The Man-fish

A very great while ago the ancestors of the Shawanos nation lived on the other side of the Great Lake, half-way between the rising sun and the evening star. It was a land of deep snows and much frost, of winds which whistled in the clear, cold nights, and storms which travelled from seas no eyes could reach. Sometimes the sun ceased to shine for moons together, and then he was continually before their eyes for as many more. In the season of cold the waters were all locked up, and the snows overtopped the ridge of the cabins. Then he shone out so fiercely that men fell stricken by his fierce rays, and were numbered with the snow that had melted and run to the embrace of the rivers. It was not like the beautiful lands--the lands blessed with soft suns and ever-green vales--in which the Shawanos now dwell, yet it was well stocked with deer, and the waters with fat seals and great fish, which were caught just when the people pleased to go after them. Still, the nation were discontented, and wished to leave their barren and inhospitable shores. The priests had told them of a beautiful world beyond the Great Salt Lake, from which the glorious sun never disappeared for a longer time than the duration of a child's sleep, where snow-shoes were never wanted--a land clothed with perpetual verdure, and bright with never-failing gladness. The Shawanos listened to these tales till they came to loathe their own simple comforts; all they talked of, all they appeared to think of, was the land of the happy hunting-grounds.

ずっとずっと昔、ショーニー族の祖先は、大いなる湖の向こう側、日の昇るところと宵の明星のあいだのなかほどに住んでいた。それは深い雪と厳しい霜の国で、澄んだ寒い夜には風がひゅうひゅうと鳴り、誰の目も届かない海から嵐がやって来た。ときには太陽が何か月も続けて照るのをやめ、それからまた同じだけのあいだ、絶えず人々の目の前にあった。寒い季節には水はみな閉ざされ、雪は小屋の棟を越えるほど積もった。それから太陽があまりに激しく照りつけるので、人々はその激しい光線に打たれて倒れ、溶けて川の抱擁へと流れ去った雪と同じものの仲間入りをした。今ショーニー族の住む美しい国々——柔らかな日と常緑の谷に恵まれた国々——とは違ったが、それでも鹿はたくさんいて、水には太ったアザラシや大きな魚がいて、人々がとりに行こうと思えばいつでもとれた。それでも一族は不満で、この不毛で住みにくい岸を去りたいと願っていた。祭司たちは、大いなる塩の湖の向こうに美しい世界がある、そこではすばらしい太陽が子どものひと眠りより長く姿を消すことはなく、雪靴などまったく要らない——絶えることのない緑に覆われ、尽きることのない喜びに輝く国だ、と語っていた。ショーニー族はこうした話に耳を傾けるうちに、自分たちのささやかな楽しみを嫌うようになった。人々が話すことも、考えているように見えることも、みな幸せな狩り場の国のことばかりだった。

Once upon a time the people were much terrified at seeing a strange creature, much resembling a man, riding along the waves of the lake on the borders of which they dwelt. He had on his head long green hair; his face was shaped like that of a porpoise, and he had a beard of the colour of ooze.

あるとき人々は、人間によく似た奇妙な生き物が、自分たちの住む岸辺の湖の波に乗っていくのを見て、たいそう恐れた。その者は頭に長い緑の髪を生やし、顔はイルカのような形で、泥の色のひげを生やしていた。

If the people were frightened at seeing a man who could live in the water like a fish or a duck, how much more were they frightened when they saw that from his breast down he was actually fish, or rather two fishes, for each of his legs was a whole and distinct fish. When they heard him speak distinctly in their own language, and when he sang songs sweeter than the music of birds in spring, or the whispers of love from the lips of a beautiful maiden, they thought it a being from the Land of Shades--a spirit from the happy fishing-grounds beyond the lake of storms.

