ＷＥＢ絵本「電報（黒島伝治）」中編
The exam finished.
In the day when he was supposed to be back, Okino went to meet him at the station.
試験がすんで、帰るべき筈の日に、おきのは、停車場へ迎えに行った．
There were a maid of the headman's family, the wife of a soy-sauce factory owner and a young master of a fabric dealer.
They were waiting for the boys who would return back from the exam.
She waited for her son standing outside the station so that she would not be seen by them.
Her social status was low. She thought she could not stand among the rich like them. She humbled herself. In fact, they thought of her as a humble peasant woman.
彼女は、それぞれ試験がすんで帰ってくる坊っちゃん達を迎えに行っている庄屋の下女や、醤油屋の奥さんや、呉服屋の若旦那やの眼につかぬように、停車場の外に立って息子を待っていた．
彼女は、自分の家の地位が低いために、そういう金持の間に伍することが出来ないように、自ら、卑下していた．そして、また、実際に、穢いドン百姓の嬶と見下げられていた．
After a while, a train arrived at the station.
The boys of the headman's family, the soy-sauce dealer and the fabric dealer and so on got off the train.
やがて、汽車が着くと、庄屋や、醤油屋や、呉服屋などの坊っちゃん達が降りて来た．
"Mom!", yelled the boy of the soy-sauce dealer. He instantly found his mother on the platform and trotted to her.
Okino was watching them in a corner and she was thinking how happy she was if her son called her friendly like that.
「お母さん．」と、醤油屋の坊っちゃんは、プラットホームに降りると、すぐ母を見つけて、こう叫びながら、奥さんのいる方へ走りよった．
片隅からそれを見ていたおきのは、息子から、こうなれなれしく、呼びかけられたら、どんなに嬉しいだろうと思った．
"Master! Glad to see you!", said the maid of the headman's family.
She bowed politely and took his bag from the headman's son, who always opened his mouth vaguely and was a little bit silly.
「坊っちゃんお帰り．」と庄屋の下女は、いつもぽかんと口を開けている、少し馬鹿な庄屋の息子に、丁寧にお辞儀をして、信玄袋を受け取った．
Okino carefully looked at each passenger who was getting out though the ticket gate.
But she couldn't find her son. After the exam finished, he was expected to come back with these boys getting off.
They went away from the village on different days respectively, but they took the entrance exam of the same school.
おきのは、改札口を出て来る下車客を、一人一人注意してみたが、彼女の息子はいなかった．
確かに、今、下車した坊っちゃん達と一緒に、試験がすんで帰って来る筈だった．
村をたって行った日は異っていたが、学校は同じだった．
She was worried that he might have gone past the station.
Standing still there, she looked around the station premises.
彼女は、乗り越したのではあるまいかと心配しながら、なお立って、停車場の構内をじろじろ見廻した．
"I made two mistakes in math. Maybe I'll get full marks on the Japanese test," the soy-sauce factory owner's son said to his mother in a childlike voice and walked ahead of the others on the prefectural road leading to the village.
Behind him, the people were starting to go back to their homes respectively.
"Tanimoto said he could have answered all the questions correctly ... ", the boy said.
Tanimoto is the family name of Gensaku. Okino wanted to run up to him for asking about her son.
But she thought of her husband. Gensaku worked at the soy-sauce factory as a part-time worker.
She still humbled herself and gave up.
「僕、算術が二題出来なんだ．国語は満点じゃ．」醤油屋の坊っちゃんは、あどけない声で奥さんにこんなことを云いながら、村へ通じている県道を一番先に歩いた．
それにつづいて、下車客はそれぞれ自分の家へ帰りかけた．
「谷元は、皆な出来た云いよった．・・・」こういう坊っちゃんの声も聞こえた．
谷元というのは源作の姓である．おきのは、走りよって、息子のことを、訊ねてみたかったが、醤油屋へ良人の源作が労働に行っていたのを思い出して、なお卑下して、思い止った．
There was nobody except the station officer on the platform.
