収穫祭。THE HARVEST DINNER.
題名通り収穫祭を語るばかりで、デュラハン登場は帰り道の1場面にすぎない。そのせいか、この話は1巻本からは省かれている。
月曜日、10月の晴れた朝だった。山の上に日が昇ってみると、地に霜が降り、蜘蛛の巣についた雫が光に照らされキラキラと輝いていた。ジャガイモを掘り出した後、サディ・バーンが朝食を取りに来ると、道向かいに住む隣人パディ・カヴェナフが玄関で靴紐を結んでいた。
It was Monday, and a fine October morning. The sun had been some time above the mountains, and the hoar frost and the drops on the gossamers were glittering in the light, when Thady Byrne, on coming in to get his breakfast, after having dug out a good piece of his potatoes, saw his neighbour, Paddy Cavenagh, who lived on the other side of the road, at his own door tying his brogues.
「おはよう、パディ」とサディ・バーン。
「おはよう、ご親切に、サディ」とパディ。
「どうしたパディ坊や、やけに遅いじゃないか。この朝は早起きしても悪くないだろう」
パディは空を見上げながら「確かにそうだ。しかし昨夜は、死ぬほど遅くまで起きていたんでね」
「確かパディ、昨日の宴会では、あのお屋敷に上がっていたね」
「ああ、そうだ。素晴らしい宴会だった」
「では、愛しのパディよ、何が不満なんだ？この緑の芝生に座って、最初から最後まで全部話してくれ。」
「それだけは止めろ、おっさん。すっかり、ありのままを話すよ。ごゆっくり」
" A good morrow to you, Paddy, honey, " said Thady Byrne.
" Good morrow, kindly, Thady, " said Paddy.
" Why then, Paddy avick, it is not your early rising, any how, that will do you any harm this morning. "
" It's true enough for you, Thady, " answered Paddy, casting a look up at the sky; " for I believe it's pretty late in the day. But I was up, you see, murdering late last night. ”
" To be sure, then, Paddy, it was up at the great dinner, yesterday, above at the big house you were. "
" Ay was it; and a rattling fine dinner we had of it, too. "
" Why, then, Paddy, agrah, what is to ail you now, but you'd just sit yourself down here, on this piece of green sod, and tell us all about it, from beginning to end. "
" Never say the word twice, man; I'll give you the whole full and true account of it, and welcome. "
二人は道端に腰を下ろし、パディは話し始めた。
「さて、タディ、今年は大豊作で、みんな宝石のように働いてくれたよ。旦那はとてもご機嫌で、収穫が済んで穀物が全て無事に納屋へ納まったら、豪華な正餐をごちそうしてくれると約束してくれた。そうしてこの1週間、この仕事の仕上げに入って。土曜日の夜、最後の一束がきれいに結ばれ女将に送られ、煉瓦の葺き替えまでも、すべてが終了。さて、ラリー・トゥールが最後の畝を立てて降りてきて、皆が梯子を取り払おうとしたとき、女将が出て見えてな。（その永からんことを）月の光に照らされて。仰せられるには、『皆の衆、よく収穫を終えたね、明日はここで宴会としよう。早く来れば、わざわざ礼拝堂まで行かずとも、大広間でミサを受けられるよう取り計らうぞ』と。」
They sat down on the road side, and Paddy thus began:
" Well, you see, Thady, we ' d a powerful great harvest of it, you know, this year, and the men all worked like jewels as they are; and the master was in great spirits, and he promised he'd give us all a grand dinner when the drawing-in was over, and the corn all safe in the haggard. So this last week crowned the business; and on Saturday night the last sheaf was neatly tied and sent in to the mistress, and every thing was finished, all to the thatching of the ricks. Well, you see, just as Larry Toole was come down from heading the last rick, and we were taking away the ladder, out comes the mistress, herself - long life to her - by the light of the moon; and ' Boys, ' says she, ' yez have finished the harvest bravely, and I invite yez all to dinner here, to-morrow; and if yez come early, yez shall have mass in the big hall, without the trouble of going up all the ways to the chapel for it. "
「ほう、女将御自ら。本当か、パディ？」
「おう、嘘じゃないぜ。」
「そうか、続けろ。」
「そりゃもう、予期せぬ出来事大歓呼、って有様。」
「そりゃな。お前もか、パディ坊。」
" Why, then, did she really say so, Paddy? "
" That she did - the sorrow the lie in it. ”
" Well, go on. "
" Well, if we did not set up a shout for her, it's no matter! "
" Ay, and good right you had too, Paddy, avick. "
「いや全く、昨日の朝は……神様が祝福してくださったように、これまでにない晴天だった。髭を剃って、トム・コナーとあの大きなお屋敷に赴いて。その晴天のせいか、これから頂くご馳走のせいか、それとも女将の優しさのせいかはわからないが、とにかく、僕は空を飛ぶヒバリのように楽しい気分だった。……家に着くと、一緒に仕事をした連中が、男も女も子供もみんな庭に集まっていてな。見ていて楽しい光景だったよ、サディ。みんなとても楽しそうで、きれいで、幸せそうだった。」
" Well, you see, yesterday morning - which, God be praised! was as fine a day as ever came out of the sky - when I had taken the beard off me, Tom Connor and I set out for the big house. And I don't know, Thady, whether it was the fineness of the day, or the thoughts of the good dinner we were to have, or the kindness of the mistress, that made my heart so light, but I felt, anyhow, as gay as any sky-lark. -- Well, when we got up to the house, there was every one of the people that's in the work, men, women, and childer, all come together in the yard; and a pretty sight it was to look upon, Thady - they were all so gay, and so clean, and so happy. "
「本当か、愛しのパディ。ご主人様のような本物の紳士と一緒に仕事ができるのは素晴らしいことだ。しかし坊や、教えてくれ。奥様が用意されたミサはどんな感じだった？クランシー神父、ご自身か副牧師が来たんじゃないか？」
" True for you, Paddy, agrah; and a fine thing it is, too, to work with a real gentleman, like the master. But tell us, avick, how it was the mistress contrived to get the mass for yez: sure father Clancey, himself, or the coadjutor, didn't come over? "
「いや、本当はそうなんだけどね。でも、女将の方がうまくやったんだ。いいかい、タディ、一家の旧友マリン神父が、2週間ほど前からお屋敷に遊びに来ているんだ。話をすると、実に陽気な小男で。ただ少々酒がいける口なんで…それが玉に瑕だが…そのせいで田舎の教区を失ったとは、使用人たちの内緒話。ダブリンに向かう途中、旧友である主人と女将のもとで数日間を過ごすためにお立ち寄りと。」
" No, in troth didn't they; but the mistress managed it better nor all that. You see, Thady, there's a priest, an old friend of the family's, one father Mullin, on a visit this fortnight past, up at the big house. He's as gay a little man as ever spoke, only he's a little too fond of the drop - the more is the pity - and it's whispered about among the servants, that by means of it he has lost a parish he had down the country; and he was on his way up to Dublin, when he stopped to spend a few days with his old friends, the master and mistress.