人々が、魚や鴨のように水のなかで生きられる人間を見て恐れたのなら、その者が胸から下は実は魚、いやむしろ二匹の魚であるのを見たときには、どれほど恐れたことだろう。その者の両脚はそれぞれ一匹のまったく別の魚だったのである。人々は、その者が自分たちの言葉をはっきりと話すのを聞き、春の鳥の音楽よりも、美しい娘の唇から漏れる愛のささやきよりも甘い歌を歌うのを聞くと、影の国から来た者——嵐の湖の向こうの幸せな漁場から来た霊だと思った。

He would sit for a long time, his fish-legs coiled up under him, singing to the wondering ears of the Indians upon the shore the pleasures he experienced, and the beautiful and strange things he saw in the depths of the ocean, always closing his strange stories with these words, shouted at the top of his voice--

その者は長いあいだ魚の脚を体の下に巻いて座り、岸のインディアンたちの驚く耳に向かって、自分の味わう楽しみや、大海の深みで見る美しく不思議なものを歌い、その不思議な話をいつもこの言葉で締めくくって、声を限りに叫んだ——

"Follow me, and see what I will show you."

「わたしについてこい。そうすればいいものを見せてやろう。」

Every day, when the waves were still and the winds had gone to their resting-place in the depths of the earth, the monster was sure to be seen near the shore where the Shawanos dwelt. For a great many suns they dared not venture upon the water in quest of food, doing nothing but wander along the beach, watching the strange creature as he played his antics upon the surface of the waves, listening to his songs and to his invitation--

毎日、波が静まり、風が大地の深みの休み場所へ去ってしまうと、怪物は必ずショーニー族の住む岸の近くに現れた。たくさんの日々、人々は食べ物を求めて水に出る勇気がなく、ただ浜辺をさまよって、奇妙な生き物が波の上でおどけるのを眺め、その歌と誘いを聞くばかりだった——

"Follow me, and see what I will show you."

「わたしについてこい。そうすればいいものを見せてやろう。」

The longer he stayed the less they feared him. They became used to him, and in time looked upon him as a spirit who was not made for harm, nor wished to injure the poor Indian. Then they grew hungry, and their wives and little ones cried for food, and, as hunger banishes all fear, in a few days three canoes with many men and warriors ventured off to the rocks in quest of fish.

その者が長くとどまるほど、人々は恐れなくなった。人々は慣れて、やがてその者を、害をなすために造られたのでもなく、哀れなインディアンを傷つけようともしていない霊だと見なすようになった。それから人々は腹をすかせ、妻や子どもたちが食べ物を求めて泣いた。飢えはあらゆる恐れを追い払うので、数日のうちに、大勢の男と戦士を乗せた三艘のカヌーが、魚を求めて岩場へ思い切って漕ぎ出した。

When they reached the fishing-place, they heard as before the voice shouting--

漁場に着くと、前と同じように声が叫ぶのが聞こえた——

"Follow me, and see what I will show you."

「わたしについてこい。そうすればいいものを見せてやろう。」

Presently the man-fish appeared, sitting on the water, with his legs folded under him, and his arms crossed on his breast, as they had usually seen him. There he sat, eying them attentively. When they failed to draw in the fish they had hooked, he would make the water shake and the deep echo with shouts of laughter, and would clap his hands with great noise, and cry--

まもなく魚人が現れ、いつも見ていたように、脚を体の下にたたみ、腕を胸の前で組んで、水の上に座った。その者はそこに座って、人々を注意深く見つめていた。人々が針にかけた魚を引き上げそこなうと、その者は笑い声で水を揺らし深みにこだまさせ、大きな音で手を打って叫んだ——

"Ha, ha! there he fooled you."

「はっはっ! そいつにだまされたな。」

When a fish was caught he was very angry. When the fishers had tried long and patiently, and taken little, and the sun was just hiding itself behind the dark clouds which skirted the region of warm winds, the strange creature cried out still stronger than before--

魚がとれると、その者はたいそう怒った。漁師たちが長いあいだ辛抱強く釣ってもわずかしかとれず、暖かい風の吹く地方のへりに連なる暗い雲のうしろに日が隠れようとするころ、奇妙な生き物は前よりいっそう強く叫んだ——

"Follow me, and see what I will show you."

