The Husband who Was to Mind the House

Once on a time there was a man, so surly and cross, he never thought his wife did anything right in the house. So, one evening, in hay-making time, he came home, scolding and swearing, and showing his teeth and making a dust.

むかしむかし、たいそう気難しく気短な男がいて、女房が家のことで何一つまともにできていないと思っていた。そこである日の夕方、草刈りの時分に、彼は叱って罵り、歯をむいて騒ぎ立てながら帰ってきた。

“Dear love, don’t be so angry; there’s a good man”, said his goody; “to-morrow let’s change our work. I’ll go out with the mowers and mow, and you shall mind the house at home.”

「ねえあなた、そんなに怒らないで。いい人だから」と女房は言った。「明日は仕事を取り替えましょう。わたしが草刈りたちと出て草を刈りますから、あなたは家で家のことをしてくださいな。」

Yes! the husband thought that would do very well. He was quite willing, he said.

はい! 亭主はそれで結構だと思った。喜んでそうしようと言った。

So, early next morning, his goody took a scythe over her neck, and went out into the hay-field with the mowers, and began to mow; but the man was to mind the house, and do the work at home.

そこで翌朝早く、女房は大鎌を首にかけて草刈りたちと干し草の野へ出て、草を刈りはじめた。だが亭主は家の番をして、家の仕事をすることになった。

First of all, he wanted to churn the butter; but when he had churned a while, he got thirsty, and went down to the cellar to tap a barrel of ale. So, just when he had knocked in the bung, and was putting the tap into the cask, he heard overhead the pig come into the kitchen. Then off he ran up the cellar steps, with the tap in his hand, as fast as he could, to look after the pig, lest it should upset the churn; but when he got up, and saw the pig had already knocked the churn over, and stood there, routing and grunting amongst the cream which was running all over the floor, he got so wild with rage that he quite forgot the ale-barrel, and ran at the pig as hard as he could. He caught it, too, just as it ran out of doors, and gave it such a kick, that piggy lay for dead on the spot.

まず何より、彼はバターを撹きたかった。ところがしばらく撹いていると喉が渇いてきて、エールの樽から酒を注ごうと地下室へ下りた。そして栓の穴を打ち抜いて、樽に栓を差し込もうとしたちょうどそのとき、頭の上で豚が台所に入ってくる音が聞こえた。そこで彼は栓を手に持ったまま、できるかぎりの速さで地下室の階段を駆け上がった。豚が撹き桶を引っくり返さぬよう見に行ったのである。ところが上がってみると、豚はもう撹き桶を倒してしまっていて、床じゅうに流れ出たクリームのなかで鼻を鳴らしながら立っていた。そこで彼は怒り狂ってエールの樽のことをすっかり忘れ、力のかぎり豚に襲いかかった。そして豚が戸口から駆け出すちょうどそのときに捕まえて蹴りつけたので、豚はその場で死んで横たわった。

Then all at once he remembered he had the tap in his hand; but when he got down to the cellar, every drop of ale had run out of the cask.

そのときふと、栓を手に持ったままだったことを思い出した。ところが地下室へ下りてみると、エールは樽から一滴残らず流れ出てしまっていた。

Then he went into the dairy and found enough cream left to fill the churn again, and so he began to churn, for butter they must have at dinner. When he had churned a bit, he remembered that their milking cow was still shut up in the byre, and hadn’t had a bit to eat or a drop to drink all the morning, though the sun was high. Then all at once he thought ’twas too far to take her down to the meadow, so he’d just get her up on the house top-for the house, you must know, was thatched with sods, and a fine crop of grass was growing there. Now their house lay close up against a steep down, and he thought if he laid a plank across to the thatch at the back he’d easily get the cow up.

