- ジョン・ミリングトン・シング著姉崎正見訳「アラン島」（４）
ln spite of the charm of my teacher, the old blind man i met the day of my arrival, i have decided to move on to inishmaan, where gaelic is more generally used, and the life is perhaps the most primitive that is left in europe. i spent all this last day with my blind guide, looking at the antiquities that abound in the west or north-west of the island. as we set out i noticed among the groups of girls who smiled at our fellowship--old mourteen says we are like the cuckoo with its pipit--a beautiful oval face with the singularly spiritual expression that is so marked in one type of the west ireland women. later in the day, as the old man talked continually of the fairies and the women they have taken, it seemed that there was a possible link between the wild mythology that is accepted on the islands and the strange beauty of the women. at midday we rested near the ruins of a house, and two beautiful boys came up and sat near us. old mourteen asked them why the house was in ruins, and who had lived in it. 'a rich farmer built it a while since,' they said, 'but after two years he was driven away by the fairy host.' the boys came on with us some distance to the north to visit one of the ancient beehive dwellings that is still in perfect preservation. when we crawled in on our hands and knees, and stood up in the gloom of the interior, old mourteen took a freak of earthly humour and began telling what he would have done if he could have come in there when he was a young man and a young girl along with him. then he sat down in the middle of the floor and began to recite old irish poetry, with an exquisite purity of intonation that brought tears to my eyes though i understood but little of the meaning. on our way home he gave me the catholic theory of the fairies. when lucifer saw himself in the glass he thought himself equal with god. then the lord threw him out of heaven, and all the angels that belonged to him. while he was 'chucking them out,' an archangel asked him to spare some of them, and those that were falling are in the air still, and have power to wreck ships, and to work evil in the world. from this he wandered off into tedious matters of theology, and repeated many long prayers and sermons in irish that he had heard from the priests. a little further on we came to a slated house, and i asked him who was living in it. 'a kind of a schoolmistress,' he said; then his old face puckered with a gleam of pagan malice. 'ah, master,' he said, 'wouldn't it be fine to be in there, and to be kissing her?' a couple of miles from this village we turned aside to look at an old ruined church of the ceathair aluinn (the four beautiful persons), and a holy well near it that is famous for cures of blindness and epilepsy. as we sat near the well a very old man came up from a cottage near the road, and told me how it had become famous. 'a woman of sligo had a son who was born blind, and one night she dreamed that she saw an island with a blessed well in it that could cure her son. she told her dream in the morning, and an old man said it was of aran she was after dreaming. 'she brought her son down by the coast of galway, and came out in a curagh, and landed below where you see a bit of a cove. 'she walked up then to the house of my father--god rest his soul--and she told them what she was looking for. 'my father said that there was a well like what she had dreamed of, and that he would send a boy along with her to show her the way. there's no need, at all, said she; haven't i seen it all in my dream? 'then she went out with the child and walked up to this well, and she kneeled down and began saying her prayers. then she put her hand out for the water, and put it on his eyes, and the moment it touched him he called out: o mother, look at the pretty flowers! after that mourteen described the feats of poteen drinking and fighting that he did in his youth, and went on to talk of diarmid, who was the strongest man after samson, and of one of the beds of diarmid and grainne, which is on the east of the island. he says that diarmid was killed by the druids, who put a burning shirt on him,--a fragment of mythology that may connect diarmid with the legend of hercules, if it is not due to the 'learning' in some hedge-school master's ballad. then we talked about inishmaan. 'you'll have an old man to talk with you over there,' he said, 'and tell you stories of the fairies, but he's walking about with two sticks under him this ten year. did ever you hear what it is goes on four legs when it is young, and on two legs after that, and on three legs when it does be old?' i gave him the answer. 'ah, master,' he said, 'you're a cute one, and the blessing of god be on you. well, i'm on three legs this minute, but the old man beyond is back on four; i don't know if i'm better than the way he is; he's got his sight and i'm only an old dark man.'
- 自作小説キャッチボール第１章２話の英語訳
english
you
someone has talked to for the boy to be throwing a ball out toward the wall one day.
the girl who had put on the jersey was standing there when he saw that.
the girl had a glove in the hand.
you throw a ball out toward the wall every day.
the boy has not understood what the girl tries to say well.
therefore, he was vacant.
the girl said without noticing the boy appearance, and continuously.
let's play catch. will it be trivial alone?
why
the boy said so.
the boy did not have the reason to get on the invitation from a strange girl.
you look tedious.
though it throws out happily at first.
i understand getting tired gradually.
the face down of the boy to girl's word.
this park was a bicycle and existed from boy's house in the place of about one hour.
there were a lot of parks also near boy's house.
the reason why he chose this park is that it is not thought that every person who knows comes.
the boy was not good at it at attention from the person.
therefore, it knew what at the girl was looking, and the boy became shameful.
was i seen for a long time?
the boy asked the girl in a small voice.
yes. because here is a road that i pass every day.
the girl replied with a smile.
i thought that i saw you, and worked hard every day.
because i have resigned soon though i belonged to the softball club.
came to want to play catch when your appearance was seen.
please throw a ball out here
however, the boy did not throw a ball out to the girl.
it is not possible to play catch as thought.
though it said boldly
the girl said lonesomely.
boy's mind was touched to the word of the girl who had said boldly.
the girl boldly called it wanting to play catch with me.
the girl has been going away from the boy.
the boy said to the girl.
wait.
the boy threw a ball out toward the girl who had turned around.
thus, catch of the boy and the girl started.
- The Tale of the Princess Sows 01 DLsite
azu&mio
shippo bancho
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