Mamma had gone down-town to shop. She had asked Nora to look after Jane Gladys, and Nora promised she would. But it was her afternoon for polishing the silver, so she stayed in the pantry and left Jane Gladys to amuse herself alone in the big sitting-room upstairs.
mamma：マンマ（mama／ママの異形）。down-town：町の中心部。Nora：ノラ（人名／名前）。Jane Gladys：ジェーン・グラディス（人名）。silver：銀食器。pantry：食糧貯蔵室。amuse herself：彼女を遊ばせる。sitting-room：居間（イギリス英語）。
The little girl did not mind being alone, for she was working on her first piece of embroidery—a sofa pillow for papa's birthday present. So she crept into the big bay window and curled herself up on the broad sill while she bent her brown head over her work.
embroidery：刺繍。sofa pillow：ソファーのクッション。crept into：這って行った。bay window：張り出し窓。curled herself up：（彼女が）丸くなった。sill：敷居。bent (over)：（屈んで）～へ傾けた。
Soon the door opened and closed again, quietly. Jane Gladys thought it was Nora, so she didn't look up until she had taken a couple more stitches on a forget-me-not. Then she raised her eyes and was astonished to find a strange man in the middle of the room, who regarded her earnestly.
had taken a couple more stitches：もう何針か縫った。forget-me-not：勿忘草（花の一種）。astonished：驚愕する。strange man：知らない人。regarded her earnestly：彼女をじっと見詰めた。
He was short and fat, and seemed to be breathing heavily from his climb up the stairs. He held a work silk hat in one hand and underneath his other elbow was tucked a good-sized book. He was dressed in a black suit that looked old and rather shabby, and his head was bald upon the top.
breathing heavily：息遣いが荒い（激しく呼吸する）。work silk hat：仕事の礼帽（シルクハット）。tucked：押し込められる。good-sized：可成の大きな。rather shabby：（服を）相当に着古した。
"Excuse me," he said, while the child gazed at him in solemn surprise. "Are you Jane Gladys Brown?"
gazed：凝視した。in solemn surprise：重苦しく驚いて。
"Yes, sir," she answered.
yes, sir：そうです（はい）。
"Very good; very good, indeed!" he remarked, with a queer sort of smile. "I've had quite a hunt to find you, but I've succeeded at last."
remarked：（意見を）いった。queer：怪しい。I've had quite a hunt to：私は～のために物凄く捜し求めた。I've succeeded：私は成功した。
"How did you get in?" inquired Jane Gladys, with a growing distrust of her visitor.
inquired：尋ねた。a growing distrust：募る不信。
"That is a secret," he said, mysteriously.
mysteriously：謎めかして
This was enough to put the girl on her guard. She looked at the man and the man looked at her, and both looks were grave and somewhat anxious.
put the girl on her guard：少女を警戒させる。both looks：両者の眼差し。grave and somewhat anxious：容易ならずに幾分か不安な。
"What do you want?" she asked, straightening herself up with a dignified air.
straightening herself up：（彼女が）姿勢を正して。with a dignified air：威厳ありそうに。
"Ah!—now we are coming to business," said the man, briskly. "I'm going to be quite frank with you. To begin with, your father has abused me in a most ungentlemanly manner."
coming to business：本題に入る。briskly：快活に。frank with you：率直にいって。to begin with：始めに。has abused：虐待した。ungentlemanly：非紳士的な。
Jane Gladys got off the window sill and pointed her small finger at the door.
"Leave this room 'meejitly!" she cried, her voice trembling with indignation. "My papa is the best man in the world. He never 'bused anybody!"
'meejitly：とっとと（immediately／直ぐにの変形のimeejitlyの短縮形）。trembling：震える。indignation：憤慨。'bused：虐待した（abusedの短縮形）。
"Allow me to explain, please," said the visitor, without paying any attention to her request to go away. "Your father may be very kind to you, for you are his little girl, you know. But when he's down-town in his office he's inclined to be rather severe, especially on book agents. Now, I called on him the other day and asked him to buy the 'Complete Works of Peter Smith,' and what do you suppose he did?"
without paying any attention to：～に何一つ注意を払わず。inclined to：～しがちな。rather severe：相当に厳しい。book agents：書籍販売業者。called on：訪問した。the other day：先日。Complete Works of Peter Smith：ピーター・スミス（人名）全集。
She said nothing.
"Why," continued the man, with growing excitement, "he ordered me from his office, and had me put out of the building by the janitor! What do you think of such treatment as that from the 'best papa in the world,' eh?"
why：まぁ。(had) put out of：～から出させた。janitor：（建物の）管理人（アメリカ英語）。treatment：扱い。eh：えっ。
"I think he was quite right," said Jane Gladys.
