Taking Away the Sun

People were becoming such good hunters that they killed a great many animals, more than Raven was willing to have killed, lest the animals become too few for the large number of people now on earth. For this reason, Raven took a grass basket and tied a long line to it and, going down to earth, caught ten reindeer which he took up to the skyland. The next night he let the reindeer down near one of the villages and told them to run fast and break down the first house they came to, and destroy the people in it.

人々はたいそう腕のよい狩人になったので、たくさんの獣を殺した。今や地上にいる大勢の人々に対して獣が少なくなりすぎてはいけないと、ワタリガラスが許せる以上の数を殺したのである。そこでワタリガラスは草の籠を取って長い綱を結びつけ、地上へ降りていってトナカイを十頭捕まえ、空の国へ運び上げた。次の夜、ワタリガラスは村の一つの近くにトナカイを降ろして、速く走っていき、最初に行き当たった家を打ち壊して、なかの人々を滅ぼせと言いつけた。

The reindeer did so and ate up the people with their sharp, wolf-like teeth; then they returned to the sky. The next night they came down again and destroyed another house and ate up the people.

トナカイたちはそのとおりにし、狼のような鋭い歯で人々を食い尽くした。それから空へ戻っていった。次の夜もまた降りてきて、別の家を打ち壊し、人々を食い尽くした。

"What shall we do?" cried the people to one another. "They will destroy all of us if they keep on coming."

「どうしたらいいのだ」と人々は互いに叫んだ。「あいつらがこのまま来続けたら、わしらはみな滅ぼされてしまう」

"I know what I am going to do," said the man who lived in the third house. "They will come to my house the next time, and I'm going to cover it with deer fat and stick sour berries all over in the fat."

「わしはどうするか決めているぞ」と三軒目の家に住む男が言った。「次はわしの家に来るだろう。家じゅうをトナカイの脂で覆って、その脂に酸っぱい木の実を一面に貼りつけてやるのだ」

When the reindeer came the third night, they got their teeth full of fat and sour berries, and ran off shaking their heads so hard that their long, sharp teeth fell out. Afterward small teeth, such as reindeer now have, came in their places, and these animals became harmless.

三日目の夜にトナカイたちがやって来ると、歯に脂と酸っぱい木の実がいっぱいくっついたので、あまりに激しく首を振りながら逃げていったため、長く鋭い歯が抜け落ちてしまった。そのあと、今のトナカイが持っているような小さな歯がかわりに生えてきて、この獣たちは害のないものになった。

But Raven had not accomplished his purpose, for only two families had been destroyed, and there were still too many inhabitants left. He said, "If something isn't done to stop people from killing so many animals, they will keep on until they have killed everything I have made. I believe I will take away the sun from them, so that they will be in the dark and will die."

けれどもワタリガラスは目的を果たしていなかった。滅ぼされたのは二家族だけで、住む者がまだ多すぎたからである。ワタリガラスは言った。「人々が獣をたくさん殺すのを止めるために何かしなければ、わしの造ったものをみな殺してしまうまでやめないだろう。人々から太陽を取り上げてやろうと思う。そうすれば闇のなかにいて死んでしまうだろう」

He took Man up to the sky with him, so that he would be safe from the trouble to come. Then he said, "You remain here while I go and take away the sun."

ワタリガラスは、これから起こる災いから人間を守るために、人間を一緒に空へ連れていった。それから言った。「わしが太陽を取り上げに行くあいだ、ここにいよ」

He went away and took the sun, and put it into his skin bag, and carried it far off to a part of the skyland where his parents lived, thus making it very dark on earth. There in his father's village he stayed for a long time, keeping the sun carefully hidden in the bag.

ワタリガラスは出かけていって太陽を取り、皮袋に入れて、両親の住む空の国の遠いところへ運んでいった。それで地上はたいそう暗くなった。そこ、父の村でワタリガラスは長いあいだ過ごし、太陽を袋のなかに大事に隠しておいた。

The people on earth were terribly distressed when it remained dark so long. They prayed to Raven and offered him rich presents of food and furs, but he wouldn't bring back the sun. They kept on begging him, saying at last: "We have crept around in the darkness finding our storehouses and getting the meat, till now it is almost gone, and we are likely to starve. Let us have light for a little time at least, so we may get more food."

