The Seven-League Boots (1) [Seven-League Boots]
The Seven-League Boots (1)
There was once a woodcutter and his wife who had seven children, all boys.
The eldest was only ten and the youngest only seven.
Everyone was very surprised that they had had so many children in such a short time, but it was because the wife had always born twins, except for the first-born.
The couple was very poor and their seven children were great burden to them because none of them could yet earn his living.
The youngest was extremely delicate and rarely said a word which made them very unhappy.
They thought he was stupid, but in fact he was really very clever.
He was very small and, when he came into the world, he was no bigger than a thumb, which was the reason why he was called Thumbkin.
It seemed to the family that everything this poor child did or said was wrong.
However, he was the finest and the most sensible of his brothers, and even through he talked very little, he listened a great deal.
(1/20)
Seven-League Boots は、ひとまたぎで7 リーグ(約35キロ)歩けるという魔法の長靴です。
1 リーグは約4.8 km。
親指小僧：(Thumbkin ) には、グリム童話などいくつかの物語がありますが、今回のものは、フランスの詩人シャルル・ペローの童話版です。
何日か後に、別の短い物語との２本立てとなる予定です。
The Seven-League Boots (2) [Seven-League Boots]
The Seven-League Boots (2)
Then came a very difficult year, when the land was hit by famine and these poor people had to make the decision to get rid of their children.
※
famine 飢饉
One evening, when the children were in bed, the woodcutter and his wife sat in front of the fire, talking.
He said to her, his heart broken with grief, " I cannot stand seeing our children starve in front of my eyes, so I have decided to lose them in the woods tomorrow. We will set them to gathering wood, and we will slip away without them seeing. "
" Ah ! " cried his wife, " could you really be so cruel as to lose your children ? "
Her husband explained again how poor they were, but she could not consent to the plan.
However, after considering what a great grief it would be to see them starve in front of her eyes, she finally agreed and went to bed in tears.
Thumbkin had been listening to everything they said ; he had got up quietly and slid under the staircase to be able to hear them without being seen.
(2/20)
The Seven-League Boots (3) [Seven-League Boots]
The next morning he got up very early and went to the bank of a stream where he filled his pockets with little white stones.
Then he returned the house later, Thumbkin kept his secret to himself.
Soon they were in a thick forest where it was impossible to see each other at a distance of ten steps.
The woodcutter started to work felling trees, while the children collected twigs and made bundles out of them.
When their parents saw them working hard, they gradually moved away and then suddenly took off along a little footpath, which returned home by a different route.
When the children realized they were alone, they started to call for their parents and some began to cry.
Thumbkin told them not to cry.
For he knew very well how to get back to the house.
As they had walked along, he had marked the path by dropping the little white stones from his pockets.
(3/20)
The Seven-League Boots (4) [Seven-League Boots]
" Do not be afraid., my brothers, " he said.
" Our father and mother have left us behind, but I will take you back home, just follow me. "
They followed him, and he led them back to their home along the same path by which they went to the forest that morning.
At first they were afraid t enter the house, and they put their ears to the door to hear what their father and mother were saying.
Now, when the woodcutter and his wife had returned home, they found that the Lord of the Town had sent them ten gold pieces.
He had owed them the money for a long time, but they thought they would never get it back.
This had given them now hope, for the poor couple were indeed starving.
The woodcutter immediately sent his wife to the butcher's.
Since she had not eaten for a long time, she bought three times as much meat than was needed to make supper for two.
(4/20)
The Seven-League Boots (5) [Seven-League Boots]
When they had eaten their fill, she said,
" Oh dear, where are our poor children now ? They would have eaten a good meal tonight. I told you wenwould regret losing them ! What are they doing now in that forest ? Oh my goodness, perhaps the wolves have eaten them already ! You are so creul to have abandoned your children like that. "
The woodcutter lost his patience as she went on for he was really just as upset as his wife.
However, he never liked a person to say, " I told you so, " quite as often as she did.
His wife was in tears now, and crying, " Alas, where are my children now, my poor children ? "
She cried out so loudly that the children at the door heard her and started to shout all together, " We are here, we are here ! "
She rushed to open the door and welcomed them with open arms.
(5/20)
The Seven-League Boots (6) [Seven-League Boots]
The Seven-League Boots (6)
"I am so happy to see you, my dear children ! " she cried.
" You must be very tired and hungry. And look how dirty you are. Peter, come here so I can wash your face. "
Peter was their eldest son whom she loved the most because he was red-haired and took after his mother.
Then they sat down at the table and ate with a healthy appetite, which pleased their father and mother.
While they ate they told their parents how frightened they had been in the forest, all talking at once most of the time.
The woodcutter and his wife were delighted to have their children home again but, alas, their happiness lasted only as long as the ten golden pieces did.
When all the money was spent, they found themselves in the same desperate situation as before.
They decided that they had no choice but to abandon their children again.
This time they planned to take them even further into the forest than the first time.
