1 THE MIRROR OF MATSUYAMA A STORY OF OLD JAPAN
1 松山鏡
2 Long years ago in old Japan there lived in the Province of Echigo, a very remote part of Japan even in these days, a man and his wife. When this story begins they had been married for some years and were blessed with one little daughter. She was the joy and pride of both their lives, and in her they stored an endless source of happiness for their old age.
2 むかしむかし、昔の日本の越後国に、今でも日本の非常に僻地である男とその妻が住んでいました。この話が始まったとき、彼らは結婚して数年経ち、一人の幼い娘に恵まれていました。彼女は二人の人生の喜びであり誇りであり、彼女の中に彼らの老後のための無限の幸福の源が蓄えられていました.
3 What golden letter days in their memory were these that had marked her growing up from babyhood; the visit to the temple when she was just thirty days old, her proud mother carrying her, robed in ceremonial kimono, to be put under the patronage of the family’s household god; then her first dolls festival, when her parents gave her a set of dolls and their miniature belongings, to be added to as year succeeded year; and perhaps the most important occasion of all, on her third birthday, when her first OBI (broad brocade sash) of scarlet and gold was tied round her small waist, a sign that she had crossed the threshold of girlhood and left infancy behind. Now that she was seven years of age, and had learned to talk and to wait upon her parents in those several little ways so dear to the hearts of fond parents, their cup of happiness seemed full. There could not be found in the whole of the Island Empire a happier little family.
3 赤ちゃんの頃から彼女が成長していくのを特徴づけた、彼らの記憶の中でどんな黄金の手紙の日々でしたか。彼女が生後わずか 30 日のときに寺院を訪れたとき、誇り高き母親が彼女を担ぎ、儀式用の着物を着て、家族の家庭の神の保護下に置かれました。それから彼女の最初の人形祭りで、彼女の両親が彼女に一連の人形とそのミニチュアの持ち物を与え、翌年に追加されました。そしておそらく最も重要な出来事は、彼女の 3 歳の誕生日に、緋色と金色の最初の帯 (幅広の錦帯) が彼女の小さな腰に結ばれたときでした。彼女が7歳になった今、愛情深い両親の心にとても大切ないくつかの小さな方法で話し、両親を待つことを学んだので、彼らの幸せの杯はいっぱいになったようでした.アイランド エンパイア全体で、これほど幸せな小さな家族は見つかりませんでした。
4 One day there was much excitement in the home, for the father had been suddenly summoned to the capital on business. In these days of railways and jinrickshas and other rapid modes of traveling, it is difficult to realize what such a journey as that from Matsuyama to Kyoto meant. The roads were rough and bad, and ordinary people had to walk every step of the way, whether the distance were one hundred or several hundred miles. Indeed, in those days it was as great an undertaking to go up to the capital as it is for a Japanese to make a voyage to Europe now.
4 ある日、父が用事で突然都に呼び出されたため、家庭内は大騒ぎになった。鉄道や人力車などの急速な移動手段が発達した現代では、松山から京都への旅が何を意味するのかを理解するのは困難です。道はでこぼこで悪路で、百マイルでも数百マイルでも、普通の人は一歩一歩歩かなければなりませんでした。実際、当時、日本人がヨーロッパに航海するのと同じくらい、首都に上ることは大仕事でした。
5 So the wife was very anxious while she helped her husband get ready for the long journey, knowing what an arduous task lay before him. Vainly she wished that she could accompany him, but the distance was too great for the mother and child to go, and besides that, it was the wife’s duty to take care of the home.
5 妻は、夫が長い旅の準備をするのを手伝っている間、非常に心配していた。むなしく同行したかったのですが、母子ともに行くには距離が遠すぎて、家事は妻の義務でした。
6 All was ready at last, and the husband stood in the porch with his little family round him.
6 ついにすべての準備が整い、夫は小さな家族と一緒にポーチに立っていました。
7 “Do not be anxious, I will come back soon,” said the man. “While I am away take care of everything, and especially of our little daughter.”
7 その男は言った、「心配しないでください。すぐに戻ってきます」。 「私が留守の間、すべてのこと、特に私たちの幼い娘の世話をしてください。」
8 “Yes, we shall be all right—but you—you must take care of yourself and delay not a day in coming back to us,” said the wife, while the tears fell like rain from her eyes.
8 「はい、私たちは大丈夫です – でもあなたは – 自分の面倒を見て、私たちに戻ってくるのを一日も遅らせないでください」と妻は言い、涙が彼女の目から雨のように落ちました.
9 The little girl was the only one to smile, for she was ignorant of the sorrow of parting, and did not know that going to the capital was at all different from walking to the next village, which her father did very often. She ran to his side, and caught hold of his long sleeve to keep him a moment.
9 微笑んでいるのは少女だけでした。なぜなら、彼女は別れの悲しみを知らなかったからです。また、王都に行くことが、父親が頻繁に行っていた次の村への散歩とまったく違うことを知らなかったからです。彼女は彼のそばに駆け寄ると、彼の長袖を掴んで少し待った。
10 “Father, I will be very good while I am waiting for you to come back, so please bring me a present.”