「女将は土曜日、誰にも洩らさず、自分の手で手紙を書いて、トム・フリーンをクランシー神父に送り、法衣を貸してくれるように頼んだんだ。クランシー神父は至ってお上品な方で、自分の義務に反しない限り、どんなことでも恩に着せるのがお好きだからな。そして、女将にお仕えできることを喜び、心を込めて法衣を送り出した。添えられた手紙は、女将が読むのを聞いたトミー・フリーンによると、これまでにないほどご立派だったそうだぜ。
" Well, you see, the mistress, on Saturday, without saying a single word of it to any living soul, writes a letter with her own hand, and sends Tom Freen off with it to father Clancey, to ax him for a loan of the vestments. Father Clancey, you know, is a mighty genteel man, and one that likes to oblige the quality in any thing that does not go against his duty; and glad he was to have it in his power to serve the mistress; and he sent off the vestments with all his heart and soul, and as civil a letter, Tommy Freen says — for he heard the mistress reading it — as ever was penned.
「大広間には祭壇があり、物置と子供部屋に通じる2つのドアのちょうど真ん中にあった。女将と家族全員が参列し、客間のドアのすぐ脇に立っていたのだが、その礼儀正しさには本当に驚いたよ。もし彼らが一生礼拝堂に通い続けていたとしても、これ以上ないほど行儀よくしていた。
" Well, there was an altar, you see, got up in the big hall, just between the two doors — if ever you were in it - leading into the store - room and the room the childer sleep in; and when every thing was ready we all came in, and the priest gave us as good mass every bit as if we were up at the chapel for it. The mistress and all the family attended themselves, and they stood just within - side of the parlour - door; and it was really surprising, Thady, to see how decently they behaved themselves. If they'd been all their lives going to chapel they could not have behaved themselves better nor they did. "
「すると親愛なるパディ、寸劇・お笑いをやるような奴が居なくても、大目に見てやれという事か」
" Ay, Paddy, mavourneen, I'll be bail they didn't skit and laugh the way some people would be doing. "
「お笑い！…そんな奴は居なかったな、確かに！お行儀良い奴ばかりでもなし、そんなことする余裕もなかったか。
…さて、話を続けよう。ミサが終わると、3時になるまで芝生やその辺をそぞろ歩く。そして、夕餉を知らせる大きな鐘が鳴り響いた、喜んだのは俺達だけではなかった事だろう。俺達は連れ立って、夕食が用意された長い納屋へ入った。良心に誓って、タディ・バーン、これから話すことに一言も嘘はない。しかし、目の当たりにしたのは山ほどある料理、世界中の食いたい物が置いていかれて、俺は地面にぶっ倒れるかと思ったぜ。納屋には長机が2列に並んでいて、テーブルクロスが敷き詰められて。マトンの足、豚の手、上質のベーコンもあった。キャベツやジャガイモは尽きることなく、ナイフとフォークが各人に用意され、蛇口付のビヤ樽多数に運び屋、マグカップや小皿は山積み。生まれてこのかた、これほどの食事を目にしたことはない。」
" Laugh! -not themselves, indeed! They ' d more manners, if nothing else, nor to do that.- Well, to go on with my story: when the mass was over we went strolling about the lawn and place till three o'clock come, and then, you see, the big bell rung out for dinner, and maybe it was not we that were glad to hear it. So away with us to the long barn where the dinner was laid out; and upon my conscience, Thady Byrne, there's not one word of lie in what I'm going to tell you; but at the sight of so much victuals every taste of appetite in the world left me, and I thought I'd have fainted down on the ground that was under me. There was, you see, two rows of long tables laid the whole length of the barn, and table-cloths spread upon every inch of them; and there was rounds of beef, and rumps of beef, and ribs of beef, both boiled and roast; and there was legs of mutton, and hands of pork, and pieces of fine bacon; and there was cabbage and potatoes to no end, and a knife and fork laid for every body; and barrels of beer and porter, with the cocks in every one of them, and mugs and porringers in heaps. In all my born days, Thady dear, I never laid eyes on such a load of victuals. "
「お皿の能力にかけて！パディ、それは確かに壮大な光景だった。なんてこったい！今年その仕事に参加できなかっとは、ツイてない！まぁいい、続けてくれ、愛しの君よ。」
" By the powers of delph! Paddy ahayger, and it was a grand sight sure enough. Tear and ayjers! what ill luck I had not to be in the work this year! But go on, agrah. "
「さて、主人はテーブルの端に立ち、俺たちに牛肉を切り分けなさった。そのすぐ隣に、パディ・バーン翁が座っておった。農民なのに、至って真面目な人だから、女将は大層お気に召し、どんな手を使ってでも連れて行こうとなさるのだな。
そのとき神父は他のテーブルの前にいて、俺たちのためにお祈りし、別の牛肉を切り刻み、その前にはスチュワートのジェム・マレーが控えていた。言うまでもなく、牛肉や羊肉、キャベツ、その他もろもろの高級食材を盛大にがっつくは俺たち。そこへトム・フリーン以下の召使い達が、まるで主人と食事をする大紳士であるかのように、俺たちを接待し、飲み物を渡してくれた。さて、宴も半ばを過ぎた頃、女将、若旦那、若い女性たち、そして女将のもとを訪れているダブリンの女性たちが入ってきた。私たちが楽しんでいるか、様子見に見えたんだそうだ。するとだ、誰も一言もしゃべらないまま、全員が一つになって立ち上がり、どの男も子供も、係が山盛りにした小皿を手にして、女将と主人、そして家族全員に、長寿と繁栄を祈って乾杯した。他の者はいざ知らず、俺としては、生涯でこれほど心から祈りを捧げたことはない、その場にいたすべての人がそうだったに違いない。宴のことは言うまでもないが、病気であれ、元気であれ、貧しい人に親切な彼女のような人は、この国中にいるだろうか。もし彼女がいなければ、俺はこの祝福された日に、孤独で寂しい男になっていたのではないだろうか？」
