IN the sea, once upon a time, O my Best Beloved, there was a Whale, and he ate fishes. He ate the starfish and the garfish, and the crab and the dab, and the plaice and the dace, and the skate and his mate, and the mackereel and the pickereel, and the really truly twirly-whirly eel. All the fishes he could find in all the sea he ate with his mouth—so! Till at last there was only one small fish left in all the sea, and he was a small 'Stute Fish, and he swam a little behind the Whale's right ear, so as to be out of harm's way.
once upon a time：昔々。best beloved：諸賢。starfish：ヒトデ（動物の一種）。garfish：ガーフィッシュ（魚の一種）。dab：マコガレイ（魚の一種）。plaice：ヨーロッパツノガレイ（魚の一種）。dace：デイス／ヨーロッパウグイ（魚の一種）。skate：ガンギエイ（魚の一種）。mate：仲間（単体で使うのはイギリス英語）。mackereel：サバ（魚の一種。mackerel）の幼魚。pickereel：カワカマス（魚の一種。pike）の幼魚。twirly-whirly：グルグル渦巻く。eel：鰻（魚の一種）。 'stute：明敏な（astuteの短縮形）。
Illustration
Here is the Whale looking for the little 'Stute Fish, who is hiding under the Door-sills of the Equator. The little 'Stute Fish's name was Pingle. He is hiding among the roots of the big seaweed that grows in front of the Doors of the Equator.
door-sills：ドアの敷居。equator：赤道。Pingle：ピングル（魚の名前）。seaweed：海草。
I have drawn the Doors of the Equator. They are shut. They are always kept shut, because a door ought always to be kept shut. The ropy-thing right across is the Equator itself; and the things that look like rocks are the two giants Moar and Koar, that keep the Equator in order. They drew the shadow-pictures on the doors of the Equator, and they carved all those twisty fishes under the Doors.
ropy-thing：ネバネバしたもの。right across：正面の。giants：巨人。Moar：モアー（巨人の名前）。Koar：コアー（巨人の名前）。keep (in order)：整備する（ちゃんと保つ）。shadow-pictures：影絵。carved：彫刻した。twisty：くねくねした。
The beaky-fish are called beaked Dolphins, and the other fish with the queer heads are called Hammer-headed Sharks. The Whale never found the little 'Stute Fish till he got over his temper, and then they became good friends again.
beaky-fish：鉤鼻の魚。 beaked dolphins：鉤鼻を持つ海豚。queer：奇異な。hammer-headed sharks：撞木の頭を持つ鮫。got over his temper：（彼が）怒りを通り越した（平静を取り戻した）。
Then the Whale stood his tail and said, 'I'm hungry.' And the 'Stute Fish said in a small 'stute voice, 'Noble and generous Cetacean, have you ever tasted Man?'
noble：高貴な。generous：寛大な。cetacean：クジラ目（の動物）。
'No,' said the Whale. 'What is it like?'
'Nice,' said the small 'Stute Fish. 'Nice but nubbly.'
nice：美味しい。nubbly：ゴツゴツする。
'Then fetch me some,' said the Whale, and he made the sea froth up with his tail.
fetch：取って来い。froth：泡。
'One at a time is enough,' said the 'Stute Fish. 'If you swim to latitude Fifty North, longitude Forty West (that is magic), you will find, sitting on a raft, in the middle of the sea, with nothing on but a pair of blue canvas breeches, a pair of suspenders (you must not forget the suspenders, Best Beloved), and a jack-knife, one shipwrecked Mariner, who, it is only fair to tell you, is a man of infinite-resource-and-sagacity.
one at a time：一回に一度（一人）。latitude：緯度。longitude：経度。raft：筏。canvas breeches：ズック（厚地の粗布／キャンバス地）ズボン。suspenders：サスペンダー（ズボン吊り）。jack-knife：ジャックナイフ（大きな折り畳み式のナイフ）。shipwrecked mariner：難破した船乗り。it is only fair to：〜することが公平だ。a man of infinite-resource-and-sagacity：無限の方策と知恵の人。
So the Whale swam and swam to latitude Fifty North, longitude Forty West, as fast as he could swim, and on a raft, in the middle of the sea, with nothing to wear except a pair of blue canvas breeches, a pair of suspenders (you must particularly remember the suspenders, Best Beloved), and a jack-knife, he found one single, solitary shipwrecked Mariner, trailing his toes in the water. (He had his mummy's leave to paddle, or else he would never have done it because he was a man of infinite-resource-and-sagacity.)