"Oh, you do? Well," said the man, "I resolved to be revenged for the insult. So, as your father is big and strong and a dangerous man, I have decided to be revenged upon his little girl."
resolved：決した。revenged for：～を復讐する。insult：無礼。
Jane Gladys shivered.
shivered：戦いた。
"What are you going to do?" she asked.
"I'm going to present you with this book," he answered, taking it from under his arm. Then he sat down on the edge of a chair, placed his hat on the rug and drew a fountain pen from his vest pocket.
rug：敷物。fountain pen：万年筆。vest：ヴェスト（胴衣、アメリカ英語）。
"I'll write your name in it," said he. "How do you spell Gladys?"
"G-l-a-d-y-s," she replied.
"Thank you. Now this," he continued, rising and handing her the book with a bow, "is my revenge for your father's treatment of me. Perhaps he'll be sorry he didn't buy the 'Complete Works of Peter Smith.' Good-by, my dear."
with a bow：お辞儀して。revenge：復讐。good-by, my dear：さよなら、お嬢さん。
He walked to the door, gave her another bow, and left the room, and Jane Gladys could see that he was laughing to himself as if very much amused.
amused：面白がる。
When the door had closed behind the queer little man the child sat down in the window again and glanced at the book. It had a red and yellow cover and the word "Thingamajigs" was across the front in big letters.
glanced：ちらりと見た。thingamajigs：（忘れて）何とかいう物（何だったっけ）。in big letters：大きな文字で。
Then she opened it, curiously, and saw her name written in black letters upon the first white leaf.
curiously：物珍しく。first white leaf：最初の白い頁。
"He was a funny little man," she said to herself, thoughtfully.
thoughtfully：考え込んで。
She turned the next leaf, and saw a big picture of a clown, dressed in green and red and yellow, and having a very white face with three-cornered spots of red on each cheek and over the eyes. While she looked at this the book trembled in her hands, the leaf crackled and creaked and suddenly the clown jumped out of it and stood upon the floor beside her, becoming instantly as big as any ordinary clown.
big picture of：～の全体図。clown：道化師。three-cornered spots：三角の隈取り。trembled：震えた。crackled and creaked：パチパチキーキー鳴った。instantly：瞬時に。ordinary：普通の。
After stretching his arms and legs and yawning in a rather impolite manner, he gave a silly chuckle and said:
yawning：欠伸する。in a rather impolite manner：相当に不作法な仕方で。gave a silly chuckle：戯けてくすくす笑った。
"This is better! You don't know how cramped one gets, standing so long upon a page of flat paper."
cramped：窮屈な。
Perhaps you can imagine how startled Jane Gladys was, and how she stared at the clown who had just leaped out of the book.
startled：びっくりした。stared：見詰めた。leaped out of：～から跳び出た。
"You didn't expect anything of this sort, did you?" he asked, leering at her in clown fashion. Then he turned around to take a look at the room and Jane Gladys laughed in spite of her astonishment.
leering：横目遣いで。in a clown fashion：道化師なりの。turned around：振り向いた（aroundの綴りは主にアメリカ）。
"What amuses you?" demanded the clown.
demanded：強く訊ねた。
"Why, the back of you is all white!" cried the girl. "You're only a clown in front of you."
"Quite likely," he returned, in an annoyed tone. "The artist made a front view of me. He wasn't expected to make the back of me, for that was against the page of the book."
made：描いた。make：描く。in an annoyed tone：苛立った口調で。
"But it makes you look so funny!" said Jane Gladys, laughing until her eyes were moist with tears.
moist with tears：涙で潤んだ。
The clown looked sulky and sat down upon a chair so she couldn't see his back.
sulky：拗ねた。
"I'm not the only thing in the book," he remarked, crossly.
crossly：不機嫌に。
This reminded her to turn another page, and she had scarcely noted that it contained the picture of a monkey when the animal sprang from the book with a great crumpling of paper and landed upon the window seat beside her.
had scarcely noted that：殆ど～と気付かなかった。crumpling：くしゃくしゃにすること。window seat：窓腰掛け。
"He-he-he-he-he!" chattered the creature, springing to the girl's shoulder and then to the center table. "This is great fun! Now I can be a real monkey instead of a picture of one."
he：ひ（擬音）。chattered：（猿が）キャッキャッと鳴いた。
"Real monkeys can't talk," said Jane Gladys, reprovingly.
reprovingly：咎めるように。
"How do you know? Have you ever been one yourself?" inquired the animal; and then he laughed loudly, and the clown laughed, too, as if he enjoyed the remark.
remark：意見。
The girl was quite bewildered by this time. She thoughtlessly turned another leaf, and before she had time to look twice a gray donkey leaped from the book and stumbled from the window seat to the floor with a great clatter.
