There is a Difference
A translation of Hans Christian Andersen's ""Der er Forskjel"" by Jean Hersholt.
It was in the month of May. The wind was still cold, but spring had come, said the trees and the bushes, the fields and the meadows. Everywhere flowers were budding into blossom; even the hedges were alive with them. Here spring spoke about herself; it spoke from a little apple tree, from which hung a single branch so fresh and blooming, and fairly weighed down by a glorious mass of rosy buds just ready to open.
五月という月の事だった。風は、末だ冷たかったが、春が来たと、樹木や?み、野や田園が物語っていた。そこいら中で、花は、開花に向けて蕾を付けていた。生け垣まで、それと一緒に息づいていた。ほら、春は、彼女自ら打ち明ける。それは、小さな林檎の木から、実に生き生きとして、咲き誇っている一本の枝を垂らしたり、今開こうとしている薔薇色の蕾の見事な一固まりでかなり押し下げられたそれから、話し掛ける。
Now this branch knew how lovely it was, for that knowledge lies in the leaf as well as in the flesh, so it wasn't a bit surprised when one day a grand carriage stopped in the road beside it, and the young Countess in the carriage said that this apple branch was the most beautiful she had ever seen-it was spring itself in its loveliest form. So she broke off the apple branch and carried it in her own dainty hand, shading it from the sun with her silk parasol, as they drove on to her castle, in which there were lofty halls and beautifully decorated rooms. Fleecy-white curtains fluttered at its open windows, and there were many shining, transparent vases full of beautiful flowers. In one of these vases, which looked as if it were carved of new-fallen snow, she placed the apple branch, among fresh green beech leaves-a lovely sight indeed.
ところで、この枝は、それがどんなに愛らしいか、知っていた。そうした自覚は、果肉の中と同じように、葉の中にもあるから。従って、或る日、その傍の道に、素晴らしい車が停まっても、少しも驚かなかった。すると、車の中の若い未亡人は、この林檎の枝は、彼女が、今までに見た中で最も美しい－本当に愛らしい姿で、春そのものねと言った。それから、彼女は、林檎の枝を?ぎ取ると、彼女にお似合いの華奢な手で、それを運んだ。絹のパラソルで、陽差しからそれを除けながら、彼女達は、館へと馬車を駆ったのだが、そこには、複数の、天井の高いホ―ルや、美しく装飾された部屋があった。羊毛のように柔く真白なカ一テンが、その開けっ放した窓にひらひら舞っていた。そして、美しい花がぎっしり詰まった、幾つもの、艶のある透き通った花瓶があった。こうした花瓶の内の一つの中、それは、まるで新しく降った雪で曲がったかのようだった。彼女は、林檎の枝を生けた。生き生きとした緑色のぶなの葉の間に、実に愛らしく透けて見えた。
And so it happened that the apple branch grew proud, and that's quite human.
だからこそ、林檎の枝は、思いがけず、誇らしさが募った、そう、実際、ああいうのが人間なんだ。
All sorts of people passed through the rooms, and according to their rank expressed their admiration in different ways; some said too much, some said too little, and some said nothing at all. And the apple branch began to realize that there were differences in people as well as in plants.
ありとあらゆる階級の人々が、その部屋を通り過ぎた。彼らの地位に応じて、様々な態度で、それぞれの感服振りを表した。或る者は、余りに言い過ぎた。或る者は、殆んど何も言わなかった。そして、或る者は、全くロを開かなかった。何時か、林檎の枝は、植物と同じように、人にも違いがあるんだ、と実感するようになった。
"Some are used for nourishment, some are for ornament, and some you could very well do without," thought the apple branch.
「或る者達は、滋養として使われ、或る者達は、装飾に過ぎず、又或る者達は、いなくても十分間に合う。」と、林檎の枝は、思った。
From its position at the open window the apple branch could look down over the gardens and meadows below, and consider the differences among the flowers and plants beneath. Some were rich, some were poor, and some were very poor.
開けっ放しの窓のその位値から、林檎の枝は、眼下に、庭や田園を、一面見下ろせた。真下の花と植物の間の違いを考察出来た。或る物は、見事で、或る物は、貧弱だった。そして或る物は、極めて粗末だった。
"Miserable, rejected plants," said the apple branch. "There is a difference indeed! It's quite proper and just that distinctions should be made. Yet how unhappy they must feel, if indeed a creature like that is capable of feeling anything, as I and my equals do; but it must be that way, otherwise everybody would be treated as though they were just alike."