" Well, you see, the master, himself, stood up at the end of one of the tables, and cut up a fine piece of the beef for us; and right forenent him sat, at the other end, old Paddy Byrne; for, though you know he is a farmer himself, yet the mistress is so fond of him - he is such a decent man - that she would, by all manner of means, have him there. Then the priest was at the head of the other table, and said grace for us, and then fell to slashing up another piece of the beef for us; and forenent him sat Jem Murray the stewart; and sure enough, Thady, it was ourselves that played away in grand style at the beef, and the mutton, and the cabbage, and all the other fine things. And there was Tom Freen, and all the other servants waiting upon us, and handing us drink, just as if we were so many grand gentlemen that were dining with the master.- Well, you see, when we were about half done, in walks the mistress herself, and the young master, and the young ladies, and the ladies from Dublin that's down on a visit with the mistress, just, as she said, to see if we were happy and merry over our dinner; and then, Thady, you see, without any body saying a single word, we all stood up like one man, and every man and boy, with his full porringer of porter in his hand, drank long life and success to the mistress and master, and every one of the family. I don't know for others, Thady, but for myself, I never said a prayer in all my life more from the heart; and a good right I had, sure, and every one that was there, too; for, to say nothing of the dinner, is there the like of her in the whole side of the country for goodness to the poor, whether they ' re sick or they're well? Would not I myself, if it was not but for her, be a lone and desolate man this blessed day? "
「坊、お前にも言えることだ。彼女はジュディを、どんな医者よりもうまく導いてくれたからな。」
" It's true for you, avick, for she brought Judy through it better nor any doctor of them all. "
「さて、ざっと話すと、それから食べたり飲んだり、話したり笑ったりして、疲れるまで過ごした。そして夕暮れになるとすぐに、また広間に呼ばれた；そこでは、女将が盲目の笛吹きティム・コネルに言い聞かせ、来れるだけの女たちを呼んで、下の厨房では料理人がお茶を用意。広間には椅子が置いてあり、俺たちはそこに座り。そしたら女将が広間から出てきて、「どうだ諸君、よい夕餉になったかな。君たちのことを考えて、パートナーを大勢用意した。これで楽しい夜にならなかったら、自分のせいだぞ」と仰せられた。というわけで、女将にまた大歓呼。ティムは吹き鳴らし、主人はネリー・ムーニーをフロアの真ん中に連れ出してジグを踊らせ、二人して見事にステップを踏んでみせた。それから主人はディニー・モランを呼び、ダブリンの若い女性の一人に引き合わせ、ディニーに、しっかりしろ、一緒に踊るよう誘えと命じた。それでディニーは、お嬢さんと何かやらかすのは恥ずかしくても、主人の言うとおりにしないのは怖いと思ったんだな。勇ましく転がり出るや、頭を下げ、拳を突き出して、一緒に踊ろうと誘った。彼女はすっと手を差し出した。ディニーは彼女をホールの真ん中、私たちの前にやり、自分はズボンを引き上げ、ティムに呼びかけて『キャシェルの岩』を吹いてもらった。いや旦那、あれは見ものだったぜ。ディニーは今にも飛んでいきそうなほど足をバタバタさせ、お嬢さんはあっちへ行ったりこっちへ行ったり、まるで精霊のように物音立てず。ディニーはティムに「もっと早く、もっと早く」と注文し、ティムはバッグに肘を突っ込みそうになりながら応え、お嬢さんがへたばってしまうまで。ディニーが手を叩いてペギー・ライリーを呼び出すと、彼女は大胆に彼に襲いかかり、ディニーを踊り倒し。そしてジョニー・リーガンが立ち上がり、彼女を完全に圧倒し。一体全体、こんなダンスは見たこともない。」
" Well, to make a long story short, we ate and we drank, and we talked and we laughed, till we were tired, and as soon as it grew dusk we were all called again into the hall; and there, you see, the mistress had got over Tim Connel, the blind piper, and had sent for all the women that could come, and the cook had tea for them down below in the kitchen; and they came up to the hall, and there was chairs set round it for us all to sit upon, and the mistress came out of the parlour, and ' Boys, ' says she, I hope yez have made a good dinner, and I´ve been thinking of yez, you see, and I've got yez plenty of partners, and it's your own faults if yez don't spend a pleasant evening. ' So with that we set up another shout for the mistress, and Tim struck up, and the master took out Nelly Mooney into the middle of the floor to dance a jig, and it was they that footed it neatly. Then the master called out Dinny Moran, and dragged him up to one of the Dublin young ladies, and bid Dinny be stout and ax her out to dance with him. So Dinny, you see, though he was ashamed to make so free with the lady, still he was afeard not to do as the master bid him; so, by my conscience, he bowled up to her manfully, and held out the fist and axed her out to dance with him, and she gave him her hand in a crack, and Dinny whipped her out into the middle of the hall, forenent us all, and pulled up his breeches, and called out to Tim to blow up The Rocks of Cashel ' for them. And then, my jewel, if you were to see them! Dinny flinging the legs about as if they'd fly from off him, and the lady now here now there, just for all the world as if she was a spirit, for not a taste of noise did she make on the floor that ever was heard; and Dinny calling out to Tim to play it up faster and faster, and Tim almost working his elbow through the bag, till at last the lady was fairly tired, and Dinny clapped his hands and called out Peggy Reilly, and she attacked him boldly, and danced down Dinny, and then up got Johnny Regan, and put her down completely. And since the world was a world, I believe there never was such dancing seen. "
「違いねぇな坊や、みんな素晴らしい踊り子だ。それに、あんな淑女がディニーなんかと踊っていたとはね！」
" The sorrow the doubt of it, avick, I'm certain; they're all of them such real fine dancers. And only to think of the lady dancing with the likes of Dinny! "
