The Kadambawa Men and the Dream

When some Kadambawa men, having joined together, were going away to Puttalam, it became night while they were on the road. Having got a resting-place, and cooked and eaten, while they were sleeping a tusk elephant appeared to a man in a dream.

カダンバワの男たちが連れ立ってプッタラムへ出かけたとき、道中で夜になった。休む場所を得て、煮炊きして食べ、眠っているあいだに、一人の男の夢に牙のある象が現れた。

On the morning of the following day the man said to the other men, "Friends, last night I saw an evil dream."

翌朝、その男はほかの男たちに言った。「友よ、ゆうべ悪い夢を見た」

The men asked, "What was in the dream?"

男たちが尋ねた。「どんな夢だ?」

The man said, "I saw a tusk elephant."

その男は言った。「牙のある象を見た」

Then the men began to interpret the dream. They said, "What is the meaning? If there is a tusk elephant there will be elephant's dung; if elephant's dung, paddy [which the elephant has eaten]; if paddy, uncooked rice; if uncooked rice, cooked rice; if cooked rice, it is a thing [found only] in the village. Therefore the elephant means the village. Something must have happened. It is useless for us to go on. Let us go back to the village." So all, weeping and weeping, set out to return to the village.

そこで男たちは夢解きを始めた。そして言った。「どういう意味だ。牙のある象がいれば象の糞がある。象の糞があれば〔象が食べた〕籾がある。籾があれば生米がある。生米があれば炊いた飯がある。炊いた飯といえば、村に〔しか〕ないものだ。だからこの象は村のことだ。何か起きたにちがいない。先へ行っても甲斐がない。村へ引き返そう」。そこで一同は泣きながら泣きながら、村へ帰ろうと出発した。

As they came to the rice field of the village, the women and boys of the village having heard the men coming crying and crying aloud, said, "Ane! Our men are coming crying and crying. What is it? It will be a dreadful thing." So the women and boys, having come from the houses to that side of the field before those men came across, began to cry also.

村の田まで来ると、村の女たちや子どもたちが、男たちが大声で泣きながら来るのを聞いて言った。「アネ! うちの男たちが泣きながら来る。何ごとだろう。恐ろしいことにちがいない」。そこで女たちや子どもたちは、男たちが田を渡ってくる前に家から田のこちら側へ出てきて、やはり泣きはじめた。

On seeing them, the man who saw the dream said to those other men, "Look there! Did I tell you falsely?" Then the men cried the more. Having seen it, these boys and women, they also cried more and more. The two parties having come quite near each other still cried. The women and boys on that side of the stile [at the edge of the field], these men on the field side of it, except that they cried said nothing.

それを見て、夢を見た男はほかの男たちに言った。「見ろ! おれが嘘を言ったか?」 すると男たちはいっそう泣いた。それを見て、子どもたちも女たちもいっそうますます泣いた。二組はすぐ近くまで来てもなお泣いていた。女たちと子どもたちは〔田の端の〕踏み越し段の向こう側、男たちは田の側にいて、泣くばかりで何も言わなかった。

While they were crying and crying until it became night, as a man from another village was going along the path he heard this uproar, and came to see what it was. He asked at the hand of the men, "What is it? Who is dead?"

夜になるまで泣きに泣いていると、別の村の男が道を通りかかってこの騒ぎを聞きつけ、何ごとかと見に来た。男は男たちに尋ねた。「どうした? 誰が死んだのだ?」

Then the men, crying and crying, said, "Who is dead we don't know."

すると男たちは泣きながら言った。「誰が死んだのかはわからない」

After that, the man having gone near those women and boys, asked, "What is it? Who is dead?"

そのあと男は女たちと子どもたちのそばへ行って尋ねた。「どうした? 誰が死んだのだ?」

Then those persons also said, crying and crying, "Who is dead we don't know."

するとこの者たちもまた泣きながら言った。「誰が死んだのかはわからない」

Afterwards the man having stopped the crying of both parties, when he had asked them about it, there was nothing dreadful. So the man went away, and these men and women and boys, they also went to their houses.

そのあと男が両方の泣くのをやめさせて事情を尋ねてみると、恐ろしいことは何もなかった。そこで男は去っていき、男たちも女たちも子どもたちも、みな家へ帰った。