The Voice of Death

Once upon a time something happened. If it had not happened, it would not be told.

むかしむかし、あることが起こった。もし起こらなかったのなら、語られることもなかっただろう。

There was once a man who prayed daily to God to grant him riches. One day his numerous and frequent prayers found our Lord in the mood to listen to them. When the man had grown rich he did not want to die, so he resolved to go from country to country and settle wherever he heard that the people lived forever. He prepared for his journey, told his wife his plan, and set off.

むかし、毎日神に富を授けてくださいと祈る男がいた。ある日、その数多くたび重なる祈りが、ちょうど耳を傾ける気分でおられた主に届いた。男は豊かになると、こんどは死にたくなくなった。そこで国から国へ渡り歩き、人が永遠に生きると聞いた土地に住み着こうと心を決めた。旅の支度をし、妻にその心づもりを話して出かけた。

In every country he reached he asked whether people ever died there, and went on at once if he was told that they did. At last he arrived in a land where the inhabitants said they did not know what dying meant. The traveler, full of joy, asked:

着いた国ごとに、ここでは人が死ぬかと尋ね、死ぬと言われればすぐに先へ進んだ。とうとう、住民が「死ぬということが何なのか知らない」と言う土地にたどり着いた。旅人は喜びに満ちて尋ねた。

"But are there not immense crowds of people here, if none of you die?"

「しかし、誰も死なないのなら、ここは人でごった返しているはずではないか。」

"No, there are no immense crowds," was the reply, "for you see, every now and then somebody comes and calls one after another, and whoever follows him, never returns."

「いや、ごった返してなどいない」というのが答えであった。「というのもな、時おり誰かがやってきて、一人また一人と呼ぶのだ。そしてその者について行った者は、二度と戻らない。」

"And do people see the person who calls them?" asked the traveler.

「では、人々には呼びに来る者の姿が見えるのか」と旅人は尋ねた。

"Why shouldn't they see him?" he was answered.

「なぜ見えぬことがあろうか」と答えられた。

The man could not wonder enough at the stupidity of those who followed the person that called them, though they knew that they would be obliged to stay where he took them. Returning home, he collected all his property, and with his wife and children, went to settle in the country where people did not die but were called by a certain person and never came back. He had therefore firmly resolved that neither he nor his family would ever follow any body who called them, no matter who it might be.

男は、呼びに来た者について行く人々の愚かさに、驚いても驚ききれなかった。連れて行かれた先に留まらねばならないと知っていながら、である。家に帰ると全財産をまとめ、妻と子を連れて、人が死なず、ただある者に呼ばれて二度と戻らないというその国へ移り住んだ。そして、自分も家族も、誰であろうと呼びに来た者について行くまいと固く心に決めていた。

So, after he had established himself and arranged all his business affairs, he advised his wife and all his family on no account to follow any one who might call them, if, as he said, they did not want to die.

こうして身を落ち着け、商売の始末をすべて整えたのち、男は妻と家族一同に、誰が呼びに来ようと決してついて行ってはならぬ、死にたくないのならな、と言い含めた。

So they gave themselves up to pleasure, and in this way spent several years. One day, when they were all sitting comfortably in their house, his wife suddenly began to call:

こうして一家は楽しみに身をゆだね、そのようにして幾年かを過ごした。ある日、みなが家でくつろいで座っていると、妻が突然こう呼びはじめた。

"I'm coming, I'm coming!"

「いま行きます、いま行きます!」

And she looked around the room for her fur jacket. Her husband instantly started up, seized her by the hand, and began to reproach her.

そして毛皮の上着を探して部屋を見まわした。夫はすぐさま跳び上がって妻の手を掴み、責めはじめた。

"So you don't heed my advice? Stay here, if you don't want to die."

「わたしの言いつけを守らないのか。ここにいろ、死にたくないのならな。」

"Don't you hear how he is calling me? I'll only see what he wants and come back at once."

「あの人がわたしを呼んでいるのが聞こえないの。何の用か見てくるだけで、すぐ戻りますから。」

And she struggled to escape from her husband's grasp and go.

そして妻は、夫の手から逃れて行こうともがいた。

He held her fast and managed to bolt all the doors in the room. When she saw that, she said:

夫は妻をしっかり押さえ、部屋の戸という戸に閂をかけた。それを見て妻は言った。

"Let me alone, husband, I don't care about going now."

