Other Men

Raven went back to the pea-vine and there he found that three other men had just fallen from the pod out of which the first one had dropped. These men, like the first, were looking about in wonder not knowing what to make of themselves and the world about them.

ワタリガラスがエンドウのつるのところへ戻ってみると、最初の者が落ちてきたのと同じ莢から、ほかに三人の男がちょうど落ちてきたところだった。この男たちも最初の者と同じように、自分自身をも、まわりの世界をもどう考えてよいかわからず、不思議そうにあたりを見まわしていた。

"Come with me," said Raven; and he led them away in an opposite direction from the one in which he had led the first Man, and brought them to solid land close to the sea. "Stop here, and I will teach you what to do and how to live," said he.

「わしについて来い」とワタリガラスは言った。そして最初の人間を連れていったのとは反対の方角へ彼らを導き、海に近い固い土地へ連れていった。「ここにとどまれ。何をすべきか、どう生きるべきかを教えてやろう」と彼は言った。

He caused some small trees and bushes to grow on the hillside and in the hollows, and he took a piece of wood from one of these, and a cord, and made a bow and showed them how to shoot game for food. Then he taught them to make a fire with a fire-drill. He made plants, and gulls, and loons, and other birds such as fly about on the seacoast.

ワタリガラスは丘の斜面や窪地に小さな木や茂みを生えさせ、そのうちの一本から木切れを取り、紐を一本取って弓をこしらえ、食べるための獲物の射ち方を男たちに見せた。それから火きり錐で火をおこすことを教えた。植物や、カモメや、アビや、そのほか海辺を飛びまわる鳥たちを造った。

Then he made three clay images somewhat resembling the men, and waved his wings over them and brought them to life, and led each one of these women to one of the men, and then led each pair to a dry bank, and had three families started on three hilltops.

それから男たちにいくらか似た粘土の像を三つこしらえ、その上で翼を振って命を吹き込み、この女たちを一人ずつ男のもとへ連れていき、それから一組ずつ乾いた土手へ導いて、三つの丘の上に三つの家族を始めさせた。

"Go down to the shore," he said to the three men and the three women, "and bring up the logs that the tide has brought in, and I will show you how to make houses."

「浜へ下りていけ」とワタリガラスは三人の男と三人の女に言った。「潮が運んできた丸太を運び上げてこい。家の建て方を教えてやろう」

They brought the drift logs, and he showed them how to lay them up for walls, and how to make a roof of branches covered with earth. Seals had now become numerous, and he taught them how to capture them, and what use to make of their skins. He helped them to make arrows and spears, and nets to capture deer and fish, and other implements of the chase. He showed them how to make kayaks by stretching green hides over a framework of ribs, and letting the hides dry.

彼らが流木を運んでくると、ワタリガラスは壁にするための積み方と、枝で屋根をこしらえて土をかぶせるやり方を見せた。アザラシがもうたくさん増えていたので、その捕らえ方と、皮の使い道を教えた。矢や槍や、トナカイや魚を捕る網や、そのほかの狩りの道具をこしらえるのを手伝った。肋骨のような骨組みに生皮を張って乾かし、カヤックをこしらえるやり方を見せた。

"I have not made as many birds and animals for you as I made for First Man and his wife, but I have made you so many more plants and trees that it isn't quite fair to him. I must go back and fix up his land a bit," said Raven.

「最初の人間とその妻に造ってやったほど多くの鳥や獣は、お前たちには造ってやらなかった。だがその分、植物や木をずっと多く造ってやったから、あいつには少し不公平だ。戻ってあいつの土地を少し整えてやらねばならん」とワタリガラスは言った。

So he went over to where First Man and his children were living, and told them all he had done for the three men who had come out of the pea-pod, and how well he had them fixed up.

そこでワタリガラスは最初の人間とその子どもたちが住んでいるところへ行き、エンドウの莢から出てきた三人の男のためにしてやったことや、どれほどよく整えてやったかをすべて話した。

"I must have you live as well as they do," he said. "Your land looks rather barren, and you have no houses."

「お前たちにもあいつらと同じくらいよい暮らしをさせてやらねばな」と彼は言った。「お前たちの土地はずいぶん荒れているようだし、家もない」

That night while the people slept he caused birch, spruce, and cottonwood trees to spring up in the low places, and when the people awoke in the morning they clapped their hands in delight, for the birds were singing in the tree-tops and the green leaves with the sunlight flickering through them made it seem like a fairy land. And they were delighted with the shade of the trees in which they could sit and watch the quivering lights and shadows which the fluttering of the leaves made.

その夜、人々が眠っているあいだに、ワタリガラスは低いところにカバやトウヒやハコヤナギの木々を生え出させた。朝目を覚ました人々は、喜んで手を叩いた。鳥たちが梢で歌い、陽の光がちらちらと透けてくる緑の葉のために、あたりはおとぎの国のように見えたからである。人々は木陰を喜び、そこに座って、葉のそよぎが作る震える光と影を眺めた。

Then Raven taught these people how to build houses out of the trees and bushes, and how to make fire with a fire-drill, and to place the spark of tinder in a bunch of dry grass and wave it about until it blazed, and then put dry wood upon it. He showed them how to put a stick through their fish and hold it in the fire, till it was a thousand times more delicious than when raw. He took willow twigs and strips of willow bark, and made traps for catching fish; and, best of all, he taught them to look out for the future, by catching more salmon than they needed, when salmon were running, and drying them for use when they could catch none.

それからワタリガラスはこの人々に、木や茂みで家を建てるやり方や、火きり錐で火をおこし、火口の火の粉を乾いた草の束に入れて燃え上がるまで振りまわし、その上に乾いた薪を載せるやり方を教えた。魚に棒を刺して火にかざし、生のときより千倍もおいしくするやり方を見せた。柳の小枝と柳の樹皮の細帯を取って、魚を捕る罠をこしらえた。そして何よりもよいことに、先のことに気を配るよう、鮭が上ってくるときには要るより多く捕って干し、捕れないときに食べるようにと教えた。

"Now you are pretty well fixed," he said one day; "it will take you some time to practice on all the things I have taught you; so I will go back and see how my coast men are coming on."

「さて、これでだいぶ整ったな」とある日ワタリガラスは言った。「わしが教えたことをみな身につけるにはしばらくかかるだろう。そのあいだに、わしの海辺の者たちがどうしているか見に戻るとしよう」