Don't throw Useful Things away

A certain man had a little boy. A divine little boy and a divine little girl used to come and play with him every day. But the little boy alone could see them. His parents could not see them, but believed their child to be alone.

ある男に小さな男の子がいた。神の男の子と神の女の子が、毎日その子と遊びにやって来た。けれども二人が見えるのはその男の子だけだった。両親には見えず、自分たちの子は一人でいるのだと思っていた。

Now one day he fell ill, and during his illness his two playmates did not come to see him. Only at the very last did they come, when he seemed to be on the point of death. Then they came, and the little girl said: "We know the cause of your illness. Your grandfather possessed a beautiful axe. I myself am a small tray which he fashioned with that axe, and the little boy who comes with me is a pestle which was also fashioned with it. So the axe was our chieftain, and we are its children. But your father has been bad. He has thrown away the axe, which is now rusting under the floor. For this are you ill, in order to punish your father, because our chieftain the axe is angry. Therefore, as we were your playmates, we have come to warn you that, if you wish to live, you must tell your father to search for the axe, to polish it, to make a new handle for it, and to set up the divine symbols in its honour. Then may you be cured, and the axe too will pay you a visit in human shape."

さてある日、男の子は病気になった。病気のあいだ、二人の遊び友だちは会いに来なかった。いよいよ最後、男の子が死にかけているように見えたときになって、ようやく来た。そのとき二人は来て、女の子が言った。「あなたの病気のわけを知っています。あなたのおじいさまは美しい斧を持っていました。わたしはおじいさまがその斧でこしらえた小さな盆で、一緒に来ているこの男の子も、同じ斧でこしらえた杵なのです。だから斧はわたしたちの首長で、わたしたちはその子どもです。けれどもあなたのお父さまが悪かったのです。斧を捨ててしまい、斧は今、床下で錆びています。わたしたちの首長である斧が怒っているので、お父さまを罰するために、あなたは病気なのです。ですから、わたしたちはあなたの遊び友だちだったので、知らせに来たのです。生きたいなら、お父さまに斧を探して、磨き、新しい柄をつけ、斧のためにイナウ(神に捧げる削り掛け)を立てるよう言いなさい。そうすればあなたは治り、斧も人の姿であなたを訪ねてくるでしょう」

So the boy told his father of this. The father thought that his son had been instructed in a dream. He searched under the floor of the house, and found the axe, and polished it, and made a new handle for it, and set up the divine symbols in its honour. Then his son was immediately healed.

そこで男の子はこのことを父に話した。父は、息子が夢で教えられたのだと思った。家の床下を探して斧を見つけ、磨いて新しい柄をつけ、斧のためにイナウを立てた。すると息子はたちまち治った。

After that, the axe (who appeared as a very handsome man), the tray, and the pestle all came, and became the little boy's brothers and sisters. The axe, being a god, knew all that went on and the causes of everything; and it and the tray and the pestle used always to tell the boy everything. Thus, if any one was sick, he knew why the sickness had come, and how it should be treated. He was looked upon as a great soothsayer and wizard, who could turn death into life. This was because other people only saw him. They did not see his divine informants, the axe, the tray, and the pestle.

そのあと斧(たいそう見目のよい男の姿で現れた)と盆と杵がみなやって来て、男の子の兄弟姉妹になった。斧は神なので、起こることもあらゆることのわけもみな知っていた。そして斧と盆と杵は、いつも男の子に何でも話した。そうして、だれかが病気になると、男の子はなぜその病気になったのか、どう手当てすればよいかを知っていた。男の子は、死を生に変えることのできる大いなる占い師、魔法使いとみなされた。それは、ほかの人々には男の子しか見えなかったからである。知らせてくれる神々——斧と盆と杵——は見えなかったのだ。

For this reason never throw away anything that has belonged to your ancestors. You will be punished by the gods if you do so.

だから、先祖のものだったものは決して捨ててはならない。捨てれば神々に罰せられるだろう。

[In a variant of this tale, the death of child after child borne by a certain woman was owing to the fact that the doll with which she herself had played as a child (a piece of wood shaped like a bird) had been thrown away in the grass, and had thus had its anger aroused. A conversation on the subject between the spoon, the cup, and the iron chain whereby the kettle is hung over the fire from a hook in the ceiling, is overheard by a half-burnt piece of firewood, who warns the woman's husband in a dream. The doll is then looked for; and, when found, the divine symbols are set up in its honour. Thereupon the woman bears again. This time the child survives, to the delight of both its parents.]--(Written down from memory. Told by Ishanashte, 2nd December, 1886.)

[この話の異伝では、ある女の産む子が次々と死んだのは、その女が子どものころに遊んだ人形(鳥の形をした木切れ)が草むらに捨てられて、その怒りをかったためだった。匙と椀と、天井の鉤から鍋を火の上に吊るす鉄の鎖とのあいだで交わされたこのことについての話を、燃えさしの薪が漏れ聞き、夢で女の夫に知らせる。そこで人形が探され、見つかると、そのためにイナウが立てられる。すると女はまた子を産む。今度はその子が生き延び、両親はたいそう喜ぶ。]——(記憶から書き留めた。語り手イシャナシテ、1886年12月2日)