The beam


梁の木


There was once an enchanter who was standing in the midst of a great crowd of people performing his wonders. He had a cock brought in, which lifted a heavy beam and carried it as if it were as light as a feather. But a girl was present who had just found a bit of four-leaved clover, and had thus become so wise that no deception could stand out against her, and she saw that the beam was nothing but a straw. So she cried, "You people, do you not see that it is a straw that the cock is carrying, and no beam?" Immediately the enchantment vanished, and the people saw what it was, and drove the magician away in shame and disgrace. He, however, full of inward anger, said, "I will soon revenge myself?"
あるとき、一人の魔法使いが大勢の人の真ん中で不思議な術をやって見せていました。おんどりを連れてこさせると、そのおんどりは重い梁をもちあげ、羽根のように軽々と運んだのです。ところが四つ葉のクローバーを見つけたばかりでとても賢くなっていたので、このめくらましがきかなかった娘がいました。娘には梁が一本のわらにしか見えませんでした。それで娘は、「みなさん、おんどりが運んでいるのはわらだってわからないの?梁じゃないわ。」と叫びました。途端に魔力が消えうせ、人々に本当のものが見え、魔法使いに恥をかかせて追い払いました。

After some time the girl's wedding-day came, and she was decked out, and went in a great procession over the fields to the place where the church was. All at once she came to a stream which was very much swollen, and there was no bridge and no plank to cross it. Then the bride nimbly took her clothes up, and wanted to wade through it. And just as she was thus standing in the water, a man, and it was the enchanter, cried mockingly close beside her, "Aha! Where are thine eyes that thou takest that for water?" Then her eyes were opened, and she saw that she was standing with her clothes lifted up in the middle of a field that was blue with the flowers of blue flax. Then all the people saw it likewise, and chased her away with ridicule and laughter.
ところが、魔法使いは、これを根にもって、「じきに仕返しをしてやる。」と言いました。しばらくしてその娘が結婚する日になりました。娘は着飾り、大勢の人の行列を作って畑を越えて教会がある場所へ行きました。突然、娘は水かさがふくれあがった小川にやってきましたが、渡る橋が何もありませんでした。そこで花嫁は服をたくし上げて、歩いて川を渡ろうとしました。こうして水の中に立っていたら、一人の男が娘のすぐそばで嘲って叫びました。「ははは、お前の目はどこにあるんだ?これを川だと思ってるなんてさ。」それはあの魔法使いでした。それで娘の目は開かれ、自分が亜麻の花で青くなっている畑の真ん中で服をたくし上げて立っているのだとわかりました。そうしてみんなにも同じように見えたので、娘をやいやいからかって笑い、追いはらいました。