こんなに美しい物語があるだろうか
賢治が描く 4次元の心象世界
龍と詩人
宮澤賢治
龍のチャーナタは洞のなかへさして來る上げ潮からからだをうねり出した。
洞の隙間から朝日がきらきら射して來て水底の岩の凹凸をはっきり陰影で浮き出させ、またその岩につくたくさんの赤や白の動物を寫し出した。
チャーナタはうっとりその青くすこし朧ろな水を見た。それから洞のすきまを通して火のやうにきらきら光る海の水を淺黄いろの天末にかかる火球日天子の座を見た。
（おれはその幾千由旬の海を自由に漕ぎ、その清いそらを絶え絶え息して黒雲を卷きながら翔けれるのだ。それだのにおれはここを出て行けない。この洞の外の海に通ずる隙間は辛くも外をのぞくことができるに過ぎぬ。）
（聖龍王、聖龍王。わたしの罪を許しわたくしの呪をお解きください。）
チャーナタはかなしくまた洞のなかをふりかへり見た。そのとき日光の柱は水のなかの尾鰭に射して青くまた白くぎらぎら反射した。そのとき龍は洞の外で人の若々しい聲が呼ぶのを聽いた。龍は外をのぞいた。
（敬ふべき老いた龍チャーナタよ。朝日の力をかりてわたしはおまへに許しを乞ひに來た。）
瓔珞をかざり黄金の太刀をはいた一人の立派な青年が外の疊石の青い苔にすわってゐた。
（何を許せといふのか。）
（龍よ。昨日の詩賦の競ひの會に、わたしも出て歌った。そしてみんなは大へんわたしをほめた。いちばん偉い詩人のアルタは座を下りて來て、わたしを禮してじぶんの高い座にのぼせ（三字不明）の草蔓をわたしに被せて、わたしを賞める四句の偈をうたひ、じぶんは遠く東の方の雪ある山の麓に去った。わたしは車にのせられて、わたしのうたった歌のうつくしさに酒のやうに醉ひ、みんなのほめることばや、わたしを埋める花の雨にわれを忘れて胸を鳴らしてゐたが、夜更けてわたしは長者のルダスの家を辭して、きらきらした草の露を踏みながら、わたしの貧しい母親のもとに戻ってゐたら、俄かに月天子の座に瑪瑙の雲がかかりくらくなったので、わたくしがそれをふり仰いでゐたら、誰かがミルダの森で斯うひそひそ語ってゐるのを聞いた。
（東へ去った詩人のアルタは、どういふ偈でおまへをほめたらう。）
（わたしはあまりのことに心が亂れて、あの氣高い韻を覺えなかった。けれども多分は、
雲が應じ
波が鳴らすそのうたを
ただちにうたふスールダッタ
星がさうならうと思ひ
陸地がさういふ形をとらうと覺悟する
あしたの世界に叶ふべき
まことと美との模型をつくり
やがては世界をこれにかなはしむる豫言者、
設計者スールダッタ
（尊敬すべき詩人アルタに幸あれ、
スールダッタよ、あのうたこそはわたしのうたでひとしくおまへのうたである。いったいわたしはこの洞に居てうたったのであるか考へたのであるか。おまへはこの洞の上にゐてそれを聞いたのであるか考へたのであるか。おおスールダッタ。
そのときわたしは雲であり風であった。そしておまへも雲であり風であった。
詩人アルタがもしそのときに冥想すれば恐らく同じいうたをうたったであらう。けれどもスールダッタよ。
アルタの語とおまへの語はひとしくなく、おまへの語とわたしの語はひとしくない、韻も恐らくさうである。この故にこそあの歌こそはおまへのうたでまたわれわれの雲と風とを御する分のその精神のうたである。）
（おお龍よ。そんならわたしは許されたのか。）
（誰が許して誰が許されるのであらう。われらがひとしく風でまた雲で水であるといふのに。スールダッタよ。もしわたくしが外に出ることができ、おまへが恐れぬならばわたしはおまへを抱きまた撫したいのであるが、いまはそれができないので、わたしはわたしの小さな贈物をだけしよう。ここに手をのばせ。）龍は一つの小さな赤い珠を吐いた。そのなかで幾億の火を燃した。
（その珠は埋もれた諸經をたづねに海にはいるとき捧げるのである。）
スールダッタはひざまづいてそれを受けて龍に云った。
（おお龍よ、それをどんなにわたしは久しくねがってゐたか、わたしは何と謝していいかを知らぬ。力ある龍よ。なに故窟を出でぬのであるか。）
（スールダッタよ。わたしは千年の昔はじめて風と雲とを得たとき己の力を試みるために人々の不幸を來したために龍王の（數字分空白）から十萬年この窟に封ぜられて陸と水との境を見張らせられたのだ。わたしは日々ここに居て罪を悔い王に謝する。）
（おお龍よ。わたしはわたしの母に侍し、母が首尾よく天に生れたならば、すぐ海に入って大經を探らうと思ふ。おまへはその日までこの窟に待つであらうか。）
（おお、人の千年は龍にはわづかに十日に過ぎぬ。）
（さらばその日まで龍よ珠を藏せ。わたしは來れる日ごとにここに來てそらを見、水を見、雲をながめ、新らしい世界の造營の方針をおまへと語り合はうと思ふ。）
（おお、老いたる龍の何たる悦びであらう。）
（さらばよ。）
（さらば。）
スールダッタは心あかるく岩をふんで去った。
龍のチャーナタは洞の奧の深い水にからだを潛めてしづかに懺悔の偈をとなへはじめた。
（、青空文庫（http://www.aozora.gr.jp/より）
（English)
| The Dragon and The Poet | Written by Kenji Miyazawa Translated by George Wallace |
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| Chanata the dragon lifted himself up out of the water that poured into his cave as high tide approached. The morning sun shone in through the entrance to the cave, lighting up the uneven surface of the rocks on the sea bottom. Many red and white creatures could be seen, clinging to the rocks.