「さて、哀れなパディ・バーン翁は、女性陣が勢揃いすると聞いて応接間に入り、女将に尋ねたもんだ、思い切って、家に女を連れ帰るのはよろしいか、ってな。すると（ご存知の通り、カティ・バーンをいたくお気に召さない）女将は、パディに喜んで応じ、カティ・バーンもその場にいた。ヒュー・カー翁が、一緒にミネを踊ろうと誘った。ヒューは、串刺しにされたように硬く、黒いカツラと茶色のロングコート、青いストッキングを身につけ、帽子を手に動き回って、カティをリードし、とても優しい視線を送っていた。ピンと張ったモブキャップをかぶるカティは、その耳を顎にかけて、小さな黒い帽子を頭のてっぺんに乗せていた。彼女はある角でヒューにお辞儀をし、ヒューは別の角で彼女にお辞儀をして、見た誰もが訝るまでに、二人してとても優雅に動いていた。」
" Well, you see, poor old Paddy Byrne, when he hears that the women were all to be there, in he goes into the parlour to the mistress, and axes her if he might make so bold as to go home and fetch his woman. So the mistress, you see- though you know Katty Byrne is no great favourite with her - was glad to oblige Paddy, and so Katty Byrne was there too. And then old Hugh Carr axed her out to move a minnet with him; and there was Hugh, as stiff as if he had dined upon one of the spits, with his black wig and his long brown coat, and his blue stockings, moving about with his hat in his hand, and leading Katty about, and looking so soft upon her; and Katty, in her stiff mob-cap, with the ears pinned down under her chin, and her little black hat on the top of her head; and she at one corner curcheying to Hugh, and Hugh at another bowing to her, and every body wondering at them, they moved it so elegantly. ”
「マジか愛しの君パディ、それは1マイルもかけて見に行く価値があった。」
" Troth, Paddy, avourneen, that was well worth going a mile of ground to see. "
「さてダンスが終わると、彼らは歌に取りかかった。ビル・キャリーは『傷ついたヒュッサー』と『貧しくとも誠実な兵士』を、スリー・ルーの頂上で聞いたような調子で歌ってくれた。ディニー・モランとトム・フリーンも最高の歌を披露してくれたし、司祭はクルスキーン・ローンを華麗に歌ってくれた。そして、若い女性が一人、広間の卓に上がって弾き語り。どんな笛よりも美しく、聴きごたえがあった。」
" Well, you see, when the dancing was over, they took to the singing, and Bill Carey gave the ' Wounded Hussar ' and the Poor but Honest Soldier ' in such style, that you'd have heard him up on the top of Slee Roo; and Dinny Moran and old Tom Freen gave us the best songs they had, and the priest sung the Cruiskeen Laun for us gaily, and one of the young ladies played and sung upon a thing within in the parlour like a table, that was prettier nor any pipes to listen to. "
「それならビルは『バンナのほとりで迷子になった』を披露したんでは？奴の持ち歌では最高だからな。」
" And didn't Bill give yez As down by Banna's banks I strayed? ' Sure that's one of the best songs he has. "
「やったさ、みんな座席を揺すぶるまでな。しかし、独りで何でも覚えてもおれん。どこまで話したっけ？…いや、そうだった。哀れな司祭は一晩中、部屋と広間を行ったり来たりしていたし、サイドボードには開けっ放しの蒸留酒が置かれていたしで、親愛なる小坊主は我慢できず、一杯だけ、もう一杯だけと飲み続け、ついにはすっかり、酔っ払ってしまった。すると、私たちのいる広間へ出てきて、私たちに「家に帰れ」「家族を寝床から出すな」とささやくのだった。しかし女将は、彼の様子をご覧になると、口を開き、こう仰せられた『皆の者、司祭が何を言おうと気にするでない。ぬし等は我が同胞なれ、司祭が同胞に在らず。好きなだけ居るがよい、歓迎するぞえ。』それで、俺たちがどうにもならないとわかると、司祭は寝台に転げ落ちた。酒が頭に回ったのか、靴も脱ごうとせずにな。お世話しようと部屋に入ったトミー・フリーンが、そう話してくれた。聞いたティムに悪魔が入って、靴でツンツン突っつく始末。いや、神様お許しあれだ！皆が皆、笑い転げた。司教様、お救い頂けるなら先ずご自身からどうぞ、ってな」
“ And that he did, till he made the very seats shake under us; but a body can't remember every thing, you know. Well, where was I? -oh, ay -You see, my dear, the poor little priest was all the night long going backwards and forwards, every minute, between the parlour and the hall, and the spirits, you see, was lying open upon the sideboard, and the dear little man he couldn't keep himself from it, but kept helping himself to a drop now and a drop then, till at last he became all as one as tipsy. So, then, he comes out into the hall among us, and goes about whispering to us to go home, and not be keeping the family out of their beds. But the mistress saw what he was at, and she spoke out, and she said, ' Good people, ' says she, ' never mind what the priest says to yez -yez are my company, and not his, and yez are heartily welcome to stay as long as yez like. ' So when he found he could get no good of us, he rolled off with himself to his bed; and his head, you see, was so bothered with the liquor he'd been taking that he never once thought of taking off his boots, but tumbled into bed with them upon him- Tommy Freen told us when he went into the room to look after him; and devil be in Tim, when he heard it, but he lilts up the Priest in his boots; and, God forgive us! we all burst out laughing; for sure who could help it, if it was the bishop himself? "
「そんな恥晒しだったのか、やれやれ。しかしパディ、お前ちゃんと帰ってきたか？」
" Troth it was a shame for yez, anyhow. But Paddy, agrah, did yez come away at all? "
「いや、結局みんな帰ったさ。一族の栄光と成功のために、もう一回万歳してからな。さて、タディ、この話の中で最も驚くべきことがある。俺は一人きりだったのだ。家内は、子供たちを置いてダンスに来れはしなかった。それなのに月がきれいな夜だったから、俺がパドックに出かけていって、肩を悪くした鋤牛レインボーの面倒を見るしかなかったんだ。そういうわけで、俺は仲間から離れ、一人きりで帰る羽目になったとさ。
さて、裏門から外に出てみると、鋤の影から見て取るに、夜の12時頃だった。月は銀の皿のように明るく輝き、蔦の壁に止まるフクロウの鳴き声以外には何も聞こえない。俺には、そのすべてが心地よく感じられた。酒を飲んで、とても良い気分だったからだ。…酒には弱いんでね。」
