his vizier whether he knew why the Brahman wept every day. On the vizier not being able to answer the question, the cowboy king ordered one of his constables to bring the Brahman to him. One of them went and said to the Brahman--"The king requires your immediate attendance." The Brahman replied--"What for? I have just come from the king, and he put me off till to-morrow. Why does he want me again?" "It is our king that wants you--our neat-herd king," rejoined the constable. "Who is neat-herd king?" asked the Brahman. "Come and see," was the reply. The neat-herd king then asked the Brahman why he every day went away weeping. The Brahman then told him his sad story. The neat-herd king, after hearing the whole, said, "I understand your case; I will give you again all your rights. Only go to the king and ask his permission for me to decide your case." The Brahman went back to the king of the country, and begged his Majesty to send his case to the neat-herd king, who had offered to decide it. The king, whom the case had greatly puzzled, granted the permission sought. The following morning was fixed for the trial. The neat-herd king, who saw through the whole, brought with him next day a phial with a narrow neck. The Brahman and the ghost-Brahman both appeared at the bar. After a great deal of examination of witnesses and of speech-making, the neat-herd king said--"Well, I have heard enough. I'll decide the case at once. Here is this phial. Whichever of you will enter into it shall be declared by the court to be the rightful owner of the house the title of which is in dispute. Now, let me see, which of you will enter." The Brahman said--"You are a neat-herd, and your intellect is that of a neat-herd. What man can enter into such a small phial?" "If you cannot enter," said the neat-herd king, "then you are not the rightful owner. What do you say, sir, to this?" turning to the ghost-Brahman and addressing him. "If you can enter into the phial, then the house and the wife and the mother become yours." "Of course I will enter," said the ghost. And true to his word, to the wonder of all, he made himself into a small creature like an insect, and entered into the phial. The neat-herd king forthwith corked up the phial, and the ghost could not get out. Then, addressing the Brahman, the neat-herd king said, "Throw this phial into the bottom of the sea, and take possession of your house, wife, and mother." The Brahman did so, and lived happily for many years and begat sons and daughters.

さて、バラモンが毎日、町の外の法廷から帰る道すがら、大勢の牛飼いの少年たちがいつも遊んでいる場所を通っていた。少年たちは牛を牧草地で草を食ませておき、自分たちは大きな木の下に集まって遊んでいた。遊びは王ごっこであった。一人の少年が王に選ばれ、別の一人が宰相すなわち大臣に、また別の一人がコトワール、すなわち警吏の長に、そして他の者たちが巡査になった。何日ものあいだ毎日、少年たちはバラモンが泣きながら通り過ぎるのを見ていた。ある日、牛飼いの王が宰相に、あのバラモンはなぜ毎日泣いているのかと尋ねた。宰相が答えられなかったので、牛飼いの王は巡査の一人にバラモンを連れてくるよう命じた。一人が行ってバラモンに言った。「王がただちに参上せよと仰せだ。」バラモンは答えた。「何のためだ。ちょうど王のところから来たばかりで、明日まで待てと言われたのだぞ。なぜまた呼ぶのだ。」「呼んでいるのはわれらの王だ——牛飼いの王だ」と巡査は言い返した。「牛飼いの王とは誰だ」とバラモンは尋ねた。「来て見ればよい」というのが答えであった。牛飼いの王はバラモンに、なぜ毎日泣きながら通るのかと尋ねた。そこでバラモンは悲しい身の上を語った。牛飼いの王は一部始終を聞き終えると言った。「あなたの件は分かった。権利をすべて取り戻して差し上げよう。ただ王のところへ行って、この件をわたしに裁かせる許しを得てきてください。」バラモンは国の王のもとへ戻り、自分の件を、裁こうと申し出た牛飼いの王に委ねてくださいと願い出た。この件にひどく困り果てていた王は、求められた許しを与えた。翌朝が裁きの日と定められた。すべてを見抜いていた牛飼いの王は、翌日、口の細い小瓶を一つ携えてきた。バラモンと亡霊バラモンの両方が法廷に立った。証人の尋問と弁論を存分に行ったのち、牛飼いの王は言った。「よろしい、十分に聞いた。この件はただちに裁こう。ここに小瓶がある。お前たちのうち、この中へ入れたほうを、争いの的になっている家の正当な持ち主であると当法廷は宣する。さあ、どちらが入るか見せてもらおう。」バラモンは言った。「あなたは牛飼いで、その知恵も牛飼いの知恵だ。こんな小さな瓶に、どんな人間が入れるというのか。」「入れないのなら」と牛飼いの王は言った。「あなたは正当な持ち主ではない。ではあなたはどうか」と、亡霊バラモンのほうを向いて言った。「もし瓶に入れるなら、家も妻も母もあなたのものになる。」「もちろん入ってやろう」と亡霊は言った。そして言葉どおり、みなが驚いたことに、虫のような小さな生き物に身を変え、瓶の中へ入った。牛飼いの王はただちに瓶に栓をし、亡霊は出られなくなった。それからバラモンに向かって、牛飼いの王は言った。「この瓶を海の底へ投げ捨て、家と妻と母をお受け取りなさい。」バラモンはそのとおりにして、幾年も幸せに暮らし、息子と娘をもうけた。

Here my story endeth, The Natiya-thorn withereth, etc.

ここでわたしの話はおしまい。ナティヤの棘は枯れゆく、云々。