Mother West Wind "Why" Stories — Page 62
Food was scarce and kept growing more scarce.
食べ物は乏しく、ますます乏しくなっていきました。
Everybody was hungry, and you know how it is with hungry people--they grow ugly and quarrelsome.
みんなお腹が空いていました。お腹が空いた人たちがどうなるかはご存じでしょう――彼らは意地悪になり、口論ばかりするようになるのです。
Matters grew worse and worse, and then it was that fear was born.
事態はどんどん悪化し、そのときはじめて恐怖が生まれたのです。
The big people, like Old King Bear and Mr. Wolf and Mr. Panther and Mr. Lynx, began to look with hungry eyes on the little people, and the little people began to grow afraid and hide from the big people, and all the time they were continually quarreling among themselves and stealing from each other to get enough to eat.
老王クマさんやオオカミさんやヒョウさんやオオヤマネコさんのような大きな者たちは、小さな者たちを飢えた目で見るようになり、小さな者たちは怖くなって大きな者たちから隠れるようになりました。そしてその間もずっと、彼らはお互いに口論を続け、食べ物を得るために盗み合っていました。
"Now, as I said before, Mr. Mole never had meddled with other people's business, and he didn't now.
「さて、前にも申しましたように、モグラさんはこれまで他人のことに首を突っ込んだことがなく、このときもそうしませんでした。
He went off by himself to think things over.
彼はひとりで離れて、物事についてじっくり考えました。
'It isn't safe to run around any more,' said he.
『もう走り回るのは安全ではない』と彼は言いました。
'I met Mr. Wolf this morning, and he looked at me with such a hungry look in his eyes that it gave me the cold shivers.
『今朝オオカミさんに会ったのですが、彼はとても飢えた目つきで私を見たので、ぞっと寒気がしました。
I believe he would have eaten me, if I hadn't crawled into an old hollow stump.
古い空洞の切り株の中に潜り込まなければ、食べられていたと思います。
Now I can't run fast, because my legs are too short.
私は足が短すぎて速く走れません。
I can't climb trees like Mr. Squirrel, and I can't swim like Mr. Muskrat.
リスさんのように木に登ることもできませんし、マスクラットさんのように泳ぐこともできません。
The only thing I can do is to dig.'
私にできることは穴を掘ることだけです。』
"You see, Mr. Mole always had been very fond of digging, and he had done so much of it that his front legs and claws had grown very stout.
「実は、モグラさんはずっと穴掘りがとても好きで、あまりにもたくさん掘っていたので、前足と爪がとても太くたくましくなっていたのです。
Vocabulary
- 食べ物
- tabemono — Food; things to eat
- は
- wa — Topic-marking particle in Japanese grammar
- 乏しく
- toboshiku — Scarce, lacking, in short supply
- ますます
- masumasu — More and more, increasingly, to a greater degree
- なって
- natte — Becoming, turning into (te-form of naru)
- いき
- iki — Going, progressing (continuative form)
- みんな
- minna — Everyone, all people, everybody together
- お腹
- onaka — Stomach, belly, abdomen
- が
- ga — Subject-marking particle in Japanese grammar
- 空いて
- suite — Being empty, hungry (te-form of suku)
- 空いた
- suita — Became empty or hungry (past tense)
- 人たち
- hitotachi — People, a group of persons
- どう
- dou — How, in what way, what will happen
- なる
- naru — To become, to turn into something
- か
- ka — Question-marking particle at sentence end
- ご存じ
- gozonji — Honorific expression meaning 'do you know'
- でしょ
- desho — Probably, right? (conjecture or confirmation)
- 彼ら
- karera — They, them (third person plural pronoun)
- 意地悪
- ijiwaru — Mean, spiteful, unkind in behavior
- に
- ni — Directional or target particle in Japanese
- なり
- nari — Becoming (conjunctive form of naru)
- 口論
- kouron — Quarrel, verbal argument, dispute between people
- ばかり
- bakari — Only, nothing but, always doing something
- する
- suru — To do, to perform an action
- よう
- you — Manner, appearance, seems like something
- の
- no — Possessive or nominalizing particle in Japanese
- です
- desu — Polite copula meaning 'is' or 'are'
- 事態
- jitai — Situation, state of affairs, circumstances
- どんどん
- dondon — Rapidly, one after another, increasingly fast
- 悪化
- akka — Worsening, deterioration of a situation
- その
- sono — That, those (demonstrative modifier for nouns)
- とき
- toki — Time, moment, occasion, when something occurs
- はじめて
- hajimete — For the first time, first occurrence of something
- 恐怖
- kyoufu — Fear, terror, dread, intense fright
- 生まれた
- umareta — Was born, came into existence (past tense)
- クマ
- kuma — Bear, large omnivorous forest animal
- さん
- san — Polite honorific suffix for names
- や
- ya — And, listing particle (non-exhaustive list)
- オオカミ
- ookami — Wolf, large wild canine predator
- ヒョウ
- hyou — Leopard, large spotted wild cat
- オオヤマネコ
- ooyamaneko — Lynx, large wild cat of forests
- 大きな
- ookina — Large, big in size or scale
- 者たち
- monotachi — Persons, beings, group of individuals
- 小さな
- chiisana — Small, little, tiny in size
- を
- wo — Object-marking particle in Japanese grammar
- 飢えた
- ueta — Starved, hungry, famished (past tense)
- 目
- me — Eye, gaze, look, vision
- で