" Why at last we did, after another round of punch to the glory and success of the family. And now, Thady, comes the most surprisingest part of the whole story. I was all alone, you see; for my woman, you know, could not leave the childer to come to the dance, so, as it was a fine moonshiny night, nothing would do me but I must go out into the paddock to look after poor Rainbow, the plough-bullock, that has got a bad shoulder; so by that means, you see, I missed the company, and had to go home all alone. Well, you see, it was out by the back gate I went, and it was then about twelve in the night, as well as I could judge by the plough, and the moon was shining as bright as a silver dish, and there was not a sound to be heard but the screeching of the old owl down in the ivy-wall; and I felt it all pleasant, for I was somehow rather hearty with the drink I'd been taking; for you know, Thady Byrne, I'm a sober man. "
「パディ坊、おまえ嘘はつけんだろ。ちっとばかし、皆が言うように、大物かもな。」
" That's no lie for you, Paddy, avick. A little, as they say, goes a great way with you. "
「さて、俺は皆が歌っていた曲を口笛で吹きながら、かの善良な人々のこと以外のあらゆる物事に思いを馳せた。のだが、農園の角にさしかかり、大きな茂みが見えてきたとき、妖精が棲んでいるのだと確信した。小さな赤い帽子と緑の上着が、はっきり見えたから。いや、自分に言い聞かせた、何を恐れる必要があるのだろうか？正直者で、誰も傷つけない。今朝はミサを聞いたが、聖夜でも聖ヨハネの夜でもなく、その他物忌の日でもない。だから十字を切って、神の名において、茂みの真下に来るまで進んだんだ。そいつは何だったと思う？」
" Well, you see, on I went whistling to myself some of the tunes they'd been singing, and thinking of any thing, sure, but the good people; when just as I came to the corner of the plantation, and got a sight of the big bush, I thought, faith, I saw some things moving backwards and forwards, and dancing like, up in the bush. I was quite certain it was the fairies that, you know, resort to it, for I could see, I thought, their little red caps and green jackets quite plain. Well, I was thinking at first of going back and getting home through the fields: but, says I to myself, what should I be afeard of? I'm an honest man, says I, that does nobody any harm; and I heard mass this morning; and it's neither Hollyeve, nor St. John's eve, nor any other of their great days, and they can do me no hurt, I'm certain. So I made the sign of the cross, and on I went in God's name, till I came right under the bush; and what do you think they were, Thady, after all? "
「いや何だ、判るものか。しかしパディ、坊やは強い子だ！」
“ Arrah, how can I tell? But you were a stout man anyhow, Paddy, agrah! ”
「月明かりに照らされて、揺れているのは古い茂みの緑の葉と、赤い穂の束ばかり。蟹道の角まで行って、ふと、堀の中の小さな堀の方に目をやった。するとそこには、我が魂にかけて！(神よ、悪態お許しあれ)マジもんの妖精たちが居たんだ。」
" Why then, what was it but the green leaves of the old bush and the red bunches of the haws that were waving and shaking in the moonlight. Well, on I goes till I came to the corner of the crab-road, when I happened to cast my eyes over towards the little moat that is in the moat-field, and there, by my sowl! ( God forgive me for swearing ) I saw the fairies in real earnest. "
「そりゃビックリだ、それで？」
" You did, then, did you? "
「いや全くだ、とても美しい光景だった。堀の脇が開いていて、そこから今まで見たこともないような、かわいい小人たちの騎馬隊が出てきたんだ。緑色の狩猟服を着て、頭には小さな赤い帽子をかぶり、小さな尾の長い白い小馬にまたがり、子供の背丈ほどもない、二人乗りでとてもきれいに走っていた。さて連中は、砂場のすぐ上の野原を横切り。大きな溝に来たらどうするのだろう、絶対に乗り越えられまいと俺は見てハラハラしていた。しかしタディ、トムさんと茶毛の雌馬が溝も壁も得意だとか、同日の談ではない。小人さんは大きな溝を、一斉に攻略した。誰一人として狼狽えず、躊躇いもせずやり過ごす、ピョン、ピョン、ピョン！…そして銃弾のように、高台の野原を越えて、古い教会の方へと去っていった。
さて、目を凝らして後を追っていると、お堀からゴロゴロ大きな音が聞こえてきた、と思って振り向くと、なんとお堀から6人乗りの古い馬車が出て来て、俺の立っている門に直行するではないか。道も判らない自分は、二進も三進も行かない。逃げようとしても無駄、連中は狩りをする勢いで走ってくる。だから連中が門を開けている間に、こっそり逃げようと考えて、物陰に身を潜めた。ところが、何てこった！近づいてきた途端、誰も指一本触れずに門が開き、俺が隠れていた場所のすぐそばまで、道を下って来やがった！俺は今、あんたを見るのと同じくらい、連中を間近に見たところ。実に何とも不思議にも、どの馬にも御者にも、首は欠片もない。なのに、門を出てあれほどにも、手際よく短く曲がるなんて、レフェナント卿の馬車にもできまい。そして、目がないはずの車長は、車輪を切り回しているそのときに、その長い鞭の一撃で、俺の目をくり抜くところだった。運転技術を見せびらかすように、馬に鞭を入れまくっていた次いでにだ。あの策士は、俺がそこにいることをよく判っていた上で、すべてわざとやったとしか思えない。その馬が横を通り過ぎるとき、中の人を品定めしようと覗き込んだところが、一人としてその頭がない、ピンの頭ほども。馬車の後ろに立っていた従僕4人も、他の連中と同じだった。」
" Ay, by my faith, did I, and a mighty pretty sight it was too, I can tell you. The side of the moat, you see, that looks into the field was open, and out of it there came the darlintest little cavalcade of the prettiest little fellows you ever laid your eyes upon. They were all dressed in green hunting frocks, with nice little red caps on their heads, and they were mounted on pretty little long-tailed white ponies, not so big as young kids, and they rode two and two so nicely. Well, you see, they took right across the field just above the sand-pit, and I was wondering in myself what they'd do when they came to the big ditch, thinking they'd never get over it. But I'll tell you what it is, Thady, Mr. Tom and the brown mare, though they're both of them gay good at either ditch or wall, they're not to be talked of in the same day with them. They took the ditch, you see, big as it is, in full stroke; not a man of them was shook in his seat or lost his rank; it was pop, pop, pop, over with them, and then, hurra! — away with them like shot across the high field, in thie direction of the old church.