Chanata gazed sleepily into the blue, slightly murky water. Then he looked out through the cave entrance at the glistening sea, and at the bright yellow ball of fire on the horizon, the seat of the sun god. "If I were free, I could row far out over the sea. I could fly up into the blue sky and set the black clouds into motion with my torch-like breath. With a sad look on his face, Chanata turned his gaze once more to the cave's interior. The sun's rays now fell upon his tail in the water, as it lay there reflecting the light, twinkling blue and white. Suddenly the dragon heard the sound of a young man's voice coming from outside the cave. "Most honorable and esteemed Chanata, I have come here today bidden by the morning sun to ask you for your forgiveness." A well-dressed young man, wearing a necklace and with a long sword at his side, was sitting on some moss-covered stones outside the cave. "Why are you asking me for forgiveness?" "Dear dragon, yesterday I took part in a poetry recital competition and everyone overwhelmed me with their praise. Alta, the most famous of all the poets, stepped down from his chair, bowed before me and offered me his seat of honour. He crowned me with awards, singing my praises in a four-verse hymn before retiring into solitude far in the East at the foot of the snowy mountains. I was intoxicated by the beauty of the song I had sung as if I were drunk on wine. I felt numbed by the speeches of praise and the bouquets of flowers that rained down upon me from all sides, engulfing me. 'Young Surdatta stole his song from the old dragon Chanata who is trapped in his cave. Today in the poetry contest Surdatta used this song for his own ends, driving the old poet Alta off into a life of solitude in the East.' Suddenly my legs began to shake. I couldn't go on any further, even though I wanted to. So I sat there on the grass the whole of last night, my head pounding with confusion. As I sat there thinking things over, I remembered that for days I had been coming to sit on the cliff that overhangs this cave, never realizing that you were here. I have often fallen asleep here, weary from my studies and my singing. I must have heard this song on a windy, overcast day whilst I was taking an afternoon nap. Most honorable Chanata, I will tomorrow scatter ashes upon my head, I will sit down in the great square in the town and beg you and all the people for forgiveness. "What kind of hymn was it that the poet Alta sang to praise you, before retiring into solitude in the East?" "I am so confused by everything that has happened to me that I can no longer remember the wonderful verses, but I think they went something like this : "No sooner has the wind sung, the clouds echoed and the waves resounded than you sing their song, Surdatta. You are a prophet who envisions a model of truth and beauty for tomorrow's world after which the stars yearn and the land shapes itself and who eventually makes the world become so. You are an architect, Surdatta." "May the worthy and noble poet Alta find happiness wherever he maybe. Surdatta, that song is yours as well as mine. Did you really believe that you heard that song while you were sitting up there above my cave? Oh, Surdatta! At that time I was the wind and the clouds. And you were the wind and the clouds, too. The poet Alta would probably have sung the same song if he had meditated then. But, Surdatta, Alta's language would have been different from yours, and yours from mine. And the rhythm would have been different, too. So, that song is yours." "Oh, Mr Dragon! Does that mean you've forgiven me?" "Who is supposed to be forgiving whom? We are all, each and every one of us, the wind, the clouds and the water. Surdatta, if I were only able to leave this cave, and if you were not afraid of me, I would so much like to hold you in my arms and comfort you. Here, let me at least give you a little present. Stretch out your hand to me." The dragon held out a small red pearl which glowed with an inner fire of immense power. "You must take this pearl with you when you go to the sea to look for the sunken Holy Sutras." Surdatta kneeled down low to receive the pearl and said to the dragon, "Oh, Mr Dragon, I have wanted this for such a long time! I don't know how to begin to thank you. But why can't such a mighty dragon as yourself leave this rocky cave?" "Surdatta, a long time ago, many thousands of years ago when I was the ruler of the wind and the clouds, I once wanted to test out my strength and in doing so, I brought great misfortune upon mankind. So the Dragon King banished me to this cave for a hundred thousand years, to guard over the border between the land and the sea. Every day that I spend here, I regret my misdeed and beg the King for forgiveness." "Mr Dragon, I still have my mother to look after, but once she is reborn and happy in Heaven, I will then go into the sea and search for the Great Sutras. Will you wait here in the cave until that day comes?" "To a dragon, a thousand human years are no more than ten days." "Please look after this pearl for me until that day comes. I want to come here every day that I can, to look up at the sky, to gaze into the water and to observe the clouds. And as I do so, I want to talk with you about the creation of a new world." "And if you do, you will make this old dragon very happy indeed." "Farewell!" "Farewell to you!" Surdatta walked off over the rocks with a happy heart. Chanata the dragon hid himself deep in the water in the furthest corner of his cave and softly began to recite his prayers of repentance. |
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http://www.kenji-world.net/english/download/works/dragon.html
