 昔むかし、インドのある国に、年老いた父と孝行な息子がいました。その国の王はぜいたくでした。ある日もっとぜいたくをしたいと思いました。そして国中、若者ばかりにすればもっと国が富むに違いないと考えました。そこで、「年とって働けない者は、山へナゲデ（捨てて）来るように。」と命令しました。 国民は驚きましたか、王の命令に従わないとどんな罰に処せられるかわかりません。それで皆泣く泣く年寄りの親を捨てにいきました。けれども、その孝行息子はどうしても父を捨てる事はできませんでした。そこで家の床下に穴を堀り、こっそり父をかくまっていました。 それから、しばらくして隣国と知恵競べとなり、王が出した問いはすべて解かれてしまいました。が、隣国からの問いはとても難題でした。大臣達もど  うすることもできません。もし判らなければ、王は近隣の笑い者となります。そこでまたお触れをだしました。「ガラス玉に迷路のような、小さい穴が開いている。その穴に紐を通せる者には、どんな望みでもかなえてやる。」息子はそのことを父に話しました。すると「そんな事なら簡単だ。アリに細くて丈夫な糸をつけ、穴の反対の方には蜜を塗りつけて置くと、その蜜にひかれて反対側まで行く。そしたら、細い糸に太い糸を結び、たぐりよせるといい。」息子は大喜びで、王に進言し、そのとおり試みるとガラス玉の迷路に紐が通りました。これで王は恥をかかなくて済みました。 王は息子に「望みはなんだ。」と尋ねました。すると「私は王様の命に反して年老いた父をかくまっていました。人は年をとるし、弱くなって病気になりやすい。けれど、生活の知恵はさまざま体得しています。どうか山へ捨てよという命令は、取り消して下さい。」と頼みました。王は前悪を悔い、この国は益々富み、人々も幸せにくらしました。 トッパレッコピー |
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Once upon a time in a part of india there lived an old man and his devoted son. The country had a rich king who enjoyed a very comfortable life. One day the king decided he wanted a better and richer land. He thought that to do this he needed only young people then the land would become younger, more exciting and prosperous. The king ordered his people to throw away all the people who were too old to work. They were shocked (dottenshita) but they had to obey him, if they didn't there was a terrible punishment. So the people threw away all their old people and the old people cried with sorrow as they said goodbye. There was, however, one devoted son who just couldn't bring himself to throw away his father, instead he dug a hole under the house and his father hid in it. Not before too long a wisdom contest was held with the neighbouring country. each country made-up riddles for the other. The neighbouring country solved everything but the king's country had very difficult riddles and could not answer them all. The king's ministers didn't know what to do. If they couldn't solve all the riddles the king and the country would be laughed at for being stupid. The king did not want to be laughed at so he told his people that if anyone could thread a piece of string through all the holes in a ball of grass he would reward them with anything they wanted. When the son returned home he told his father about the king's request. On hearing the request, his old father said, "It's very simple. if you tie a very, very thin piece of string around an ant and put honey at one end of the grass ball, the ant will go through all the holes in the grass ball. You can then tie a bigger piece of string to the small piece of string and pull it through !" The son was delighted to hear his father's solution and ran to tell the king. The k ing immediately tried the old man's idea and it worked perfectly. This difficult problem had been solved by someone in his country so the king was no longer ashamed that they had lost the wisdom contest. The king asked the son what he wanted for his reward. The son said to the king, "I couldn't throw away my old father and so i have hidden him against your majesties orders. People become old, weak and sick but the older we get the wiser we become. Old people have a lifetime of experiences and so they have much to teach us and show us. Please don't banish the old people to the mountains." And so the king stopped his cruel order and the king truly regretted that he had ordered the old people to be thrown away. When the old people returned, the country became very prosperous and the people lived the happiest of lives. Tottsuparekkopi (The end) |
