The Man who Lost His Legs

There was a merchant in Chong-ju who used to go to Quelpart to buy seaweed. One time when he drew up on the shore he saw a man shuffling along on the ground toward the boat. He crept nearer, and at last took hold of the side with both his hands and jumped in.

チョンジュに、済州へ海藻を買いに行くのを習いにしている商人がいた。あるとき舟を岸に寄せると、一人の男が地面を這うようにして舟のほうへやって来るのが見えた。男はさらに近寄り、とうとう両手で舟べりをつかんで跳び乗った。

"When I looked at him," said the merchant, "I found he was an old man without any legs. Astonished, I asked, saying, 'How is it, old man, that you have lost your legs?'

「見てみると」と商人は言った。「脚のない老人でした。驚いて、わたしは尋ねました。『じいさん、どうして脚をなくしたのだ』と。

"He said in reply, 'I lost my legs on a trip once when I was shipwrecked, and a great fish bit them off.'"

「老人は答えました。『あるとき旅に出て難破して、大きな魚に脚を食いちぎられたのだ』と。」

"However did that happen?" inquired the merchant. And the old man said, "We were caught in a gale and driven till we touched on some island or other. Before us on the shore stood a high castle with a great gateway. The twenty or so of us who were together in the storm-tossed boat were all exhausted from cold and hunger, and lying exposed. We landed and managed to go together to the house. There was in it one man only, whose height was terrible to behold, and whose chest was many spans round. His face was black and his eyes large and rolling. His voice was like the braying of a monster donkey. Our people made motions showing that they wanted something to eat. The man made no reply, but securely fastened the front gate. After this he brought an armful of wood, put it in the middle of the courtyard, and there made a fire. When the fire blazed up he rushed after us and caught a young lad, one of our company, cooked him before our eyes, pulled him to pieces and ate him. We were all reduced to a state of horror, not knowing what to do. We gazed at each other in dismay and stupefaction.

「いったいどうしてそんなことになったのだ」と商人は尋ねた。すると老人は言った。「わしらは大風にあって流され、どこかの島にぶつかった。目の前の岸に、大きな門のある高い城が立っていた。嵐にもまれた舟に一緒に乗っていたわしら二十人ほどは、寒さと空腹ですっかり疲れ果て、雨ざらしで倒れていた。わしらは上陸して、なんとかそろってその家へ行った。そこには男が一人だけいて、その背丈は見るも恐ろしく、胸まわりは何抱えもあった。顔は黒く、目は大きくぎょろぎょろしていた。声は化け物のロバのいななきのようだった。わしらの仲間は、何か食べる物が欲しいと身ぶりで示した。男は何も答えず、表の門をしっかり閉めた。それから男は薪をひと抱え持ってきて、中庭のまんなかに置き、そこで火を焚いた。火が燃え上がると、男はわしらに飛びかかって仲間の若い者を一人つかまえ、わしらの目の前で焼いて、引き裂いて食べてしまった。わしらはみな恐ろしさに打ちのめされて、どうすればよいかわからなかった。わしらはうろたえ呆然として互いの顔を見合った。

"When he had eaten his fill, he went up into a verandah and opened a jar, from which he drank some kind of spirit. After drinking it he uttered the most gruesome and awful noises; his face grew very red and he lay down and slept. His snorings were like the roarings of the thunder. We planned then to make our escape, and so tried to open the large gate, but one leaf was about twenty-four feet across, and so thick and heavy that with all our strength we could not move it. The walls, too, were a hundred and fifty feet high, and so we could do nothing with them. We were like fish in a pot--beyond all possible way of escape. We held each other's hands, and cried.