(6/20)
☆お知らせ☆
１7日（火曜日）から、Why the Sea is Salt 全12回予定が始まり、２本立てとなります。
こちらは、サイエンスではなく、古い物語です。
The Seven-League Boots (7) [Seven-League Boots]
Although the paents talked very quitely, Thumbkin again heard their plan.
He thought that he would have no problem doing the same thing that he had done before, but when he got up early next morning to collest the stone, he found the door of the house locled.
At first Thumbkin didn't know what to do.
However, thier mother had given them each a piece of bread for breakfast, so he thought that he would be able to use this bread instead of stones.
He would crumble the bread and drop the crumbs along the path, so he hid it in his pocket.
Once again the family set off.
Their parents took the seven boys to the thickest and darkest part of the forest, and soon after they arrived made an excuse to leave them behind.
Thumbkin was not to worried because he thought he would find the way back easily, thanks to the bread he had scattered behind.
But, when he looked, he could not find a single crumb: the birds had eaten every one.
(7/20)
The Seven-League Boots (8) [Seven-League Boots]
This time the children were in a sorry state.
The more they walked, the more they got lost and the deeper they went into the forest.
Darkness came and s strong wind started to blow, which frighened them terribly.
They thought they heard wolves howling and feared they would be attacked and eaten.
They hardly dared to talk or move.
Then it began to rain heavily and they were all soaked to the skin.
They slipped at every step and fell into puddles, from which they scrambled up completely covered in mud.
Thumbkin climbed a tree to see if he could discover something that could help them.
Turning his head to look in all directions, he sudddenly saw a tiny glimmer of light, like that of candle, but it seemed to be far away beyond the forest.
(8/20)
明日から２本立てとなります。
The Seven-League Boots (9) [Seven-League Boots]
The Seven-League Boots (8)
He slid down the tree but, when he reached the ground, he could no longer see anything at all.
Nevertheless, after walking for quite a while with his brothers in the right direction, he suddenly saw the light again and they came to the edge of the forest.
Finally they arrived at the house with the candlelight.
They knocked at the door and a woman opened it.
Thumbkin told her that they were poor children who had got lost in the forest, and he asked her if they could spend the night there for nothing, as they had no money.
Seeing how sad and handsome they all were, this woman started to cry, saying, " Alas, my poor children, where have you came to ? Do you not know that this is the house of an ogre, who was eats little children. "
" Oh, Madam, what should we do ? " gasped Thumbkin, who was trembling with fear as well as his brothers.
"The wolves in the forest will eat us tonight if you do not give us shelter. And if we are to be eaten, we would rather it was by the master of this house than the wolves. Maybe he would feel sorry for us, if you were willing to plead on our behalf. "
(9/20)
The Seven-League Boots (10) [Seven-League Boots]
The ogre's wife thought ahw might be able to hide them from her husband until next morning, so she let them inside and took them to the fireplace to warm themselves.
It was very hot, and there was a whole sheep roasting on the spit for the ogre's supper.
Just when they began to feel warm, they heard three or four loud knocks at the door; the ogre had returned.
The woman quickly hid th children under the bed and went to open the door.
The first thing the ogre asked was if the supper was ready and if a bottle of wine had been opened, and immediately he sat down at the table.
Suddenly he started sniffing to the left and the right and said that he smelled living flesh.
" It must be the veal which I was just prepairing for you that you can smell, " said his wife.
" I tell you, I smell living flesh, " exclaimed the ogre and gave his wife a suspicious look.
" There is something going on here, I think. "
(10/20)
The Seven-League Boots (11) [Seven-League Boots]
" Ah, this is how you try to deceive me, you wretched woman ! " he shouted.
" I don't see why I shouldn't eat you as well, you old,stupid woman. These rabbits will come in handy to entertain my ogre friends who are going to visit me. "
One by one he dragged the boys out from under the bed.
The poor children fell on their knees and begged him for mercy, but they were in the hands of the cruelest ogre there ever was, who was already eating them in his imagination.
He told his wife that the boys would make a tasty stew when cooked in a nice sauce.
He picked up a huge knife and sharpened it on a long stone, then approached the frightened children.
He had just grabbed one of them, when his wife said, " Why do you want to do it at this hour ? You've had a good supper. Why don't you do it tomorrow morning ? "
(11/20)
The Seven-League Boots (12) [Seven-League Boots]
" Be quiet ! " exclaimed the ogre, " they will be more succulent now. "
" But you still have so much meat here, " said is wife.
" Lookーa calf, two sheep and half a pig ! "
" You are right, " agreed the ogre.
" Give them a good meal so they do not get thin, and put them to bed. "
The kind woma was delighted and cooked the children a nice supper, but they were so terrified they could not eat a mouthful.
As for the ogre, he was so delighted to have such a delicacy to offer his friends that he drank a dozen bottles of wine, which made him dizzy and he had to go to bed.
Now, the ogre had seven young daughters.
The little ogresses were all very robust and had ruddy complexions because they ate fresh meat like their father.
But they had little round grey eyes, hooked noses and huge mouths with long teeth, very sharp and very widely spaced.
(12/20)
The Seven-League Boots (13) [Seven-League Boots]
They were not yet as cruel as their father, but were beginning to follow in his footsteps, for they already liked to bite little children.
