Water baby Tom (1)

Water baby Tom (1)

Once upon a time there was a little chimney-sweep, and his name was Tom.

Now I dare say you never got up at three o'clock on a midsummer morning.
Some people get up then because they want to catch salmon; and some, because they want to climb the Alps, and a great many more, because they must, like Tom.

One day a smart little groom rode into the court where Tom lived and halloed to him to know where Mr. Grimes, the chimney-sweep, lived.

Mr. Grimes was to come up next morning to Sir John Harthover's  at the place, for his old chimney-sweep was gone to prison, and the chimneys wanted sweeping.

So Tom and his master set out; Grimes rode the donkey in front, and Tom and the brushes walked behind ; out of the court, and up the street, past the closed window shutters, and the winking weary policemen, and the roofs  all shining grey in the grey dawn.


On they went; and Tom looked, and looked, for he never had been so far into the country before.  

(1/16)
Charles Kingsley（1819ー1875） 作の、
煙突掃除坊や:Tomの身に起きた、信じがたい、とても不思議なお語です。
（途中までは、Tomの、わりと日常的なお話なのですが・・・Water baby?）

Water baby Tom (2)

Water baby Tom (2)

Soon they came up with a poor Irishwoman, trudging along with a bundle at her back.
She had neither shoes nor stockings, and limped along as if she were tired and footsore. 



Mr. Grimes called out to her.
" This is a hard road. Will you up and ride behind me ? "

But she answered quietly ; " No thank you, I'd sooner walk with your little lad here. "

So she walked beside Tom and talked to him and asked him where he lived. and what he knew, and all about himself, till Tom thought he had never met such a pleasant-spoken woman.

Then he asked her where she lived ; and she said far away by the sea.
And Tom asked her about the sea ;  and she told him how it rolled and roared over the rocks in winter nights, and lay still in the bright summer days, for the children to bathe and play in it ; and many a story more, till Tom longed to go and see the sea, and bathe in it likewise.  

(2/16)

Water baby Tom (3)

Water baby Tom (3)

At last, at the bottom of a hill, they came to a spring and there Grimes stopped.
Without a word, he got off his donkey, and clambered over the low wall, and knelt down, and began dipping his ugly head into the spring. 

" I wish I might go and dip my head in, " said poor little Tom.

" Thou come along, " said Grimes, " what dost want with a washing thyself ? "
Grimes was very sulky, because the woman preferred Tom's company to his; so he dashed at Tom and began beating him.



" Are you not ashamed of yourself, Tomas Grimes ? " cried the Irishwoman over the wall.

Grimes looked u, startled at her knowing his name ; but all he answered was, " No: nor never was yet; " and went on beating Tom.

" Stop ! " said the Irishwoman.
" If you strike that boy again, I can tell what I know.  I have one moe word for you both,
 Those that wish to be clean,
   Clean they will be;
 And those that wish to be foul,
   Foul they will be, 
Remember. "

(3/16)  

Water baby Tom (4)

Water baby Tom (4)

And she turned away and through a gate into the meadow.

Grimes rushed after her, shouting, " You come back ! "

But when he got into the meadow the woman was not there.
There was no place to hide in, but look where he would, she was not there.

They had gone three miles and more, and came to Sir John's lodge-gates.
Grimes rang at the gate, and out came a keeper on the spot and opened.

They walked up a great lime avenue, a full mile long, and between their stems Tom peeped trembling at the horns of the sleeping deer, which stood up among the ferns.



Tom had never seen such enormous trees, and as he looked up he fancied that the blue sky rested on their head.

" I wish I were a keeper, " said Tom, " to live in such a beautiful place, and wear green velveteens and have a real dog-whistle at my button, like you. "

The keeper laughed ; he was a kind-hearted fellow.

(4/16)

タグ：西新井 やさしい洋書 やさしい英語

Water baby Tom (5)

Water baby Tom (5)

By this time they were come up to the great iron gates in front of the house ; and Tom started through them at the house itself, and wondered how many chimneys there were in it.