bewildered：狼狽える。thoughtlessly：うかうか。look twice：考え直す。donkey：驢馬。stumbled：躓いた。clatter：ガチャガチャという音。
"You're clumsy enough, I'm sure!" said the child, indignantly, for the beast had nearly upset her.
clumsy：鈍臭い。indignantly：憤慨して。had nearly upset her：引っ繰り返しそうだった。
"Clumsy! And why not?" demanded the donkey, with angry voice. "If the fool artist had drawn you out of perspective, as he did me, I guess you'd be clumsy yourself."
why not?：構いやしない（なぜ駄目か）？。out of perspective：遠近法なしに。
"What's wrong with you?" asked Jane Gladys.
what's wrong with you?：貴方が悪いんだ（何を考えているのか）？。
"My front and rear legs on the left side are nearly six inches too short, that's what's the matter! If that artist didn't know how to draw properly why did he try to make a donkey at all?"
six inches：６インチ（１５．２４センチ）。
"I don't know," replied the child, seeing an answer was expected.
"I can hardly stand up," grumbled the donkey; "and the least little thing will topple me over."
grumbled：不満を漏らした。topple me over：私をぐら付かせる。
"Don't mind that," said the monkey, making a spring at the chandelier and swinging from it by his tail until Jane Gladys feared he would knock all the globes off; "the same artist has made my ears as big as that clown's and everyone knows a monkey hasn't any ears to speak of—much less to draw."
chandelier：シャンデリア（豪華な吊り下げ式の室内装飾灯）。knock all the globes off：電球を全て叩き落とす。(not) to speak of：いうほど～ではない。(not) much less to：況して～ではない。
"He should be prosecuted," remarked the clown, gloomily. "I haven't any back."
prosecuted：告訴される。gloomily：鬱々と。
Jane Gladys looked from one to the other with a puzzled expression upon her sweet face, and turned another page of the book.
puzzled expression：戸惑いの表情。
Swift as a flash there sprang over her shoulder a tawney, spotted leopard, which landed upon the back of a big leather armchair and turned upon the others with a fierce movement.
swift as a flash：閃光のように敏速に。tawney, spotted leopard：黄褐色（tawneyはtawnyの誤字）で斑模様の豹。armchair：肘掛け椅子。turned upon：向き直った。fierce movement：獰猛な動き。
The monkey climbed to the top of the chandelier and chattered with fright. The donkey tried to run and straightway tipped over on his left side. The clown grew paler than ever, but he sat still in his chair and gave a low whistle of surprise.
with fright：怯えて。straightway tipped over：直ぐに転倒した。gave a low whistle：口笛を低く吹いた。
The leopard crouched upon the back of the chair, lashed his tail from side to side and glared at all of them, by turns, including Jane Gladys.
crouched：屈んだ。lashed：（鞭のように）振った。glared at：～を睨み付けた。by turns：順繰りに。
"Which of us are you going to attack first?" asked the donkey, trying hard to get upon his feet again.
trying hard to：精一杯～に努力する（力を尽くす）。
"I can't attack any of you," snarled the leopard. "The artist made my mouth shut, so I haven't any teeth; and he forgot to make my claws. But I'm a frightful looking creature, nevertheless; am I not?"
snarled：（歯を剥き出して）唸った。frightful looking：恐ろしく見える。
"Oh, yes;" said the clown, indifferently. "I suppose you're frightful looking enough. But if you have no teeth nor claws we don't mind your looks at all."
indifferently：無関心に。
This so annoyed the leopard that he growled horribly, and the monkey laughed at him.
growled：唸った。horribly：恐ろしく。
Just then the book slipped from the girl's lap, and as she made a movement to catch it one of the pages near the back opened wide. She caught a glimpse of a fierce grizzly bear looking at her from the page, and quickly threw the book from her. It fell with a crash in the middle of the room, but beside it stood the great grizzly, who had wrenched himself from the page before the book closed.
slipped：滑った。lap：膝（の上）。made a movement：動いた。caught a glimpse of：～を垣間見た。grizzly bear：灰色熊（動物の一種）。with a crash：バサッと。had wrenched himself：（彼が）身を捩った。
"Now," cried the leopard from his perch, "you'd better look out for yourselves! You can't laugh at him as you did at me. The bear has both claws and teeth."
perch：安全な場所。look out for yourselves：（貴方が）自分で注意する。
"Indeed I have," said the bear, in a low, deep, growling voice. "And I know how to use them, too. If you read in that book you'll find I'm described as a horrible, cruel and remorseless grizzly, whose only business in life is to eat up little girls—shoes, dresses, ribbons and all! And then, the author says, I smack my lips and glory in my wickedness."