「不幸だ。植物というものを受け入れなかった。」と林檎の枝は言った。「実に違いがある！それは当然で、当に、そうした特微は、作られる。しかし、もし、私と私と対等な者がそうであるように、そのような被造物が、幾らかでも感じられるなら、何て不運なんだと彼らは思うしかない。何れにせよ、それは、そんな有り様であるに違いない。そうでなければ、誰でも、彼らが全く同じであるかのように見做されるだろう。
And the apple branch looked down with especial pity on one kind of flower that grew everywhere in meadows and ditches. They were much too common ever to be gathered into bouquets; they could be found between the paving stones; they shot up like the rankest and most worthless of weeds. They were dandelions, but people have given them the ugly name, "the devil's milk pails."
林檎の木は、草地や溝の何処にでも育つ花の一つを、特別哀れに思って見下ろした。花束の中に取り入れるには、変わり栄えもせず、何処にでもたくさんあった。それは、敷石の間に見受けられる。それは、雑草の中で、最も蔓延り、最も価値がないとでも言いたげに、芽を出す。それがタンポポだった。それにしても、人々は、意地の悪い名を付けた。「悪魔のミルクバケツ。」
"Poor wretched outcasts," said the apple branch. "I suppose you can't help being as common as you are, and having such a vulgar name! It's the same with plants as with men-there must be a difference."
「みすぼらしく惨めな除けもの」とりんごの枝は言った。「お前は、お前らしくありふれている以外どうしようもない。それに、こんな悪趣味な名前を戴くなんて！違いがある―人と植物は、同じものだ。」
"A difference?" repeated the sunbeam, as it kissed the apple branch; but it kissed the golden "devil's milk pails," too. And all the other sunbeams did the same, kissing all the flowers equally, poor as well as rich.
「違い？」日差しは、繰り返した。林檎の枝にキスしながら。取り合えず、金色の「悪魔のミルクバケツ」にもキスした。そして、他の日差しも揃って、同じ事をした。花皆に等しく、キスをした。恵まれたものと同じように、みすぼらしいものにも。
The apple branch had never thought about our Lord's infinite love for everything that lives and moves in Him, had never thought how much that it is good and beautiful can lie hidden but still not be forgotten; and that, too, was human.
林檎の枝は、彼（か）の人に身を委ね、生き、振る舞う、我らが神の万事に対する無限の愛について、考えた事がなかった。立派で美（うるわ）しいものを、今尚忘れられないとすると、どれ程、秘密にして置けるだろう。そして、それも又、人間というものだった。
But the sunbeam, the ray of light, knew better. "You don't see very clearly; you are not very farsighted. Who are these outcast flowers that you pity so much?"
しかし、日差し、日光の光線は、もっとよく分かっていた。「お前は、全く分かっていない。お前は、全く遠目が利かない。お前がそんなにも哀れむこの除けもの花は、誰？」
"Those devil's milk pails down there," replied the apple branch. "Nobody ever ties them up in bouquets; they're trodden under foot, because there are too many of them. And when they go to seed they fly about along the road like little bits of wool and hang on people's clothes. They're just weeds! I suppose there must be weeds too, but I'm certainly happy and grateful that I'm not like one of them!"
「その悪魔のミルクバケツは、そこの下に置いて。」林檎の枝は、応じた。「誰一人として、これまでのように、花束の中にそれを束ねない。それは、足下で踏み潰される。彼らの内の多くが、そこに生えているから。それに、種を撒きに行けば、それは、ばらけた羊毛のように道伝いにあちこち舞い上かり、又、人々の服にぶら下がる。それこそ、当に雑草だ！そこにも又、雑草が生えているに違いない。と思う。しかし、僕が、その内の一つにも似ていないというのが、幸福で、大切事だ！」
Now a whole flock of children ran out into the meadow to play. The youngest of them was so tiny that he had to be carried by the others. When they set him down in the grass among the golden blossoms, he laughed and gurgled with joy, kicked his little legs, rolled over and over, and plucked only the yellow dandelions. These he kissed in innocent delight.