But Tom and his master did not go in through the great iron gates, as if they had been Dukes or Bishops, but round the back way, and a very long way round it was ; and into a little back door, where the ash-boy let them in, yawning horribly, and then in a passage  the housekeeper met them, and she gave Grimes solemn orders about, " You will take care of this, and take care of that. "

And Grimes listened, and said every now and then, under his voice, " You'll mind that, you little beggar? "and Tom did mind, all at least that he could.

And then the housekeeper turned them into a grand room, all covered up in sheets of brown paper, and bade them begin in a lofty and tremendous voice ; and so, after a whimper or two, and a kick from his master, into the grate Tom went, and up the chimney.



(5/16) 

Water baby Tom (6)

Water baby Tom (6)

How many chimney he swept I cannot say, but he swept so many that he got quite tired, and puzzled too.
For they were not like the town flues to which he was accustomed, but such as you would find ー if you would only get up them and look, which perhaps you would not like to do ー in old country houses ; large and crooked chimneys, which had been altered again and again, till they ran into one another.

So Tom fairly lost his way in them, not that he cared much for that, though he was in pitchy darkness, for he was as much at home in a chimney as a mole is underground ; but at last, coming down, as he thought, the right chimney, he came down the wrong one.

And he found himself standing on the hearthrug in a room the like of which he had never seen before.

The room was all dressed in white; white window curtains, white bed curtain, white furniture, and white walls, with just a few lines of pink here and there.



(6/16)   

Water baby Tom (7)

Water baby Tom (7)

The carpet was all over gay little flowers ; and the walls were hung with pictures in gilt frames. There were pictures of ladies and gentlemen and pictures of horses and dogs.

The next thing he saw, and that puzzled him, was a washing-stand, with ewers and basins, and soap and brushes, and towels ; and a large bath, full of clean water ー what a heap of things all for washing !
" She must be a very dirty lady, " thought Tom, " to want as much scrubbing as all that. "



And then, looking towards the bed, he saw that dirty lady, and held his breath with astonishment.

Under the snow-white coverlet, upon the snow-white pillow, lay the most beautiful little girl that Tom had ever seen.
Her cheeks were almost as white as the pillow, and her hair was like threads of gold spread all about over the bed.

She might have been as old as Tom, or maybe a year or two older; but Tom did not think of that.
He thought only of her delicate skin and golden hair, and wondered whether she were a real live person, or one of the wax dolls he had seen in the shops.

But when he saw her breathe, he made up his mind that she was alive, and stood staring at her, as if she had been an angel out of heaven.

(7/16)

Water baby Tom (8)

Water baby Tom (8)

And then he thought,   " Are all people like that when they are washed ? "
He looked at his own wrist, and tried to rub the soot off, and wondered whether it ever come off.

Then looking round he suddenly saw, standing close to him, a little ugly, black, ragged figure, with bleared eyes and grinning white teeth.



He turned on it angrily.
What did such a little black ape want in that sweet young lady's room ? And behold, it was himself, reflected in a great mirror, the like of which Tom had never seen before.

And Tom, for the first time in his life, found out that he was dirty; and burst into tears with shame and anger ; and turned to sneak up the chimney again and hide, and upset the fender, and threw the fire-irons down, with a noise as of ten thousand tin kettles tied to ten thousand mad dogs' tails.

(8/16) 

Water baby Tom (9)

Water baby Tom (9)

Up jumped the little white lady in her bed, and , seeing Tom, screamed as shrill as nay peacock.

In rushed a stout old nurse from the next room, and seeing Tom, likewise made up her mind that he had come to rob, plunder, destroy, and burn.
She dashed at him as he lay over the fender, so fast that she caught him by the jacket.

But she did not hold him.
Tom had been in a policeman's hands many a time, and out of them too, what is more, so he doubled under good lady's arm, across the room, and out of the window in a moment.



And all under the window spread a tree, and down the tree he went, like a cat, and across the garden lawn, and over the iron railing, and up the park towards the wood, leaving old nurse to scream murder and fire at the window.



(9/16)  

Water baby Tom (10)

Water baby Tom  (10)

The under gardener, mowing, saw Tom and threw down his seythe ; and gave chase to poor Tom.
The dairy-maid heard the noise, and gave chase to Tom.

