Part Six竹取物語 6
大伴御行の大納言は、我家にありとある人を召し集めての給はく、「龍の首に五色の光ある玉あンなり。それをとり奉りたらん人には、願はんことをかなへん。」との給ふ。男ども仰の事を承りて申さく、「仰のことはいとも尊し。たゞしこの玉容易くえとらじを、况や龍の首の玉はいかゞとらん。」と申しあへり。大納言のたまふ、「君の使といはんものは、『命を捨てゝも己が君の仰事をばかなへん。』とこそ思ふべけれ。この國になき天竺唐土の物にもあらず、この國の海山より龍はおりのぼるものなり。いかに思ひてか汝等難きものと申すべき。」男ども申すやう、「さらばいかゞはせん。難きものなりとも、仰事に從ひてもとめにまからん。」と申す。大納言見笑ひて、「汝等君の使と名を流しつ。君の仰事をばいかゞは背くべき。」との給ひて、龍の首の玉とりにとて出したて給ふ。この人々の道の糧・食物に、殿のうちの絹・綿・錢などあるかぎりとり出でそへて遣はす。この人々ども、歸るまでいもひをして「我は居らん。この玉とり得では家に歸りくな。」との給はせけり。「おの〳〵仰承りて罷りいでぬ。龍の首の玉とり得ずは歸りくな。」との給へば、いづちも〳〵足のむきたらんかたへいなんとす。かゝるすき事をし給ふことゝそしりあへり。賜はせたる物はおの〳〵分けつゝとり、或は己が家にこもりゐ、或はおのがゆかまほしき所へいぬ。「親・君と申すとも、かくつきなきことを仰せ給ふこと。」と、ことゆかぬものゆゑ、大納言を謗りあひたり。「かぐや姫すゑんには、例のやうには見にくし。」との給ひて、麗しき屋をつくり給ひて、漆を塗り、蒔繪をし、いろへしたまひて、屋の上には糸を染めていろ〳〵に葺かせて、内々のしつらひには、いふべくもあらぬ綾織物に繪を書きて、間ごとにはりたり。もとの妻どもは去りて、「かぐや姫を必ずあはん。」とまうけして、獨明し暮したまふ。遣しゝ人は夜晝待ち給ふに、年越ゆるまで音もせず、心もとながりて、いと忍びて、たゞ舍人二人召繼としてやつれ給ひて、難波の邊におはしまして、問ひ給ふことは、「大伴大納言の人や、船に乘りて龍殺して、そが首の玉とれるとや聞く。」と問はするに、船人答へていはく、「怪しきことかな。」と笑ひて、「さるわざする船もなし。」と答ふるに、「をぢなきことする船人にもあるかな。え知らでかくいふ。」とおぼして、「我弓の力は、龍あらばふと射殺して首の玉はとりてん。遲く來るやつばらを待たじ。」との給ひて、船に乘りて、海ごとにありき給ふに、いと遠くて、筑紫の方の海に漕ぎいで給ひぬ。いかゞしけん、はやき風吹きて、世界くらがりて、船を吹きもてありく。いづれの方とも知らず、船を海中にまかり入りぬべくふき廻して、浪は船にうちかけつゝまき入れ、神は落ちかゝるやうに閃きかゝるに、大納言は惑ひて、「まだかゝるわびしきめハ見ず。いかならんとするぞ。」との給ふ。楫取答へてまをす、「こゝら船に乘りてまかりありくに、まだかくわびしきめを見ず。御船海の底に入らずは神落ちかゝりぬべし。もしさいはひに神の助けあらば、南海にふかれおはしぬべし。うたてある主の御許に仕へ奉りて、すゞろなる死をすべかンめるかな。」とて、楫取なく。大納言これを聞きての給はく、「船に乘りては楫取の申すことをこそ高き山ともたのめ。などかくたのもしげなきことを申すぞ。」と、あをへどをつきての給ふ。楫取答へてまをす、「神ならねば何業をか仕らん。風吹き浪はげしけれども、神さへいたゞきに落ちかゝるやうなるは、龍を殺さんと求め給ひさぶらへばかくあンなり。はやても龍の吹かするなり。はや神に祈り給へ。」といへば、「よきことなり。」とて、「楫取の御神聞しめせ。をぢなく心幼く龍を殺さんと思ひけり。今より後は毛一筋をだに動し奉らじ。」と、祝詞をはなちて、立居なく〳〵呼ばひ給ふこと、千度ばかり申し給ふけにやあらん、やう〳〵神なりやみぬ。少しあかりて、風はなほはやく吹く。 楫取のいはく、「これは龍のしわざにこそありけれ。この吹く風はよき方の風なり。あしき方の風にはあらず。よき方に赴きて吹くなり。」といへども、大納言は是を聞き入れ給はず。三四日ありて吹き返しよせたり。濱を見れば、播磨の明石の濱なりけり。大納言「南海の濱に吹き寄せられたるにやあらん。」と思ひて、息つき伏し給へり。船にある男ども國に告げたれば、國の司まうで訪ふにも、えおきあがり給はで、船底にふし給へり。松原に御筵敷きておろし奉る。その時にぞ「南海にあらざりけり。」と思ひて、辛うじて起き上り給へるを見れば、風いとおもき人にて、腹いとふくれ、こなたかなたの目には、李を二つつけたるやうなり。これを見奉りてぞ、國の司もほゝゑみたる。國に仰せ給ひて、腰輿作らせたまひて、によぶ〳〵になはれて家に入り給ひぬるを、いかで聞きけん、遣しゝ男ども參りて申すやう、「龍の首の玉をえとらざりしかばなん、殿へもえ參らざりし。『玉のとり難かりしことを知り給へればなん、勘當あらじ。』とて參りつる。」と申す。大納言起き出でての給はく、「汝等よくもて來ずなりぬ。龍は鳴神の類にてこそありけれ。それが玉をとらんとて、そこらの人々の害せられなんとしけり。まして龍を捕へたらましかば、またこともなく我は害せられなまし。よく捕へずなりにけり。かぐや姫てふ大盜人のやつが、人を殺さんとするなりけり。家のあたりだに今は通らじ。男どもゝなありきそ。」とて、家に少し殘りたりけるものどもは、龍の玉とらぬものどもにたびつ。これを聞きて、離れ給ひしもとのうへは、腹をきりて笑ひ給ふ。糸をふかせてつくりし屋は、鳶烏の巣に皆咋ひもていにけり。世界の人のいひけるは、「大伴の大納言は、龍の玉やとりておはしたる。」「いなさもあらず。御眼二つに李のやうなる玉をぞ添へていましたる。」といひければ、「あなたへがた。」といひけるよりぞ、世にあはぬ事をば、あなたへがたとはいひ始めける。
