The Wood Sprite

One day the daughter of a pope, without asking leave of her mother or her father, went for a walk into the wood, and utterly lost her way. Three years went by. Now, in this wood, in which her mother and father lived, there was a bold hunter. On every holy day he used to go hunting with his gun and his dog in the dreamy forest.

ある日、一人の司祭の娘が、母にも父にも断らずに森へ散歩に出かけ、すっかり道に迷ってしまった。三年が過ぎた。さて、その母と父が住んでいたこの森に、一人の大胆な猟師がいた。祭日ごとに銃と犬を連れて、眠たげな森へ狩りに行くのだった。

One day he went into the wood, and the hairs of his dog bristled up. Then the hunter looked, and in front of him there was a stump on the wood path, and a Peasant stood on the stump and was cleaning his bast shoe. He went on with his shoe and was threatening the moon: “Light, give me light, clear moon.” It was all very strange to the hunter. “Why does this Peasant,” he thought, “live by himself? He looks so young, but his hair is quite grey.”

ある日、彼が森へ入ると、犬の毛が逆立った。そこで猟師が見ると、目の前の森の小道に切り株があり、その切り株の上に一人の百姓が立って樹皮靴を掃除していた。その男は靴の手入れを続けながら、月を脅していた。「光れ、光をくれ、澄んだ月よ」。猟師にはすべてが奇妙だった。「なぜこの百姓は」と彼は思った。「独りで暮らしているのだろう。あんなに若く見えるのに、髪はすっかり灰色だ」

He only thought this, but the Peasant guessed his thought and said, “Why am I grey? Because I am the Devil’s grandfather.”

そう思っただけなのに、その百姓は考えを見抜いて言った。「なぜおれの髪が灰色かって。おれは悪魔の祖父だからさ」

Then the hunter understood that it was no mere peasant he saw, but the Wood Sprite, and he aimed at him with his gun, Bang! and he hit him in the belly. The Wood Sprite groaned, almost fell down from the stump, and that very instant jumped up again and crept into the thicket. After him ran the dog, and after the dog ran the hunter. So he went on and on and on, and he came up to the mountains, and on one of the mountains there was a fissure, and in the fissure stood a little hut.

そこで猟師は、目にしているのがただの百姓ではなく森の精だと悟り、銃で狙いをつけ、ばん! と腹に当てた。森の精はうめき、切り株から落ちかけたが、その瞬間にまた跳び上がって茂みへ這い込んだ。犬がそのあとを追い、犬のあとを猟師が追った。そうして歩きに歩きに歩いて、山々のところへ来た。その山の一つに裂け目があり、裂け目のなかに小さな小屋が建っていた。

He entered the hut and looked, and there was the Wood Sprite rolling on a bench, absolutely out of breath, and beside him a maiden who was weeping bitterly. “Who will now give me food and drink?”

彼は小屋に入って見た。すると森の精が長椅子の上で転げ回り、まったく息も絶え絶えで、そのそばで一人の娘が苦く泣いていた。「これからは誰がわたしに食べ物と飲み物をくれるの」

“Hail, fair maiden!” said the hunter; “tell me what you are and whence.”

「よう、美しい娘さん!」と猟師は言った。「あなたが何者で、どこから来たのか言ってください」

“O doughty youth, I do not know myself: I have never seen the free world, and I have never known my father and mother.”

「おお勇ましい若者よ、わたしは自分でもわかりません。自由な世を見たことがなく、父も母も知らないのです」

“Well, come quickly, I will take you back to Holy Russia.” So he took her with him and led her out of the wood, and he went through the villages, inquiring of all of the places. Now, this maiden had been taken away by the Wood Sprite, and had lived with him for three whole years, and she had been enclosed and cut off, and was almost entirely naked, but she had no shame. Then they came to the village, and the huntsman began to ask whether anyone had lost a maiden.

「では早く来なさい。聖なるロシアへ連れて帰ってあげよう」。そこで彼は娘を連れて森から導き出し、村々を通ってあちこちで尋ねて回った。さてこの娘は森の精に攫われて、まる三年いっしょに暮らし、閉じ込められ隔てられていて、ほとんど丸裸だったが、恥じらいがなかった。やがて二人は村に着き、猟師は誰か娘を失った者はいないかと尋ねはじめた。

Then the pope said, “This is my daughter.” And the pope’s wife came: “Oh, my dear daughter, where have you been so long? I never thought I should see you any more.”

すると司祭が言った。「これはわたしの娘です」。そして司祭の妻が来た。「ああ、いとしい娘や、こんなに長いことどこにいたの。もう二度と会えないと思っていた」

Then the daughter looked at them, but was simply staggered and understood nothing, and only afterwards, little by little, came to herself. The pope and his wife gave her in marriage to the huntsman and rewarded him with all good things.

すると娘は二人を見たが、ただ呆然として何もわからず、そのあとになって少しずつ我に返った。司祭と妻は娘を猟師に嫁がせ、あらゆるよきものを与えて報いた。

Then they went to look for the izbá[33] in which she had lived with the Wood Sprite. They wandered far into the woods, but could not find it.

それから一同は、娘が森の精と暮らしていたイズバー [33] を探しに行った。森の奥深くまでさまよったが、見つけられなかった。