They were sent to bed early and all seven of them slept in a large bed, each wearing a golden crown on her head.
In the same room there was another be of the same size.
THe ogre's wife put the seven little boys in this bed, after which she went to bed herself beside her husband.
Thumbkin was afraid that the ogre might regret not having cut their throat thay evening and would woke up to do so before morning.
He got up when he heard the ogre snoring, and took off his brother's caps.
Then he crept over to the ogre's sevne daughters, took off their crowns and put the caps on their heads.
He then returned to bed and put the crowns on his brother's heads and his own.
(13/20)
The Seven-League Boots (14) [Seven-League Boots]
It was just as Thumbkin feared; the ogre woke up at midnight and regretted not butchering the lads the evening before.
So he jumped out of bed and took up his huge knife.
"Let us see how our little fools are doing, " he said to himself.
Without lighting a candle, the ogre groped his way upstairs in the dark to his daughter' room and approached the bed in which the little boys were sleeping.
They were all fast asleep except for Thumbkin, who was very frightened when he felt the ogre's hand over his head.
The ogre felt all the golden crowns.
" Dear me, " he said. " This will never do. This is my daughters' bed. "
He then went to the other bed and felt the boys' little caps.
" Ah, there they are, " he said, " Our lovely lads ! Let's do the job properly now. "
Having said this, he cut the throats of his seven daughters thinking it was the boys.
Then, happy at a job well done, he went back to bed.
(14/20)
The Seven-League Boots (15) [Seven-League Boots]
The Seven-League Boots (15)
As soon as Thumbkin heard the ogre snoring again, he woke up his brothers.
He told them to get dressed immediately and followed him.
The boys crept quietly out of the house and climbed over the garden wall.
They ran through the night, stumbling from fear and not knowing which way to go.
When the ogre woke up next morning, he said to his wife, " Go upstairs and dress those little fools who came here yesterday. "
His wife was very surprised at her husband's kindness, not suspecting for a minute that the way he meant her to dress them was as meat !
But when she went upstairs a terrible sight was awaiting her.
She was horrified when she saw her seven daughters with their throats cut, and fainted at onceーeven though she was an ogress !
The ogre wondered why his wife was taking such a long time doing the job he had ordered her to do.
(15/20)
The Seven-League Boots (16) [Seven-League Boots]
He too went upstairs and was no less aghast than his wife when he saw the dreadful sight, although he did not faint.
" Ah, what have I done ? " he cried.
" Those seven rascals will pay for this, and right now ! "
First he revived his wife, then he shouted,
" Quickly ! Give me my seven-league boots so that I can catch up with those scoundrels. "
Donning his magic boots, that would travel seven leagues in one stride, he searched throughout the land for the boys.
After he had run a great distance in all directions, he finally came to the path where they were walking, no more than a hundred steps from their father's house.
To their horror they saw the ogre stepping from mountain-top to mountain-top, crossing rivers as easily as if they were small streams.
(16/20)
遅くなりました。明日は７時に出ます。
The Seven-League Boots (17) [Seven-League Boots]
Thumbkin hid his brothers in a hollow rock nearby and then hid himself, peeping out to watch the ogre.
The ogre had become very weary from all his travels, despite the seven-league boots (which are incredibly tiring to wear).
He wanted to rest and by chance he sat down on the rock in which the boys were hiding.
(17/20)
The Seven-League Boots (18) [Seven-League Boots]
The Seven-League Boots (18)
After sitting there for a while he started to snore so frightfully that the poor children were just as scared as ever.
Thumbkin told his brothers to run home as fast as they could while the ogre was sound asleep.
They did as he said and srrived home almost immediately.
Then Thumbkin crept up to the ogre, carefully removed the seven-league boots and stepped into them himself.
(18/20)
The Seven-League Boots (19) [Seven-League Boots]
The Seven-League Boots (19)
The boots were very long and wide but, as they were magic, they were able to grow larger or smaller to fit the person who is wearing them.
Thumbkin had them on they fitted his legs and feet perfectly, as if they had been made for him.
The little lad went straight back to the ogre's house where he found his wife weeping over her seven dead daughters.
" Your husband is in great danger, " said Thumbkin.
" He has been captured by a gang of robbers who are threatening to kill him if he doesn't hand over all his gold and money.
" At the very moment they were holding the knife against his throat, he saw me and begged me to warn you of his plight.
He said to tell you to give me his whole fortune without fail, otherwise they will kill him.
LookーI have his seven-league boots, which proves all I say. "
(19/20)
The Seven-League Boots (20 完) [Seven-League Boots]
Without hesitating for a second the woman gave Thumbkin everything.
Apart from his habit of eating little children, she loved the ogre who was a very good husband to her.
Loaded with all ogre's treasure, Thumbkin returned to his father's house where he was welcomed with great joy, and the family never went hungry again.
And what happened to the ogre and his wife ?
Well, Thumbkin never saw either of them again, which is probably just as well !
(20/20 完)
sunny君と 一緒に読もう
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