particularly：取り分け。single：独身の。solitary：孤独な。trailing his toes in the water：（彼が）爪先を水に引き摺る（試しにやっている）。had his mummy's leave to paddle：（彼が）母さんからパドル（幅広の櫂）で漕ぐ許しを得た。
Then the Whale opened his mouth back and back and back till it nearly touched his tail, and he swallowed the shipwrecked Mariner, and the raft he was sitting on, and his blue canvas breeches, and the suspenders (which you must not forget), and the jack-knife—He swallowed them all down into his warm, dark, inside cupboards, and then he smacked his lips—so, and turned round three times on his tail.
swallowed：飲み込んだ。cupboards：戸棚。smacked his lips：（彼が）舌鼓を打った。
illustration
This is the picture of the Whale swallowing the Mariner with his infinite-resource-and-sagacity, and the raft and the jack-knife and his suspenders, which you must not forget. The buttony-things are the Mariner's suspenders, and you can see the knife close by them. He is sitting on the raft but it has tilted up sideways, so you don't see much of it. The whity thing by the Mariner's left hand is a piece of wood that he was trying to row the raft with when the Whale came along. The piece of wood is called the jaws-of-a-gaff. The Mariner left it outside when he went in. The Whale's name was Smiler, and the Mariner was called Mr. Henry Albert Bivvens, A.B. The little 'Stute Fish is hiding under the Whale's tummy, or else I would have drawn him. The reason that the sea looks so ooshy-skooshy is because the Whale is sucking it all into his mouth so as to suck in Mr. Henry Albert Bivvens and the raft and the jack-knife and the suspenders. You must never forget the suspenders.
buttony-things：釦が多く付いたもの。has tilted up：傾き上がった。sideways：横に。whity：白い。row：（船を）漕ぐ。came along：現れた。 jaws-of-a-gaff：ガフの顎（ガフリグ帆船の帆を張るために上に突き出したガフ／斜桁をマスト／柱にかける器具）。Smiler：スマイラー（鯨の名前）。Henry Albert Bivvens：ヘンリー・アルバート・ビヴェンス。tummy：お腹。ooshy-skooshy：ぐにゃぐにゃ。suck：吸う。
But as soon as the Mariner, who was a man of infinite-resource-and-sagacity, found himself truly inside the Whale's warm, dark, inside cupboards, he stumped and he jumped and he thumped and he bumped, and he pranced and he danced, and he banged and he clanged, and he hit and he bit, and he leaped and he creeped, and he prowled and he howled, and he hopped and he dropped, and he cried and he sighed, and he crawled and he bawled, and he stepped and he lepped, and he danced hornpipes where he shouldn't, and the Whale felt most unhappy indeed. (Have you forgotten the suspenders?)
stumped：踏み付けた。thumped：ゴツンと打った。bumped：ドンと当たった。pranced：跳ね回った。banged：ドンドン叩いた。clanged：ガーンと鳴らした。leaped：跳ねた。creeped：這った。prowled：ぶらぶら歩いた。howled：喚いた。hopped：ひょいと跳んだ。cried：叫んだ。sighed：溜め息を吐いた。crawled：のろのろ進んだ。bawled：怒鳴った。stepped：踏んだ。lepped：跳んだ（leapedのアイルランドの古い表現）。hornpipes：ホーンパイプ（イギリスのフォークダンス）。
So he said to the 'Stute Fish, 'This man is very nubbly, and besides he is making me hiccough. What shall I do?'
hiccough：しゃっくり。
'Tell him to come out,' said the 'Stute Fish.
