The Boy who Snared the Sun

At the time when the animals reigned on the earth they had killed all but a girl and her little brother, and these two were living in fear and seclusion. The boy was a perfect pigmy, never growing beyond the stature of a small infant, but the girl increased with her years, so that the labour of providing food and lodging devolved wholly on her. She went out daily to get wood for their lodge fire, and took her brother with her so that no accident might happen to him, for he was too little to leave alone--a big bird might have flown away with him. She made him a bow and arrows, and said to him one winter day--

獣たちが大地を治めていたころ、獣たちは一人の娘とその小さな弟のほかはみな殺してしまい、この二人は恐れながら人目を避けて暮らしていた。少年はまったくの小人で、小さな赤ん坊ほどの背丈より大きくならなかったが、娘は年とともに大きくなったので、食べ物と住まいを用意する仕事はすべて娘の肩にかかった。娘は毎日小屋の火にくべる薪を取りに出かけ、弟に何か事故が起こらないよう一緒に連れていった。弟は一人で置いておくには小さすぎたからである——大きな鳥にさらわれるかもしれなかった。娘は弟に弓矢をこしらえてやり、ある冬の日に言った——

"I will leave you behind where I have been chopping; you must hide yourself, and you will see the gitshee-gitshee-gaun ai see-ug, or snow-birds, come and pick the worms out of the wood, where I have been chopping. Shoot one of them and bring it home."

「わたしが木を切っていたところにあなたを置いていくわ。隠れていなさい。そうすれば、ギッシーギッシーガウン・アイ・シーアグ、つまり雪の鳥たちが、わたしの切った木から虫をついばみに来るのが見えるでしょう。一羽射て、家へ持って帰ってきなさい。」

He obeyed her, and tried his best to kill one, but came home unsuccessful. She told him he must not despair, but try again the next day. She accordingly left him at the place where she got wood and returned home. Towards nightfall she heard his footsteps on the snow, and he came in exultingly, and threw down one of the birds he had killed.

弟は言われたとおりにして一羽仕留めようと懸命にやってみたが、うまくいかずに帰ってきた。姉はがっかりしないで明日またやってごらんと言った。そこで姉は弟を薪を取る場所に置いて家に帰った。日暮れ近く、雪を踏む弟の足音が聞こえ、弟は得意げに入ってきて、仕留めた鳥を一羽投げ出した。

"My sister," said he, "I wish you to skin it and stretch the skin, and when I have killed more I will have a coat made out of them."

「姉さん」と弟は言った。「これの皮をはいで伸ばしておいてよ。もっと仕留めたら、それで上着をこしらえてもらうんだ。」

"What shall we do with the body?" asked she, for as yet men had not begun to eat animal food, but lived on vegetables alone.

「体はどうするの」と姉は尋ねた。まだ人は獣の肉を食べはじめておらず、植物だけで暮らしていたからである。

"Cut it in two," he answered, "and season our pottage with one-half of it at a time."

「二つに切って」と弟は答えた。「半分ずつ、ぼくたちの煮込みの味つけにするんだ。」

She did so. The boy continued his efforts, and succeeded in killing ten birds, out of the skins of which his sister made him a little coat.

姉はそうした。少年は骨折りを続けて鳥を十羽仕留め、その皮で姉は弟に小さな上着をこしらえてやった。

"Sister," said he one day, "are we all alone in the world? Is there nobody else living?"

「姉さん」とある日弟は言った。「世の中にいるのはぼくたちだけなの? ほかに生きている人はいないの?」

His sister told him that they two alone remained; that the beings who had killed all their relations lived in a certain quarter, and that he must by no means go in that direction. This only served to inflame his curiosity and raise his ambition, and he soon after took his bow and arrows and went to seek the beings of whom his sister had told him. After walking a long time and meeting nothing he became tired, and lay down on a knoll where the sun had melted the snow. He fell fast asleep, and while sleeping the sun beat so hot upon him that it singed and drew up his birdskin coat, so that when he awoke and stretched himself, he felt, as it were, bound in it. He looked down and saw the damage done, and then he flew into a passion, upbraided the sun, and vowed vengeance against it.

姉は、残っているのは二人だけだと言い、身内をみな殺した者たちはある方角に住んでいるから、決してそっちへ行ってはいけないと言った。これがかえって弟の好奇心をかき立て、野心を燃え上がらせたので、弟はまもなく弓矢を持って、姉の話した者たちを探しに出かけた。長いこと歩いても何にも出会わないので疲れてしまい、日が雪を溶かした小山の上に横になった。弟はぐっすり眠りこみ、眠っているあいだに日がひどく照りつけたので、鳥の皮の上着が焦げて縮んでしまった。目を覚まして伸びをすると、まるで上着に縛られているように感じた。見下ろして傷みを見ると、弟はかっとなって太陽をののしり、仕返しを誓った。

"Do not think you are too high," said he; "I shall revenge myself."

