The Man with the Cocoanuts

Tinguian

ティンギアン

One day a man who had been to gather his cocoanuts loaded his horse heavily with the fruit. On the way home he met a boy whom he asked how long it would take to reach the house.

ある日、椰子の実を集めに行っていた男が、その実を馬に重く積んだ。家への道で一人の子に出会い、家に着くまでどれくらいかかるかと尋ねた。

"If you go slowly," said the boy, looking at the load on the horse, "you will arrive very soon; but if you go fast, it will take you all day."

「ゆっくり行けば」と、子は馬の積み荷を見ながら言った。「たいそう早く着くでしょう。でも速く行けば、一日かかるでしょう。」

The man could not believe this strange speech, so he hurried his horse. But the cocoanuts fell off and he had to stop to pick them up. Then he hurried his horse all the more to make up for lost time, but the cocoanuts fell off again. Many times he did this, and it was night when he reached home. [90]

男はこの奇妙な言葉を信じられなかったので、馬を急がせた。けれども椰子の実が落ちてしまい、そして拾うために止まらなければならなかった。それから彼は失った時を埋め合わせるために馬をいっそう急がせたけれども、椰子の実はまた落ちた。何度もこうして、そして家に着いたときには夜だった。[90]