BEFORE the High and Far-Off Times, O my Best Beloved, came the Time of the Very Beginnings; and that was in the days when the Eldest Magician was getting Things ready. First he got the Earth ready; then he got the Sea ready; and then he told all the Animals that they could come out and play.
the high and far-off times：良い遠い時。best beloved：諸賢。
And the Animals said, 'O Eldest Magician, what shall we play at?' and he said, 'I will show you.' He took the Elephant—All-the-Elephant-there-was—and said, 'Play at being an Elephant,' and All-the-Elephant-there-was played. He took the Beaver—All-the-Beaver-there-was—and said, Play at being a Beaver,' and All-the-Beaver-there-was played. He took the Cow—All-the-Cow-there-was—and said, 'Play at being a Cow,' and All-the-Cow-there-was played. He took the Turtle—All-the-Turtle-there-was—and said, Play at being a Turtle,' and All-the-Turtle-there-was played. One by one he took all the beasts and birds and fishes and told them what to play at.
play at：〜ごっこする（遊ぶ）。
But towards evening, when people and things grow restless and tired, there came up the Man (With his own little girl-daughter?)—Yes, with his own best beloved little girl-daughter sitting upon his shoulder, and he said, 'What is this play, Eldest Magician?' And the Eldest Magician said, 'Ho, Son of Adam, this is the play of the Very Beginning; but you are too wise for this play.' And the Man saluted and said, 'Yes, I am too wise for this play; but see that you make all the Animals obedient to me.'
restless：落ち着かない。came up：現れた。ho：ほぉ。son of Adam：アダム（旧約聖書による人類の始祖の男性）の息子。saluted：敬礼した。obedient to：〜に従う。
Now, while the two were talking together, Pau Amma the Crab, who was next in the game, scuttled off sideways and stepped into the sea, saying to himself, 'I will play my play alone in the deep waters, and I will never be obedient to this son of Adam.' Nobody saw him go away except the little girl-daughter where she leaned on the Man's shoulder. And the play went on till there were no more Animals left without orders; and the Eldest Magician wiped the fine dust off his hands and walked about the world to see how the Animals were playing.
Pau Amma：パウ・アマ（名前）。crab：蟹（動物の一種）。scuttled off：逃れ出た。sideways：横向きに。leaned on：〜に凭れた。went on：続いた。without orders：飛び飛びに（順序構わず）。wiped (off)：〜から拭い去った。fine dust：細かい埃。walked about：歩き回った。
Illustration
This is a picture of Pau Amma the Crab running away while the Eldest Magician was talking to the Man and his Little Girl Daughter. The Eldest Magician is sitting on his magic throne, wrapped up in his Magic Cloud.
running away：走り去る。magic throne：魔法の玉座。
The three flowers in front of him are the three Magic Flowers. On the top of the hill you can see All-the-Elephant-there-was, and All-the-cow-there-was, and All-the-Turtle-there-was going off to play as the Eldest Magician told them. The Cow has a hump, because she was All-the-Cow-there-was; so she had to have all there was for all the cows that were made afterwards. Under the hill there are Animals who have been taught the game they were to play.
going off to：〜へ出る。hump：瘤。afterwards：後に（afterwardsの綴りは主にイギリス）。
You can see All-the-Tiger-there-was smiling at All-the-Bones-there-were, and you can see All-the-Elk-there-was, and All-the-Parrot-there-was, and All-the-Bunnies-there-were on the hill. The other Animals are on the other side of the hill, so I haven't drawn them. The little house up the hill is All-the-House-there-was. The Eldest Magician made it to show the Man how to make houses when he wanted to. The Snake round that spiky hill is All-the-Snake-there-was, and he is talking to All-the-Monkey-there-was, and the Monkey is being rude to the Snake, and the Snake is being rude to the Monkey.
elk：箆鹿（イギリス英語）。parrot：鸚鵡（鳥の一種）。bunnies：兎（動物の一種）。on the other side of：〜の向こう側に。spiky：先の尖った。rude：失礼な。
The Man is very busy talking to the Eldest Magician. The Little Girl Daughter is looking at Pau Amma as he runs away. That humpy thing in the water in front is Pau Amma. He wasn't a common Crab in those days. He was a King Crab. That is why he looks different. The thing that looks like bricks that the Man is standing in, is the Big Miz-Maze. When the Man has done talking with the Eldest Magician he will walk in the Big Miz-Maze, because he has to.
