How One Went Out to Woo

Once on a time there was a lad who went out to woo him a wife. Amongst other places, he came to a farm-house, where the household were little better than beggars; but when the wooer came in, they wanted to make out that they were well to do, as you may guess. Now the husband had got a new arm to his coat.

むかしむかし、嫁取りに出かけた若者がいた。あちこち回るうちに、ある農家へ来た。その家の者たちは乞食とさして変わらぬ暮らしだったが、お察しのとおり、求婚者が入ってくると、暮らし向きのよいふりをしようとした。さて亭主は上着の片袖だけを新しくしていた。

“Pray, take a seat”, he said to the wooer; “but there’s a shocking dust in the house.”

「どうぞお掛けください」と亭主は求婚者に言った。「それにしても、家の中がひどい埃で。」

So he went about rubbing and wiping all the benches and tables with his new arm, but he kept the other all the while behind his back.

そう言って亭主は、新しい袖で長椅子や卓をあちこち拭いてまわったが、もう片方の腕はそのあいだずっと背中に隠していた。

The wife she had got one new shoe, and she went stamping and sliding with it up against the stools and chairs, saying, “How untidy it is here! Everything is out of its place!”

女房は片方の靴だけを新しくしていて、それで床几や椅子に向かってどすんどすんと足を踏み鳴らし滑らせながら、「なんて散らかっているのかしら! 何もかも置き場所がめちゃくちゃ!」と言った。

Then they called out to their daughter to come down and put things to rights; but the daughter, she had got a new cap; so she put her head in at the door, and kept nodding and nodding, first to this side, and then to that.

それから二人は、降りてきて片づけるようにと娘を呼んだ。ところが娘は新しい頭巾をかぶっていたので、戸口から頭だけを突き入れて、まずこちらへ、次にあちらへと、しきりにうなずいてみせた。

“Well! for my part”, she said, “I can’t be everywhere at once.”

「まあ! わたしは」と娘は言った。「一度にあちこちには行けませんわ。」

Aye! aye! that was a well-to-do household the wooer had come to.

いやはや! 求婚者が訪ねてきたのは、なんとも暮らし向きのよい家であった。