Okino begun to go back dejectedly.
The fabric dealer's son was leisurely following in the rear. She thought she should try to ask him
about her son. He was talking and laughing about something --- maybe, the exam --- with the young
master, who was his older brother.
She was going to get close to them and ask about her son if their chat finished. She didn't think her
son had gone past the station carelessly though.
停車場には、駅員の外、誰れもいなくなった．おきのは、しおしおと、帰りかけた．彼女は、一番あとから、ぽつぽつ行っている呉服屋の坊っちゃんに、息子のことを訊ねようと考えた．
坊っちゃんは、兄の若旦那と、何事か ――― 多分試験のことだろう ――― 話しあって笑っていた．
あの話がすんだら、近づいて訊ねよう、とおきのは心で考えた．うっかりして乗り越すようなあれじゃないが、・・・彼女は一方でこんなことも思った．
She was paying attention to the face of the boy, who faced the young master and talked continually.
As their conversation stopped a little, she got close to the boy and asked about her son hastily.
若旦那の方に向いて、しきりに話している坊っちゃんの顔に、彼女は注意を怠らなかった．
そして、話が一寸中断したのを見計らって、急に近づいて、息子のことをきいた．
"Tanimoto said he had to stay there," the boy said to her.
"The exam already finished, didn't it?"
"Well, our exam finished. But Tanimoto said he would take another exam."
"I see. Thank you very much," Okino said and bowed.
She was confused oddly when the young master faced her.
「谷元はまだ残っとると云いよった．」と、坊っちゃんは、彼女に答えた．
「試験はもうすんだんでござんしょうな．」
「はあ、僕等と一緒にすんだんじゃが、谷元はまだほかを受ける云いよった．」
「そうでござんすか．どうもありがとうさん．」と、おきのは頭を下げた．彼女は若旦那に顔を見られるのが妙に苦るしかった．
The next afternoon, a post card came from the cousin.
It said as follows:
The son will certainly pass the exam of the prefectural junior high school. But he must take an entrance exam of a private junior high school if he fails the exam. And so, the cousin keeps him staying until the result will be announced.
翌日の午後、従弟から葉書が来た．
県立中学に多分合格しているだろうが、若し駄目だったら、私立中学の入試を受けるために、成績が分かるまで子供は帰らせずに、引きとめている．ということだった．
"If he fails the exam, we will not need to make him take another exam. We will not need to send him to a private junior high school. We are poor. If we send him to school in the city, the village officials might have an eye on us. And they might raise our tax. If so, we will be in trouble," Okino said to Gensaku.
Gensaku kept silent. He was also unwilling to send their son to private junior high school.
「もう通らなんだら、私立を受けさしてまで中学へやらいでもえいわやの．家のような貧乏たれに市の学校へやって、また上から目角を取られて等級でもあげられたら困らやの．」と、おきのは源作に云った．
源作は黙っていた．
彼も、私立中学へやるのだったら、あまり気がすすまなかった．
（つづく）
―― 奥付 ――
ＷＥＢ絵本「電報（黒島伝治）」中編
訳・絵：茜町春彦
原作：黒島伝治
A Picture Book : "A telegram" vol.2
Translated and illustrated by : Akanemachi Haruhiko
Original author : Kuroshima Denji
黒島伝治の短編小説を翻訳し、絵本にしました．
何か所か、難しい漢字を平易な漢字もしくは仮名に改めました．
黒島伝治について：
二十世紀前半に活躍した小説家です．
1943年没
参考文献：
橇／豚群（2017年8月9日第1刷発行 黒島伝治著 講談社文芸文庫）
初出：
日本文学英訳化計画『黒島伝治：電報』第３巻 2017年10月30日発行
電子書籍プラットフォーム「パブー」で公開した作品です．
パブーの閉店に際し、こちらに移植しました．