humpy：瘤のような。common：普通の。in those days：当時。bricks：煉瓦。Miz-Maze：迷路（専らイギリスの遺物の芝生迷路を指す）。
The mark on the stone under the Man's foot is a magic mark; and down underneath I have drawn the three Magic Flowers all mixed up with the Magic Cloud. All this picture is Big Medicine and Strong Magic.
medicine：呪術。
He went North, Best Beloved, and he found All-the-Elephant-there-was digging with his tusks and stamping with his feet in the nice new clean earth that had been made ready for him.
tusks：牙。stamping：踏み付ける。made ready：用意される。
'Kun?' said All-the-Elephant-there-was, meaning, 'Is this right?'
kun：クン／あれ（マレー語で、be、命令形でlet there beを意味すると考えられる／キップリングはright／正しいを意味すると勘違いしたようだ）。
'Payah kun' said the Eldest Magician, meaning, 'That is quite right'; and he breathed upon the great rocks and lumps of earth that All-the-Elephant-there-was had thrown up, and they became the great Himalayan Mountains, and you can look them out on the map.
payah：パヤー／のような（マレー語で、spayaから訛ってso alsoやlikewiseを意味すると考えられる／キップリングはそれをquite／全くを意味すると勘違いしたようだ）。lumps：塊。Himalayan Mountains：ヒマラヤの山々（インド亜大陸とチベット高原に連なる巨大な山群）。
He went East, and he found All-the-Cow-there-was feeding in the field that had been made ready for her, and she licked her tongue round a whole forest at a time, and swallowed it and sat down to chew her cud.
feeding：（動物が）ものを食べる。licked her tongue：（彼女が）舌舐めずった。at a time：一度に。swallowed：飲み込んだ。chew her cud：（彼女が）食い戻しを噛む（反芻する）。
'Kun?' said All-the-Cow-there-was.
'Payah kun,' said the Eldest Magician; and he breathed upon the bare patch where she had eaten, and upon the place where she had sat down, and one became the great Indian Desert, and the other became the Desert of Sahara, and you can look them out on the map.
bare patch：何もない一画。Great Indian Desert：タール砂漠（インドのラージャスターン州とパキスタン東部にある砂漠）。Desert of Sahara：サハラの砂漠（アフリカ北部の砂漠）。
He went West, and he found All-the-Beaver-there-was making a beaver-dam across the mouths of broad rivers that had been got ready for him.
'Kun?' said All-the-Beaver-there-was.
'Payah kun' said the Eldest Magician; and he breathed upon the fallen trees and the still water, and they became the Everglades in Florida, and you may look them out on the map.
fallen trees：倒木。still water：静水。Everglades：エヴァーグレーズ（アメリカのフロリダ州の湿地）。Florida：フロリダ（アメリカの州）。
Then he went South and found All-the-Turtle-there-was scratching with his flippers in the sand that had been got ready for him, and the sand and the rocks whirled through the air and fell far off into the sea.
scratching：引っ掻く。flippers：鰭状の足（水掻き）。whirled：ぐるぐる回った。through the air：空を切って。
'Kun?' said All-the-Turtle-there-was.
'Payah kun' said the Eldest Magician; and he breathed upon the sand and the rocks, where they had fallen in the sea, and they became the most beautiful islands of Borneo, Celebes, Sumatra, Java, and the rest of the Malay Archipelago, and you can look them out on the map!
islands of Borneo, Celebes, Sumatra, Java：ボルネオ（東南アジアの島）とセレベス（インドネシアのスラウェシ島の旧称）とスマトラ（インドネシアの島）とジャワ（インドネシアの島）の島々。Malay Archipelago：マレー諸島。
By and by the Eldest Magician met the Man on the banks of the Perak river, and said, 'Ho! Son of Adam, are all the Animals obedient to you?'
by and by：やがて。Perak river：ペラ川（マレーシアの川）。
'Yes,' said the Man.
'Is all the Earth obedient to you?'
'Yes,' said the Man.
'Is all the Sea obedient to you?'