地上の人々は、長いあいだ暗いままなのでひどく苦しんだ。ワタリガラスに祈り、食べ物や毛皮の立派な贈り物を捧げたが、ワタリガラスは太陽を返そうとしなかった。人々は懇願し続け、とうとうこう言った。「わしらは闇のなかを這いまわって食料倉を探し、肉を取ってきましたが、もうほとんどなくなって、飢え死にしそうです。せめて少しのあいだでも光をください。もっと食べ物が手に入るように」

So Raven yielded a trifle and held up the sun in one hand for two days while all the people went hunting; then he put it back and darkness returned. Another long time would pass and the people would make many offerings before he would let them have light again. This was repeated many times.[2]

そこでワタリガラスは少しだけ折れて、二日のあいだ太陽を片手に掲げてやり、そのあいだにみなが狩りに出た。それから太陽をしまうと、闇が戻ってきた。また長い時が過ぎ、人々がたくさんの供え物をしてはじめて、ワタリガラスはまた光を与えるのだった。これが何度も繰り返された。[2]

In this same sky village with Raven and his parents lived an older brother of Raven who thought the punishment of men was being carried too far. This brother felt sorry for the people on earth, but he didn't say a word about it to anyone. He thought out a plan which he kept to himself.

この同じ空の村に、ワタリガラスとその両親と一緒に、ワタリガラスの兄が住んでいた。兄は人間への罰が行きすぎていると考えていた。地上の人々を気の毒に思っていたが、そのことはだれにもひと言も言わなかった。ある計画を考え出して、胸にしまっておいた。

After a time he pretended to die, and was put away in a grave box in the customary manner. As soon as the mourners left his grave, he arose and went out a short distance from the village, where he hid his raven mask and coat in a tree. Then he turned himself into a young boy and went back to his father's house, where he skipped about in a lively manner, and amused the parents so much that the father at last became very fond of him.

しばらくして兄は死んだふりをし、しきたりどおり墓箱に納められた。会葬者たちが墓を離れるとすぐに起き上がり、村から少し離れたところへ行って、カラスの仮面と上着を木に隠した。それから幼い男の子に姿を変えて父の家へ戻り、元気よく跳ねまわって両親をたいそう楽しませたので、とうとう父はその子をたいそうかわいがるようになった。

When he had gotten them in the habit of indulging him, he began to cry for the sun as a plaything. He kept this up until the father went to the bag and took out the sun and let him have it for a while, being careful to see that it went back into the bag when anyone was coming, or when the boy was going out of doors.

自分を甘やかすことに両親を慣れさせてしまうと、男の子は太陽をおもちゃにしたいと泣きはじめた。それを続けていると、とうとう父は袋のところへ行って太陽を取り出し、しばらくのあいだ持たせてやった。だれかが来るときや、男の子が外へ出るときには、ちゃんと袋に戻すよう気をつけていた。

One day the boy played with it for a time in the house, all the while watching his chance, and when no one was looking, he ran outside, fled to the tree where he put on his raven coat and mask and flew away with it. When he was far up in the sky, he heard his father's voice, sounding faint and far below, saying:

ある日、男の子は家のなかでしばらくそれで遊びながら、ずっと機会をうかがっていた。だれも見ていないときに外へ駆け出し、木のところへ逃げていってカラスの上着と仮面を身につけ、太陽を持って飛び去った。空高く上がったとき、はるか下からかすかに聞こえる父の声がした。

"Don't hide the sun. If you will not bring it back, let it out of the bag sometimes. Don't keep us always in the dark, if you mean to keep the sun for yourself."

「太陽を隠すな。返すつもりがないなら、ときどき袋から出してくれ。太陽を自分のものにするつもりでも、わしらをずっと闇のなかに置かないでくれ」

The father went into the house, and the Raven boy flew on to the place where the sun belonged, and put the bag down. It was early dawn and he saw the Milky Way leading far onward, and followed it to a hole surrounded by short grass which glowed with light. He plucked some of the grass and, standing close beside the edge of the earth just before sunrise time, he stuck it into the sky. It has stayed there ever since as the beautiful Morning Star.

