The Girl who Became a Bird

The father of Ran-che-wai-me, the flying pigeon of the Wisconsin, would not hear of her wedding Wai-o-naisa, the young chief who had long sought her in marriage. The maiden, however, true to her plighted faith, still continued to meet him every evening upon one of the tufted islets which stud the river in great profusion. Nightly, through the long months of summer, did the lovers keep their tryst, parting only after each meeting more and more endeared to each other.

ウィスコンシンの飛ぶ鳩、ランチェワイメの父は、長らく彼女を妻に求めてきた若い族長ワイオナイサとの婚礼に、耳を貸そうとしなかった。しかし乙女は誓った約束に忠実で、川にたくさん散らばる茂った小島の一つで、毎晩彼と会い続けた。夏の長い月々を通して、恋人たちは夜ごとに逢瀬を重ね、会うたびにいっそう互いを愛しく思いながら別れた。

At length Wai-o-naisa was ordered off upon a secret expedition against the Sioux, and so sudden was his departure that he had no opportunity of bidding farewell to his betrothed. The band of warriors to which he was attached was a long while absent, and one day there came the news that Wai-o-naisa had fallen in a fight with the Menomones.

とうとうワイオナイサは、スー族に対する秘密の遠征に出るよう命じられた。出立があまりに急だったので、許婚に別れを告げる機会もなかった。彼の属する戦士の一団は長いあいだ戻らず、ある日、ワイオナイサがメノミニー族との戦いで倒れたという知らせが届いた。

Ran-che-wai-me was inconsolable, but she dared not show her grief before her parents, and the only relief she could find from her sorrow was to swim over by starlight to the island where she had been accustomed to meet her lover, and there, calling upon his name, bewail the loss of him who was dearer to her than all else.

ランチェワイメの嘆きは慰めようもなかったが、両親の前で悲しみを見せることはできなかった。悲しみから逃れるただ一つの手立ては、星明かりのもと、恋人といつも会っていた島へ泳いで渡り、そこで彼の名を呼びながら、何ものにも増して愛しい人を失ったことを嘆くことであった。

One night, while she was engaged in this lamentation, the sound of her voice attracted some of her father's people to the spot. Startled by their appearance the girl tried to climb a tree, in order to hide herself in its branches, but her frame was bowed with sorrow and her weak limbs refused to aid her.

ある夜、娘がそうして嘆いていると、その声を聞きつけた父の家の者たちがその場所へやってきた。その姿に驚いた娘は、枝の中に身を隠そうと木に登ろうとした。しかしその体は悲しみに打ちひしがれ、弱った手足は言うことをきかなかった。

"Wai-o-naisa!" she cried, "Wai-o-naisa!"

「ワイオナイサ!」と娘は叫んだ。「ワイオナイサ!」

At each repetition of his name her voice became shriller, while, as she endeavoured to screen herself in the underwood, a soft plumage began to cover her delicate limbs, which were wounded by the briers. She tossed her arms to the sky in her distress and they became clothed with feathers. At length, when her pursuers were close upon her, a bird arose from the bush they had surrounded, and flitting from tree to tree, it fled before them, ever crying--

その名を繰り返すたびに娘の声は甲高くなり、下草の中に身を隠そうとするうちに、茨に傷ついたそのか細い手足を、柔らかな羽毛がおおいはじめた。苦しみのあまり娘が腕を空へ振り上げると、その腕は羽根に包まれた。とうとう追う者たちがすぐ間近に迫ったとき、彼らの取り囲んだ茂みから一羽の鳥が飛び立ち、木から木へと飛び移りながら、彼らの前から逃げ去っていった。いつまでもこう鳴きながら——

"Wai-o-naisa! Wai-o-naisa!"

「ワイオナイサ! ワイオナイサ!」