ジョン・ミリングトン・シング著姉崎正見訳「アラン島」（２３）

　家に歸ると、パット爺さんが來てゐて、晩飯の後に長い物語をしてくれた。――

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Old Pat was in the house when I arrived, and he told a long story after supper:--

　昔、森の中に後家さんが一人息子と一緒に住んでゐた。息子は毎朝、森に薪木を拾ひに出かけた。或る日、地面に寢ろんでゐると、牛が後に殘していつた物の上に蠅が一杯飛んでゐるのを見た。彼は斧を取つて、それを打つと、一匹も餘さずに打てた。
　その晩、息子は母親に向ひ、たかつてゐた蠅を一撃で殺すことが出來たから幸福を求めに世の中へ出かけるのによい時と思はれると云ひ、明朝持つて行けるやうに菓子を三つ作つてくれと賴んだ。
　翌日、その三つの菓子を袋に入れて、夜が明けると直ぐ出立した。そして十時ごろ三つの菓子のうち一つを食べた。
　おひるになるとまた腹がすいたので、二つ目を食べ、夕方三つ目を食べた。その後で、一人の男に出逢つたら、その男は何處へ行くのかと聞いた。
　「生計（くらし）を立てられる處を探しに行きます」と若者は答へた。
　「私について來い。」その男は云つた。「ぢや今夜は、納屋に寢なさい、明日お前に何が出來るかを見るために、仕事を與へよう。」
　翌朝、その百姓は彼を連れ出し、牛を見せて、此の牛を丘で草を食べさせるために外へ出し、誰も牛乳を取りに來ないやうに、よく番をしてをれと云ひつけた。若者は牛を野原に連れ出し、日が暑くなると、仰向けに寢て空を眺めてゐた。暫くすると西北の方に一つの黒い點が見え、それが近づくに従ひ段段大きくなり、遂に一人の恐ろしい巨人となつてやつて來た。
　彼は立ち上つて、両腕で巨人の脚をしつかりと抱へた。そして動けないやうに、くるぶしを下にして堅い地面にたたきつけた。すると巨人は何も悪い事はしないからと云ひ、魔法の棒を渡し、岩を叩くと美しい黑馬と劍と立派な服が出ると教へた。
　若者は岩を叩くと、見てゐる間に岩が開いて、一匹の美しい黑馬と巨人の劍と服が目の前に出た。彼は劍だけを取つて、それを一振りして巨人の首を打ち落した。それからその劍を岩に戻して、再び牛の處へ行き、百姓の處へそれ等を連れ歸つた。
　乳を搾ると、澤山の乳が牛から出た。そこで百姓は、他の牧童は年を連れ歸つて一滴も乳が出なかつたが、丘で何か見かけなかつたかと尋ねた。若者は何も見かけなかつたと答へた。
　次の日、また牛を連れて出かけた。日が暑くなると仰向けに寢た。すると少し經つて、西北の方に一つの黑い點が見え、それが近づいて來るに從ひ段段大きくなり、遂に一人の巨人が彼の方へやつて來て、襲ひかからうとした。
　「貴樣はおれの兄貴を殺したな。さあ、貴樣をのしちまふまではおかないぞ」と巨人は云つた。
　若者は彼の方へ進んで行つて、両腕でその脚を抱へ、くるぶしを下にして巨人を大地にたたきつけた。
　それから棒で岩を叩き、劍を取り出し、巨人の首を切り落した。
　その晩、百姓は牛に前の晩より二倍の乳のあるのがわかつた。そこで何か見かけなかつたかと尋ねた。若者は何も見かけなかつたと答へた。