The Major Counselor Otomo no Miyuki called together every man there was in his house and said, "They say there is a jewel on a dragon's neck that shines with five colors. To the man who takes it and brings it to me I will grant whatever he asks."
The men received his command and said, "The command is a lofty one. Yet this jewel is not easily got. How much less shall we get the jewel on a dragon's neck."
The Major Counselor said, "A man who is called his lord's envoy ought to think, 'Even if I throw my life away I will fulfill my lord's command.' It is not some thing of India or of the land of Tang, absent from this land. Dragons go down and up from the seas and the mountains of this land. What are you thinking of, that you tell me it is hard?"
The men said, "Then what else is there to do? Hard though the thing is, we will follow the command and go to seek it."
The Major Counselor smiled and said, "You have made your names known as your lord's envoys. How should you go against your lord's command?" And he sent them out to fetch the jewel on the dragon's neck. For these men's provisions on the road and their food he took out all the silk and floss and coin there was in the house, added it to what they had, and sent them off. He said he would keep a fast until these men came back. "I will stay here," he said. "Do not come home to this house without getting this jewel." Each of them received the command and withdrew. Since he had said, "Do not come back if you do not get the jewel on the dragon's neck," they meant to go wherever their feet might turn.
"He is doing this idle thing," they all said in reproach. The goods he had given them they divided among themselves and took away. Some shut themselves up in their own houses, and some went off where they wished to go. "Parent or lord though he be, to command a thing so unfitting as this," they said, and because the matter could not be done they reproached the Major Counselor among themselves.
"If Kaguya-hime is to be seated here, a house in the common way will look ugly," he said. He built a beautiful house, and had it lacquered, and maki-e laid upon it, and colors put on it. On the roof he had threads dyed and thatched in many colors, and for the fittings within he had pictures painted on figured silk finer than words can tell and pasted in every room. He put away the wives he had, and made ready, saying, "I will surely win Kaguya-hime," and he passed his nights and his days alone.