「わたしについてこい。そうすればいいものを見せてやろう。」

Kiskapocoke, who was the head man of the tribe, asked him what he wanted, but he would make no other answer than--

部族の頭のキスカポコークが、何が望みかと尋ねたが、その者はこう答えるばかりだった——

"Follow me."

「わたしについてこい。」

"Do you think," said Kiskapocoke, "I would be such a fool as to go I don't know with whom, and I don't know where?"

「わしが」とキスカポコークは言った。「誰とも知れぬ者について、どことも知れぬところへ行くような馬鹿だと思うのか。」

"See what I will show you," cried the man-fish.

「いいものを見せてやろう」と魚人は叫んだ。

"Can you show us anything better than we have yonder?" asked the warrior.

「向こうにわしらが持っているものより、いいものを見せられるのか」と戦士は尋ねた。

"I will show you," replied the monster, "a land where there is a herd of deer for every one that skips over your hills, where there are vast droves of creatures larger than your sea-elephants, where there is no cold to freeze you, where the sun is always soft and smiling, where the trees are always in bloom."

「見せてやろう」と怪物は答えた。「お前たちの丘を跳ねまわる鹿一頭につき鹿の群れがひとつある国、お前たちの海の象より大きな生き物の大群がいる国、お前たちを凍えさせる寒さのない国、太陽がいつも柔らかくほほえみ、木々がいつも花盛りの国を。」

The people began to be terrified, and wished themselves on land, but the moment they tried to paddle towards the shore, some invisible hand would seize their canoes and draw them back, so that an hour's labour did not enable them to gain the length of their boat in the direction of their homes. At last Kiskapocoke said to his companions--

人々は恐ろしくなりはじめ、陸にいればよかったと思ったが、岸へ向かって漕ごうとしたとたん、見えない手がカヌーをつかんで引き戻したので、一時間骨を折っても、家のほうへ舟の長さひとつ分も進めなかった。とうとうキスカポコークは仲間たちに言った——

"What shall we do?"

「どうしたものだろう。」

"Follow me," said the fish.

「わたしについてこい」と魚は言った。

Then Kiskapocoke said to his companions--

するとキスカポコークは仲間たちに言った——

"Let us follow him, and see what will come of it."

「あいつについていって、どうなるか見てみよう。」

So they followed him,--he swimming and they paddling, until night came. Then a great wind and deep darkness prevailed, and the Great Serpent commenced hissing in the depths of the ocean. The people were terribly frightened, and did not think to live till another sun, but the man-fish kept close to the boats, and bade them not be afraid, for nothing should hurt them.

そこで人々はその者について行った——その者は泳ぎ、人々は漕いで、夜になるまで。それから大風と深い闇があたりを支配し、大蛇が大海の深みでシューシューと鳴きはじめた。人々はひどく恐れて、次の日の出まで生きていられるとは思わなかったが、魚人は舟のすぐそばを離れず、何も害をなさないから恐れるなと言った。

When morning came, nothing could be seen of the shore they had left. The winds still raged, the seas were very high, and the waters ran into their canoes like melted snows over the brows of the mountains, but the man-fish handed them large shells, with which they baled the water out. As they had brought neither food nor water with them, they had become both hungry and thirsty. Kiskapocoke told the strange creature they wanted to eat and drink, and that he must supply them with what they required.

朝になると、あとにしてきた岸はもうまったく見えなかった。風はまだ荒れ狂い、海はたいそう高く、山の額から溶けた雪が流れ落ちるように水がカヌーに流れ込んだが、魚人は大きな貝殻を人々に渡し、人々はそれで水をかい出した。食べ物も水も持ってきていなかったので、人々は腹をすかせ、のどが渇いた。キスカポコークは奇妙な生き物に、食べ物と飲み物が欲しい、入り用なものを用意しなければならないと言った。

"Very well," said the man-fish, and, disappearing in the depths of the water, he soon reappeared, bringing with him a bag of parched corn and a shell full of sweet water.

「よかろう」と魚人は言って、水の深みに姿を消し、まもなく炒ったトウモロコシの袋と甘い水の入った貝殻を持って、また現れた。

For two moons and a half the fishermen followed the man-fish, till at last one morning their guide exclaimed--

二か月半のあいだ漁師たちは魚人について行き、とうとうある朝、案内の者が叫んだ——

"Look there!"

