Commentary 2
Five treasures, a sooty bowl, and a fake branch
第二話は、その宝物の話です。仏さまの石の鉢。遠い海の山にある、玉の枝。火ねずみの皮で作った、燃えない衣。竜の首で光る玉。つばめが持っているという貝。どれも、本当にあるかどうかもわからないものばかりでした。
Part 2 is the story of those treasures. The Buddha's stone bowl. A branch of jewels, found on a mountain in a faraway sea. A robe that does not burn, made from the skin of a fire-rat. A jewel that shines on a dragon's neck. A shell that swallows are said to have. Every one of them was a thing that no one even knew really existed.
一人目は、はじめからインドへ行くつもりがありません。行くふりをして三年待ち、山寺にあった、すすで真っ黒な古い鉢を持ってきました。本物なら、光っているはずです。かぐや姫は、すぐに鉢を返しました。
The first man has no intention of going to India from the start. He pretended to go, waited three years, and brought an old bowl, black with soot, that had been in a mountain temple. If it were the real one, it should be shining. Kaguya-hime gave the bowl back at once.
二人目は、船で出かけるふりをして、三日後にこっそり帰ってきます。そして職人たちを集め、千日かけて、にせものの枝を作らせました。できあがった枝は、本物そっくりです。長い旅の話まで用意していました。おじいさんはすっかり信じて、結婚の準備を始めます。かぐや姫は、だまって考えこんでしまいました。
The second man pretends to set out by ship, and three days later he secretly comes back. Then he gathered craftsmen and had them make a fake branch, taking a thousand days over it. The finished branch looks just like the real one. He had even prepared a story of a long journey. The old man believes him completely and starts getting ready for the wedding. Kaguya-hime fell silent, deep in thought.
そこへ来たのが、あの職人たちです。こうしてうそがばれ、かぐや姫は大喜びで枝を返しました。男は恥ずかしくてたまらず、山の奥へ入ったまま、帰ってきませんでした。
The ones who came just then were those craftsmen. In this way the lie came out, and Kaguya-hime, overjoyed, gave the branch back. The man was so ashamed that he could not bear it; he went deep into the mountains and did not come back.
Commentary 3
The robe, the dragon, and the swallow's nest
三人目は、お金持ちです。中国の商人にたくさんのお金を送って、やっと火ねずみの衣を手に入れました。深い青色で、毛の先は金色に光っています。ところが火に入れると、衣はめらめらと燃えてしまいました。
The third man is rich. He sent a lot of money to a merchant in China and at last got hold of the fire-rat robe. It is a deep blue, and the tips of the fur shine gold. But when it was put into the fire, the robe went up in flames and burned away.
四人目は、家来たちに命じます。竜の玉を取ってくるまで、帰ってきてはならない。けれども家来たちは、竜をこわがって逃げてしまいました。そこで自分で海へ出ると、ひどい嵐にあいます。やっと帰ってきたとき、男は病気で、目はすももを二つつけたようにはれていました。
The fourth man gives his men an order. You must not come back until you have got the dragon's jewel. But his men were afraid of the dragon and ran away. So he goes out to sea himself, and he is caught in a terrible storm. When he finally came back, the man was sick, and his eyes were swollen as if two plums had been stuck on them.
五人目は、つばめの巣のところまで、かごに乗って引き上げてもらいます。巣に手を入れると、何かかたいものがつかめました。喜んだとたん、綱が切れて、下に落ちてしまいます。手の中にあったのは、つばめの古いふんでした。この人は重い病気になって、亡くなります。
The fifth man gets into a basket and has himself pulled up to where the swallows' nest is. When he put his hand into the nest, he was able to grab something hard. The moment he rejoiced, the rope broke, and down he falls. What was in his hand was old swallow droppings. This man becomes seriously ill and dies.
こうして、五人のうちだれひとり、宝物を持ってくることはできませんでした。そして、かぐや姫のうわさは、とうとう天皇の耳にも届きます。第二話は、ここで終わります。
And so, not one of the five was able to bring a treasure. And at last, word of Kaguya-hime reaches the ears of the Emperor too. Part 2 ends here.
Commentary 4
Three things to notice
読みどころを三つ挙げます。
Here are three things to notice.
一つ目は、失敗のしかたです。うそをついた二人は、恥をかくだけですみました。お金にたよった人は、お金をなくします。けれども、自分で海へ出た人は病気になり、自分の手を巣に入れた人は、命を落としました。本気になった人ほど、ひどい目にあっているのです。
The first is the way they fail. The two who lied got away with nothing worse than being put to shame. The one who relied on money loses his money. But the one who went out to sea himself became sick, and the one who put his own hand into the nest lost his life. The more serious a man was, the worse the thing that happens to him.
二つ目は、言葉あそびです。一人目は、鉢を捨てたあとも、まだあきらめませんでした。「はちを捨てる」と「はじを捨てる」。五人目は、貝が取れなかったので「かいがない」。物語は、今も使われる言葉がここから生まれた、と説明してみせます。本当かどうかは、わかりません。
The second is wordplay. Even after he threw the bowl away, the first man still did not give up. "Hachi o suteru," to throw away a bowl, and "haji o suteru," to throw away one's shame. The fifth man could not get the shell, so "kai ga nai": "there is no shell," and also "it was no use." The story makes a show of explaining that words still used today were born here. Whether that is true, no one knows.
三つ目は、かぐや姫の気持ちです。第二話で、それが書かれるのは三回だけです。にせものの枝を前に、だまって考えこむ。うそがばれて、大喜びする。そして五人目が亡くなったと聞いて、少しかわいそうだと思う。この「少し」を、覚えておいてください。
The third is Kaguya-hime's feelings. In Part 2, they are written about only three times. Faced with the fake branch, she falls silent, deep in thought. When the lie comes out, she is overjoyed. And when she hears that the fifth man has died, she feels a little sorry for him. Please remember this "a little."
五人の失敗は、五人のせいでしょうか。それとも、かぐや姫の頼みが、ひどすぎたのでしょうか。
Were the five men's failures the fault of the five men? Or was what Kaguya-hime asked for too cruel?
Commentary 1
About The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter, Part 2
根は銀、茎は金、実は白い玉でできた、木の枝があります。ひとりの男が、これを遠い海の山から取ってきた、と話しています。嵐にあったこと、食べ物がなくなったこと。そこへ、職人たちがやってきて言いました。千日も働いたのに、まだお金をもらっていません。
There is a branch of a tree, with roots of silver, a stem of gold, and fruit made of white jewels. A man is telling how he brought it back from a mountain in a faraway sea. How he was caught in storms, how the food ran out. Just then, some craftsmen came along and said: We worked for a thousand days, and we still have not been paid.
今回は「竹取物語」の第二話です。千年以上前に書かれた、日本でいちばん古い物語を、やさしい今の日本語に書き直して、三回に分けてお届けしています。
This time, it is Part 2 of "The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter." We have rewritten the oldest story in Japan, written more than a thousand years ago, in easy modern Japanese, and we are bringing it to you in three parts.
第一話で、竹の中から見つかったかぐや姫は、美しい大人になりました。五人の男が、毎日のように家へやってきます。かぐや姫は、わたしが見たいと思うものを持ってきた人と結婚しましょう、と答えました。
In Part 1, Kaguya-hime, who was found inside a bamboo, grew into a beautiful adult. Five men come to the house almost every day. Kaguya-hime answered that she would marry the one who brought her the thing she wished to see.