Day and night he waited for the men he had sent, but the year turned and there was no word. He could not rest, and in great secrecy, taking only two toneri as his attendants, he put on shabby clothes and went to the neighborhood of Naniwa and asked, "Have you heard that a man of the Major Counselor Otomo went aboard a ship and killed a dragon and took the jewel from its neck?" A boatman answered, "That is a strange thing to say," and laughed, and said, "There is no ship that does such work." The Major Counselor thought, "This is a poor sort of boatman. He knows nothing, and so he speaks in this way." And he said, "With the strength of my bow, if a dragon is there I will shoot it dead at once and take the jewel from its neck. I will not wait for the fellows who are slow in coming." So he went aboard a ship and traveled from sea to sea, and rowed out very far, into the sea toward Tsukushi.
However it came about, a swift wind rose, and the world grew dark, and the wind blew the ship and drove it about. It blew and turned the ship as if it would thrust it down into the middle of the sea, and no one knew which way they lay. The waves broke over the ship and swept it under, and the thunder flashed and struck as if it would fall on them. The Major Counselor did not know what to do, and said, "I have never yet seen so wretched a plight as this. What is to become of us?"
The helmsman answered, "In all the years I have gone about in ships I have never yet seen so wretched a plight. If the ship does not go down to the bottom of the sea, the thunder will fall on it. If by good fortune the gods help us, we shall be blown to the southern sea. To have served a wretched master, and to meet a death for nothing." And the helmsman wept.
The Major Counselor heard this and said, "A man who is aboard a ship trusts what the helmsman says as he trusts a high mountain. Why do you say a thing so far from trustworthy?" And he brought up bile as he spoke.
The helmsman answered, "I am no god. What art should I work? The wind blows, the waves are fierce, and the thunder besides is ready to fall on our heads. It is so because you sought to kill a dragon. This swift wind too is the dragon's blowing. Pray now, quickly, to the gods." "That is well said," the Major Counselor answered, and he prayed, "Hear me, god of the helmsman. In my folly and my childish heart I thought to kill a dragon. From this time on I will not stir so much as one hair of him." So he set forth his prayer, standing and sitting, weeping and crying out. Whether it was the merit of his praying a thousand times or so, little by little the thunder ceased. It grew a little lighter, but the wind still blew swiftly.
The helmsman said, "So this was the dragon's doing. This wind that blows is a wind from the good quarter. It is not a wind from the bad quarter. It is blowing toward the good quarter." But the Major Counselor did not take in what he said.
After three or four days the wind blew them back and brought the ship to land. When they looked at the shore, it was the shore of Akashi in Harima. The Major Counselor thought, "Have we been blown to a shore of the southern sea?" and he lay face down, sighing. The men in the ship sent word to the province, and though the governor of the province came to ask after him, he could not rise, and lay face down in the bottom of the ship. They spread a mat in the pine grove and carried him down to it. Only then did he think, "It was not the southern sea after all," and he barely rose. To look at him, he was like a man deep in the wind sickness. His belly was swollen out, and on his eyes, this one and that one, it was as if two plums had been fastened. Seeing this, even the governor of the province smiled.
He gave orders to the province and had a palanquin made, and groaning he was carried in it into his house. And somehow the men he had sent heard of it, and they came and said, "Because we could not get the jewel on the dragon's neck, we could not come to your house. Now that you know how hard the jewel is to get, we thought you would not punish us, and so we have come."
The Major Counselor rose and sat up and said, "You have done well not to bring it. A dragon is of the kin of the thunder gods. In trying to take its jewel, many men were near to being harmed. Still more, if I had caught the dragon, I would have been killed without a word. You did well not to catch it. That great thief called Kaguya-hime was trying to kill men. I will not pass even near her house from this time on. Do not you go about there either." And what little was left in his house he gave to the men who had not got the dragon's jewel.
When the first wife, whom he had put away, heard this, she held her belly and laughed. The roof that had been thatched with dyed threads the kites and the crows carried away, all of it, to build their nests. The people of the world said, "Has the Major Counselor Otomo come back with the dragon's jewel?" "No, it is not so. He has come back with jewels like plums fastened on his two eyes." And from the words "Ana tahegata," which mean "Ah, this is hard to bear," the world began to call a thing that does not suit "anatahegata."