| ちりめん本 長谷川武次郎が刊行した日本昔噺シリーズ (Japanese Fairy Tale) のうち、 5作品が八雲により英訳されている。 |
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| 化け蜘蛛 (The goblin spider) | ||||||
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| http://utomir.lib.u-toyama.ac.jp/dspace/handle/10110/1112 | ||||||
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Japanese Fairy Tale The Goblin Spider Rendered into English |
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In very ancient books it is said that there
used to be many goblin-spiders in Janan. Some folks declare there are still some goblin-spiders. During the daytime they look just like common spiders; but very late at night, when everybody is asleep, and there is no sound, they become very, very big, and do awful things. |
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Goblin-spiders are supposed also to have
the magical power of taking human shape - so as to deceive people. And there is a famous Japanese story about such a spider. |
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THERE was once, in some lonely part of the coutry, a haunted temple. No one could live in the building because of the goblins that had taken possession of it. Many brave samurai went to that place at various times for the purpose of killing the goblins. But they were never |
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heard of again after they had entered the temple. At last one who was famous for his courage and his prudense, went to the temple to watch during the night. And he said to those who acompanied him there:- |
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"If in the morning I be still alive, I shall drum upon the drum of the temple." Then he was left alone, to watch by the light of a lamp. |
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As the night advanced he crouched down under the altar, which supported a dusty image of Budda. He saw nothing strange and heard no sound till after midnight. Then there came a goblin, having but half a body and one eye, and said; |
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"Hitokusai" (There is the smell of a man). But the samurai did not move. The goblin went away. Then there came a priest and |
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played upon a samisen so wonderfully that the samurai felt it was not the playing of a man. So he leaped up with his sword drawn. |
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The priest, seeing him, burst out laughing,
and said: -"So you thought I was a goblin? Oh no! I am only the priest of this temple; but I have to play to keep off the goblins,- Does not this samisen sound well? Please play a little." And he offered the instrument to the samurai who grasped it very cautiously with his left hand. But instantly the samisen changed into a monstrous spider-web, and the priest into a goblin-spider; and the warrior found himself caught fast in the webby the left hand. He struggled bravely, and |
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struck at the spider with his sword, and wounded it; but he soon became entangled still more in the net, and could not move. |
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However, the wounded spider crawled away, -and the sun rose. In a little while the people came and found the samurai in the horrible web, and freed him. They saw tracks of blood upon the floor, and followed the tracks out of the temple to a hole in |
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the deserted garden. Out of the hole issued a frightful sound of groaning. |
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They found the wounded goblin in the hole, and killed it. |
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