そこで彼は乳部屋へ行って、撹き桶をもう一度満たせるだけのクリームが残っているのを見つけ、また撹きはじめた。昼餉にはバターが要るからである。しばらく撹いていると、乳牛をまだ牛小屋に閉じ込めたままで、日が高いのに朝からひと口の食べ物も一滴の水もやっていないことを思い出した。するとふと、草地まで連れていくのは遠すぎると思った。それなら屋根の上に上げてやればよい——というのも知っておいてほしいのだが、その家は芝で葺いてあって、そこには見事な草が生えていたのである。さてその家は切り立った丘のすぐそばに建っていたので、裏の屋根へ板を渡せば牛を楽に上げられると思った。

But still he couldn’t leave the churn, for there was his little babe crawling about on the floor, and “if I leave it”, he thought, “the child is safe to upset it”. So he took the churn on his back, and went out with it; but then he thought he’d better first water the cow before he turned her out on the thatch; so he took up a bucket to draw water out of the well; but, as he stooped down at the well’s brink, all the cream ran out of the churn over his shoulders, and so down into the well.

だがそれでも撹き桶を離れるわけにいかなかった。床には小さな赤子が這い回っていて、「離れたら」と彼は思った。「この子が引っくり返すに決まっている」。そこで撹き桶を背負って外へ出た。だがそれから、牛を屋根に放つ前にまず水をやったほうがよいと思った。そこで手桶を取って井戸から水を汲もうとした。ところが井戸の縁で身をかがめると、クリームがすっかり肩越しに撹き桶からこぼれて、井戸のなかへ落ちてしまった。

Now it was near dinner-time, and he hadn’t even got the butter yet; so he thought he’d best boil the porridge, and filled the pot with water, and hung it over the fire. When he had done that, he thought the cow might perhaps fall off the thatch and break her legs or her neck. So he got up on the house to tie her up. One end of the rope he made fast to the cow’s neck and the other he slipped down the chimney and tied round his own thigh; and he had to make haste, for the water now began to boil in the pot, and he had still to grind the oatmeal.

さてもう昼餉どきが近かったのに、バターさえまだできていなかった。そこで粥を炊くのがいちばんよかろうと思い、鍋に水を満たして火にかけた。それが済むと、牛が屋根から落ちて脚か首を折るかもしれないと思った。そこで屋根に上がって牛をつないだ。縄の一方の端を牛の首に結び、もう一方の端を煙突から下ろして自分の腿に結びつけた。そして急がねばならなかった。鍋の水がもう煮えはじめていて、まだ燕麦を挽かねばならなかったのである。

So he began to grind away; but while he was hard at it, down fell the cow off the house-top after all, and as she fell, she dragged the man up the chimney by the rope. There he stuck fast; and as for the cow, she hung half-way down the wall, swinging between heaven and earth, for she could neither get down nor up.

そこで挽きはじめた。ところが懸命にやっているさなかに、とうとう牛が屋根から落ちてしまい、落ちるときに縄で男を煙突へ引き上げた。彼はそこにつかえて動けなくなった。そして牛はといえば、壁の途中にぶら下がって、天と地のあいだで揺れていた。下りることも上がることもできなかったのである。

And now the goody had waited seven lengths and seven breadths for her husband to come and call them home to dinner; but never a call they had. At last she thought she’d waited long enough, and went home. But when she got there and saw the cow hanging in such an ugly place, she ran up and cut the rope in two with her scythe. But as she did this, down came her husband out of the chimney; and so when his old dame came inside the kitchen, there she found him standing on his head in the porridge pot.

さて女房は、亭主が来て昼餉に呼んでくれるのを七つの長さと七つの幅ほども待っていた。だが呼び声はいっこうにかからなかった。とうとう十分待ったと思って家へ帰った。ところが着いてみると、牛があんな妙なところにぶら下がっているので、駆け寄って大鎌で縄を切った。ところがそうすると、亭主が煙突から落ちてきた。そこで女房が台所に入ってみると、亭主は粥の鍋に逆さまに突っ込んで立っていた。