growling voice：唸り声。horrible, cruel and remorseless：恐ろしく、残忍で、情け容赦ない。whose only business in life：その終生の唯一の本分（仕事）。and all：～でも何でも（その他の全て）。smack my lips：（私が）舌鼓を打つ。glory in：～を心から喜ぶ。wickedness：悪どさ。
"That's awful!" said the donkey, sitting upon his haunches and shaking his head sadly. "What do you suppose possessed the author to make you so hungry for girls? Do you eat animals, also?"
that's awful：それは酷い。sitting upon his haunches：（彼が）屈み込んで（臀部に座って）。possessed the author to：（感情や霊魂が取り憑いて）作者に～させる。
"The author does not mention my eating anything but little girls," replied the bear.
mention：（話に）触れる。
"Very good," remarked the clown, drawing a long breath of relief. "you may begin eating Jane Gladys as soon as you wish. She laughed because I had no back."
drawing a long breath：一息を長く入れながら。
"And she laughed because my legs are out of perspective," brayed the donkey.
brayed：（驢馬が）嘶いた。
"But you also deserve to be eaten," screamed the leopard from the back of the leather chair; "for you laughed and poked fun at me because I had no claws nor teeth! Don't you suppose Mr. Grizzly, you could manage to eat a clown, a donkey and a monkey after you finish the girl?"
deserve to：～するに値する。screamed：大声でいった。poked fun at：～を揶揄った。manage to：何とか～する。
"Perhaps so, and a leopard into the bargain," growled the bear. "It will depend on how hungry I am. But I must begin on the little girl first, because the author says I prefer girls to anything."
into the bargain：おまけに。begin on：取りかかる。
Jane Gladys was much frightened on hearing this conversation, and she began to realize what the man meant when he said he gave her the book to be revenged. Surely papa would be sorry he hadn't bought the "Complete Works of Peter Smith" when he came home and found his little girl eaten up by a grizzly bear—shoes, dress, ribbons and all!
frightened：恐がった。
The bear stood up and balanced himself on his rear legs.
rear legs：後ろ脚。
"This is the way I look in the book," he said. "Now watch me eat the little girl."
He advanced slowly toward Jane Gladys, and the monkey, the leopard, the donkey and the clown all stood around in a circle and watched the bear with much interest.
stood around：突っ立った。
But before the grizzly reached her the child had a sudden thought, and cried out:
"Stop! You mustn't eat me. It would be wrong."
"Why?" asked the bear, in surprise.
"Because I own you. You're my private property," she answered.
private property：私有財産。
"I don't see how you make that out," said the bear, in a disappointed tone.
make that out：それに見当が付く。in a disappointed tone：がっかりした口調で。
"Why, the book was given to me; my name's on the front leaf. And you belong, by rights, in the book. So you mustn't dare to eat your owner!"
by rights：正しく（権利上）。
The Grizzly hesitated.
"Can any of you read?" he asked.
"I can," said the clown.
"Then see if she speaks the truth. Is her name really in the book?"
see if：～かどうかを確かめろ。
The clown picked it up and looked at the name.
looked at the name：名前を調べた。
"It is," said he. "'Jane Gladys Brown;' and written quite plainly in big letters."
plainly：はっきりと。
The bear sighed.
sighed：溜め息を吐いた。
"Then, of course, I can't eat her," he decided. "That author is as disappointing as most authors are."
disappointing：がっかりさせる。most authors：大抵の作家。
"But he's not as bad as the artist," exclaimed the donkey, who was still trying to stand up straight.
exclaimed：声を上げた。
"The fault lies with yourselves," said Jane Gladys, severely. "Why didn't you stay in the book, where you were put?"
fault lies with：責任は～にある。
The animals looked at each other in a foolish way, and the clown blushed under his white paint.
in a foolish way：馬鹿らしいように。blushed：赤面した。
"Really—" began the bear, and then he stopped short.
The door bell rang loudly.
"It's mamma!" cried Jane Gladys, springing to her feet. "She's come home at last. Now, you stupid creatures—"
stupid：間抜けな。
But she was interrupted by them all making a rush for the book. There was a swish and a whirr and a rustling of leaves, and an instant later the book lay upon the floor looking just like any other book, while Jane Gladys' strange companions had all disappeared.
making a rush for：～へ突進する。swish and a whirr：ヒューブーンという音。rustling：カサカサという音。an instant later：直ぐ後に。strange companions：変わった連中。
This story should teach us to think quickly and clearly upon all occasions; for had Jane Gladys not remembered that she owned the bear he probably would have eaten her before the bell rang.
upon all occasions：どんな場合でも。
原文の出典：THE GIRL WHO OWNED A BEAR
単語や熟語の意味は文意に相応しいものを一つだけ選んだ。作品の趣向に合うかどうか、つまり訳語として充分かどうかはさほど考慮しない。英語で理解するための最低限の意味が分かるように努めた。
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