Well, my dear, while I was straining my eyes looking after, I hears a great rumbling noise coming out of the moat, and when I turned about to look at it, what should I see but a great old family coach and six coming out of the moat and making direct for the gate where I was standing. Well, says I, I'm a lost man now anyhow. There was no use at all, you see, in thinking to run for it, for they were driving at the rate of a hunt; so down I got into the gripe, thinking to sneak off with myself while they were opening the gate. But, by the laws! the gate flew open without a soul laying a finger to it, the instant minute they came up to it, and they wheeled down the road just close to the spot where I was hiding, and I saw them as plain as I now see you; and a queer sight it was, too, to see, for not a morsel of head that ever was, was there upon one of the horses or on the coachman either, and yet, for all that, Thady, the lord Léffenent's coach could not have made a handier or a shorter turn nor they did out of the gate; and the blind thief of a coachman, just as they were making the wheel, was near taking the eye out of me with the lash of his long whip, as he was cutting up the horses to show off his driving. I've my doubts that the schemer knew I was there well enough, and that he did it all on purpose. Well, as it passed by me, I peeped in at the quality within-side, and not a head, no not as big as the head of a pin, was there among the whole kit of them, and four fine footmen that were standing behind the coach were just like the rest of them. "
「そんなことがあろうとは。不思議千万というしかないな。」
" Well, to be sure, but it was a queer sight. "
「連中は道路を走り去ること、石から火を噴かんばかりの勢い。奴等に目がない以上、俺のことが見えるはずがないと思ったので、溝から抜け出し、道なりに懸命に奴らを追いかけた。しかし、丘の上にさしかかると、俺よりずっと先に野原に出て、これも古い教会へ向かっているのが見えた。そっちで何かあるのに違いないけれど、他所者が追いかけるのは危険だろう。気がつくと自分の家の近くまで来ていたので、女房には何も言わずに家に入って静かに横になり。奴等のことを考えて寝付けないうちに時間が経ってしまい、そのせいでタディ、今朝方まで起きていた訳だ。しかし有り得ない話だよな、タディ？」
" Well, away they went tattering along the road, making the fire fly out of the stones at no rate. So when I saw they'd no eyes, I knew it was unpossible they could ever see me, so up I got out of the ditch and after them with me along the road as hard as ever I could drive. But when I got to the rise of the hill I saw they were a great way ahead of me, and had taken to the fields, and were making off for the old church too. I thought they might have some business of their own there, and that it might not be safe for strangers to be going after them; so as I was by this time near my own house, I went in and got quietly to bed without saying any thing to the woman about it; and long enough it was before I could get to sleep for thinking of them, and that's the reason, Thady, I was up so late this morning. But was not it a strange thing, Thady? ”
「確かに奇妙だ、パディ、これまで聞いたこともない。しかし、お前は確信しているのだな？その目で見たものと？」
" Faith, and sure it was, Paddy, ahayger, as strange a thing as ever was. But are you quite certain and sure now you saw them? "
「俺は間違いなく、自分の目で見たのだろうか？あんたの顔に鼻が見えるのは間違いないか？見えなくて何が困るんだ？月は昼のように明るく輝いてはいなかったのか？連中が俺の近く1ヤード以内を通過してはいないのか？俺が酔
っ払っているのを見たり、嘘を言うのを聞いたりした人はいないのか？」
" Am I certain and sure I saw them? Am I certain and sure I see the nose there on your face? What was to ail me not to see them? Was not the moon shining as bright as day? And did not they pass within a yard of where I was? And did any one ever see me drunk or hear me tell a lie? "
「本当かどうかなんて誰も聞いとらんよ、パディ。儂としても、どう答えていいのかわからんしな。」
" It's true for you, Paddy, no one ever did, and myself does not rightly know what to say to it. "
原註
収穫の晩餐会の舞台はレンスターにある。観察力のある人なら、この物語の言語と、他の物語のミュンスター方言との間に、わずかな違いがあることに気がつくだろう。「刈り入れ」が終わると、収穫の世話が終わったことを象徴するように、非常にきれいに束ねられた束が「女主人」のもとに送られる。当然のことながら、持ち主は「グラスをもらって」彼女の健康を祈り、「仕事中の人々」への一般的な招待が続く。
The scene of the Harvest Dinner lies in Leinster; and the nice observer will perceive some slight differences between the language in it, and the Munster dialect of the other tales. At the end of " the drawing-in," a sheaf very neatly bound up is sent in to "the mistress," a symbol of the termination of her harvest cares: as a matter of course, the bearer "gets a glass" to drink her health, and a general invitation to "the people in the work" follows.