父は家に入り、カラスの男の子は太陽のあるべき場所まで飛んでいって、袋を下ろした。夜明けだったので、天の川がはるか先へ延びているのが見え、それをたどっていくと、光で輝く短い草に囲まれた穴に来た。男の子はその草をいくらか摘み取り、日の出の少し前に大地の縁のすぐそばに立って、それを空に刺した。それはそれ以来ずっとそこにとどまって、美しい明けの明星になっている。

Then he went back and tore off the skin covering and put the sun in its place. Remembering that his father had called to him not to keep it always dark, but to make it partly dark and partly light, he caused the sky to revolve so that it moved around the earth carrying the sun and stars with it, and making day and night.

それから男の子は戻って皮の覆いを引きちぎり、太陽をもとの場所に置いた。ずっと暗くしておかず、暗いときと明るいときを作ってくれと父に呼びかけられたことを思い出して、空を回転させ、太陽と星を乗せて大地のまわりを回るようにし、昼と夜をこしらえた。

Going down to earth he came to where the first people lived, and said to them, "Raven, my uncle, was angry because you killed more animals than you needed, and he took away the sun; but I have put it back and it will never be changed again."

地上へ降りていくと、最初の人々の住むところへ来て、言った。「わしの叔父のワタリガラスは、お前たちが要るより多くの獣を殺したので腹を立て、太陽を取り上げた。けれどもわしがもとに戻したから、もう二度と変わることはない」

The people welcomed him warmly when they knew what he had done for them. As he looked around upon them he recognized the Headman of the sky-dwarfs.

人々は、彼が自分たちのためにしてくれたことを知ると、心から歓迎した。まわりの人々を見まわしたとき、彼は空の小人たちの頭がいるのに気づいた。

"Why, what are you doing down here?" he asked.

「おや、こんなところで何をしているのだ」と彼は尋ねた。

"I and some of my people thought we would like a change, and so we came down to live on earth for a while," replied the dwarf.

「わしと仲間の何人かが、気分を変えてみたいと思って、しばらく地上で暮らそうと降りてきたのです」と小人は答えた。

"What has become of Man?"

「人間はどうなったのですか」

"Who is Man? I never heard of him," said Raven boy.

「人間とはだれだ。そんな者は聞いたことがない」とカラスの男の子は言った。

"He was the first person ever seen on earth. He was our Headman until he went away with Raven," said the people.

「地上で初めて姿を見せた者です。ワタリガラスと一緒に行ってしまうまで、わしらの頭でした」と人々は言った。

"I will go into the skyland and find him," said Raven boy. He tried to fly, but could get up only a little way. He tried several times, getting only a short distance above the ground. When he found that he could not get back to the sky, he wandered off and finally came to where there were living the children of the three men who last dropped from the pea-vine. There he took a wife and lived for a long time having many children, all of whom were Raven people like himself and could fly over the earth. But they gradually lost their magical powers, and were no longer able to turn themselves into men by pushing up their beaks. They became just ordinary ravens like those we see now on the tundras or marshy plains.

「空の国へ行って見つけてこよう」とカラスの男の子は言った。飛ぼうとしたが、少ししか上がれなかった。何度か試したが、地面から少しの高さまでしか上がれなかった。空へ戻れないとわかると、彼はさまよい歩き、とうとうエンドウのつるから最後に落ちてきた三人の男の子どもたちが住んでいるところへ来た。そこで妻をめとり、長いあいだ暮らしてたくさんの子どもをもうけた。子どもたちはみな彼と同じカラスの民で、大地の上を飛ぶことができた。けれども彼らはしだいに魔法の力を失い、くちばしを押し上げて人の姿になることもできなくなった。今ツンドラや湿地の平原で見かけるような、ただのありふれたワタリガラスになったのである。

FOOTNOTES:

原注

[2] This story is probably the Eskimo's explanation of the very long nights in the far north during part of the year.

[2] この話はおそらく、一年のある時期に極北で続くたいそう長い夜についての、エスキモーの説明なのだろう。