'No,' said the Man. 'Once a day and once a night the Sea runs up the Perak river and drives the sweet-water back into the forest, so that my house is made wet; once a day and once a night it runs down the river and draws all the water after it, so that there is nothing left but mud, and my canoe is upset. Is that the play you told it to play?'
drives (back)：追い戻す。sweet-water：真水。canoe：カヌー（舟の一種）。upset：引っ繰り返される。
'No,' said the Eldest Magician. 'That is a new and a bad play.'
'Look!' said the Man, and as he spoke the great Sea came up the mouth of the Perak river, driving the river backwards till it overflowed all the dark forests for miles and miles, and flooded the Man's house.
overflowed：溢れ出した。miles：何マイル（１６０９．３４４メートル）も。flooded：水浸しにした。
'This is wrong. Launch your canoe and we will find out who is playing with the Sea,' said the Eldest Magician. They stepped into the canoe; the little girl-daughter came with them; and the Man took his kris—a curving, wavy dagger with a blade like a flame,—and they pushed out on the Perak river. Then the Sea began to run back and back, and the canoe was sucked out of the mouth of the Perak river, past Selangor, past Malacca, past Singapore, out and out to the Island of Bingtang, as though it had been pulled by a string.
launch：（小舟を）水面に下ろせ。kris：クリス（波形の刃のマレー半島の短剣）。curving：湾曲する。wavy：波状の。dagger：短剣。blade：刃。pushed out：（小舟で）船出した。sucked out：吸い出される。Selangor：セランゴール（マレーシアの州）。Malacca：マラッカ（マレーシアの州）。Singapore：シンガポール（国）。Bingtang：ビンタン（インドネシアの島）。
Then the Eldest Magician stood up and shouted, 'Ho! beasts, birds, and fishes, that I took between my hands at the Very Beginning and taught the play that you should play, which one of you is playing with the Sea?'
Then all the beasts, birds, and fishes said together, 'Eldest Magician, we play the plays that you taught us to play—we and our children's children. But not one of us plays with the Sea.'
Then the Moon rose big and full over the water, and the Eldest Magician said to the hunchbacked old man who sits in the Moon spinning a fishing-line with which he hopes one day to catch the world, 'Ho! Fisher of the Moon, are you playing with the Sea?'
hunchbacked：傴僂の。spinning：紡ぎながら。fishing-line：釣り糸。one day：（強い願望の込められた）いつか。fisher：釣り師。
'No,' said the Fisherman, 'I am spinning a line with which I shall some day catch the world; but I do not play with the Sea.' And he went on spinning his line.
went on：続けた。
Now there is also a Rat up in the Moon who always bites the old Fisherman's line as fast as it is made, and the Eldest Magician said to him, 'Ho! Rat of the Moon, are you playing with the Sea?'
And the Rat said, 'I am too busy biting through the line that this old Fisherman is spinning. I do not play with the Sea.' And he went on biting the line.
Then the little girl-daughter put up her little soft brown arms with the beautiful white shell bracelets and said, 'O Eldest Magician! when my father here talked to you at the Very Beginning, and I leaned upon his shoulder while the beasts were being taught their plays, one beast went away naughtily into the Sea before you had taught him his play.'
bracelets：ブレスレット（腕輪）。naughtily：反抗的に。
And the Eldest Magician said, 'How wise are little children who see and are silent! What was the beast like?'
And the little girl-daughter said, 'He was round and he was flat; and his eyes grew upon stalks; and he walked sideways like this; and he was covered with strong armour upon his back.'
grew upon：〜に伸びた。stalks：柄。armour：鎧。
And the Eldest Magician said, 'How wise are little children who speak truth! Now I know where Pau Amma went. Give me the paddle!'
paddle：（カヌーの）パドル（櫂）。
So he took the paddle; but there was no need to paddle, for the water flowed steadily past all the islands till they came to the place called Pusat Tasek—the Heart of the Sea—where the great hollow is that leads down to the heart of the world, and in that hollow grows the Wonderful Tree, Pauh Janggi, that bears the magic twin nuts. Then the Eldest Magician slid his arm up to the shoulder through the deep warm water, and under the roots of the Wonderful Tree he touched the broad back of Pau Amma the Crab. And Pau Amma settled down at the touch, and all the Sea rose up as water rises in a basin when you put your hand into it.
