The Last of the Thunderbirds

In ancient times a great many giant eagles or thunderbirds lived in the mountains; but in later years they had all disappeared except one single pair which made their home in the mountain top overlooking the Yukon near Sabotnisky. The top of this mountain was round and the eagles had hollowed out a great basin on the summit which they used for a nest. Around the edge of it was a rocky rim from which they could see far across the broad river, or could look down upon the village at the base of the mountain on the water's edge.

昔は大勢の巨大な鷲、つまり雷の鳥が山々に住んでいたが、後の年月にはみな姿を消し、ただ一組だけが、サボトニスキーの近くでユーコン川を見下ろす山の頂に住んでいた。この山の頂は丸く、鷲たちは頂に大きな窪みをえぐって巣にしていた。そのまわりには岩の縁があり、そこから広い川の向こうまで遠く見わたしたり、水辺の山のふもとの村を見下ろしたりすることができた。

From their perch on this rocky wall these great birds would soar away, looking like a cloud in the sky, to seize a reindeer from a passing herd and bring it to their young. Or, again, they would circle out with a noise like thunder from their shaking wings, and drop down upon a fisherman in his kayak on the river, carrying man and boat to the top of the mountain. There the man would be eaten by the young thunderbirds, and the kayak would lie bleaching among the bones and other refuse scattered along the border of the nest. Every fall the young birds would fly away to the northland, while the old ones would remain by the mountain.

この岩の壁の上のとまり場から、この大きな鳥たちは空の雲のように舞い上がり、通りかかるトナカイの群れから一頭をつかんで雛のもとへ運んでいった。あるいはまた、震わせる翼から雷のような音を立てて輪を描いて飛び出し、川でカヤックに乗っている漁師めがけて舞い降り、人も舟もろとも山の頂へ運んでいった。そこで男は雷の鳥の雛に食われ、カヤックは巣の縁に散らばる骨やごみのあいだで白くさらされて横たわるのだった。毎年秋になると若い鳥たちは北の国へ飛び去り、年老いた鳥たちは山にとどまった。

After many fishermen had been carried away by the birds, there came a time when only the most daring would venture upon the river. One summer day a brave young hunter was starting out to look at his fish traps and he said to his wife, "Don't go outside the house while I am away, for fear of the birds."

大勢の漁師が鳥たちに連れ去られたあと、いちばん大胆な者しか川に出ようとしない時が来た。ある夏の日、勇敢な若い狩人が魚の罠を見に出かけようとして、妻に言った。「わしの留守のあいだは、鳥がいるから家の外へ出るなよ」

After he was gone she noticed that the water tub was empty, and took a bucket to go to the river for water. As she bent over to fill the vessel a roaring noise like thunder filled the air, and one of the birds darted down and seized her in its talons. The villagers saw the bird swoop down, and they wailed aloud in sorrow and terror as they watched her being carried through the air to the mountain top.

夫が出かけたあと、妻は水桶が空なのに気づいて、手桶を持って川へ水汲みに行った。器を満たそうとかがんだとき、雷のような轟音があたりに満ち、鳥の一羽がさっと舞い降りて、鉤爪で彼女をつかんだ。村人たちは鳥が急降下するのを見て、彼女が空を山の頂へ運ばれていくのを見ながら、悲しみと恐怖に大声で泣き叫んだ。

The hunter came home and the villagers gathered about with many lamentations. "Oh, pitiful! pitiful! your pretty wife was carried away by the thunderbirds! Too bad! Too bad! By this time she is torn to pieces and fed to the young demons!"

狩人が帰ってくると、村人たちは嘆きながらそのまわりに集まった。「ああ、かわいそうに、かわいそうに。お前のきれいな嫁さんが雷の鳥にさらわれたぞ。気の毒に、気の毒に。今ごろはもう八つ裂きにされて、あの悪魔の雛どもに食わされているだろう」

Not one word did the husband utter. Going into his empty house he took down his bow and his quiver of war arrows and started toward the mountain.

