The Two Men Who Were Enemies

TWO MEN, deadly enemies to each other, were sailing in the same vessel. Determined to keep as far apart as possible, the one seated himself in the stem, and the other in the prow of the ship. A violent storm arose, and with the vessel in great danger of sinking, the one in the stern inquired of the pilot which of the two ends of the ship would go down first. On his replying that he supposed it would be the prow, the Man said, “Death would not be grievous to me, if I could only see my Enemy die before me.”

互いに激しく憎み合っている二人の男が、同じ船に乗っていた。なるべく離れていようと決めて、一人は船尾に、もう一人は船首に座った。激しい嵐が起こり、船が今にも沈みそうになったとき、船尾にいた男が舵取りに、船のどちらの端が先に沈むだろうかとたずねた。舵取りが、たぶん船首のほうだろうと答えると、男は言った。「敵が自分より先に死ぬのを見られさえすれば、死ぬのも少しもつらくないさ。」