「自分が高すぎて手が届かないなどと思うな」と弟は言った。「仕返ししてやるぞ。」

On coming home he related his disaster to his sister, and lamented bitterly the spoiling of his coat. He would not eat. He lay down as one that fasts, and did not stir or move his position for ten days, though his sister did all she could to arouse him. At the end of ten days he turned over, and then lay ten days on the other side. Then he got up and told his sister to make him a snare, for he meant to catch the sun. At first she said she had nothing, but finally she remembered a little piece of dried deer's sinew that her father had left, and this she soon made into a string suitable for a noose. The moment, however, she showed it to her brother, he told her it would not do, and bade her get something else. She said she had nothing--nothing at all. At last she thought of her hair, and pulling some of it out made a string. Her brother again said it would not answer, and bade her, pettishly, and with authority, make him a noose. She replied that there was nothing to make it of, and went out of the lodge. When she was all alone she said--

家に帰ると弟は姉に災難を話し、上着が台無しになったのをひどく嘆いた。弟は食べようとしなかった。断食する者のように横になり、姉がどうにか起こそうとしても、十日のあいだ身動きひとつせず姿勢も変えなかった。十日たつと寝返りを打ち、それからまた十日反対側を下にして寝ていた。それから起き上がって、姉に罠をこしらえてくれと言った。太陽をつかまえるつもりだったのである。初め姉は何もないと言ったが、とうとう父が残していった干した鹿の腱の小さなかけらを思い出し、まもなくそれを輪なわにちょうどよい紐にこしらえた。けれども姉がそれを見せたとたん、弟はそれではだめだと言い、何か別のものを持ってこいと言った。姉は何もない——まったく何もないと言った。とうとう姉は自分の髪を思いつき、いくらか抜いて紐をこしらえた。弟はまたそれではだめだと言い、すねたような、しかも命じる口調で、輪なわをこしらえろと言った。姉はこしらえるものが何もないと答えて小屋を出ていった。まったく一人になると、姉は言った——

"Neow obewy indapin."

「ネオウ・オベウィ・インダピン。」

Meanwhile her brother awaited her, and it was not long before she reappeared with some tiny cord. The moment he saw it he was delighted.

そのあいだ弟は姉を待っていたが、まもなく姉は小さな細い紐を持って戻ってきた。弟はそれを見たとたん大喜びした。

"This will do," he cried, and he put the cord to his mouth and began pulling it through his lips, and as fast as he drew it changed to a red metal cord of prodigious length, which he wound around his body and shoulders. He then prepared himself, and set out a little after midnight that he might catch the sun before it rose. He fixed his snare on a spot just where he thought the sun would appear; and sure enough he caught it, so that it was held fast in the cord and could not rise.

「これならいい」と弟は叫び、紐を口に当てて唇のあいだから引き出しはじめた。引き出すそばから、それはとてつもなく長い赤い金属の紐に変わり、弟はそれを体と肩に巻きつけた。それから弟は支度を整え、日が昇る前に太陽をつかまえようと、真夜中を少し過ぎたころに出発した。太陽が現れると思われるちょうどその場所に罠を仕掛けると、はたして太陽を捕らえた。太陽は紐にしっかりつかまって昇れなくなった。

The animals who ruled the earth were immediately put into a great commotion. They had no light. They called a council to debate the matter, and to appoint some one to go and cut the cord--a very hazardous enterprise, for who dare go so near to the sun as would be necessary? The dormouse, however, undertook the task. At that time the dormouse was the largest animal in the world; when it stood up it looked like a mountain. It set out upon its mission, and, when it got to the place where the sun lay snared, its back began to smoke and burn, so intense was the heat, and the top of its carcass was reduced to enormous heaps of ashes. It succeeded, however, in cutting the cord with its teeth and freed the sun, but was reduced to a very small size, and has remained so ever since. Men call it the Kug-e-been-gwa-kwa.

大地を治める獣たちはたちまち大騒ぎになった。光がなくなったのである。獣たちは会議を開いてこのことを話し合い、誰かを行かせて紐を切らせることにした——これはたいそう危ない仕事だった。そうするのに必要なほど太陽に近づく勇気が誰にあろう。けれどもヤマネがその役を引き受けた。そのころヤマネは世界でいちばん大きな獣で、立ち上がると山のように見えた。ヤマネは役目を果たしに出かけ、太陽が罠にかかっている場所に着くと、熱があまりに激しいので背中が煙を上げて焼けはじめ、体のてっぺんは巨大な灰の山になった。それでもヤマネは歯で紐を噛み切って太陽を自由にしたが、体はたいそう小さくなってしまい、それからずっとそのままである。人はそれをクゲビーングワクワと呼んでいる。