夫はひと言も口にしなかった。空っぽの家に入ると、弓と、戦の矢を入れた箙を取り下ろし、山へ向かって出かけた。

"Don't go! Don't go!" cried the villagers; "of what use is it? She is dead and devoured ere this. You will only add one more to their victims."

「行くな、行くな」と村人たちは叫んだ。「行って何になる。嫁さんはもう死んで食われてしまった。やつらの餌食を一人増やすだけだぞ」

Not a word did the hunter reply. He strode on and on and they watched him climbing up and up the mountainside till he was lost to view. At last he gained the rim of the nest and looked in. The old birds were away, but the fierce young eagles greeted him with shrill cries and fiery, flashing eyes. The hunter's heart was full of anger and he quickly bent his bow, loosing the war arrows one after another till the last one of the hateful birds lay dead in the nest.

狩人はひと言も答えなかった。どんどん大股に歩いていき、村人たちは彼が山の斜面を上へ上へと登っていき、ついに見えなくなるまで見守った。とうとう彼は巣の縁にたどり着いてなかをのぞき込んだ。親鳥たちは留守だったが、猛々しい若い鷲たちが甲高い叫びと、燃えるようにぎらつく目で彼を迎えた。狩人の心は怒りに満ちていて、すばやく弓を引き絞り、憎い鳥が最後の一羽まで巣のなかで死んで横たわるまで、戦の矢を次々と放った。

With heart still burning for revenge, the hunter hid himself beside a great rock near the nest and waited for the parent birds. They came. They saw their young lying dead and bloody in the nest, and their cries of rage echoed from the cliffs on the farther side of the great river. They soared up into the air looking for the one who had killed their young. Quickly they saw the brave hunter beside the great stone, and the mother bird swooped down upon him, her wings sounding like a gale in a spruce forest. Swiftly fitting an arrow to the string, as the eagle came down the hunter sent it deep into her throat. With a hoarse cry she turned and flew away over the hills far to the north.

なおも復讐に胸を燃やしながら、狩人は巣の近くの大きな岩のそばに身を隠し、親鳥を待った。親鳥たちはやって来た。雛が血まみれで巣に死んでいるのを見ると、その怒りの叫びは大河の向こう岸の崖にこだました。親鳥たちは雛を殺した者を探して空高く舞い上がった。まもなく大きな石のそばの勇敢な狩人を見つけ、母鳥が、トウヒの森を吹く大風のような翼の音を立てて彼めがけて舞い降りてきた。すばやく矢を弦につがえると、鷲が降りてきたところで、狩人はその喉深くに矢を射込んだ。しわがれた叫びをあげて、母鳥は向きを変え、丘を越えてはるか北へ飛び去った。

The father bird had been circling overhead and came roaring down upon the hunter, who, at the right moment, crouched close to the ground behind the stone, and the eagle's sharp claws struck only the hard rock. As the bird arose, eager to swoop down again, the hunter sprang from his shelter and drove two heavy war arrows deep under its wing. Uttering hoarse cries of rage, and spreading his broad wings, the thunderbird floated away like a cloud in the sky, far into the northland, and was never seen again.

父鳥は頭上を輪を描いて飛んでいたが、轟音を立てて狩人めがけて舞い降りてきた。狩人はちょうどよいときに石の陰で地面に身を低く伏せたので、鷲の鋭い爪は硬い岩を打っただけだった。鳥がもう一度舞い降りようとして上がったとき、狩人は隠れ場から跳び出し、重い戦の矢を二本、その翼の下深くに射込んだ。しわがれた怒りの叫びをあげ、広い翼を広げて、雷の鳥は空の雲のように漂い去り、はるか北の国へ行ってしまい、二度と見られることはなかった。

Having taken blood vengeance, the hunter went down into the nest where among ribs of old canoes and other bones he found some fragments of his wife, which he carried to the water's edge and, building a fire, made food offerings and libations of water such as would be pleasing to her ghost.

血の復讐を果たすと、狩人は巣のなかへ下りていき、古い舟の肋材やほかの骨のあいだに妻のなきがらのかけらをいくつか見つけた。それを水辺まで運び、火をたいて、妻の霊が喜ぶような食べ物の供え物と水の献げ物をした。