- de — With, at, by means of (particle)
- 見る
- miru — To look at, to see, to observe
- 怖く
- kowaku — Scary, frightening (adverbial form of kowai)
- から
- kara — From, because, after (particle or conjunction)
- 隠れる
- kakureru — To hide, to conceal oneself from others
- そして
- soshite — And then, and also, furthermore
- 間
- aida — Between, among, during a period of time
- も
- mo — Also, too, even (inclusive particle)
- ずっと
- zutto — All along, continuously, the whole time
- お互い
- otagai — Each other, one another, mutually
- 続け
- tsuzuke — Continuing, keep doing (conjunctive form)
- 得る
- eru — To obtain, to get, to be able to
- ため
- tame — For the sake of, in order to
- 盗み合って
- nusumiate — Stealing from each other, mutual theft
- さて
- sate — Well then, now then, transitional expression
- 前
- mae — Before, in front, previous time
- 申し
- moushi — Said, spoke (humble polite form of iu)
- モグラ
- mogura — Mole, small burrowing underground mammal
- これ
- kore — This, this thing (near demonstrative pronoun)
- まで
- made — Until, up to, as far as
- 他人
- tanin — Other people, strangers, others' affairs
- こと
- koto — Thing, matter, fact, situation (nominalizer)
- 首
- kubi — Neck, head; to poke one's nose in
- 突っ込んだ
- tsukkonoda — Pushed into, poked into, interfered with
- なく
- naku — Without, not having (negative conjunctive form)
- この
- kono — This (demonstrative modifier for nearby nouns)
- そう
- sou — So, that way, it seems like that
- 彼
- kare — He, him (third person masculine pronoun)
- ひとり
- hitori — Alone, by oneself, one person
- 離れて
- hanarete — Separated from, apart, away from others
- 物事
- monogoto — Things, matters, affairs in general
- ついて
- tsuite — About, concerning, regarding a topic
- じっくり
- jikkuri — Carefully, thoroughly, taking one's time
- 考え
- kangae — Thought, idea, thinking about something
- もう
- mou — Already, no longer, anymore, not anymore
- 走り回る
- hashirimawaru — To run around, dash about everywhere frantically
- 安全
- anzen — Safe, safety, free from danger
- ない
- nai — There is not, does not exist, negative
- と
- to — And, with, quotation particle in Japanese
- 言い
- ii — Said, spoke (conjunctive form of iu)
- 今朝
- kesa — This morning, earlier today in the morning
- 会った
- atta — Met, encountered someone (past tense)
- とても
- totemo — Very, extremely, quite, very much so
- 目つき
- metsuki — Look in one's eyes, expression of gaze
- 私
- watashi — I, me (first person singular pronoun)
- 見た
- mita — Looked at, saw, observed (past tense)
- ぞっと
- zotto — Shuddering, feeling a chill of fear
- 寒気
- samuke — Chill, shiver, feeling cold from fear
- 古い
- furui — Old, aged, not new or recent
- 空洞
- kuudou — Hollow, cavity, empty space inside something
- 切り株
- kirikabu — Tree stump, cut base of a tree
- 中
- naka — Inside, within, the interior of something
- 潜り込ま
- mogurikoma — Crawling into, sneaking inside (stem form)
- ば
- ba — If, conditional particle in Japanese grammar
- 食べ
- tabe — Eat (conjunctive/stem form of taberu)
- られて
- rarete — Being done to, passive te-form ending
- 思い
- omoi — Thought, feeling, belief about something
- ます
- masu — Polite present/future verb ending
- 足
- ashi — Leg, foot, limb used for walking
- 短すぎて
- mijikasugite — Too short (te-form with excessive suffix)
- 速く
- hayaku — Fast, quickly, speedily (adverbial form)
- 走れ
- hashire — Can run, run! (potential or imperative form)
- リス
- risu — Squirrel, small tree-climbing rodent
- 木
- ki — Tree, wood, timber
- 登る
- noboru — To climb, to go up a tree or hill
- でき
- deki — Can do, able to (stem of dekiru)
- 泳ぐ
- oyogu — To swim, to move through water
- できる
- dekiru — To be able to, can do something
- 穴
- ana — Hole, pit, burrow, tunnel in ground
- 掘る
- horu — To dig, to excavate a hole or tunnel
- だけ
- dake — Only, just, nothing but, merely
- 実
- jitsu — Truth, reality, actually; fruit or seed
- 穴掘り
- anahori — Digging holes, the act of burrowing
- 好き
- suki — Like, fond of, to be one's preference
- あまりに
- amarini — Too much, excessively, to an extreme degree
- たくさん
- takusan — Many, a lot, plenty, in great quantity
- 掘って
- hotte — Digging (te-form of horu, continued action)
- 前足
- maeashi — Front legs, forelimbs of an animal
- 爪
- tsume — Claw, nail, talon of animal or person
- 太く
- futoku — Thick, stout (adverbial form of futoi)
- たくましく
- takumashiku — Sturdily, robustly, powerfully built (adverbial form)
Unlock audio playback, vocabulary games, and reading progress tracking.
Create free account →