「あれを見ろ!」

Upon that they looked in the direction he pointed out to them and saw land, high land, covered with great trees, and glittering as the sand of the Spirit's Island. Behind the shore rose tall mountains, from the tops of which issued great flames, which shot up into the sky, as the forks of the lightning cleave the clouds in the hot moon. The waters of the Great Salt Lake broke in small waves upon its shores, which were covered with sporting seals and wild ducks pluming themselves in the beams of the warm and gentle sun. Upon the shore stood a great many strange people, but when they saw the strangers step upon the land and the man-fish, they fled to the woods like startled deer, and were no more seen.

そこで人々がその者の指さす方角を見ると、陸が見えた。大きな木々に覆われ、霊の島の砂のようにきらめく高い陸だった。岸のうしろには高い山々がそびえ、そのてっぺんからは大きな炎が噴き出して、暑い月に稲妻の叉が雲を裂くように空へ突き上がっていた。大いなる塩の湖の水は小さな波となってその岸に砕け、岸には戯れるアザラシや、暖かく穏やかな日の光のなかで羽づくろいする野鴨がいっぱいだった。岸には大勢の見慣れない人々が立っていたが、よそ者たちが陸に上がるのと魚人を見ると、驚いた鹿のように森へ逃げこんで、二度と姿を見せなかった。

When the warriors were safely landed, the man-fish told them to let the canoe go; "for," said he, "you will never need it more." They had travelled but a little way into the woods when he bade them stay where they were, while he told the spirit of the land that the strangers he had promised were come, and with that he descended into a deep cave near at hand. He soon returned, accompanied by a creature as strange in appearance as himself. His legs and feet were those of a man. He had leggings and moccasins like an Indian's, tightly laced and beautifully decorated with wampum, but his head was like a goat's. He talked like a man, and his language was one well understood by the strangers.

戦士たちが無事に上陸すると、魚人はカヌーを流してしまえと言った。「というのも」とその者は言った。「もう二度と要らないからだ。」人々が森へ少し入ったところで、魚人は、約束したよそ者たちが来たとこの土地の霊に知らせてくるあいだここにいろと言って、すぐ近くの深い洞穴に降りていった。その者はまもなく、自分に劣らず奇妙な姿の生き物を連れて戻ってきた。その生き物の脚と足は人間のものだった。インディアンのような脚絆とモカシンをはき、きっちり紐を締めて、ワムパム(貝の玉)で美しく飾っていたが、頭は山羊のようだった。その者は人間のように話し、その言葉はよそ者たちによくわかった。

"I will lead you," he said, "to a beautiful land, to a most beautiful land, men from the clime of snows. There you will find all the joys an Indian covets."

「お前たちを案内しよう」とその者は言った。「美しい国へ、この上なく美しい国へ、雪の国から来た者たちよ。そこでお前たちは、インディアンの望むあらゆる喜びを見つけるだろう。」

For many moons the Shawanos travelled under the guidance of the man-goat, into whose hands the man-fish had put them, when he retraced his steps to the Great Lake. They came at length to the land which the Shawanos now occupy. They found it as the strange spirits had described it. They married the daughters of the land, and their numbers increased till they were so many that no one could count them. They grew strong, swift, and valiant in war, keen and patient in the chase. They overcame all the tribes eastward of the River of Rivers, and south to the shore of the Great Lake.

何か月ものあいだ、ショーニー族は、魚人が自分たちを引き渡した山羊人の案内で旅をし、魚人は大いなる湖へ引き返していった。人々はとうとう、今ショーニー族の住む国に着いた。そこは不思議な霊たちが語ったとおりだった。人々はその国の娘たちと結婚し、数は増えに増えて、とうとう誰にも数えきれないほどになった。人々は強く、速く、戦に勇ましく、狩りには鋭く辛抱強くなった。人々は川のなかの川の東の部族と、南は大いなる湖の岸までの部族をみな打ち負かした。