Aggo-dah-gauda

Aggo-dah-gauda had one leg hooped up to his thigh so that he was obliged to get along by hopping. He had a beautiful daughter, and his chief care was to secure her from being carried off by the king of the buffaloes. He was peculiar in his habits, and lived in a loghouse, and he advised his daughter to keep indoors, and never go out for fear she should be stolen away.

アゴダーガウダは片脚が太ももまで縛り上げられていたので、跳ねて進むほかなかった。アゴダーガウダには美しい娘がいて、いちばんの気がかりは、娘が野牛の王にさらわれないようにすることだった。アゴダーガウダは変わった暮らし方をしていて、丸太小屋に住み、娘にはさらわれるといけないから家のなかにいて決して外へ出るなと言い聞かせていた。

One sunshiny morning Aggo-dah-gauda prepared to go out fishing, but before he left the lodge he reminded his daughter of her strange lover.

ある日の晴れた朝、アゴダーガウダは釣りに出かける支度をしたが、小屋を出る前に、娘にあの奇妙な恋人のことを念押しした。

"My daughter," said he, "I am going out to fish, and as the day will be a pleasant one, you must recollect that we have an enemy near who is constantly going about, and so you must not leave the lodge."

「娘や」とアゴダーガウダは言った。「わしは釣りに出かけるが、今日はいい日和だろうから、いつもうろついている敵が近くにいることを忘れるな。だから小屋を出てはならんぞ。」

When he reached his fishing-place, he heard a voice singing--

釣り場に着くと、歌う声が聞こえた——

"Man with the leg tied up, Man with the leg tied up, Broken hip--hip-- Hipped.

「脚を縛った男、脚を縛った男、腰が——腰が——折れた。

Man with the leg tied up, Man with the leg tied up, Broken leg--leg-- Legged."

脚を縛った男、脚を縛った男、脚が——脚が——折れた。」

He looked round but saw no one, so he suspected the words were sung by his enemies the buffaloes, and hastened home.

あたりを見まわしたが誰も見えなかったので、アゴダーガウダはこの歌は敵の野牛たちが歌っているのだろうと疑い、急いで家へ帰った。

The girl's father had not been long absent from the lodge when she began to think to herself--

娘の父が小屋を出てまもなく、娘は心のなかで考えはじめた——

"It is hard to be for ever kept indoors. The spring is coming on, and the days are so sunny and warm, that it would be very pleasant to sit out of doors. My father says it is dangerous. I know what I will do: I will get on the top of the house, and there I can comb and dress my hair."

「いつまでも家のなかに閉じ込められているのはつらいわ。春が来て、日はこんなに明るく暖かいのだから、外に座っていたらとても気持ちがいいでしょうに。父さんは危ないと言うけれど。そうだわ、家の屋根に上がって、そこで髪をとかして結えばいいのよ。」

She accordingly got up on the roof of the small house, and busied herself in untying and combing her beautiful hair, which was not only fine and shining, but so long that it reached down to the ground, hanging over the eaves of the house as she combed it. She was so intent upon this that she forgot all ideas of danger. All of a sudden the king of the buffaloes came dashing by with his herd of followers, and, taking her between his horns, away he cantered over the plains, and then, plunging into a river that bounded his land, he carried her safely to his lodge on the other side. Here he paid her every attention in order to gain her affections, but all to no purpose, for she sat pensive and disconsolate in the lodge among the other females, and scarcely ever spoke. The buffalo king did all he could to please her, and told the others in the lodge to give her everything she wanted, and to study her in every way. They set before her the choicest food, and gave her the seat of honour in the lodge. The king himself went out hunting to obtain the most delicate bits of meat both of animals and wild-fowl, and, not content with these proofs of his love, he fasted himself and would often take his pib-be-gwun (Indian flute) and sit near the lodge singing--