「放してちょうだい、あなた。もう行きたくなくなりました。」

The man thought she had come to her senses and given up her crazy idea, but before long the wife rushed to the nearest door, hurriedly opened it, and ran out. Her husband followed, holding her by her fur sack and entreating her not to go, for she would never return. She let her hands fall, bent backward, then leaned a little forward and suddenly threw herself back, slipping off her sack and leaving it in her husband's grasp, who stood stock still staring after her as she rushed on, screaming with all her might:

夫は、妻が正気に返って馬鹿げた考えを捨てたのだと思った。しかしまもなく妻はいちばん近い戸に駆け寄り、慌ただしく開けて外へ走り出た。夫は毛皮の上着を掴んで追いかけ、行かないでくれ、戻れなくなるのだからと懇願した。妻は両手をだらりと下げ、身を後ろへ反らし、それから少し前へ傾き、突然また後ろへ身を投げ出して上着から抜け出た。上着は夫の手に残された。夫は棒立ちのまま、妻が力のかぎり叫びながら駆けていくのを見送るほかなかった。

"I'm coming, I'm coming."

「いま行きます、いま行きます。」

When he could see her no longer, the husband collected his senses, went back to the house, and said:

妻の姿が見えなくなると、夫は気を取り直して家に戻り、こう言った。

"If you are mad and want to die, go in God's name, I can't help you; I've told you often enough that you must follow no one, no matter who called you."

「気が触れて死にたいのなら、神の御名において行くがいい。わたしにはどうしようもない。誰が呼んでも、決してついて行ってはならぬと、あれほど言ったのに。」

Days passed, many days; weeks, months, years followed, and the peace of the man's household was not disturbed again.

日が過ぎ、多くの日が過ぎた。幾週、幾月、幾年が続き、この男の家の平穏が乱されることは二度となかった。

But at last one morning, when he went to his barber's as usual to be shaved, just as he had the soap on his chin, and the shop was full of people, he began to shout:

ところがとうとうある朝、いつものように床屋へ髭を剃りに行き、ちょうど顎に石鹸を塗られ、店が客でいっぱいだったとき、男は叫びはじめた。

"I won't come, do you hear, I won't come!"

「行かんぞ、聞こえるか、行かんぞ!」

The barber and his customers all stared in amazement. The man, looking toward the door, said again: "Take notice, once for all, that I won't come, and go away from there."

床屋も客もみな、あっけにとられて見つめた。男は戸口のほうを見て、また言った。「はっきりと言っておく。わたしは行かん。そこから立ち去れ。」

Afterward he cried:

それから叫んだ。

"Go away, do you hear, if you want to get off with a whole skin, for I tell you a thousand times I won't come."

「立ち去れ、聞こえるか。無事な体で済ませたいならな。千度でも言うが、わたしは行かんぞ。」

Then, as if some one was standing at the door constantly calling him, he grew angry and raved at the person for not leaving him in peace. At last he sprang up and snatched the razor from the barber's hand, crying:

それから、まるで誰かが戸口に立ってひっきりなしに呼んでいるかのように、男は腹を立て、放っておいてくれないその者を罵った。とうとう跳び上がり、床屋の手から剃刀をひったくって叫んだ。

"Give it to me, that I may show him what it is to continually annoy people."

「よこせ。人をしつこく煩わせるとはどういうことか、思い知らせてやる。」

And he ran at full speed after the person who, he said, was calling him, but whom nobody else could see. The poor barber, who did not want to lose his razor, followed. The man ran, the barber pursued, till they passed beyond the city limits, and, just outside of the town, the man fell into a chasm from which he did not come out again, so he also, like all the rest, followed the voice that called him.

そして、自分を呼んでいると言うその者——ほかの誰にも見えない者——を追って、全速力で走り出した。剃刀をなくしたくない哀れな床屋も後を追った。男は走り、床屋は追い、ついに町境を越えた。そして町のすぐ外で、男は深い裂け目に落ち、二度と出てこなかった。こうして男もまた、ほかのみなと同じく、自分を呼ぶ声について行ったのである。

The barber, who returned home panting for breath, told everybody he met what had happened and so the belief spread through the country that the people, who had gone away and not returned, had fallen into that gulf, for until then no one had known what became of those who followed the person that summoned them.

息を切らして帰ってきた床屋は、出会う人ごとに起こったことを話した。こうして、去って戻らなかった人々はあの深い淵に落ちたのだという言い伝えが国じゅうに広まった。それまでは、呼びに来た者について行った人々がどうなったのか、誰も知らなかったのである。

When a throng set out to visit the scene of misfortune, to see the insatiable gulf which swallowed up all the people and yet never had enough, nothing was found; it looked as if, since the beginning of the world, nothing had been there except a broad plain, and from that time the population of the neighborhood began to die like the human beings in the rest of the earth.

人々が大勢連れ立って、その災いの場所を——あらゆる人を呑み込みながら決して足りることのない、あの飽くなき淵を——見に出かけたとき、そこには何も見つからなかった。まるで世の初めから、広い平原のほかには何もなかったかのようであった。そしてその時から、この界隈の人々も、地上のほかの人間と同じように死にはじめたのである。