1 THE STORY OF THE MAN WHO DID NOT WISH TO DIE
1 徐福伝説
2 Long, long ago there lived a man called Sentaro. His surname meant “Millionaire,” but although he was not so rich as all that, he was still very far removed from being poor. He had inherited a small fortune from his father and lived on this, spending his time carelessly, without any serious thoughts of work, till he was about thirty-two years of age.
2 昔々、千太郎という男が住んでいました。彼の姓は「億万長者」を意味していましたが、彼はそれほど裕福ではありませんでしたが、それでも貧乏とはほど遠いものでした。彼は父親から少額の財産を相続し、それで生活し、32 歳くらいになるまで、真面目に仕事を考えずに、のんきに時間を過ごしていました。
3 One day, without any reason whatsoever, the thought of death and sickness came to him. The idea of falling ill or dying made him very wretched.
3 ある日、何の理由もなく、彼は死と病気について考えました。病気になるか死ぬかという考えは、彼を非常に惨めにしました。
4 “I should like to live,” he said to himself, “till I am five or six hundred years old at least, free from all sickness. The ordinary span of a man’s life is very short.”
4 「私は生きたい」と彼は独り言を言いました。人間の通常の寿命は非常に短い。」
5 He wondered whether it were possible, by living simply and frugally henceforth, to prolong his life as long as he wished.
5 彼は、今後、質素で倹約した生活をすることによって、自分の寿命を延ばすことができるかどうか疑問に思いました。
6 He knew there were many stories in ancient history of emperors who had lived a thousand years, and there was a Princess of Yamato, who, it was said, lived to the age of five hundred. This was the latest story of a very long life record.
6 彼は、千年生きた天皇の古代史に多くの物語があり、500 歳まで生きたと言われているヤマトの王女がいることを知っていた。これは、非常に長い人生記録の最新の話でした。
7 Sentaro had often heard the tale of the Chinese King named Shin-no-Shiko. He was one of the most able and powerful rulers in Chinese history. He built all the large palaces, and also the famous great wall of China. He had everything in the world he could wish for, but in spite of all his happiness and the luxury and the splendor of his Court, the wisdom of his councilors and the glory of his reign, he was miserable because he knew that one day he must die and leave it all.
7 千太郎は、しんのしこという中国の王の話をよく聞いていた。彼は、中国の歴史の中で最も有能で強力な統治者の 1 人でした。彼はすべての大きな宮殿を建設し、中国の有名な万里の長城も建設しました。彼は望むことができる世界のすべてを持っていました。死んですべてを残さなければなりません。
8 When Shin-no-Shiko went to bed at night, when he rose in the morning, as he went through his day, the thought of death was always with him. He could not get away from it. Ah—if only he could find the “Elixir of Life,” he would be happy.
8 しんのしこは、夜寝るときも、朝起きるときも、一日を過ごすときも、いつも死のことを考えていた。彼はそれから逃れることができませんでした。ああ――「生命の妙薬」を見つけられれば、彼は幸せだろう。
9 The Emperor at last called a meeting of his courtiers and asked them all if they could not find for him the “Elixir of Life” of which he had so often read and heard.
9 皇帝はついに廷臣たちを集めて、彼が何度も読んだり聞いたりした「生命の妙薬」を見つけられないかと尋ねました。
10 One old courtier, Jofuku by name, said that far away across the seas there was a country called Horaizan, and that certain hermits lived there who possessed the secret of the “Elixir of Life.” Whoever drank of this wonderful draught lived forever.
10 城福という名の年老いた廷臣は、遠く海の向こうに蓬莱山という国があり、そこには「生命の妙薬」の秘密を持った隠者が住んでいると語った。この素晴らしいドラフトを飲んだ人は誰でも永遠に生きました。
11 The Emperor ordered Jofuku to set out for the land of Horaizan, to find the hermits, and to bring him back a phial of the magic elixir. He gave Jofuku one of his best junks, fitted it out for him, and loaded it with great quantities of treasures and precious stones for Jofuku to take as presents to the hermits.
11 天皇は徐福に蓬莱山の地へ旅立ち、仙人を探し出し、薬の入った薬瓶を持って帰るよう命じた。彼は上福に彼の最高のがらくたの1つを与え、それを彼のために装備し、上福が隠者への贈り物として持っていくために大量の宝物と宝石を積み込みました。
12 Jofuku sailed for the land of Horaizan, but he never returned to the waiting Emperor; but ever since that time Mount Fuji has been said to be the fabled Horaizan and the home of hermits who had the secret of the elixir, and Jofuku has been worshiped as their patron god.
12 徐福は蓬莱山の地に向けて船出したが、待っていた天皇の元に戻ることはなかった。それ以来、富士山は伝説の蓬莱山であり、霊薬の秘密を持った仙人の家であると言われており、浄福は彼らの守護神として崇拝されてきました.
13 Now Sentaro determined to set out to find the hermits, and if he could, to become one, so that he might obtain the water of perpetual life. He remembered that as a child he had been told that not only did these hermits live on Mount Fuji, but that they were said to inhabit all the very high peaks.
13 仙太郎は仙人たちを探しに出かけ、できれば仙人になり、永遠の命の水を手に入れようと決心した。彼は子供の頃、これらの隠者は富士山に住んでいるだけでなく、すべての非常に高い山に住んでいると言われていたことを思い出しました.
14 So he left his old home to the care of his relatives, and started out on his quest. He traveled through all the mountainous regions of the land, climbing to the tops of the highest peaks, but never a hermit did he find.
14 それで、彼は親族の世話をするために古い家を残し、探求を始めました。彼は国のすべての山岳地帯を旅し、最高峰の頂上に登りましたが、隠者を見つけることはありませんでした。
15 At last, after wandering in an unknown region for many days, he met a hunter.
15 未知の地域を何日もさまよった後、ついに彼はハンターに会った。
16 “Can you tell me,” asked Sentaro, “where the hermits live who have the Elixir of Life?”
16 「教えてくれませんか」と千太郎は尋ねました。
17 “No.” said the hunter; “I can’t tell you where such hermits live, but there is a notorious robber living in these parts. It is said that he is chief of a band of two hundred followers.”
17「いいえ」ハンターは言いました。 「そのような隠者がどこに住んでいるかはわかりませんが、これらの地域には悪名高い強盗が住んでいます。彼は二百人の信者のバンドの長だと言われています。
18 This odd answer irritated Sentaro very much, and he thought how foolish it was to waste more time in looking for the hermits in this way, so he decided to go at once to the shrine of Jofuku, who is worshiped as the patron god of the hermits in the south of Japan.
18 千太郎はこの奇妙な答えに非常に腹を立て、このように仙人を探すのに時間を浪費するのは愚かだと思い、すぐに日本の守護神として崇拝されている浄福の神社に行くことにしました。南日本の仙人。
19 Sentaro reached the shrine and prayed for seven days, entreating Jofuku to show him the way to a hermit who could give him what he wanted so much to find.
19 千太郎は神社に着き、7日間祈り、徐福に、彼が知りたいと思っていたものを彼に与えることができる隠者への道を示すように懇願した.
20 At midnight of the seventh day, as Sentaro knelt in the temple, the door of the innermost shrine flew open, and Jofuku appeared in a luminous cloud, and calling to Sentaro to come nearer, spoke thus:
20 七日目の真夜中、千太郎が神殿に跪いていると、一番奥の神社の扉が開いて、光る雲の中に徐福が現れ、千太郎に近づくように呼びかけてこう言った。
