The Virtue of the Cocoanut

Visayan

ビサヤ

One day a man took his blow-gun [163]and his dog and went to the forest to hunt. As he was making his way through the thick woods he chanced upon a young cocoanut tree growing in the ground.

ある日、男が吹き矢筒 [163] と犬を連れて狩りに森へ行った。厚い森を進んでいくと、地に育っている若い椰子の木に行き当たった。

It was the first tree of this kind that he had ever seen, and it seemed so peculiar to him that he stopped to look at it.

これはこの種の木で彼が見た初めてのものであり、そしてたいそう風変わりに思えたので、彼は足を止めてそれを眺めた。

When he had gone some distance farther, his attention was attracted by a noisy bird in a tree, and he shot it with his blow-gun. By and by he took aim at a large monkey, which mocked him from another treetop, and that, too, fell dead at his feet.

少し先へ進んだとき、木でうるさく鳴く鳥に気を引かれ、そして彼は吹き矢筒でそれを撃った。やがて別の木の梢から自分を嘲る大きな猿に狙いをつけ、そしてそれもまた彼の足元に落ちて死んだ。

Then he heard his dog barking furiously in the distant bushes, and hastening to it he found it biting a wild pig. After a hard struggle he killed the pig, and then, feeling satisfied with his success, he took the three animals on his back and returned to the little plant.

それから遠くの茂みで犬が激しく吠えるのが聞こえ、そして急いで行ってみると、犬が猪に噛みついているのを見つけた。激しくもみ合ったあと彼は猪を殺し、そしてそれから首尾に満足を覚えて、その三匹の獣を背に負い、あの小さな苗のところへ戻った。

"I have decided to take you home with me, little plant," he said, "for I like you and you may be of some use to me."

「おまえをわたしと一緒に家へ連れていくことに決めたよ、小さな苗よ」と彼は言った。「おまえが好きだし、それに何かの役に立つかもしれないからな。」

He dug up the plant very carefully and started home, but he had not gone far when he noticed that the leaves had begun to wilt, and he did not know what to do, since he had no water. Finally, in despair, he cut the throat of the bird and sprinkled the blood on the cocoanut. No sooner had he done this than the plant began to revive, and he continued his journey.

彼はたいそう気をつけてその苗を掘り出して家へ向かった。けれども遠くまで行かないうちに葉が萎れ始めたのに気づき、そしてどうしたらよいか分からなかった。水を持っていなかったからである。とうとう思い余って、彼は鳥の喉を切って、その血を椰子に振りかけた。そうするとすぐにこの苗は生気を取り戻し、そして彼は旅を続けた。

Before he had gone far, however, the leaves again began to wilt, and this time he revived it with the blood of the monkey. Then he hastened on, but a third time the leaves wilted, and he was compelled to stop and revive it with the blood of the pig. This was his last animal, so he made all the haste possible to reach home before his plant died. The cocoanut began to wilt again before he reached his house, but when he planted it in the ground, it quickly revived, and grew into a tall tree.

けれども遠くまで行かないうちに、また葉が萎れ始め、そしてこのときは猿の血で生気を取り戻させた。それから彼は急いだけれども、三度めに葉が萎れ、そして足を止めて猪の血で生気を取り戻させなければならなかった。これが最後の獣だったので、苗が死ぬ前に家に着くためにできるだけ急いだ。椰子は家に着く前にまた萎れ始めたけれども、地に植えると素早く生気を取り戻し、そして背高い木に育った。

This hunter was the first man to take the liquor called tuba [164] from the cocoanut tree, and he and his friends began to drink it. After they had become very fond of it, the hunter said to his friends:

この狩人が、椰子の木からトゥバ [164] と呼ばれる酒を取った最初の男であり、そして彼と友たちはそれを飲み始めた。それをたいそう好むようになったあと、この狩人は友たちに言った。

"The cocoanut tree is like the three animals whose blood gave it life when it would have died. The man who drinks three or four cups of tuba becomes like the noisy bird that I shot with my blow-gun. One who drinks more than three or four cups becomes like the big monkey that acts silly; and one who becomes drunk is like the pig that sleeps even in a mud-hole."

「椰子の木は、死ぬはずだったときにその血が命を与えたあの三匹の獣のようなものだ。トゥバを三杯か四杯飲む男は、わたしが吹き矢筒で撃ったあのうるさい鳥のようになる。三杯か四杯より多く飲む者は、たわけた振る舞いをするあの大きな猿のようになる。そして酔い潰れる者は、泥の穴のなかでさえ眠るあの猪のようになるのだ。」