The Dead Man's Ring

A young married woman one night listened to the jackals' cry, and heard them say: "Near the river lies a dead man; go and look on his finger and you will find a ring worth nine lakhs of rupees." She therefore rose and went to the riverside, not knowing that her husband secretly followed in her footsteps. Arrived there, she found the dead man, but the ring was difficult to remove, so she drew it off with her teeth.

ある夜、若い人妻が豺たちの鳴き声に耳を傾けていると、豺たちがこう言うのが聞こえた。「川の近くに死人が横たわっている。行って指を見てみるがいい。九ラーク(九十万)ルピーの値打ちの指輪が見つかるだろう」そこで女は起き上がって川べりへ行ったが、夫がこっそり足跡をたどってついてきていることは知らなかった。そこに着くと、女は死人を見つけたが、指輪がなかなか外れなかったので、歯で引き抜いた。

Her husband, who did not know she had understood and acted upon the cry of the jackals, was horrified, and thought she was eating the flesh of the dead man; so he returned home, and when the morning came, took his wife to her mother, and said: "I have brought back your daughter, and refuse to live with her any longer, lest I come to some evil end." He gave no reason for having thus said, and returned to his home.

夫は、妻が豺たちの鳴き声を聞き分けてそれに従ったのだとは知らなかったので、ぞっとして、妻が死人の肉を食べているのだと思った。そこで夫は家へ帰り、朝になると妻を妻の母親のもとへ連れていって言った。「娘さんをお返しします。何か恐ろしい目にあうといけないので、もう一緒には暮らしません」夫はそう言ったわけを何も告げずに、自分の家へ帰っていった。

In the evening his wife sat sorrowfully in the garden of her father's house, and the crows came to roost in the peepul trees; and as they came, they said: "In this place are buried four boxes containing hidden treasure: dig and find it, O my daughter." The young girl called her parents and told them the message of the crows. At first they laughed, but, after a while, they dug as she directed, and found treasure which enriched the whole family. The girl then explained the story of the dead man's ring, and her husband gladly forgave her and received her back.

夕方、妻が父の家の庭で悲しげに座っていると、烏たちがインドボダイジュの木にねぐらを取りにやって来て、来るなりこう言った。「この場所には、隠された宝の入った箱が四つ埋まっている。掘って見つけなさい、娘よ」若い娘は両親を呼んで、烏たちの言ったことを話した。初め両親は笑ったが、しばらくして娘の言うとおりに掘ってみると、一家みなを豊かにする宝が見つかった。それから娘は死人の指輪のいきさつを説明し、夫は喜んで妻を許し、また迎え入れた。