Ken came to tell me the news. Shotaro had been carried off by a woman. On the evening of the seventh day, he had suddenly come home. But he had a high fever, and now he was lying in bed.
女にさらわれた庄太郎が、七日目の晩にふらりと帰ってきたが、急に熱を出して寝こんでいる――健さんが、そう知らせに来た。
Shotaro was the most handsome man in town, and he was very good and honest. He had only one hobby. In the evening, he put on his Panama hat, sat down in front of the fruit shop, and watched the faces of the women walking by. He admired them very much. Apart from this, there was nothing special about him.
庄太郎は町内一の美男子で、いたって善良な正直者だった。ただ、道楽が一つだけあった。夕方になるとパナマ帽をかぶって果物屋の店先に腰をかけ、通りを行く女の顔を眺めるのだ。そして、しきりに感心していた。そのほかには、これといって変わったところもなかった。
When not many women passed, he looked at the fruit instead of the street. There were many kinds of fruit: peaches, apples, loquats, and bananas. They were piled beautifully in baskets and set out in two rows, ready to be taken as gifts to sick friends. Shotaro looked at these baskets and said, "How beautiful." He said that if he ever went into business, it would have to be a fruit shop. And yet he himself did no work at all. He just wore his Panama hat and idled about.
あまり女が通らないときは、通りを見ないで果物を見ていた。果物にはいろいろあった。桃や、りんごや、びわや、バナナが、きれいにかごに盛られ、そのままお見舞いに持っていけるように、二列に並べてあった。庄太郎はこのかごを見ては、きれいだと言っていた。商売をするなら果物屋に限る、とも言っていた。そのくせ自分は、パナマ帽をかぶってぶらぶら遊んでいた。
Sometimes he gave his opinion about the fruit and said things like, "This summer orange has a fine color." But he had never once paid money for any fruit. Of course, he never ate any for free, either. He only praised the colors.
「この夏みかんは色がいい」などと、果物の品定めをすることもあった。けれども、お金を出して果物を買ったことは一度もなかった。ただで食べたことも、もちろんなかった。色ばかりほめていた。
One evening, a woman suddenly stood in front of the shop. She seemed to be a lady of high rank, because she wore beautiful clothes. Shotaro liked the color of her kimono very much. He also admired her face very much. So he took off his precious Panama hat and greeted her politely. The woman pointed at the biggest basket and said, "I'll take this one." Shotaro picked it up at once and handed it to her. She lifted it for a moment and said, "Oh, it's very heavy."
ある夕方、ひとりの女が、ふいに店先に立った。身分のある人とみえて、立派な身なりをしていた。その着物の色が、ひどく庄太郎の気に入った。そのうえ庄太郎は、女の顔にすっかり感心してしまった。そこで、大事なパナマ帽を脱いでていねいにあいさつをすると、女はかご詰めのいちばん大きいのを指さして、「これをください」と言った。庄太郎はすぐにそのかごを取って渡した。すると女はちょっと持ち上げてみて、「まあ、たいへん重いこと」と言った。
Shotaro had plenty of free time, and he was a very easygoing man. "Then let me carry it to your house," he said, and he left the fruit shop with the woman. And he did not come back.
庄太郎はもともと暇な男であったうえに、大変気さくな男だったから、「では、お宅までお持ちしましょう」と言って、女と一緒に果物屋を出た。それきり、帰ってこなかった。
Even for Shotaro, this was too much. "Something must be wrong," said his relatives and friends, and they began to make a fuss. Then, on the evening of the seventh day, he suddenly came home. Everyone gathered around him and asked, "Sho, where have you been?" "I took a train to the mountains," he answered.
いくら庄太郎でも、これはあまりにのんきすぎた。ただごとではあるまい、と親類や友だちが騒ぎだしたところへ、七日目の晩になって、ふらりと帰ってきた。そこでみんなが寄ってたかって、「庄さん、どこへ行っていたんだい」と聞くと、庄太郎は「電車に乗って山へ行ったんだ」と答えた。
It must have been a very long train. According to Shotaro, as soon as he got off the train, he came out onto a wide field. It was a huge field, and wherever he looked, there was nothing but green grass. He walked across the grass with the woman. Suddenly they came to the top of a cliff. Then the woman said to him, "Jump from here." He looked over the edge. He could see the walls of the cliff, but he could not see the bottom. Shotaro took off his Panama hat again and politely said no, again and again. Then the woman asked, "If you do not jump, the pigs will lick you. Is that all right?"
