Man's First Grief

After Raven had gone, Man and his son went down to the sea to try some of the ways they had been taught. They made rather bad work of it, but the son caught a seal and held it. They tried to kill it with their hands, but couldn't do it until, finally, the son struck it a hard blow on the head with his fist. Then the father took off the skin with his hands alone, and tore it into strips which they dried. With these strips they set snares for reindeer.

ワタリガラスが去ってしまうと、人間とその息子は、教わったやり方をいくつか試してみようと海へ下りていった。二人はかなりへたくそだったが、息子がアザラシを一頭つかまえて押さえた。二人は素手で殺そうとしたができず、とうとう息子が拳で頭をしたたかに殴りつけた。それから父親が素手だけで皮をはぎ、細く裂いて干した。この細帯で、二人はトナカイを捕る罠を仕掛けた。

When they went to look at the snare next morning, they found the cords bitten in two; for in those days the reindeer had sharp teeth like dogs. They stood looking at the ruined snare for a few minutes, and then the son said:

翌朝罠を見に行くと、紐が噛み切られていた。そのころのトナカイは犬のように鋭い歯を持っていたからである。二人はしばらく壊れた罠を見つめて立っていたが、やがて息子が言った。

"Let us go farther down along the deer trail and dig a pit and set our snare just at the first edge of the pit, with a heavy stone fastened in it. Then when the deer puts his head in the snare the stone will fall down into the pit and drag the deer's head down and hold it."

「トナカイの通り道をもっと下へ行って、穴を掘り、穴のすぐ縁に罠を仕掛けて、重い石を結びつけておきましょう。そうすればトナカイが罠に頭を入れたとき、石が穴に落ちて、トナカイの頭を引きずり下ろして押さえつけます」

Next morning when they went to the woods and down the reindeer trail they found a deer entangled in the snare. Taking it out, they killed and skinned it, carrying the skin home for a bed.

翌朝、森へ行ってトナカイの通り道を下っていくと、一頭のトナカイが罠にからまっていた。それを外して殺し、皮をはいで、寝床にするために皮を家へ持ち帰った。

The women cried, "Oh, let us hold some of the flesh in the fire as we did the fish!" And of course they found it good.

女たちは叫んだ。「ねえ、魚でしたように肉を少し火にかざしてみましょうよ」そしてもちろん、それはおいしかった。

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One day Man went out alone hunting seal along the seashore. There were many seals out of the water sunning themselves on the rocks. He crept up to them cautiously, but just as he thought he had his hands on them, one after another slipped into the water. Only one was left on the rocks. Now you will not wonder at what happened, if you remember that, although Man was full-grown, he was still quite young, for he had become a man so suddenly. Only one seal was left on the rocks, and Man was very hungry. He crept up to it more cautiously than before, but it slipped through his fingers and escaped.

ある日、人間は一人で海辺にアザラシ狩りに出かけた。水から上がって岩の上で日なたぼっこをしているアザラシがたくさんいた。人間は用心深くそっと忍び寄ったが、もう手が届いたと思ったとたん、一頭また一頭と水に滑り込んでしまった。岩の上には一頭しか残っていなかった。人間はすっかり大人だったが、あまりに急に大人になったので、まだとても若かったことを思い出せば、このあと起こったことにも驚かないだろう。岩の上には一頭しか残っておらず、人間はひどく腹をすかせていた。前よりもっと用心深く忍び寄ったが、アザラシは指のあいだをすり抜けて逃げてしまった。

Then Man stood up and his breast seemed full of a strange feeling, and water began to run in drops from his eyes and down his face. He put up his hand and caught some of the drops to look at them and found that they were really water. Then, without any wish on his part, loud cries began to break from him, and the tears ran down his face as he went homeward.

すると人間は立ち上がり、胸が奇妙な気持ちでいっぱいになったようで、目から水がしずくになって流れ、顔を伝いはじめた。手を上げてしずくをいくつか受け止めて見てみると、本当に水だった。それから、自分では少しもそうしたくないのに、大きな叫び声が口からほとばしりはじめ、家へ帰るあいだ涙が顔を流れ続けた。

When his son saw him coming he called to his wife and mother to see Man coming along making such a strange noise. When he reached them they were still more surprised to see water running down his face. After he told them the story of his disappointment about the seals, they were all stricken with the same ailment and began to wail with him,--and in this way people first learned to cry.

息子は父がやって来るのを見ると、妻と母を呼んで、人間があんなに奇妙な音を立てながらやって来るのを見てくれと言った。そばまで来ると、顔を水が流れているのを見て、みなはもっと驚いた。アザラシのことで落胆した話を聞くと、みな同じ病にかかって、彼と一緒に泣き叫びはじめた——こうして人間は初めて泣くことを覚えたのである。

A while after this the son killed another seal and they made more reindeer snares from its hide. When the deer caught this time was brought home, Man told his people to take a splint bone from its foreleg and to drill a hole in the large end of it. Into this they put strands of sinew from the deer and sewed skins to keep their bodies warm when winter came, for Raven had told them to do this; and the fresh skins shaped themselves to their bodies and dried on them.

それからしばらくして息子がまたアザラシを殺し、その皮でトナカイの罠をもっとこしらえた。今度捕ったトナカイを家へ持ち帰ると、人間は家の者に、その前脚から副木のような骨を一本取り、太いほうの端に穴をあけるよう言った。その穴にトナカイの腱の筋を通して皮を縫い合わせ、冬が来たときに体を暖かく保つようにした。ワタリガラスがそうせよと言っていたからである。そして生の皮は体に合わせて形をなし、体の上で乾いた。

Man then showed his son how to make bows and arrows and to tip the arrows with points of horn for killing deer. With these the son shot his first deer, which was easier than snaring them. After he had cut up this deer, he placed its fat upon a bush and then fell asleep. When he awoke he was very angry to find that the mosquitoes had eaten all of it. Until this time mosquitoes had never bitten people; but Man scolded them for what they had done, and said: "Never eat our meat again; eat men," and since that day mosquitoes have always bitten people.

それから人間は息子に弓矢のこしらえ方と、トナカイを殺すために矢の先に角の穂先をつけるやり方を教えた。これで息子は初めてのトナカイを射とめた。罠で捕るよりたやすかった。このトナカイを切り分けたあと、息子は脂を茂みの上に置いて眠り込んだ。目を覚ますと、蚊がそれをすっかり食べてしまっていたので、ひどく腹を立てた。このときまで蚊は人を刺したことがなかった。けれども人間は蚊たちのしたことを叱りつけて、こう言った。「二度とわしらの肉を食うな。人を食え」そしてその日から、蚊はいつも人を刺すようになった。

Where First Man lived there had now grown a large village, for the people did everything as Raven had directed, and as soon as a child was born it was rubbed with clay and thus grew to its full stature in three days.

最初の人間の住んでいたところには、今では大きな村ができていた。人々はみなワタリガラスの指図どおりにし、子どもが生まれるとすぐに粘土をすり込んだので、子どもは三日で大人の背丈に育ったのである。