How Children Became Monkeys

Bukidnon (Mindanao)

ブキドノン(ミンダナオ)

One day a mother took her two children with her when she went to color cloth. Not far from her home was a mud hole [119] where the carabao liked to wallow, and to this hole she carried her cloth, some dye pots, and two shell spoons.

ある日、母が布を染めに行くとき、二人の子を連れていった。家から遠くないところにカラバオが転がるのを好む泥の穴 [119] があり、そしてこの穴に彼女は布と染めの壺いくつかと貝の匙二つを運んだ。

After she had put the cloth into the mud to let it take up the dark color, she built a fire and put over it a pot containing water and the leaves used for dyeing. Then she sat down to wait for the water to boil, while the children played near by.

布を泥に入れて暗い色を吸わせたあと、彼女は火を焚き、水と染めに使う葉の入った壺をその上に置いた。それから水が煮え立つのを待つために腰を下ろし、そのあいだ子どもたちはすぐ近くで遊んでいた。

By and by when she went to stir the leaves with a shell spoon, some of the water splashed up and burned her hand, so that she jumped and cried out. This amused the children and their laughter changed them into monkeys, and the spoons became their tails. [120]

やがて貝の匙で葉をかき混ぜに行ったとき、水が少し跳ね上がって手を焼いたので、彼女は跳び上がって声を上げた。これは子どもたちを面白がらせ、そしてその笑いが二人を猿に変え、そして匙は尾になった。[120]

The nails of the monkeys are still black, because while they were children they had helped their mother dye the cloth.

猿の爪はいまでも黒い。子どもだったときに母が布を染めるのを手伝ったからである。