なんでも、よほど長い電車にちがいない。庄太郎の話によると、電車を降りると、すぐ野原に出たそうだ。とても広い野原で、どこを見回しても青い草ばかり生えていた。女と一緒に草の上を歩いていくと、急に絶壁のてっぺんに出た。そのとき女が庄太郎に、「ここから飛びこんでごらんなさい」と言った。のぞいてみると、切り立った崖は見えるが、底は見えなかった。庄太郎はまたパナマ帽を脱いで、何度もていねいに断った。すると女が、「思いきって飛びこまなければ、豚になめられますが、よろしゅうございますか」と聞いた。
Shotaro hated two things: pigs, and Kumoemon, a popular singer of the time. But he thought that his life was more important, so he still did not jump. Just then, a pig came up, snorting. Shotaro had no choice. He hit the pig on the end of its nose with the thin palm-wood walking stick he was carrying. The pig grunted, rolled over, and fell down from the cliff. Shotaro breathed a sigh of relief. But then another pig came and tried to rub its big nose against him. Shotaro had to raise his stick again. The pig grunted and fell head first into the bottom of the hole. Then another pig appeared.
庄太郎は、豚と、当時人気の浪曲師の雲右衛門が大嫌いだった。けれども、命には替えられないと思って、やはり飛びこむのを見合わせていた。そこへ、豚が一匹、鼻を鳴らしてやって来た。庄太郎はしかたなく、持っていた細いビンロウジュのステッキで、豚の鼻の頭を打った。豚はぐうと言いながら、ころりとひっくり返って、絶壁の下へ落ちていった。庄太郎がほっとひと息ついていると、また一匹の豚が、大きな鼻を庄太郎にすりつけに来た。庄太郎はやむをえず、またステッキを振り上げた。豚はぐうと鳴いて、また真っ逆さまに穴の底へ転げ落ちていった。すると、また一匹あらわれた。
At that moment, Shotaro happened to look up. From far away, where the green grassland ended, pigs were coming, tens of thousands of them, more than anyone could count. They came in a great crowd, in a straight line, snorting, right toward Shotaro on top of the cliff. Shotaro was truly frightened. But there was nothing he could do. One by one, he politely hit the noses of the pigs that came near him with his palm-wood stick. Strangely, as soon as the stick touched a nose, the pig rolled over and fell into the valley. When he looked down, he saw a long line of upside-down pigs falling down the cliff that had no bottom. When Shotaro thought how many pigs he had dropped into the valley, he became frightened of himself. But the pigs kept coming. On and on they came without end, snorting, like black clouds that had grown legs and were stamping across the green grass.
このとき庄太郎がふと気がついて向こうを見ると、はるか青草原の尽きるあたりから、何万匹とも数えきれない豚が、群れをなして一直線に、絶壁の上に立つ庄太郎を目がけて、鼻を鳴らしながらやって来た。庄太郎は心底恐ろしくなった。けれども、しかたがないので、近寄ってくる豚の鼻の頭を、一つ一つていねいにビンロウジュのステッキで打っていった。不思議なことに、ステッキが鼻にさわりさえすれば、豚はころりと谷の底へ落ちていった。のぞいてみると、底の見えない絶壁を、逆さになった豚が行列して落ちていった。自分がこんなに多くの豚を谷へ落としたのかと思うと、庄太郎はわれながら怖くなった。けれども豚は、続々とやって来た。黒雲に足が生えて、青草を踏み分けてくるような勢いで、限りなく鼻を鳴らしてやって来た。
Shotaro fought with all his courage and hit the pigs' noses for seven days and six nights. But at last he had no strength left. His arms grew as soft as jelly, and in the end the pigs licked him. Then he fell down on top of the cliff.
庄太郎は必死の勇気をふるって、七日六晩、豚の鼻の頭をたたいた。けれども、とうとう精も根も尽きて、腕がこんにゃくのようにぐにゃぐにゃになり、しまいに豚になめられてしまった。そして、絶壁の上に倒れた。
Ken told me Shotaro's story up to this point. Then he said, "So you see, it's not good to look at women too much." I thought he was right. But Ken also said that he would like to have Shotaro's Panama hat.
健さんは、庄太郎の話をここまでして、「だから、あんまり女を見るのはよくないよ」と言った。私も、もっともだと思った。けれども健さんは、庄太郎のパナマ帽がほしいとも言っていた。
Shotaro will probably not be saved. And the Panama hat will probably be Ken's.
庄太郎は助かるまい。パナマ帽は健さんのものになるだろう。