導入部で使われている Gossamers という言葉は、ジョンソンによると、穏やかな晴天時に空中を舞う白く長いクモの巣のことで、この言葉はラテン語 gossapium に由来するという。これは全く不十分と言わざるを得ない。ゴッサマーとは、特に秋の静かな朝に、茂みの上に大量に見られるクモの巣のことで、風によって舞い上がり、空中を漂う様子を、ブラウンは『ブリタニア牧歌』で絶妙に描いている：
"雪とも降り積もらずや、乳白色のゴッサマー"
第11巻第2曲
プリズムのように光線を分離し、青・赤・黄などのスペクトルを鮮やかに乱す露が、早朝のゴッサマーに付着したときの美しい姿を、自然を愛する人なら誰でも観察し、賞賛したに違いない。オベロン王については、次のように歌われている。
「豪奢なマントを彼は着ていた、
ピカピカのゴッサマーで作られた、
星とも煌めき渡るは以て
朝露のダイヤモンドを鏤めて」
ゴッサマーという言葉は明らかに、ゴースやフリーズに由来している。"Goss samyt"で検索されたし。ヴォス『ルイーゼ』への注釈III.17によると、ドイツでは、ゴッサマーの製造は小人やエルフの仕業であると一般に信じられているという。
Gossamers, a word used in the opening, Johnson says, are the long white cobwebs which fly in the air in calm sunny weather, and he derives the word from the low Latin gossapium. This is altogether very unsatisfactory. The gossamers are the cobwebs which may be seen, particularly during a still autumnal morning, in such quantities on the furze bushes, and which are raised by the wind and floated through the air, as thus exquisitely pictured by Browne in Britannia's Pastorals:
"The milk-white gossamers not upwards snowed."
Book 11. Song 2.
Every lover of nature must have observed and admired the beautiful appearance of the gossamers in the early morning, when covered with dew-drops, which, like prisms, separate the rays of light, and shoot the blue, red, yellow, and other colours of the spectrum, in brilliant confusion. Of king Oberon we are told-
"A rich mantle he did wear,
Made of tinsel gossamer,
Bestarred over with a few
Diamond drops of morning dew. "
The word gossamer is evidently derived from goss, the gorse or furze. Query, Goss samyt? Voss, in a note to Luise, III. 17, says, that in Germany the popular belief attributes the manufacture of the gossamer to the dwarfs and elves.
アイルランド人の下層階級が互いに呼び合う際に使う愛情表現には、独特の心地よさがある。agrah（私の愛）やavick（私の息子）という表現は、スペイン人のhijosやhumanos、ヘブライ人やアラブ人のforsやsonsに似ている。このような、名付けるなら東洋性というようなものは、不思議なことに、スペインとアイルランドにしか見当たらない。おそらく、その共通の起源は温かな愛情にあるのだろうが、その例として、後者ほど多くの例を挙げることができる国はない。アイルランド史の不幸にも暗すぎるページをめくると、読者は、1つの治世の間に、友人を失った悲しみが原因とされる3人以上の死があったことに気づかされるはずである。1人はキルデアの伯爵で、彼は死によって養父の弟を奪われ、嘆き悲しんで死んだと言われています。その原因は、真実のものではないのかもしれない、しかし、そのようなことが言われるような国では、愛情の絆は強かったに違いない。ゴローニンは、日本人の愛情の強さがほぼ同じであることを例示している。
There is something peculiarly pleasing in the terms of affection used by the lower orders of the Irish in addressing each other; the expressions, agrah (my love) and avick (my son) resemble the hijos and humanos of the Spaniards, and the fathers and sons of the Hebrews and Arabs. It is curious that this orientalism, if it may be called such, should be only found in Spain and Ireland. Perhaps its common origin lies in warmth of affection, of which no country affords more instances than the one last mentioned. On turning over the unhappily too dark pages of Irish history, the reader must be struck with meeting, in the space of one reign, the deaths of no less than three persons ascribed to grief for the loss of friends. One is an earl of Kildare, who, we are told, pined and died when death deprived him of his foster brother. The cause assigned may not be the true one, but the bond of affection must have been strong in a country where such could even be mentioned. Golownin gives an instance of nearly similar strength of affection among the Japanese.
アイルランドの農民の意見では、歌の完成度は肺の強さによって決まる。「隣の山の頂上でも聞こえるような力強い低音ボイス」は、優秀な歌手の証であり、熱狂的に求められ、聴かれる。歌謡曲は、大衆的なセンスの良さを示すものである。物語に登場するキャンベルの美しく哀れなバラードは特に人気があり、「アデレード」や「暗く揺れるドナウ」は、オグルの「モリー・アストア」や「バンナの岸辺」と同様に、アイルランドの農民の耳に馴染んでいる。彼らの趣味の良さをさらに証明するものとして、キルデア街協会が印刷し流通させた本の中で、『エリザベス』や『シベリアの亡命者』に匹敵する売れ行きのものはないことを挙げておこう。読者は、ギルバート・バーンズがスコットランドの農民の趣味の良さについて語った言葉を思い浮かべることでしょう。下層民の趣味に合わせ、迷信を媒介にして教育することは、最も魅力的で効果的な教育方法であるとして、多くのことが語られるかもしれない。しかし、国民教育という大きな問題は、急ごしらえのメモで済ませるには、あまりにも重要な問題である。
The perfection of singing, in the opinion of an Irish peasant, consists in strength of lungs. "A powerful bass voice that could be heard at the top of a neighbouring mountain," carries off the palm of excellence, and is sought after and listened to with enthusiasm. The favourite songs display no mean degree of popular taste. Campbell's beautiful and pathetic ballad, mentioned in the tale, is an especial favourite; and "Adelaide," and "the dark-rolling Danube," are as familiar to the ears of the Irish peasantry as Ogle's "Molly Asthore," and "Banna's banks.” As a further proof of their natural good taste, it may be mentioned, that of the books printed and circulated by the Kildare Street Society, none is found to equal in sale Elizabeth, or the Exiles of Siberia. The reader will probably call to mind Gilbert Burns ' remarks on the kindred taste of the Scottish peasantry. Much may be said respecting educating the lower orders, according to their taste and through the medium of their superstitions, as the most attractive and effectual modes of instruction. But the great question of national education is one of too much importance to be trifled with in a hastily written note.