折しも、子供達の一団皆が、遊ぶ為に草地の中に駆け出した。彼らの内の一番年下の子は、とても小さかったので、他の子供に抱えて貰わなければならなかった。金色の花の中の草に彼を
下ろすと、喜んで、くっくっと笑った。彼の小さな足を跳ね上げ、何度も何度も転げ回り、そして黄色いたんぽぽだけ毟った。彼は、無心に喜んでキスをした。
The bigger children broke off the flowers of the dandelions and joined the hollow stalks link by link into chains. First they would make one for a necklace, then a longer one to hang across the shoulders and around the waist, and finally one to go around their heads; it was a beautiful wreath of splendid green links and chains.
ちょっと大きい子供達は、タンポポの花を?ぎ取って、空洞の茎を鎖の中に、輪にしては、繋いでいった。先ず彼らは、一つをネックレスに、それから、長目のものを肩のこちらからあちらへ、又、腰回りに、掛ける為に、最後に、一つを彼らの頭に回すために作ろうとする。それは、素敵な緑色の輪と鎖の、美しい花冠だった。
But the biggest of the children carefully gathered the stalks that had gone to seed, those loose, aerial, woolly blossoms, those wonderfully perfect balls of dainty white plumes, and held them to their lips, trying to blow away all the white feathers with one breath. Granny had told them that whoever could do that would receive new clothes before the year was out. The poor, despised dandelion was considered quite a prophet on such occasions.
子供達の内の一番大きな子が、種が出来た茎を注意深く集めた。その弛み、空気のような、羊毛のような花。その不思議と華奢な白い羽毛の完全な球形。それから、一息で白い羽毛を皆、吹き飛ばそうとして、彼の唇に近付けた。お姿さんは、その年が終わるまでに、新しい服を貰いたくても、一体誰があげられるの。タンポポを軽く見たお粗末な人は、こんな時こそ、全くもって預言者だと思われるよと彼らに話した。
"Now do you see?" asked the sunbeam. "Do you see its beauty and power?"
「時に、お前分かってるの？」と日差しは、尋ねました。「お前は、その美しさと能力を知っているの？」
"Oh, it's all right-for children," replied the apple branch.
「オゥ、それは、子供達にとって実に結構な事だ。」と林檎の枝は答えた。
Now an old woman came into the meadow. She stooped and dug up the roots of the dandelion with a blunt knife that had lost its handle. Some of the roots she would roast instead of coffee berries, others she would sell to the apothecary to be used as drugs.
その時、一人の年老いた婦人が、草地の中に入って来た。彼女は、立ち止まり、柄を失くした刃のないナイフで、タンポポの?を堀り起こした。彼女は、コ―ヒ―の実の代わりに、根の何本かを炒ろうとする。他は、薬剤として使われるように薬局に売るつもり。
"Beauty is something higher than this," said the apple branch. "Only the chosen few can really be allowed into the kingdom of the beautiful; there's as much difference between plants as between men."
「美は、これより幾らか崇高なものだ。」と林檎の枝は言った。選ばれた少数のものだけが、実際に美の王領の中では認められる。植物と人の間には、同様に、多くの違いがある。
Then the sunbeam spoke of the infinite love of the Creator for all His creatures, for everything that has life, and of the equal distribution of all things in time and eternity.
"That's just your opinion," replied the apple branch.
Now some people came into the room, and among them was the young Countess who had placed the apple branch in the transparent vase. She was carrying a flower-or whatever it was-that was protected by three or four large leaves around it like a cap, so that no breath of air or gust of wind could injure it. She carried it more carefully and tenderly than she had the apple branch when she had brought it to the castle. Very gently she removed the leaves, and then the apple branch could see what she carried. It was a delicate, feathery crown of starry seeds borne by the despised dandelion!
This was what she had plucked so carefully and carried so tenderly, so that no single one of the loose, dainty, feathered arrows that rounded out its downy form should be blown away. There it was, whole and perfect. With delight she admired the beautiful form, the airy lightness, the marvelous mechanism of a thing that was destined so soon to be scattered by the wind.
"Look how wonderfully beautiful our Lord made this!" she cried. "I'll paint it, together with the apple branch. Everybody thinks it is so extremely beautiful, but this poor flower is lovely, too; it has received as much from our Lord in another way. They are very different, yet both are children in the kingdom of the beautiful!"
The sunbeam kissed the poor dandelion, and then kissed the blooming apple branch, whose petals seemed to blush a deeper red.
22:10 2015/12/20日曜日