　第三日目には三番目の巨人が來て、「貴樣はおれの二人の兄貴を殺した。さあ來い、貴樣をのしちまふまではおかないぞ」と言つた。
　そこで此の巨人をも前の二人をやつつけたやうにやつつけた。その晩は、乳が牛の乳房から道に溢れるほど澤山出た。
　次の日、百姓は若者を呼び、今日は牛を牛舍に繫いでおいてもよい。美しい王女が、若し助ける者がなかつたら、大魚に食はれてしまふといふ大へん面白い見物（みもの）があるから、と告げた。併し若者はそんな見物（みもの）は面白くないと云つて、牛を連れて丘へ行つた。例の岩へ來た時、棒で叩き、服を出してそれを着、劍を出して將軍のやうにそれを佩き、黑馬に跨がつて、疾風のやうに馬を驅けらし、遂に美しい王女が海岸で金の椅子に膝掛けて、大魚を待つてゐる處まで來た。
　鯨より大きく脊に二つの翼のある大魚が海から現はれると、若者は波の中に躍り込んで劍でそれを打ち、その翼の一つを切り取つた。海の中はその流れ出た血で眞赤になり、遂に大魚は泳ぎ去つて、若者は岸に殘された。
　それから馬をめぐらして、疾風のやうに馬を驅けらし、遂に岩の處まで來て服を脱ぎ、巨人の劍と黑馬と一緒にもとの岩の中にしまひ、牛を追つて農場に歸つた。
　百姓は彼の前に來て、今日お前は未だ嘗つてない大した不思議を見損なつた。それは或る貴公子が立沢な服をつけて來て、大魚の翼の一つを切り取つた事だがと云つた。
　「これからも二朝續いて、王女は同じ運命に逢ふ」と百姓は云つた。「行つてそれを見物したらよからう。」
　併し若者は行きたくないと云つた。
　次の朝、牛を連れて出かけ、岩から劍と服と黑馬とを取り出して、疾風のやうに馬を驅けらし、王女が海岸で金の椅子に腰掛けてゐる處まで來た。人が彼の來るのを見た時、前日に見た男と同じかどうか、大いに怪んだ。王女は彼を呼んで、跪いて禮をするやうに命じた。彼が跪いてゐた時、王女は鋏でその頭の後から一房の髮の毛を切り取り、着物の中に隠した。
　それから大魚が海から現はれると、彼は波の中に躍り入り、そのもう一つの翼を切り落した。海は流れ出る血ですつかり眞赤になつたが、それは遂に皆を後に殘して逃げた。
　その晩、百姓は彼の前に來て、お前は非常な不思議を見損なつた。明日は行つてみるかと聞いた。若者は行きたくないと云つた。
　三日目、再び彼は黑馬に騎り、王女が金の椅子に腰掛けて大魚を待つてゐる處へ來た。大魚が海から現はれると、若者はそれを目がけて進んで行き、口を開けて食べようとするのを何度も何度も、口の中を刺して、遂に劍で頸を突き通したので、大魚は腹を上にして死んだ。
　そこで、彼は疾風の如くに馬を驅けらし、服と劍と黑馬を岩の中にしまひ、牛を追つて家へ歸つた。
　百姓は彼の前に來て、三旦間、婚禮の大宴會が催され、三日日には王女が大魚を殺した男を見つけたら、その男と結婚するだらうと告げた。
　大宴會は催され、力持の男たちが集まつて來て、大魚を殺したのは自分だと云つた。
　併し三日目に若者は服をつけ、將軍のやうに劍を佩き、黑馬に騎つて、疾風のやうに馬を驅けらしその宮殿に來た。
　王女は彼は見ると、呼び入れて前に跪かせ、そしてその頭の後を見ると彼女自身の手で切取つた一房の髮の毛の跡があつた。王女は彼を王樣に引き合はせ、そして二人は結婚し、若者は領地全部を貰つた。
　それでおしまひ。

