The Lone Lightning

A little orphan boy, who had no one to care for him, once lived with his uncle, who treated him very badly, making him do hard work, and giving him very little to eat, so that the boy pined away and never grew much, but became, through hard usage, very thin and light. At last the uncle pretended to be ashamed of this treatment, and determined to make amends for it by fattening the boy up. He really wished, however, to kill him by overfeeding him. He told his wife to give the boy plenty of bear's meat, and let him have the fat, which is thought to be the best part. They were both very assiduous in cramming him, and one day nearly choked him to death by forcing the fat down his throat. The boy escaped, and fled from the lodge. He knew not where to go, and wandered about. When night came on he was afraid the wild beasts would eat him, so he climbed up into the forks of a high pine-tree, and there he fell asleep in the branches.

むかし、面倒を見てくれる者のいない小さなみなし子が、おじのもとで暮らしていた。おじは少年をたいそうひどく扱い、つらい仕事をさせ、ほとんど食べ物を与えなかったので、少年はやつれてあまり大きくならず、むごい扱いのせいでたいそう痩せて軽くなった。とうとうおじはこの仕打ちを恥じるふりをして、少年を太らせて償おうと決めた。けれども実は食べさせすぎて殺そうとしていたのである。おじは妻に、少年に熊の肉をたっぷり与え、いちばんよいところとされる脂身を食べさせるよう言いつけた。二人はせっせと少年に詰め込み、ある日、脂身をのどに押し込んで、あやうく窒息させて殺すところだった。少年は逃げ出して小屋から走り去った。どこへ行けばよいかわからず、さまよい歩いた。夜になると野獣に食べられるのが恐ろしくなったので、高い松の木の股に登り、枝のなかで眠りこんだ。

As he was asleep a person appeared to him from the high sky, and said--

少年が眠っていると、高い空から一人の者が現れて言った——

"My poor lad, I pity you, and the bad usage you have received from your uncle has led me to visit you. Follow me, and step in my tracks."

「かわいそうな子よ、わたしはお前を哀れに思う。お前がおじから受けてきたひどい仕打ちのために、わたしはお前を訪ねてきたのだ。わたしについておいで。わたしの足跡を踏んでおいで。」

Immediately his sleep left him, and he rose up and followed his guide, mounting up higher and higher in the air until he reached the lofty sky. Here twelve arrows were put into his hands, and he was told that there were a great many manitoes in the northern sky, against whom he must go to war and try to waylay and shoot them. Accordingly he went to that part of the sky, and, at long intervals, shot arrow after arrow until he had expended eleven in a vain attempt to kill the manitoes. At the flight of each arrow there was a long and solitary streak of lightning in the sky--then all was clear again, and not a cloud or spot could be seen. The twelfth arrow he held a long time in his hands, and looked around keenly on every side to spy the manitoes he was after, but these manitoes were very cunning, and could change their form in a moment. All they feared was the boy's arrows, for these were magic weapons, which had been given to him by a good spirit, and had power to kill if aimed aright. At length the boy drew up his last arrow, took aim, and let fly, as he thought, into the very heart of the chief of the manitoes. Before the arrow reached him, however, he changed himself into a rock, into which the head of the arrow sank deep and stuck fast.

たちまち眠りが少年から去り、少年は起き上がって案内する者についていき、宙をどんどん高く昇っていって、とうとう高い空に着いた。そこで少年は十二本の矢を手渡され、北の空には大勢のマニトウ(霊)がいるから、それと戦い、待ち伏せして射なければならないと告げられた。そこで少年は空のその方角へ行き、長い間をおいて次々と矢を放ち、マニトウを殺そうとしてむなしく十一本を使い果たした。矢が飛ぶたびに、空には長く寂しい稲妻の筋が走り——それからまたすっかり晴れて、雲ひとつしみひとつ見えなくなった。十二本目の矢を少年は長いあいだ手に握って、追っているマニトウを見つけようとあらゆる方向を鋭く見まわした。けれどもそのマニトウたちはたいそうずる賢く、一瞬で姿を変えることができた。マニトウたちが恐れていたのは少年の矢だけだった。それは善い霊から授けられた魔法の武器で、正しくねらえば殺す力があったからである。とうとう少年は最後の矢を引きしぼってねらいを定め、マニトウの頭のまさに心臓めがけて放ったつもりだった。ところが矢が届く前に、頭は岩に姿を変え、矢じりはその岩に深く食い込んで抜けなくなった。

"Now your gifts are all expended," cried the enraged manito, "and I will make an example of your audacity and pride of heart for lifting your bow against me."

「これでお前の授かり物はみな使い果たされた」と怒り狂ったマニトウは叫んだ。「わしに向かって弓を引いた不遜と思い上がりの見せしめにしてくれよう。」

So saying, he transformed the boy into the Nazhik-a-wä wä sun, or Lone Lightning, which may be observed in the northern sky to this day.

そう言うと、マニトウは少年をナジカワーワーの太陽、すなわち孤独な稲妻に変えた。それは今日でも北の空に見ることができる。