steadily：絶え間なく。Pusat Tasek：プサットタセク（マレー語で中心の湖という意味）。hollow：穴。Pauh Janggi：パウフジャンジ（マレー語で神話的な木を意味する）。twin nuts：一対の木の実。slid：するりと動かした。settled down：（気持ちが）落ち着いた。basin：盥。
'Ah!' said the Eldest Magician. 'Now I know who has been playing with the Sea;' and he called out, 'What are you doing, Pau Amma?'
called out：大声で呼んだ。
And Pau Amma, deep down below, answered, 'Once a day and once a night I go out to look for my food. Once a day and once a night I return. Leave me alone.'
Then the Eldest Magician said, 'Listen, Pau Amma. When you go out from your cave the waters of the Sea pour down into Pusat Tasek, and all the beaches of all the islands are left bare, and the little fish die, and Raja Moyang Kaban, the King of the Elephants, his legs are made muddy. When you come back and sit in Pusat Tasek, the waters of the Sea rise, and half the little islands are drowned, and the Man's house is flooded, and Raja Abdullah, the King of the Crocodiles, his mouth is filled with the salt water.'
cave：洞穴。pour down：流れ込む。Raja Moyang Kaban：ラジャ・モヤン・カバン（名前）。muddy：泥だらけの。drowned：冠水する。Raja Abdullah：ラジャ・アブドゥーラ（名前）。crocodiles：クロコダイル（鰐の一種）。
Illustration
This is the picture of Pau Amma the Crab rising out of the sea as tall as the smoke of three volcanoes. I haven't drawn the three volcanoes, because Pau Amma was so big. Pau Amma is trying to make a Magic, but he is only a silly old King Crab, and so he can't do anything. You can see he is all legs and claws and empty hollow shell.
volcanoes：火山。make a Magic：魔法を使う。empty hollow shell：空っぽの中身のない甲羅。
The canoe is the canoe that the Man and the Girl Daughter and the Eldest Magician sailed from the Perak river in. The sea is all black and bobbly, because Pau Amma has just risen up out of Pusat Tasek. Pusat Tasek is underneath so I haven't drawn it. The Man is waving his curvy kris-knife at Pau Amma. The Little Girl Daughter is sitting quietly in the middle of the canoe. She knows she is quite safe with her Daddy. The Eldest Magician is standing up at the other end of the canoe beginning to make a Magic. He has left his magic throne on the beach, and he has taken off his clothes so as not to get wet, and he has left the Magic Cloud behind too, so as not to tip the boat over.
sailed：（海を）渡った。bobbly：揺れ動く。tip (over)：引っ繰り返す。
The thing that looks like another little canoe outside the real canoe is called an outrigger. It is a piece of wood tied to sticks, and it prevents the canoe from being tipped over. The canoe is made out of one piece of wood, and there is a paddle at one end of it.
outrigger：舷外浮材。sticks：棒。
Then Pau Amma, deep down below, laughed and said, 'I did not know I was so important. Henceforward I will go out seven times a day, and the waters shall never be still.'
important：有力な。henceforward：これからは。
And the Eldest Magician said, 'I cannot make you play the play you were meant to play, Pau Amma, because you escaped me at the Very Beginning; but if you are not afraid, come up and we will talk about it.'
meant to：〜するためのものである。
'I am not afraid,' said Pau Amma, and he rose to the top of the sea in the moonlight. There was nobody in the world so big as Pau Amma—for he was the King Crab of all Crabs. Not a common Crab, but a King Crab. One side of his great shell touched the beach at Sarawak; the other touched the beach at Pahang; and he was taller than the smoke of three volcanoes! As he rose up through the branches of the Wonderful Tree he tore off one of the great twin-fruits—the magic double-kernelled nuts that make people young,—and the little girl-daughter saw it bobbing alongside the canoe, and pulled it in and began to pick out the soft eyes of it with her little golden scissors.
Sarawak：サワラク（マレーシアの州）。Pahang：パハン（マレーシアの州）。tore off：もぎ取った。double-kernelled nuts：二倍仁（二つの中身）の。bobbing：揺れ動く。alongside：（船の）舷側に。eyes：中心部。scissors：鋏。
'Now,' said the Magician, 'make a Magic, Pau Amma, to show that you are really important.'
