The Maid in the Box

There once lived a woman called Monedo Kway (female spirit or prophetess) on the sand mountains, called The Sleeping Bear of Lake Michigan, who had a daughter as beautiful as she was modest and discreet. Everybody spoke of her beauty, and she was so handsome that her mother feared she would be carried off, so to prevent it she put her in a box, which she pushed into the middle of the lake. The box was tied by a long string to a stake on shore, and every morning the mother pulled the box to land, and, taking her daughter out of it, combed her hair, gave her food, and then putting her again in the box, set her afloat on the lake.

むかし、ミシガン湖の眠る熊と呼ばれる砂の山に、モネド・クウェイ(女の霊、すなわち女預言者)と呼ばれる女が住んでいた。女には、美しいばかりでなく慎み深く思慮のある娘がいた。誰もがその美しさを口にし、娘があまりに美しいので、母はさらわれるのではないかと恐れた。それを防ぐため、母は娘を箱に入れ、湖のまんなかへ押し出した。箱は長い紐で岸の杭につながれていて、毎朝母は箱を陸へ引き寄せ、娘を出して髪をとかし、食べ物を与え、それからまた箱に入れて湖に浮かべるのだった。

One day it chanced that a handsome young man came to the spot at the moment the girl was being thus attended to by her mother. He was struck with her beauty, and immediately went home and told his love to his uncle, who was a great chief and a powerful magician.

ある日、ちょうど母がこうして娘の世話をしているときに、たまたま一人の美しい若者がその場所へやって来た。若者は娘の美しさに心を打たれ、すぐに家へ帰って、偉大な首長で力ある魔法使いであるおじに恋を打ち明けた。

"My nephew," replied the old man, "go to the mother's lodge and sit down in a modest manner without saying a word. You need not ask her a question, for whatever you think she will understand, and what she thinks in answer you will understand."

「甥よ」と老人は答えた。「その母親の小屋へ行って、ひと言も言わずに慎み深く座っていなさい。何も尋ねる必要はない。お前が何を思っても、あの女にはわかるし、あの女が答えて何を思っても、お前にはわかるだろう。」

The young man did as he was bid. He entered the woman's lodge and sat with his head bent down in a thoughtful manner, without uttering a word. He then thought--

若者は言われたとおりにした。女の小屋に入り、ひと言も口をきかずに、物思いにふけるように頭を垂れて座った。それから若者は思った——

"I wish she would give me her daughter." Very soon he understood the mother's thoughts in reply.

「娘さんをわたしにくださればいいのに。」するとまもなく、答える母の思いがわかった。

"Give you my daughter!" thought she. "You! no, indeed! my daughter shall never marry you!"

「娘をお前に! お前に! とんでもない! わたしの娘がお前と結婚することは決してない!」と女は思った。

The young man went away and reported the result to his uncle.

若者は立ち去って、その結果をおじに伝えた。

"Woman without good sense!" exclaimed the old man. "Who is she keeping her daughter for? Does she think she will marry the Mudjikewis (a term indicating the heir or successor to the first in power)? Proud heart! We will try her magic skill, and see whether she can withstand our power."

「分別のない女め!」と老人は叫んだ。「誰のために娘を取っておいているのだ。ムジケウィス(最高の権力者の世継ぎを指す言葉)とでも結婚させるつもりか。思い上がった心め! あの女の魔法の腕を試して、わしらの力に逆らえるかどうか見てやろう。」

He forthwith set himself to work, and in a short time the pride and haughtiness of the mother was made known to all the spirits on that part of the lake, and they met together and resolved to exert their power to humble her. To do this they determined to raise a great storm on the lake. The water began to roar and toss, and the tempest became so severe that the string holding the box broke, and it floated off through the straits down Lake Huron, and struck against the sandy shores at its outlet. The place where it struck was near the lodge of a decayed old magician called Ishkwon Daimeka, or the keeper of the gate of the lakes. He opened the box and let out the beautiful daughter, whom he took into his lodge and made his wife.

老人はすぐさま仕事に取りかかり、まもなくその母親の高慢と傲慢は湖のそのあたりの霊たちみなに知れわたった。霊たちは集まって、力をふるって女を懲らしめようと決めた。そのために湖に大嵐を起こすことにした。湖の水はうなって逆巻きはじめ、嵐はあまりに激しくなったので、箱をつないでいた紐が切れ、箱は海峡を通ってヒューロン湖を流れ下り、その出口の砂の岸に打ち上げられた。打ち上げられた場所は、湖の門番と呼ばれるイシュクォン・ダイメカという、衰えた年寄りの魔法使いの小屋の近くだった。老人は箱を開けて美しい娘を出し、自分の小屋に連れていって妻にした。

When her mother found that her daughter had been carried off by the storm, she raised loud cries and lamented exceedingly. This she continued to do for a long time, and would not be comforted. At last the spirits began to pity her, and determined to raise another storm to bring the daughter back. This was even a greater storm than the first. The water of the lake washed away the ground, and swept on to the lodge of Ishkwon Daimeka, whose wife, when she saw the flood approaching, leaped into the box, and the waves, carrying her off, landed her at the very spot where was her mother's lodge.

母は娘が嵐にさらわれたと知ると、大声で泣き叫んでひどく嘆いた。長いあいだそうし続けて、慰めを受けつけなかった。とうとう霊たちは女を哀れみはじめ、娘を連れ戻すためにもう一度嵐を起こそうと決めた。今度の嵐は最初のものよりさらに大きかった。湖の水は大地を洗い流し、イシュクォン・ダイメカの小屋まで押し寄せた。その妻は洪水が迫るのを見ると箱に飛び込み、波が箱を運んで、ちょうど母の小屋のある場所に打ち上げた。

Monedo Kway was overjoyed, but when she opened the box she found her daughter, indeed, but her beauty had almost all departed. However, she loved her still, because she was her daughter, and now thought of the young man who had come to seek her in marriage. She sent a formal message to him, but he had heard of all that had occurred, and his love for the girl had died away.

モネド・クウェイは大喜びしたが、箱を開けてみると、たしかに娘はいたものの、その美しさはほとんどすっかり失われていた。それでも母は娘を愛した。自分の娘だったからである。そして今度は、娘に求婚しに来たあの若者のことを思い出した。母は若者に正式な使いを送ったが、若者は起こったことをすっかり聞いていて、娘への愛は冷めてしまっていた。

"I marry your daughter!" replied he. "Your daughter! no, indeed! I shall never marry her!"

「わたしがあなたの娘と結婚する!」と若者は答えた。「あなたの娘と! とんでもない! わたしは決してあの娘とは結婚しない!」

The storm that brought the girl back was so strong that it tore away a large part of the shore of the lake and swept off Ishkwon Daimeka's lodge, the fragments of which, lodging in the straits, formed those beautiful islands which are scattered in the St. Clair and Detroit rivers. As to Ishkwon Daimeka himself, he was drowned, and his bones lie buried under the islands. As he was carried away by the waves on a fragment of his lodge, the old man was heard lamenting his fate in a song.

娘を連れ戻した嵐はあまりに強く、湖の岸の大部分を引きはがし、イシュクォン・ダイメカの小屋を押し流した。そのかけらが海峡に引っかかって、セントクレア川とデトロイト川に散らばるあの美しい島々になった。イシュクォン・ダイメカ自身は溺れ、その骨は島々の下に埋まっている。小屋のかけらに乗って波に運ばれていくとき、老人が歌で自分の運命を嘆くのが聞こえたという。