「男はたらふく食べると、縁側に上がって甕を開け、何かの酒を飲んだ。飲み終わると、この上なくおぞましい恐ろしい声をあげ、顔が真っ赤になって横になって眠った。そのいびきは雷のとどろきのようだった。そこでわしらは逃げようと、大きな門を開けようとしたが、扉の片方の幅は二十四フィートほどもあり、あまりに厚く重くて、力を合わせても動かせなかった。塀も高さが百五十フィートあって、どうにもならなかった。わしらは鍋のなかの魚のようなもので、逃げる手立てはまったくなかった。わしらは手を取り合って泣いた。

"Among us, one man thought of this plan: We had a knife and he took it, and while the monster was drunk and asleep, decided to stab his eyes out, and cut his throat. We said in reply, 'We are all doomed to death, anyway; let's try,' and we made our way up on to the verandah and stabbed his eyes. He gave an awful roar, and struck out on all sides to catch us. We rushed here and there, making our escape out of the court back into the rear garden. There were in this enclosure pigs and sheep, about sixty of them in all. There we rushed, in among the pigs and sheep. He floundered about, waving his two arms after us, but not one of us did he get hold of; we were all mixed up--sheep, pigs and people. When he did catch anything it was a sheep; and when it was not a sheep it was a pig. So he opened the front gate to send all the animals out.

「わしらのなかの一人がこういう計画を思いついた。わしらには小刀が一本あって、その者がそれを取り、化け物が酔って眠っているあいだに、目を突いてのどを切ろうと決めたのだ。わしらは答えて言った。『どうせみな死ぬ運命なのだ。やってみよう』と。そしてわしらは縁側に上がって化け物の目を突いた。化け物は恐ろしい叫びをあげて、わしらをつかまえようと四方に腕を振りまわした。わしらはあちこち逃げまわって、中庭から裏庭へ逃げ出した。この囲いには豚や羊が全部で六十頭ほどいた。わしらはそこへ、豚や羊のなかへ飛び込んだ。化け物は二本の腕をわしらのほうへ振りまわしてじたばたしたが、一人もつかまえられなかった。わしらは羊と豚と人間がすっかり入りまじっていたのだ。何かつかまえたと思うと羊で、羊でないと思うと豚だった。そこで化け物は、獣をみな外へ出そうと表の門を開けた。

"We then each of us took a pig or sheep on the back and made straight for the gate. The monster felt each, and finding it a pig or a sheep let it go. Thus we all got out and rushed for the boat. A little later he came and sat on the bank and roared his threatenings at us. A lot of other giants came at his call. They took steps of thirty feet or so, came racing after us, caught the boat, and made it fast; but we took axes and struck at the hands that held it, and so got free at last and out to the open sea.

「そこでわしらはめいめい豚か羊を背負って、まっすぐ門へ向かった。化け物はひとつずつ触ってみて、豚か羊だとわかると通した。こうしてわしらはみな外へ出て舟へ駆けていった。少しすると化け物がやって来て岸に座り、わしらに向かって脅しの叫びをあげた。その呼び声で、ほかの大男たちが大勢やって来た。大男たちは三十フィートほどの歩幅でわしらを追って駆けてきて、舟をつかまえて動かなくした。けれどもわしらは斧を取って舟をつかんでいる手を打ち、とうとう逃れて沖へ出た。

"Again a great wind arose, and we ran on to the rocks and were all destroyed. Every one was engulfed in the sea and drowned; I alone got hold of a piece of boat-timber and lived. Then there was a horrible fish from the sea that came swimming after me and bit off my legs. At last I drifted back home and here I am.

「また大風が起こって、わしらは岩にぶつかってみな滅びた。誰もかれも海に呑まれて溺れ、わしだけが舟の木切れにつかまって生き延びた。すると海から恐ろしい魚が泳いで追ってきて、わしの脚を食いちぎった。とうとうわしは流されて故郷に戻り、こうしてここにいるのだ。

"When I think of it still, my teeth are cold and my bones shiver. My Eight Lucky Stars are very bad, that's why it happened to me."

「今でもそのことを思うと、歯が冷たくなって骨が震える。わしの八字(パルチャ)がひどく悪いのだ。だからあんな目にあったのだ。」

Anon.

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