A groom, cleaning Sir John's hack at a stables, gave chase to Tom.

Grimes ran out and gave chase to Tom.

The old steward opened the park gate and gave chase to Tom.

The ploughman left his horses and gave chase to Tom.

The keeper ran after Tom.
 
Sir John looked out of his study window , and up at the nurse, and he ran out and gave chase to Tom.

The Irishman, too, was walking up to the house to beg; but she threw away her bundle and gave chase to Tom likewise.

All ran up the park, shouting, " Stop thief ! "

Tom, of course, made for the wood.
He was sharp enough to know that he might hide in a bush, or swarm
up a tree, and altogether, had more chance there than in the open.

(10/16)    

Water baby Tom (11)

Water baby Tom (11)

But when he got into the wood, the boughs laid hold of his legs and arms, the hassock-grass and sedges tumbled him over and the birches birched him.

" I must get out of this, " thought Tom.
And indeed I don't think he would ever have got out at all if he had not suddenly run his head against a wall. 
He guessed that over the wall the cover would end ; and up it he went, and over like a squirrel.

And there he was, out on the great grouse-moors, heather and bog and rock, stretching away and up, up to the very sky.
※grouse-moor ムアは、イングランドやスコットランドにおける heather の生えた排水の悪い高原地帯で、ライチョウ (grouse) の生息域。      



At last he came to a dip in the land, and went to the bottom of it, and then he turned bravely away from the wall and up the moor ; for he knew that he had put a hill between him and his enemies, and could go on without their seeing him.
But Irishwoman, alone of them all, had seen which way Tom went.

So Tom went on, and on, he hardly knew why.
What would Tom have said, if he had seen, walking over the moor behind him, the very same Irishwoman  who had taken his his part upon the road ? 

(11/16)
もしかしましたら（たぶん）、17回ぐらいに延びるかもしれません（長さを間違えました）。

Water baby Tom (12)

Water baby Tom (12)

And now he began to get a little hungry, and very thirsty ; but he could see nothing to eat anywhere, and still less to drink.

To his right rose moor after moor, hill after hill, till they faded away, blue into blue sky.
But between him and those moors, and really at his very feet, lay something, to which, as soon as Tom saw it, he determined to go, for that was the place for him.

A deep, deep green and rocky valley, very narrow, and filled with wood ; but through the wood, hundreds of feet below him, he could see a clear stream glance.
Oh, if he could but get down to that stream !

Then, by the stream he saw the roof of a little cottage, and a little garden, set out in squares and beds.

And there was a tiny little red thing moving in the garden, no bigger than a fly.
As Tom looked down, he saw that it was a woman in a red petticoat !
Ah ! perhaps she would gave him something to eat ; and he could get down there in five minutes.

But Tom was wrong about getting down in five minute, for the cottage was more than a mile off, and a good thousand feet below.
However, down he went, though he was very footsore, and tired, and hungry, and thirsty, and all the while he never saw the Irishwoman going down behind him.

(12/16)       

Water baby Tom (13)

Waer baby Tom (13)
入院前に
打ってありましたので、このあとはしばらくお待ちください。３か月あれば、家に帰れると思うのですが。前回のお知らせのとおり、しばらく休止いたします。

At last he got to the bottom, and stumbled away, down over a low wall, and into a narrow road, and up to the cottage door.
８
A neat pretty cottage it was, with clipped yew hedges all round the garden, and yews inside too, cut into peacocks and trumpets and teapots and all kind queer shapes. 

he came slowly up to the open door, which was all hung round with elements and roses ; and then peeped in, half afraid.

And there sat by the empty fire-place, which was filled with a pot of sweet herbs, the nicest old woman that ever was seen, in her red petticoat, and short dimity bedgown, and clean white-cap, with a black silk handkerchief over it, tied under her chin.



Such a pleasant cottage it was, with a shiny clean stone floor, and curious old prints on the wall, and an old black oak sideboard full of bright pewter and brass dishes, and a cuckoo clock in the corner, which began shouting as soon as Tom appeared ; not that it was frightened at Tom, but that it was just eleven o'clock.

