佐野洋子さんの「100万回生きた猫」を恋人のために訳しました。
お断りしておきますが、実験的にできるだけ「日本人が訳した」ように直訳してあります。
The Cat that lived One Million Times
Written and Illustrated by Yoko Sano
(Page 2)
There was a cat that didn’t die for one million years.
He died one million times and lived one million times.
He was a great orange tabby that looked like a tiger.
One million people loved him and one million people cried when he died.
The cat never cried once.
(Page4)
The cat once was the king’s cat. He hated the king.
The king was good at wars and was always fighting. He took the cat to the battlefields with him putting him in a basket.
One day an arrow shot the cat and he died.
The king dropped everything in the battle, picked up the cat, and cried.
The king stopped fighting and came back to his castle. And he buried the cat in the castle garden.
(Page 6)
The cat once was a sailor’s cat. He hated the ocean.
The sailor took him to the oceans and ports all over the world.
One day the cat fell off into the ocean. He couldn’t swim. When the sailor picked up the cat with fishing net in a rush; the cat was soaked and dead.
The sailor held the cat that was like a soaked rag, and cried out loud. And he buried the cat under a tree in a park of a far away port town.
(Page 8)
The cat once was a circus’ magician’s cat. He hated the circus.
The magician put the cat in a box and cut the box in two with a saw everyday. And then he pulled the cat out of the box, and everybody cheered and clapped.
One day he cut the cat in two by mistake.
He took the cut cat in both his hands and cried out loud. Nobody cheered or clapped.
The magician buried the cat at the back of the circus tent.
(Page 10)
The cat once was a burglar’s cat. He hated the burglar.
The burglar walked the dark town with the cat like a cat.
The burglar only sneaked in a house with a dog. He forced the safe open while the dog was barking at the cat.
One day a dog bit the cat and killed him.
The burglar held the cat together with diamonds and walked the night street crying out loud. He came home and buried the cat in his tiny garden.
(Page 12)
The cat once was a lone granny’s cat. He hated the granny.
The granny looked out of the small window holding the cat every day.
The cat slept on her lap everyday.
Eventually, the cat got old and died. The decrepit granny held the decrepit dead cat and cried all day.
The granny buried the cat under a tree.
(Page 14)
The cat once was a little girl’s cat. He hated the little girl.
The little girl carried the cat on her back and slept at night holding him tight. When she cried, she wiped her tears off with the cat’s back.
One day the strapping rope tangled around the cat’s neck and the cat died.
The little girl cried all day holding the cat with a wobbly head. She buried the cat under a tree in the garden.