The Rat Boy

In a certain village there lived a very rich couple; but they were childless. They were very anxious for a child. But one day, as the wife went to the mountains to fetch wood, she found a little boy crying beside a tree. Rejoiced at this, she took him down with her to the village. Thenceforth they kept the boy with them. It was a place where there was plenty of deer and also of fish; it was a place provided with all the things which people like to eat. But though they hunted the deer, they could not catch them; though they angled for the fish, they could not catch them. They were very hungry. Hearing that great quantities both of fish and of deer were killed in the village next to theirs, towards the mountains, the wife went off to buy food there, taking the child with her. She went to the village next to theirs, towards the mountains. She went to the house of the chief.

ある村に、たいそう金持ちの夫婦が住んでいたが、子どもがいなかった。二人は子どもがたいそう欲しかった。ところがある日、妻が薪を取りに山へ行くと、木のそばで小さな男の子が泣いているのを見つけた。喜んで、妻はその子を連れて村へ下りていった。それからは夫婦はその子を手もとに置いた。そこは鹿もたくさんいて魚もたくさんいる土地だった。人の好む食べ物がみなそろった土地だった。けれども鹿を狩っても捕れず、魚を釣っても捕れなかった。夫婦はたいそう腹をすかせた。山寄りの隣の村では魚も鹿もたいそうたくさん捕れると聞いて、妻は子どもを連れてそこへ食べ物を買いに出かけた。山寄りの隣の村へ行った。村長の家へ行った。

The woman looked and saw fish hanging on poles, and flesh hanging on poles. With tears she longed for some. She went in, she went in to the chief's house. Then she stayed there. She was feasted on the best bits of the fish and on the best bits of the flesh. After that, as she lay down with her little boy, he rose quietly in the middle of the night. Then there was the sound of a rat nibbling at the fish and flesh on the poles. The woman thought it very strange. So at dawn the boy came quietly back, lay down by the woman's side, and slept there till the day was bright. The people of the house rose, and the chief went out and mumbled thus to himself: "Never were there such rats as this. There have been rats nibbling my good fish and my good flesh."

女が見ると、竿に魚が掛けてあり、竿に肉が掛けてあった。女は涙を流してそれを欲しがった。女はなかへ入った。村長の家に入った。それからそこに泊まった。魚のいちばんよいところと肉のいちばんよいところでもてなされた。そのあと小さな男の子と一緒に横になると、夜中にその子がそっと起き上がった。すると鼠が竿の魚や肉をかじる音がした。女はたいそう奇妙に思った。やがて夜明けに男の子がそっと戻ってきて、女のそばに横になり、すっかり明るくなるまでそこで眠った。家の人々が起き、村長は外へ出て、こう独りごちた。「こんな鼠は見たことがない。わしのよい魚とよい肉をかじった鼠がいる」

So the woman bought a quantity of fish and flesh and went off with it. She wanted the little boy to walk in front of her; but he disliked to do so. He would only walk after her. Then there was the sound of a rat nibbling at her load. When she looked back, the little boy was grinning. So they went on; they went home. Then she put both the fish and the flesh into the store-house. Then she whispered to her husband. Then her husband went into the next room, and made a trap. Then the trap was set in the store-house. Then they went to bed. The little boy lay between the woman and her husband; but after awhile he quietly rose and went out. He stayed away, without coming back. Daylight came. On the man of the house going into the store-house, there was a large rat in the trap. So he brought it down, beat it to death, and swept it on to the dust-heap. That night he had a dream. A person of divine aspect spoke to him thus; "You were childless, and wanting to have a child. The most wicked of the rats, seeing this, took the shape of a little boy, and dwelt in your house. For this reason, your village has been polluted. But as you have now killed the rat, all will now be right. I am sorry for you, so you shall have a child." Thus did he dream that the god spoke to him. As it was true, they got a child, though they had been childless.

そこで女は魚と肉をたくさん買って、それを持って出かけた。小さな男の子を前に歩かせたかったが、その子は嫌がった。後ろからついて歩こうとするばかりだった。すると鼠が女の荷をかじる音がした。振り返ると、小さな男の子がにやにや笑っていた。そうして二人は進んでいき、家に帰った。それから女は魚も肉も倉に入れた。それから夫にささやいた。それから夫は隣の部屋へ行って罠をこしらえた。それから罠が倉に仕掛けられた。それから二人は寝床に入った。小さな男の子は女と夫のあいだに寝ていたが、しばらくするとそっと起き上がって出ていった。そのまま戻ってこなかった。夜が明けた。家の主が倉に入ると、罠に大きな鼠がかかっていた。そこで主はそれを持ってきて打ち殺し、ごみの山へ掃き捨てた。その夜、主は夢を見た。神のような姿の者がこう言った。「お前には子がなく、子を欲しがっていた。鼠のなかでいちばん悪いやつがそれを見て、小さな男の子の姿をとり、お前の家に住みついたのだ。そのために、お前の村は穢れていた。だがお前がその鼠を殺したので、これからはすべてうまくいくだろう。お前を気の毒に思うから、子を授けてやろう」神にこう言われる夢を見た。それは本当だったので、子のなかった夫婦に子が授かった。

For this reason, whether it be on the shore or in the mountains or anywhere else that one finds either a child or a puppy, one should not let it dwell in one's house without knowing its origin.--(Translated literally. Told by Penri, 20th July 1886.)

そういうわけで、浜であれ山であれほかのどこであれ、子どもや子犬を見つけたら、その素性を知らずに家に住まわせてはならない。——(逐語訳。語り手ペンリ、1886年7月20日)