The Dwarf People

Very long ago, before the white people ever went into the land of the Eskimo, there was a large village at Pik-mik-tal-ik. One winter day the people living there were surprised to see a small man and a small woman with a child coming down the river on the ice. The man was so little that he wore a coat made of a single white fox skin. The woman's coat was made from the skins of two white hares; while two muskrat skins clothed the child.

ずっと昔、白人がまだエスキモーの土地へ入っていくより前のこと、ピク・ミク・タル・イクに大きな村があった。ある冬の日、そこに住む人々は、小さな男と小さな女が子どもを連れて、氷の上を川づたいに下ってくるのを見て驚いた。男はたいそう小さく、白狐の毛皮一枚でこしらえた上着を着ていた。女の上着は白い野兎二匹の毛皮でできていて、子どもはマスクラット二匹の毛皮を着ていた。

The father and mother were about two cubits high, and the boy not over the length of one's forearm. Though he was so small, the man was dragging a sled much larger than those used by the villagers, and he had on it a heavy load of various articles. He seemed surprisingly strong, and when they came to the shore below the village, he easily drew the sled up the steep bank, and taking it by the rear end raised it on the sled frame, a feat which would have required the strength of several of the villagers.

父と母は背丈が二キュビットほどで、男の子は人の前腕の長さもなかった。そんなに小さいのに、男は村人の使うものよりずっと大きな橇を引いていて、その上にいろいろな品を重たく積んでいた。男は驚くほど力が強いようで、村の下の岸に着くと、急な土手の上へ橇をやすやすと引き上げ、後ろの端を持って橇台の上に持ち上げた。それは村人が何人も力を合わせなければできない芸当だった。

The couple entered one of the houses and were made welcome. This small family remained in the village for some time, the man taking his place among the other men and seeming entirely at home and friendly. He was very fond of his little son; but one day when the latter was playing outside the house, he was bitten so badly by a savage dog that he died. In his anger the father caught the dog up by the tail and struck it against a post so violently that the dog fell in halves.

夫婦は家の一軒に入って歓迎された。この小さな一家はしばらく村にとどまり、男はほかの男たちに加わって、すっかりなじんで打ち解けているようだった。男は幼い息子をたいそうかわいがっていた。ところがある日、息子が家の外で遊んでいると、獰猛な犬にひどく噛まれて死んでしまった。怒った父親は犬の尻尾をつかんで持ち上げ、柱にあまりに激しく叩きつけたので、犬は真っ二つになって落ちた。

In his great sorrow, the father made a handsome, carved grave-box for his son and placed the child with his toys in it. Then he went into his house and for four days he did no work and would see no one. At the end of that time he took his sled, and with his wife returned up the river on their old trail, while the villagers sorrowfully watched them go, for they had come to like the pair very much.

深い悲しみのなかで、父親は息子のために彫刻を施した立派な墓箱をこしらえ、子どもをおもちゃと一緒にそのなかに納めた。それから家に入り、四日のあいだ何の仕事もせず、だれにも会おうとしなかった。その日々が過ぎると橇を取り、妻と一緒にもと来た道をたどって川を上っていった。村人たちは悲しみながら二人が去るのを見送った。この夫婦がすっかり好きになっていたからである。

Before this time the villagers had always made the body of their sleds from long strips of wood running lengthwise; but after they had seen the dwarf's sled with many crosspieces, they adopted that model.

それまで村人は、縦に走る長い木の細板で橇の胴をこしらえていた。けれども小人の、横木をたくさん渡した橇を見てからは、その型を取り入れた。

Before this time, too, they had always cast their dead out on the tundra to be devoured by the dogs and wild beasts; but after they had seen the dwarf people bury their son in a grave-box with toys placed about him, they buried their dead in that way and observed four days of mourning as had been done by the dwarf; for they liked him and his gentle manners.

それまではまた、死者をツンドラに投げ捨てて犬や野の獣に食わせていた。けれども小人たちが息子を墓箱に葬り、まわりにおもちゃを置くのを見てからは、死者をそのように葬り、小人がしたように四日の喪に服するようになった。村人は小人と、そのもの静かな振る舞いが好きだったのである。

And ever since that time the hunters coming home at dusk and looking toward the darkening tundra, sometimes see dwarf people who carry bows and arrows, but who disappear into the ground if one tries to approach them. They are harmless people, never attempting to do anyone an injury. No one has ever spoken to these dwarfs since the time they left the village; but deer hunters have often seen their tracks near the foot of the mountains.

そしてそのとき以来、夕暮れに家へ帰る狩人たちが暗くなっていくツンドラのほうを見ると、ときおり弓矢を持った小人たちが見えるが、近づこうとすると地面のなかへ消えてしまう。害のない人々で、だれかに危害を加えようとしたことは一度もない。村を去ってからこのかた、この小人たちと言葉を交わした者はいないが、トナカイ狩りの者たちは山のふもと近くでその足跡をたびたび見ている。