妖精狩人の様子は、M'Cullochの『スコットランドのハイランドと西の島々』vol.4 p.358の記述に類似している。
「あるハイランダーが山を越えるとき、馬の足音、角笛の音楽、猟師の歓声が聞こえた。すると突然、緑色の服を着た13人の妖精狩人の勇敢な一団が、馬具の銀色のボスを夜風に揺らしつつ、彼のそばを通り過ぎた。」
The appearance of the fairy hunters has some resemblance to the relation in M'Culloch's account of the Highlands and Western Isles of Scotland, vol. iv. p. 358. “One Highlander, in passing a mountain, hears the tramp of horses, the music of the horn, and the cheering of the huntsman; when suddenly a gallant crew of thirteen fairy hunters, dressed in green, sweep by him, the silver bosses of their bridles jingling in the night breeze."
次の文章は、アイルランドから、その地の妖精報告に於ける他の情報と一緒に筆者へ送られ、その後に証明されたものです。
The subsequent attested statement has been transmitted to the writer from Ireland, among other intelligence of fairy proceedings there.
「以下の話は、その状況を見た人が何度も話しているのを聞いているので、その正確さは保証できる。
『20年ほど前、コーク近郊のある人のチャーンボーイだったウィリアム・コーディは、一日の仕事を終えた後、夜の12時頃、6、8枚の畑を通って自分の家に行くことになりました。大きな畑の溝（アングリケ、垣根）の脇を通り、採石場の近くまで来ると、向こう側で鞭の大きな音が聞こえた。同じ溝の隙間に行くと、緑色の服を着て、最高の方法で騎乗した小さな騎手が出てきた。彼は胸に鞭を当てて、数百人（皆同じ格好）の騎手が全速力で隙間から走り出し、谷間の周りを旋回するまで動かずに居た。最後の騎手がいなくなると、歩哨は自分の馬に拍車をかけ、鞭で3回叩き、一瞬で視界から消え去った。』
その人は、かなり冷静で分別があったので、上記のことは誓ってもよい。そこは以前から、非常に荒涼たる場所という事であった。」
"The accuracy of the following story I can vouch for, having heard it told several times by the person who saw the circumstances."
'About twenty years back William Cody, churnboy to a person near Cork, had, after finishing his day's work, to go through six or eight fields to his own house, about 12 o'clock at night. He was passing alongside of the ditch (Anglicè, hedge) of a large field, and coming near a quarry, he heard a great cracking of whips at the other side; he went on to a gap in the same ditch, and out rode a little horseman, dressed in green, and mounted in the best manner, who put a whip to his breast and made him stop until several hundred horseman, all dressed alike, rode out of the gap at full speed, and swept round a glin: when the last horseman was clear off, the sentinel clapt spurs to his horse, gave three cracks of his whip, and was out of sight in a second.'
"The person would swear to the above, as he was quite sober and sensible at the time. The place had always before the name of being very airy *. "
(Signed) P. BATH,
Royal Cork Institution, 3d June, 1825.
* A lonesome place, in Scotland and Ireland, is commonly said to be "an airy place," from airidhe, which in Irish signifies spectres, visions.
Sir Walter Scott, in Minstrelsy of Scottish Border, vol. ii. explains this word "as producing superstitious dread."
In the ballad of Tamlane we find "Gloomy, gloomy was the night, And eiry was the way," & c.
訳注
avick: Irish vocative a mhic, ‘my son’, ‘my boy’
murdering: murder は「殺人」だが、当時は「死ぬほどキツい」「忙殺される」的な文脈で気軽に murder と発した模様
agrah: From Irish a (vocative particle) + lenited form of grá (“love”).
「愛しの君よ」と、女房扱いして誂う
Never say the word twice, man; 上記への返し
haggard: (Ireland, Scotland) A stackyard, an enclosure on a farm for stacking grain, hay, etc.
yez: youse
troth: truth
ax: ask
mavourneen: my darling
delph: Irish plates, dishes, and other similar items
ahayger: ?
Tear and ayjers!: tear and ages = tears and aches (of Christ) (Irish) a euph. oath.
agrah: (Irish)my love
Paddy Byrne: 紛らわしいが、語り手は Thady Byrne + Paddy Cavenagh
avourneen = mavourneen ; sweetheart
a drop: と言っても酒の場合、本当に一滴ずつ呑む訳ではない。
afeard: afraid
Léffenent: lieutenant
punch to the glory and success of the family: 彼の地に『万歳』の習慣は無く、代わりに拳を突き上げる所作をする
mob-cap:縁のない婦人帽の一種。モスリンの頭巾で頭を覆い、帯で止めた形状。
the ears: 耳または（耳形の）取っ手。モブキャップではなくボンネットなら、両側の紐を顎下に結んで止めるので、その事かもしれない
and her little black hat on the top of her head: 状況不明。モブキャップまたはボンネットの上に、別の帽子を載せた？ボンネットの庇を見間違えた？兜巾またはテフィリンのような物を着けていた？
gripe: groove
thief: chief
