The Rat and the Owl

An owl had put by for next day the remains of something dainty which he had to eat. But a rat stole it, whereupon the owl was very angry, and went off to the rat's house, and threatened to kill him. But the rat apologised, saying: "I will give you this gimlet and tell you how you can obtain from it pleasure far greater than the pleasure of eating the food which I was so rude as to eat up. Look here! you must stick the gimlet with the sharp point upwards in the ground at the foot of this tree; then go to the top of the tree yourself, and slide down the trunk."

梟が、食べ残したご馳走の残りを翌日のためにしまっておいた。ところが鼠がそれを盗んだので、梟はたいそう怒り、鼠の家へ出かけていって殺してやると脅した。けれども鼠は詫びて言った。「この錐をあげましょう。そして、わたしが失礼にも食べてしまった食べ物を食べる楽しみよりずっと大きな楽しみを、これから得る方法を教えましょう。いいですか、この木の根もとの地面に、尖ったほうを上にしてこの錐を突き立てるのです。それから自分は木のてっぺんに登って、幹を滑り降りてくるのです」

Then the rat went away, and the owl did as the rat had instructed him. But, sliding down on to the sharp gimlet, his anus was transfixed, and he suffered great pain, and, in his grief and rage, went off to kill the rat. But again the rat met him with apologies, and, as a peace-offering, gave him a cap for his head.

それから鼠は去っていき、梟は鼠に教わったとおりにした。けれども尖った錐の上に滑り降りたので、肛門を突き刺され、ひどい痛みに苦しんで、悲しみと怒りのあまり鼠を殺しに出かけた。けれども鼠はまた詫びて梟を迎え、仲直りのしるしに頭にかぶる帽子を贈った。

These events account for the thick cap of erect feathers which the owl wears to this day, and also for the enmity between the owl and the rat.--(Written down from memory. Told by Ishanashte, 25th November, 1886.)

こうした出来事のために、梟は今日まで羽の逆立った厚い帽子をかぶっているのであり、また梟と鼠は仲が悪いのである。——(記憶から書き留めた。語り手イシャナシテ、1886年11月25日)