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There was once a widow living among the woods, and her only son living along with her. He went out every morning through the trees to get sticks, and one day as he was lying on the ground he saw a swarm of flies flying over what the cow leaves behind her. He took up his sickle and hit one blow at them, and hit that hard he left no single one of them living.
That evening he said to his mother that it was time he was going out into the world to seek his fortune, for he was able to destroy a whole swarm of flies at one blow, and he asked her to make him three cakes the way he might take them with him in the morning.
He started the next day a while after the dawn, with his three cakes in his wallet, and he ate one of them near ten o'clock.
He got hungry again by midday and ate the second, and when night was coming on him he ate the third. After that he met a man on the road who asked him where he was going.
'I'm looking for some place where I can work for my living,' said the young man.
'Come with me,' said the other man, 'and sleep to-night in the barn, and I'll give you work to-morrow to see what you're able for.'
The next morning the farmer brought him out and showed him his cows and told him to take them out to graze on the hills, and to keep good watch that no one should come near them to milk them. The young man drove out the cows into the fields, and when the heat of the day came on he lay down on his back and looked up into the sky. A while after he saw a black spot in the north-west, and it grew larger and nearer till he saw a great giant coming towards him.
He got up on his feet and he caught the giant round the legs with his two arms, and he drove him down into the hard ground above his ankles, the way he was not able to free himself. Then the giant told him to do him no hurt, and gave him his magic rod, and told him to strike on the rock, and he would find his beautiful black horse, and his sword, and his fine suit.
The young man struck the rock and it opened before him, and he found the beautiful black horse, and the giant's sword and the suit lying before him. He took out the sword alone, and he struck one blow with it and struck off the giant's head. Then he put back the sword into the rock, and went out again to his cattle, till it was time to drive them home to the farmer.
When they came to milk the cows they found a power of milk in them, and the farmer asked the young man if he had seen nothing out on the hills, for the other cow-boys had been bringing home the cows with no drop of milk in them. And the young man said he had seen nothing.
The next day he went out again with the cows. He lay down on his back in the heat of the day, and after a while he saw a black spot in the north-west, and it grew larger and nearer, till he saw it was a great giant coming to attack him.
'You killed my brother,' said the giant; 'come here, till I make a garter of your body.'
The young man went to him and caught him by the legs and drove him down into the hard ground up to his ankles.
Then he hit the rod against the rock, and took out the sword and struck off the giant's head.
That evening the farmer found twice as much milk in the cows as the evening before, and he asked the young man if he had seen anything. The young man said that he had seen nothing.
The third day the third giant came to him and said, 'You have killed my two brothers; come here, till I make a garter of your body.'
And he did with this giant as he had done with the other two, and that evening there was so much milk in the cows it was dropping out of their udders on the pathway.
The next day the farmer called him and told him he might leave the cows in the stalls that day, for there was a great curiosity to be seen, namely, a beautiful king's daughter that was to be eaten by a great fish, if there was no one in it that could save her. But the young man said such a sight was all one to him, and he went out with the cows on to the hills. When he came to the rocks he hit them with his rod and brought out the suit and put it on him, and brought out the sword and strapped it on his side, like an officer, and he got on the black horse and rode faster than the wind till he came to where the beautiful king's daughter was sitting on the shore in a golden chair, waiting for the great fish.
When the great fish came in on the sea, bigger than a whale, with two wings on the back of it, the young man went down into the surf and struck at it with his sword and cut off one of its wings. All the sea turned red with the bleeding out of it, till it swam away and left the young man on the shore.
Then he turned his horse and rode faster than the wind till he came to the rocks, and he took the suit off him and put it back in the rocks, with the giant's sword and the black horse, and drove the cows down to the farm.
The man came out before him and said he had missed the greatest wonder ever was, and that a noble person was after coming down with a fine suit on him and cutting off one of the wings from the great fish.
'And there'll be the same necessity on her for two mornings more,' said the farmer, 'and you'd do right to come and look on it.'
But the young man said he would not come.
The next morning he went out with his cows, and he took the sword and the suit and the black horse out of the rock, and he rode faster than the wind till he came where the king's daughter was sitting on the shore. When the people saw him coming there was great wonder on them to know if it was the same man they had seen the day before. The king's daughter called out to him to come and kneel before her, and when he kneeled down she took her scissors and cut off a lock of hair from the back of his head and hid it in her clothes.
Then the great worm came in from the sea, and he went down into the surf and cut the other wing off from it. All the sea turned red with the bleeding out of it, till it swam away and left them.
That evening the farmer came out before him and told him of the great wonder he had missed, and asked him would he go the next day and look on it. The young man said he would not go.
The third day he came again on the black horse to where the king's daughter was sitting on a golden chair waiting for the great worm. When it came in from the sea the young man went down before it, and every time it opened its mouth to eat him, he struck into its mouth, till his sword went out through its neck, and it rolled back and died.
Then he rode off faster than the wind, and he put the suit and the sword and the black horse into the rock, and drove home the cows.
The farmer was there before him and he told him that there was to be a great marriage feast held for three days, and on the third day the king's daughter would be married to the man that killed the great worm, if they were able to find him.
A great feast was held, and men of great strength came and said it was themselves were after killing the great worm.
But on the third day the young man put on the suit, and strapped the sword to his side like an officer, and got on the black horse and rode faster than the wind, till he came to the palace.
The king's daughter saw him, and she brought him in and made him kneel down before her. Then she looked at the back of his head and saw the place where she had cut off the lock with her own hand. She led him in to the king, and they were married, and the young man was given all the estate.
That is my story.

［やぶちゃん注：アイルランド口承の豊穣の牝牛（Glas Gaibhnennグラス・ガヴナン）、神聖数３、アイルランド先住民族の形象化ともされる巨人（彼等Fomoireフォモール一族は戦いに敗れて後に海の怪物ロックランとなったともされる。巨人定番の足元の秘密の弱点もしっかり出現）、アーサー王伝説のExcaliburエクスカリバーを髣髴とさせる剣、岩礁に囚われた姫と翼を持った海の怪物（化け鯨）とその救済という英雄ペルセウスと王女アンドロメダ型の神話などなど、比較神話学的には頗る面白い内容である。］