(13/16)  

うｔ

ｎ

Water baby Tom (14)

Water baby Tom (14)



" What are thou, and what do want ? " cried old dame.
" A chimney-sweep ! Away with thee. I'll have no sweep here. "

" Water, " said poor little Tom, quite faint.

The old dame looke at him through her spectacles one minute and two, and three; and then she said:
" He's sick; and a bairn's a bairn, sweep or none. "

" God forgive me ! " and she put by her spectacles, and rose, an came to Tom.
" Water's bad for thee; I'll give thee milk. "

Tom drank the milk off at one draught.

" Bless thy pretty heart ! Come with me, and I'll have thee up somewhere. "

She put him in an outhouse upon soft sweet hay and an old rug, and bade him sleep.

But Tom did not fall asleep.

Instead of it he turned and tossed and kicked about in the strangest way, and felt so hot all over that he longed to get into the river and cool himself.

And then he fell half asleep, and dreamt that he heard the little white lady crying to him,
" Oh, you're so dirty; go an be washed; "

And then he heard the Irishwoman saying, " Those that wish to be clean, clean they will be. "

And he said out aloud again, though being half asleep he did  not know it,
" I'll must be clean, I must be clean. "

(14/16→17)
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１回増えまして全17回となる予定です。

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では　また　明日。

Water baby Tom (15)

Water baby Tom (15)

And all of sudden he found himself, not in the outhouse on the hay, but in the middle of a meadow, over the road, with a stream just before him, saying continually, " I must be clean, I must be clean. "

He had got there on his own legs, between sleep and awake, as children will often get out of bed, and go about the room, when they are not quite well.

But he was not a bit surprised, and went on to the bank of the brook, and laydown on the grass, and looked into the clear, clear limestone water, with every pebble at the bottom bright and clean, while the little silver trout dashed about in fright at the sight of his black face.

He dipped his hand in and found it so cool, cool, cool ; and he said,
" I will be a fish; I will swim in the water; I must be clean, I must be clean. "

So he pulled off all his clothes in such haste that he tore some of them, which was easy enough with such ragged old things.



And he put his poor, hot, sore feet into the water ; and then his legs.

He was so hot and thirsty, and longed so to be clean for once, that he tumbled himself as quick as he could into the clear cool stream.

(15/17)

Water baby Tom (16)

Water baby Tom (16)

And He had not been in it two minutes before he fell asleep, into the quietest, sunniest, coziest sleep that ever he had in his life ; and he dreamt about the green meadows by which he had walked that morning, and the tall elm trees, and the sleeping cows ; and after that he dreamt of nothing at all.

The reason of his falling into such a delightful sleep is very simple.
It was merely that the fairies took him.



And now comes the most wonderful part of this wonderful story.

Tom, when he woke, for, of course, he woke, found himself swimming about in the stream, being about four inches long, and having a set of gills which he mistook for  lace frill, till he pulled at them, found he hurt himself, and made up his mind that they were part of himself and best left alone.



In fact the fairies had turned him into a water baby.

A water baby ?
You never heard of a water baby ?

Perhaps not.
That is the very reason why this story was written.

(1/16)   

Water baby Tom (17 完)

Water baby Tom (17 完)

There are a great many things in the world which you never heard of ; and a great many more which nobody ever heard of ; an a great many things too, which nobody will ever hear of.

But at all events, so it happened to Tom.

And, therefore, the keeper, and the groom, an Sir John, made a great mistake, and were very unhappy(Sir John at least) without any reason, when they found a black thing in the water, and said it was Tom and that he had been drowned.

They were utterly mistaken.

Tom was quite alive ; and cleaner, an merrier, than he ever had been.

The fairies had washed him, you see, in the swift river, so thoroughly that not only his dirt, but his whole husk an shell had been washed quite off him, and the pretty little real Tom was washed out of the inside of it, and swam away.



But goo Sir John did not understand all this, and he took it into his head that Tom was drowned.

And all the while Tom was swimming about in the river, with a pretty little lace-collar of gills about his neck, as likely as a grig, and as clean as a fresh-run salmon.

(１７/１７ 完)