So the Whale called down his own throat to the shipwrecked Mariner, 'Come out and behave yourself. I've got the hiccoughs.'
behave yourself：（貴方は）大人しく（行儀良く）しろ。
'Nay, nay!' said the Mariner. 'Not so, but far otherwise. Take me to my natal-shore and the white-cliffs-of-Albion, and I'll think about it.' And he began to dance more than ever.
nay：否。natal-shore：出生の岸。white-cliffs-of-Albion：アルビオン（イギリス／グレートブリテン島の呼称）の白い崖。
'You had better take him home,' said the 'Stute Fish to the Whale. 'I ought to have warned you that he is a man of infinite-resource-and-sagacity.'
So the Whale swam and swam and swam, with both flippers and his tail, as hard as he could for the hiccoughs; and at last he saw the Mariner's natal-shore and the white-cliffs-of-Albion, and he rushed half-way up the beach, and opened his mouth wide and wide and wide, and said, 'Change here for Winchester, Ashuelot, Nashua, Keene, and stations on the Fitchburg Road;' and just as he said 'Fitch' the Mariner walked out of his mouth. But while the Whale had been swimming, the Mariner, who was indeed a person of infinite-resource-and-sagacity, had taken his jack-knife and cut up the raft into a little square grating all running criss-cross, and he had tied it firm with his suspenders (now you know why you were not to forget the suspenders!), and he dragged that grating good and tight into the Whale's throat, and there it stuck! Then he recited the following Sloka, which, as you have not heard it, I will now proceed to relate—
flippers：鰭。change here for：ここで〜へ乗り換えろ。Winchester：ウィンチェスター（アメリカのニューハンプシャー州のチェシャー郡の町）。Ashuelot：アシュエロット（アメリカのニューハンプシャー州のウィンチェスターの非法人社会）。Nashua：ナシュア（アメリカのニューハンプシャー州のヒルズボロ郡の町）。Keene：キーン（アメリカのニューハンプシャー州のチェシャー郡の町）。Fitchburg Road：フィッチバーグ通り（アメリカのマサチューセッツ州の通り）。cut up (into)：〜へ切り刻んだ。grating：格子。criss-cross：十文字。stuck：嵌まった。recited：朗唱した。sloka：シュローカ（shloka／インドのサンスクリット語の詩形の一つの変形）。proceed to：〜へ移る。relate：話す。
By means of a grating
I have stopped your ating.
ating：食べる（eatingの書き換えと思われる）。
For the Mariner he was also an Hi-ber-ni-an. And he stepped out on the shingle, and went home to his mother, who had given him leave to trail his toes in the water; and he married and lived happily ever afterward. So did the Whale. But from that day on, the grating in his throat, which he could neither cough up nor swallow down, prevented him eating anything except very, very small fish; and that is the reason why whales nowadays never eat men or boys or little girls.
Hi-ber-ni-an：アイルランド人（Hibernian）。shingle：玉砂利。afterward：その後。cough up ：咳をして吐き出す。
The small 'Stute Fish went and hid himself in the mud under the Door-sills of the Equator. He was afraid that the Whale might be angry with him.
The Sailor took the jack-knife home. He was wearing the blue canvas breeches when he walked out on the shingle. The suspenders were left behind, you see, to tie the grating with; and that is the end of that tale.
sailor：水夫。
When the cabin port-holes are dark and green
Because of the seas outside;
When the ship goes wop (with a wiggle between)
And the steward falls into the soup-tureen,
And the trunks begin to slide;
When Nursey lies on the floor in a heap,
And Mummy tells you to let her sleep,
And you aren't waked or washed or dressed,
Why, then you will know (if you haven't guessed)
You're 'Fifty North and Forty West!'
cabin：（客船の）客室。port-holes：舷窓。wop：悲哀（古い表現）。wiggle：小刻みに揺れる。steward：客室係。falls into：〜するようになる（不意に始める）。soup-tureen：スープチュリーン（スープを給する深皿）。trunks：トランク（荷物入れ）。nursey：保母さん。 in a heap：ドサリと。why：もちろん。
原文の出典：How the Whale Got His Throat
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
コメント