10 「お父さん、あなたが帰ってくるのを待っている間、私はとても元気になりますので、プレゼントを持ってきてください。」
11 As the father turned to take a last look at his weeping wife and smiling, eager child, he felt as if some one were pulling him back by the hair, so hard was it for him to leave them behind, for they had never been separated before. But he knew that he must go, for the call was imperative. With a great effort he ceased to think, and resolutely turning away he went quickly down the little garden and out through the gate. His wife, catching up the child in her arms, ran as far as the gate, and watched him as he went down the road between the pines till he was lost in the haze of the distance and all she could see was his quaint peaked hat, and at last that vanished too.
11 父親が振り返って、泣いている妻と笑顔で熱心な子供を最後に見ようとしたとき、誰かが自分の髪を引っ張っているように感じました。前に分離しました。しかし、彼は行かなければならないことを知っていました。電話は不可欠だったからです。一生懸命に考えることをやめ、断固として背を向け、小さな庭を急いで下り、門から出ました。彼の妻は子供を両腕に抱え、門まで走って行き、彼が松の木の間の道を行くのを見て、彼は遠くのもやの中で迷子になり、彼女が見ることができるのは彼の風変わりなとがった帽子だけでした。 、そしてついにそれも消えました。
12 “Now father has gone, you and I must take care of everything till he comes back,” said the mother, as she made her way back to the house.
12 「お父さんが行ってしまった。お父さんが帰ってくるまで、あなたと私ですべてのことをしなければなりません」と、母親は家に帰りながら言いました。
13 “Yes, I will be very good,” said the child, nodding her head, “and when father comes home please tell him how good I have been, and then perhaps he will give me a present.”
13 「ええ、きっとうまくいきますよ」と子供はうなずきながら言いました。
14 “Father is sure to bring you something that you want very much. I know, for I asked him to bring you a doll. You must think of father every day, and pray for a safe journey till he comes back.”
14 「お父さんはきっとあなたがとても欲しいものを持ってきてくれるでしょう。私は彼にあなたに人形を持ってくるように頼んだので知っています。毎日お父さんのことを考えて、お父さんが帰ってくるまで旅の無事を祈ってね。」
15 “O, yes, when he comes home again how happy I shall be,” said the child, clapping her hands, and her face growing bright with joy at the glad thought. It seemed to the mother as she looked at the child’s face that her love for her grew deeper and deeper.
15 「ああ、彼がまた家に帰ってきたら、どんなにうれしいだろう」と子供は言い、手をたたきました。子供の顔を見ていると、母親は自分への愛情がますます深まっているように見えました。
16 Then she set to work to make the winter clothes for the three of them. She set up her simple wooden spinning-wheel and spun the thread before she began to weave the stuffs. In the intervals of her work she directed the little girl’s games and taught her to read the old stories of her country. Thus did the wife find consolation in work during the lonely days of her husband’s absence. While the time was thus slipping quickly by in the quiet home, the husband finished his business and returned.
16 それから、彼女は三人の冬服を作る仕事に取りかかった。彼女は簡単な木製の紡績車を設置し、糸を紡いでから生地を織り始めました。仕事の合間に、彼女は少女のゲームを監督し、自分の国の昔話を読むように教えました。このようにして、妻は、夫が不在の孤独な日々の間、仕事に慰めを見いだしました。静かな家で時間があっという間に過ぎていく中、夫は仕事を終えて帰ってきた。
17 It would have been difficult for any one who did not know the man well to recognize him. He had traveled day after day, exposed to all weathers, for about a month altogether, and was sunburnt to bronze, but his fond wife and child knew him at a glance, and flew to meet him from either side, each catching hold of one of his sleeves in their eager greeting. Both the man and his wife rejoiced to find each other well. It seemed a very long time to all till—the mother and child helping—his straw sandals were untied, his large umbrella hat taken off, and he was again in their midst in the old familiar sitting-room that had been so empty while he was away.
17 その人をよく知らない人には、彼だとわかるのは難しかったでしょう。彼は来る日も来る日も旅をし、あらゆる天候にさらされ、全部で約 1 か月間、青銅色に日焼けしていましたが、彼の愛する妻と子供は一目で彼を認識し、どちらの側からも彼に会いに飛んで行き、それぞれが 1 つずつつかまりました。彼らの熱心な挨拶で彼の袖の。男も妻も、お互いが無事であることを喜んだ。草履をほどき、大きな傘帽を脱ぎ、母子がふたたび彼らの真っ只中にいる間、とても空っぽだった見慣れた居間に戻るまで、とても長い時間がかかったように思われました。離れていました。
18 As soon as they had sat down on the white mats, the father opened a bamboo basket that he had brought in with him, and took out a beautiful doll and a lacquer box full of cakes.
18 彼らが白いマットに腰を下ろすと、父は持ってきた竹かごを開けて、美しい人形とケーキの入った漆箱を取り出した。
19 “Here,” he said to the little girl, “is a present for you. It is a prize for taking care of mother and the house so well while I was away.”
19 「ほら」と彼は少女に言いました。私が留守の間、母と家をよく世話してくれた賞です。」
20 “Thank you,” said the child, as she bowed her head to the ground, and then put out her hand just like a little maple leaf with its eager wide-spread fingers to take the doll and the box, both of which, coming from the capital, were prettier than anything she had ever seen. No words can tell how delighted the little girl was—her face seemed as if it would melt with joy, and she had no eyes and no thought for anything else.
20 「ありがとう。都からやってきた彼女たちは、今まで見たどの女性よりも美しかった。少女がどんなに喜んでいたかは言葉では言い表せません。彼女の顔は喜びに溶けてしまいそうで、目も何も考えていませんでした。