Pau Amma rolled his eyes and waved his legs, but he could only stir up the Sea, because, though he was a King Crab, he was nothing more than a Crab, and the Eldest Magician laughed.
'You are not so important after all, Pau Amma,' he said. 'Now, let me try,' and he made a Magic with his left hand—with just the little finger of his left hand—and—lo and behold, Best Beloved, Pau Amma's hard, blue-green-black shell fell off him as a husk falls off a cocoa-nut, and Pau Amma was left all soft—soft as the little crabs that you sometimes find on the beach, Best Beloved.
lo and behold：見てご覧（いやはや仰天）。fell off：〜から落ちた。husk：（穀類の）殻。cocoa-nut：椰子の実。
'Indeed, you are very important,' said the Eldest Magician. 'Shall I ask the Man here to cut you with kris? Shall I send for Raja Moyang Kaban, the King of the Elephants, to pierce you with his tusks, or shall I call Raja Abdullah, the King of the Crocodiles, to bite you?'
send for：呼びにやる。
And Pau Amma said, 'I am ashamed! Give me back my hard shell and let me go back to Pusat Tasek, and I will only stir out once a day and once a night to get my food.'
stir out：動き出す。
And the Eldest Magician said, 'No, Pau Amma, I will not give you back your shell, for you will grow bigger and prouder and stronger, and perhaps you will forget your promise, and you will play with the Sea once more.'
Then Pau Amma said, 'What shall I do? I am so big that I can only hide in Pusat Tasek, and if I go anywhere else, all soft as I am now, the sharks and the dogfish will eat me. And if I go to Pusat Tasek, all soft as I am now, though I may be safe, I can never stir out to get my food, and so I shall die.' Then he waved his legs and lamented.
sharks：鮫（魚の一種）。dogfish：角鮫（鮫の一種）。lamented：嘆き悲しんだ。
'Listen, Pau Amma,' said the Eldest Magician. 'I cannot make you play the play you were meant to play, because you escaped me at the Very Beginning; but if you choose, I can make every stone and every hole and every bunch of weed in all the seas a safe Pusat Tasek for you and your children for always.'
if you choose：もしも貴方が望むならば。every bunch of weed：あらゆる雑草の房。for always：永久に。
Then Pau Amma said, 'That is good, but I do not choose yet. Look! there is that Man who talked to you at the Very Beginning. If he had not taken up your attention I should not have grown tired of waiting and run away, and all this would never have happened. What will he do for me?'
had not taken up your attention：貴方の気を引かなかった。
And the Man said, 'If you choose, I will make a Magic, so that both the deep water and the dry ground will be a home for you and your children—so that you shall be able to hide both on the land and in the sea.'
And Pau Amma said, 'I do not choose yet. Look! there is that girl who saw me running away at the Very Beginning. If she had spoken then, the Eldest Magician would have called me back, and all this would never have happened. What will she do for me?'
And the little girl-daughter said, 'This is a good nut that I am eating. If you choose, I will make a Magic and I will give you this pair of scissors, very sharp and strong, so that you and your children can eat cocoa-nuts like this all day long when you come up from the Sea to the land; or you can dig a Pusat Tasek for yourself with the scissors that belong to you when there is no stone or hole near by; and when the earth is too hard, by the help of these same scissors you can run up a tree.'
this pair of scissors：この鋏（一丁）。all day long when：〜のときにずっと。
And Pau Amma said, 'I do not choose yet, for, all soft as I am, these gifts would not help me. Give me back my shell, O Eldest Magician, and then I will play your play.'
And the Eldest Magician said, 'I will give it back, Pau Amma, for eleven months of the year; but on the twelfth month of every year it shall grow soft again, to remind you and all your children that I can make magics, and to keep you humble, Pau Amma; for I see that if you can run both under the water and on land, you will grow too bold; and if you can climb trees and crack nuts and dig holes with your scissors, you will grow too greedy, Pau Amma.'
humble：謙虚な。run：（素早くか滑らかに）動く。bold：大胆な。greedy：貪欲な。
Then Pau Amma thought a little and said, 'I have made my choice. I will take all the gifts.'
have made my choice：（私が）望んだ。
Then the Eldest Magician made a Magic with the right hand, with all five fingers of his right hand, and lo and behold, Best Beloved, Pau Amma grew smaller and smaller and smaller, till at last there was only a little green crab swimming in the water alongside the canoe, crying in a very small voice, 'Give me the scissors!'
