Mukumik! Mukumik! Mukumik!

Pauppukkeewis was a harum-scarum fellow who played many queer tricks, but he took care, nevertheless, to supply his family and children with food. Sometimes, however, he was hard-pressed, and once he and his whole family were on the point of starving. Every resource seemed to have failed. The snow was so deep, and the storm continued so long, that he could not even find a partridge or a hare, and his usual supply of fish had failed him. His lodge stood in some woods not far away from the shores of the Gitchiguma, or great water, where the autumnal storms had piled up the ice into high pinnacles, resembling castles.

パウプッケウィスは、奇妙ないたずらをたくさんするむちゃくちゃな男だったが、それでも家族と子どもたちに食べ物を欠かさないよう気を配っていた。けれどもときには窮することもあり、あるとき男も家族もみな飢え死にしかけた。あらゆる手立てが尽きたように思われた。雪はあまりに深く、嵐はあまりに長く続いたので、ヤマウズラ一羽ウサギ一匹見つけられず、いつもの魚もとれなくなった。男の小屋はギチグマ、つまり大いなる水の岸からほど遠くない森のなかに立っていた。そこでは秋の嵐が氷を高い尖塔に積み上げ、城のように見えていた。

"I will go," said he to his family one morning, "to these castles, and solicit the pity of the spirits who inhabit them, for I know that they are the residence of some of the spirits of Rabiboonoka."

「わたしは」とある朝男は家族に言った。「あの城へ行って、そこに住む霊たちの哀れみを乞うてこよう。あそこはラビブーノカの霊たちの住まいだと知っているからな。」

He did so, and his petition was not disregarded. The spirits told him to fill his mushkemoots or sacks with the ice and snow, and pass on towards his lodge, without looking back, until he came to a certain hill. He was then to drop his sacks, and leave them till morning, when he would find them full of fish.

男がそうすると、その願いは聞き入れられた。霊たちは男に、ムシュケムート、つまり袋に氷と雪を詰めて、振り返らずに小屋のほうへ進み、ある丘まで来たら、袋を下ろして朝まで置いておけ、そうすれば朝には魚でいっぱいになっているだろう、と言った。

The spirits cautioned him that he must by no means look back, although he should hear a great many voices crying out to him abusing him; for they told him such voices would be in reality only the wind playing through the branches of the trees.

霊たちは、たとえたくさんの声が自分を呼び、ののしるのが聞こえても、決して振り返ってはならないと戒めた。そういう声は、実は木の枝のあいだで戯れる風にすぎないというのである。

Pauppukkeewis faithfully obeyed the directions given him, although he found it difficult to avoid looking round to see who was calling to him. When he visited the sacks in the morning, he found them filled with fish.

パウプッケウィスは、誰が呼んでいるのか振り返って見ないでいるのに難儀したものの、言いつけを忠実に守った。朝、袋を見に行くと、魚でいっぱいになっていた。

It happened that Manabozho visited him on the morning when he brought the fish home, and the visitor was invited to partake of the feast. While they were eating, Manabozho could not help asking where such an abundance of food had been procured at a time when most were in a state of starvation.

たまたまパウプッケウィスが魚を家へ持ち帰った朝にマナボゾが訪ねてきて、客としてごちそうに招かれた。食べながら、マナボゾは、ほとんどの者が飢えているときに、どこでこんなにたくさんの食べ物を手に入れたのかと尋ねずにいられなかった。

Pauppukkeewis frankly told him the secret, and and what precautions to take to ensure success. Manabozho determined to profit by the information, and, as soon as he could, set out to visit the icy castles. All things happened as Pauppukkeewis had told him. The spirits appeared to be kind, and told Manabozho to fill and carry. He accordingly filled his sacks with ice and snow, and then walked off quickly to the hill where he was to leave them. As he went, however, he heard voices calling out behind him.

パウプッケウィスは包み隠さず秘密を話し、うまくいくにはどんな用心をすればよいかも話した。マナボゾはこの話を利用しようと決めて、できるだけ早く氷の城を訪ねに出かけた。何もかもパウプッケウィスの話したとおりになった。霊たちは親切なようすで、マナボゾに詰めて運べと言った。そこでマナボゾは袋に氷と雪を詰めて、袋を置いていくはずの丘へ足早に歩いていった。ところが歩いていくと、うしろから呼ぶ声が聞こえた。

"Thief! thief! He has stolen fish from Rabiboonoka," cried one.

「泥棒! 泥棒! あいつはラビブーノカから魚を盗んだぞ」と一つの声が叫んだ。

"Mukumik! Mukumik! take it away, take it away," cried another.

「ムクミク! ムクミク! 持っていけ、持っていけ」と別の声が叫んだ。

Manabozho's ears were so assailed by all manner of insulting cries, that at last he got angry, and, quite forgetting the directions given him, he turned his head to see who it was that was abusing him. He saw no one, and proceeded on his way to the hill, to which he was accompanied by his invisible tormentors. He left his bags of ice and snow there, to be changed into fish, and came back the next morning. His disobedience had, however, dissolved the charm, and he found his bags still full of rubbish.

マナボゾの耳にはあらゆるあざけりの叫びが浴びせられ、とうとう腹を立てて、言いつけをすっかり忘れ、自分をののしっているのは誰かと振り返った。誰の姿も見えず、マナボゾは丘へ向かって進んでいったが、見えない責め手たちがずっとついてきた。マナボゾは氷と雪の袋を、魚に変わるようにそこに置いて、次の朝戻ってきた。けれども言いつけにそむいたために魔法は解けてしまい、袋はがらくたが詰まったままだった。

In consequence of this he is condemned every year, during the month of March, to run over the hills, with Pauppukkeewis following him, crying--

そのためマナボゾは、毎年三月になると、丘を駆けめぐらなければならない定めになった。そのうしろをパウプッケウィスが追いかけて、こう叫ぶのである——

"Mukumik! Mukumik!"

「ムクミク! ムクミク!」