そこで娘は小さな家の屋根に上がって、美しい髪をほどいてとかすのに夢中になった。その髪はつややかに光るばかりでなく、あまりに長くて地面まで届き、とかしていると家の軒から垂れ下がった。娘はこれに夢中になって、危ないことなどすっかり忘れていた。するとだしぬけに、野牛の王が群れの従者たちを連れて駆け抜けてきて、娘を角のあいだにすくい上げ、平原を駆け去った。それから自分の土地の境になっている川に飛び込んで、向こう岸の自分の小屋へ無事に娘を運んでいった。ここで王は娘の心を得ようとあらゆる心づかいをしたが、何の甲斐もなかった。娘は小屋でほかの女たちのあいだに物思いに沈んで悲しげに座り、ほとんど口をきかなかったからである。野牛の王は娘を喜ばせようとできるかぎりのことをして、小屋のほかの者たちに、娘の欲しがるものは何でも与え、あらゆる点で娘に気を配るよう言いつけた。みなは娘の前にいちばんのごちそうを並べ、小屋の上座を与えた。王自身も狩りに出て、獣や野鳥のいちばん柔らかい肉を手に入れてきた。そしてこうした愛の証しでは満足せず、自分は断食して、しばしばピベグン(インディアンの笛)を手に小屋のそばに座って歌った——

"My sweetheart, My sweetheart, Ah me!

「いとしい人、いとしい人、ああ、わたしは!

When I think of you, When I think of you, Ah me!

あなたを思うと、あなたを思うと、ああ、わたしは!

How I love you, How I love you, Ah me!

どんなにあなたを愛していることか、どんなにあなたを愛していることか、ああ、わたしは!

Do not hate me, Do not hate me, Ah me!"

わたしを憎まないで、わたしを憎まないで、ああ、わたしは!」

In the meantime Aggo-dah-gauda came home, and finding his daughter had been stolen he determined to get her back. For this purpose he immediately set out. He could easily trace the king till he came to the banks of the river, and then he saw he had plunged in and swum over. When Aggo-dah-gauda came to the river, however, he found it covered with a thin coating of ice, so that he could not swim across nor walk over. He therefore determined to wait on the bank a day or two till the ice might melt or become strong enough to bear him. Very soon the ice was strong enough, and Aggo-dah-gauda crossed over. On the other side, as he went along, he found branches torn off and cast down, and these had been strewn thus by his daughter to aid him in following her. The way in which she managed it was this. Her hair was all untied when she was captured, and as she was carried along it caught in the branches as she passed, so she took the pieces out of her hair and threw them down on the path.

そのあいだにアゴダーガウダは家に帰り、娘がさらわれたと知ると、取り戻そうと決めた。そのためにすぐに出発した。川の岸までは王の跡をたやすくたどれたが、そこで王が川に飛び込んで泳ぎ渡ったとわかった。けれどもアゴダーガウダが川に着いてみると、川は薄い氷に覆われていて、泳いで渡ることも歩いて渡ることもできなかった。そこでアゴダーガウダは、氷が溶けるか、乗っても大丈夫なほど固くなるまで、一日か二日岸で待つことにした。まもなく氷は十分固くなり、アゴダーガウダは渡った。向こう岸を進んでいくと、枝が折り取られて投げ落とされているのが見つかった。それは娘が、父があとを追いやすいようにとこうしてまいていったのだった。娘のやり方はこうだった。さらわれたとき髪はすっかりほどけていて、運ばれていくうちに通りすがりの枝に引っかかったので、娘はそのかけらを髪から取って道に投げ落としたのである。

When Aggo-dah-gauda came to the king's lodge it was evening. Carefully approaching it, he peeped through the sides and saw his daughter sitting there disconsolately. She saw him, and knowing that it was her father come for her, she said to the king, giving him a tender glance--

アゴダーガウダが王の小屋に着いたのは夕方だった。用心して近づき、小屋の壁のすきまからのぞくと、娘が悲しげに座っているのが見えた。娘も父を見て、自分を迎えに来たのだとわかったので、王に優しいまなざしを向けて言った——

"I will go and get you a drink of water."

「お水を汲んできてあげましょう。」

The king was delighted at what he thought was a mark of her affection, and the girl left the lodge with a dipper in her hand. The king waited a long time for her, and as she did not return he went out with his followers, but nothing could be seen or heard of the girl. The buffaloes sallied out into the plains, and had not gone far by the light of the moon, when they were attacked by a party of hunters. Many of them fell, but the buffalo-king, being stronger and swifter than the others, escaped, and, flying to the west, was never seen more.

王はそれを娘の愛情のしるしだと思って大喜びし、娘は柄杓を手に小屋を出ていった。王は長いあいだ娘を待っていたが、戻ってこないので、従者たちと一緒に外へ出た。けれども娘の姿も声もまったくなかった。野牛たちは平原へ打って出て、月明かりのなかを遠くへも行かないうちに、狩人の一団に襲われた。多くが倒れたが、野牛の王はほかの者より強く速かったので逃げのび、西へ逃げ去って、二度と姿を見せなかった。