And the girl-daughter picked him up on the palm of her little brown hand, and sat him in the bottom of the canoe and gave him her scissors, and he waved them in his little arms, and opened them and shut them and snapped them, and said, 'I can eat nuts. I can crack shells. I can dig holes. I can climb trees. I can breathe in the dry air, and I can find a safe Pusat Tasek under every stone. I did not know I was so important. Kun?' (Is this right?)
snapped：パチンと鳴らした。
'Payah-kun' said the Eldest Magician, and he laughed and gave him his blessing; and little Pau Amma scuttled over the side of the canoe into the water; and he was so tiny that he could have hidden under the shadow of a dry leaf on land or of a dead shell at the bottom of the sea.
gave him his blessing：彼を祝福した。scuttled：急いで行った。
'Was that well done?' said the Eldest Magician.
Was that well done?：（それは）良くやったか。
'Yes,' said the Man. 'But now we must go back to Perak, and that is a weary way to paddle. If we had waited till Pau Amma had gone out of Pusat Tasek and come home, the water would have carried us there by itself.'
a weary way：うんざりの道程。paddle：パドルで漕ぐ。
'You are lazy,' said the Eldest Magician. 'So your children shall be lazy. They shall be the laziest people in the world. They shall be called the Malazy—the lazy people;' and he held up his finger to the Moon and said, 'O Fisherman, here is the Man too lazy to row home. Pull his canoe home with your line, Fisherman.'
the malazy：のらくら者。row：（ボートを）漕ぐ。
'No,' said the Man. 'If I am to be lazy all my days, let the Sea work for me twice a day for ever. That will save paddling.'
all my days：私の生涯で。work for：〜に仕える。
And the Eldest Magician laughed and said,
'Payah-kun ' (That is right).
And the Rat of the Moon stopped biting the line; and the Fisherman let his line down till it touched the Sea, and he pulled the whole deep Sea along, past the Island of Bintang, past Singapore, past Malacca, past Selangor, till the canoe whirled into the mouth of the Perak river again.
'Kun?' said the Fisherman of the Moon.
'Payah-kun', said the Eldest Magician. 'See now that you pull the Sea twice a day and twice a night for ever, so that the Malazy fishermen may be saved paddling. But be careful not to do it too hard, or I shall make a magic on you as I did to Pau Amma.'
Then they all went up the Perak river and went to bed, Best Beloved.
Now listen and attend!
attend：注意して聞く。
From that day to this the Moon has always pulled the sea up and down and made what we call the tides. Sometimes the Fisher of the Sea pulls a little too hard, and then we get springtides; and sometimes he pulls a little too softly, and then we get what are called neap-tides; but nearly always he is careful, because of the Eldest Magician.
tides：潮汐。springtides：大潮。neap-tides：小潮（干満差の小さな潮）。nearly：殆ど。
And Pau Amma? You can see when you go to the beach, how all Pau Amma's babies make little Pusat Taseks for themselves under every stone and bunch of weed on the sands; you can see them waving their little scissors; and in some parts of the world they truly live on the dry land and run up the palm trees and eat cocoa-nuts, exactly as the girl-daughter promised. But once a year all Pau Ammas must shake off their hard armour and be soft—to remind them of what the Eldest Magician could do. And so it isn't fair to kill or hunt Pau Amma's babies just because old Pau Amma was stupidly rude a very long time ago.
palm trees：椰子の木。shake off：振り払う。hunt：狩る。stupidly：愚かにも。
Oh yes! And Pau Amma's babies hate being taken out of their little Pusat Taseks and brought home in pickle-bottles. That is why they nip you with their scissors, and it serves you right!
pickle-bottles：漬物瓶。nip：挟む。
China-going P. and O.'s
Pass Pau Amma's playground close,
And his Pusat Tasek lies
Near the track of most B.I.'s.
N.Y.K. and N.D.L.
Knows Pau Amma's home as well
As the fisher of the Sea knows
'Bens,' M.M.'s, and Rubattinos.
But (and this is rather queer)
A.T.L.'s can not come here;
O. and O. and D.O.A.
Must go round another way.
Orient, Anchor, Bibby, Hall,
Never go that way at all.
U.C.S. would have a fit
If it found itself on it.
And if 'Beavers' took their cargoes
To Penang instead of Lagos,
Or a fat Shaw-Savill bore
Passengers to Singapore,
Or a White Star were to try a
Little trip to Sourabaya,
Or a B.S.A. went on
Past Natal to Cheribon,
Then great Mr. Lloyds would come
With a wire and drag them home!
China-going：中国行き。P. and O.’s：ピーとオーズ（船名：ペニンスラーとオリエント汽船会社とインチケープグループのその他の会社／Peninsular and Orient Steamship Company and other companies in the Inchcape groupの頭文字から）。playground：遊び場。track：航路。B.I.’s：ビーアイズ（イギリス領インドの定期船／British India liners）。N.Y.K.：ＮＹＫ（日本の船舶会社の日本郵船会社／Nippon Yusen Kaishaの頭文字）。N.D.L.：ＮＤＬ（ドイツの船舶会社のNorddeutscher Lloyd／ノルトドイッツァー・ロイド／North German Lloydの頭文字）。Bens：ベン（エディンバラ／スコットランドの首都のベン運輸の汽船）。M.M.'s：エムエムズ（船名：フランスのメサジュリ・マリティム／Messageries Maritimesの頭文字から）。Rubattinos：ルバッティーノ（イタリアのフロリオ＝ルバッティーノの船）。rather queer：可成、奇異な。A.T.L.'s：エーティーエルズ（船名：アメリカのアトランティックトランスポートライン／Atlantic Transport Lineの頭文字から）。O. and O.：オーとオー（オクシデンタルとオリエンタル汽船会社／Occidental and Oriental Steamship Companyの頭文字）。D.O.A.：ＤＯＡ（ドイツの郵船会社のドイチェオストアフリカ／Deutsche Ost Afrikaの頭文字）。Orient, Anchor, Bibby, Hall：オリエント線（インチケープ海運会社の支線のオーストリア行き）、アンカー線（北大西洋とインド洋の）、ビビー線（イギリスのリヴァプールからスリランカのコロンボとミャンマーのヤンゴンへ向かう）、ホール線（主に地中海とレヴァント：東部地中海沿岸地域の旧称を渡る）。U.C.S.：ＵＣＳ（ユニオンキャッスル汽船会社／Union Castle Steamship Companyの頭文字）。have a fit：癇癪を起こす（腹を立てる）。Beavers：ビーバー（イギリスのエルダーデンプスター海運会社の西アフリカへの運行）。cargoes：船荷。Penang：ペナン（マレーシアの州か島）。Lagos：ラゴス（ナイジェリアの都市）。fat：膨れた。Shaw-Savill：ショーとサヴィル（イギリスのショーとサヴィルとアルビオン汽船会社／Shaw, Savill and Albion Steamship Companyの略称）。bore：運んだ。White Star：ホワイトスター（イギリスのホワイトスター海運／White Star line：ショーとサヴィルの親会社でもある）。Sourabaya：スラバヤ（インドネシアのジャワ島の都市）。B.S.A.：ＢＳＡ（はっきりしないが、イギリスのブリティッシュアンドアメリカン蒸気海運会社／British and American Steam Navigation Companyの頭文字かも知れない）。Natal：ナタール（ブラジルのリオグランデドノルテ州の都市）。Cheribon：チェリボン（インドネシアの都市：チリボンの旧称）。Mr. Lloyds：ロイズさん（ロイズはロイズ保険市場／Lloyd’s insurance market）。wire：綱（telegram／電信とtowing hawser／牽引用曳索の掛詞と見られる）。
You'll know what my riddle means
When you've eaten mangosteens.
riddle：なぞなぞ。mangosteens：マンゴスチン（果実の一種）。
原文の出典：Just So Stories/The Crab that Played with the Sea
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。
結城永人
結城永人
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