📖 Night on the Galactic Railroad (銀河鉄道の夜)
二 活版所
Chapter Two: The Printing Works
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| Night on the Galactic Railroad | 銀河鉄道の夜 | English–Japanese Bilingual | Chapters 2 & 3 |
ジョバンニが学校の門を出るとき、同じ組の七、八人は家へ帰らずカムパネルラをまん中にして校庭の隅の桜の木のところに集まっていました。それはこんやの星祭りに青いあかりをこしらえて川へ流す烏瓜を取りに行く相談らしかったのです。
As Giovanni went out through the school gate, seven or eight of his classmates were still lingering, gathered with Campanella at their center by the cherry tree in the corner of the schoolyard, instead of heading home. It seemed they were planning to go and gather balloon vine gourds, to hollow out and rig with blue lights and set floating down the river for tonight's star festival.
けれどもジョバンニは手を大きく振ってどしどし学校の門を出て来ました。すると町の家々ではこんやの銀河の祭りにいちいの葉の玉をつるしたり、ひのきの枝にあかりをつけたり、いろいろしたくをしているのでした。
But Giovanni swung his arms and strode straight out through the gate. All through town the houses were busy getting ready for that night's Milky Way festival, hanging up balls woven from yew leaves, fixing lights to cypress branches, each in its own way.
家へは帰らずジョバンニが町を三つ曲がってある大きな活版所にはいって靴をぬいで上がりますと、突き当たりの大きな扉をあけました。中にはまだ昼なのに電燈がついて、たくさんの輪転機がばたりばたりとまわり、きれで頭をしばったりラムプシェードをかけたりした人たちが、何か歌うように読んだり数えたりしながらたくさん働いておりました。
Without going home, Giovanni turned three corners through the town and entered a large printing works, took off his shoes at the entrance, and opened the big door straight ahead. Inside, though it was still daytime, the electric lights were already on, rotary presses clattered round and round, and a great many people, some with cloths tied around their heads, some wearing lampshades, worked away reading or counting in a kind of sing-song murmur.
ジョバンニはすぐ入口から三番目の高い卓子にすわった人の所へ行っておじぎをしました。その人はしばらく棚をさがしてから、
Giovanni went straight to the man seated at the third tall desk from the entrance and bowed. The man searched the shelves for a while, then said,
「これだけ拾って行けるかね」と言いながら、一枚の紙切れを渡しました。ジョバンニはその人の卓子の足もとから一つの小さな平たい函をとりだして向こうの電燈のたくさんついた、たてかけてある壁の隅の所へしゃがみ込むと、小さなピンセットでまるで粟粒ぐらいの活字を次から次へと拾いはじめました。青い胸あてをした人がジョバンニのうしろを通りながら、
"Can you pick out this much?" and handed him a slip of paper. Giovanni took a small flat box from beneath the man's desk, crouched down in a corner by the wall over on the far side where many electric lights were lit, and began picking out with small tweezers, one after another, the metal type, each piece no bigger than a millet seed. A man wearing a blue apron passed behind him and said,
「よう、虫めがね君、お早う」と言いますと、近くの四、五人の人たちが声もたてずこっちも向かずに冷たくわらいました。
"Well, if it isn't magnifying glass, morning to you," and four or five people nearby gave a cold little laugh, without a sound, without even turning to look.
ジョバンニは何べんも眼をぬぐいながら活字をだんだんひろいました。
Giovanni wiped his eyes again and again as he went on steadily picking out the type.
六時がうってしばらくたったころ、ジョバンニは拾った活字をいっぱいに入れた平たい箱をもういちど手にもった紙きれと引き合わせてから、さっきの卓子の人へ持って来ました。その人は黙ってそれを受け取ってかすかにうなずきました。
Some while after six o'clock struck, Giovanni checked the flat box, now full of the type he had picked, once more against the slip of paper in his hand, and brought it to the man at the desk. The man took it without a word and gave a faint nod.
ジョバンニはおじぎをすると扉をあけて計算台のところに来ました。すると白服を着た人がやっぱりだまって小さな銀貨を一つジョバンニに渡しました。ジョバンニはにわかに顔いろがよくなって威勢よくおじぎをすると、台の下に置いた鞄をもっておもてへ飛びだしました。それから元気よく口笛を吹きながらパン屋へ寄ってパンの塊を一つと角砂糖を一袋買いますといちもくさんに走りだしました。
Giovanni bowed, opened the door, and came to the cashier's counter. There too, a man in white silently handed him one small silver coin. Giovanni's face brightened at once, and after a brisk bow he snatched up the bag he had left under the counter and dashed outside. Then, whistling cheerfully, he stopped at a bakery, bought a loaf of bread and a bag of sugar cubes, and took off running as fast as he could go.
Vocabulary
活版所（かっぱんじょ）— printing works, typesetting shop
輪転機（りんてんき）— rotary printing press
活字（かつじ）— movable type, printer's type
ピンセット — tweezers
虫めがね（むしめがね）— magnifying glass (used here as a mocking nickname for Giovanni)
銀貨（ぎんか）— silver coin
角砂糖（かくざとう）— sugar cube
Grammar notes
〜ながら: "while doing ~", seen in 何べんも眼をぬぐいながら (wiping his eyes again and again) — attaches to a verb stem to show two actions happening at once.
〜てから: "after doing ~", as in 引き合わせてから (after checking it against) — marks one action completed before the next begins.
Causative-passive undertones: the workers' mocking is conveyed only through their cold laughter and the nickname 虫めがね君, without the narrator explaining Giovanni's feelings directly, letting the reader infer his humiliation.
Key kanji
拾（ひろ）う — to pick up, to pick out (type)
卓（たく）— desk, table (as in 卓
子)
扉（とびら）— door
鞄（かばん）— bag, satchel
三 家
Chapter Three: Home
ジョバンニが勢いよく帰って来たのは、ある裏町の小さな家でした。その三つならんだ入口のいちばん左側には空箱に紫いろのケールやアスパラガスが植えてあって小さな二つの窓には日覆いがおりたままになっていました。
The place Giovanni came running home to was a small house on a back street. It was the leftmost of three houses standing in a row, with purple kale and asparagus growing in old crates by the door, and its two small windows still had their sunshades pulled down.
「お母さん、いま帰ったよ。ぐあい悪くなかったの」ジョバンニは靴をぬぎながら言いました。
"Mother, I'm home. Were you feeling all right today?" Giovanni called out as he took off his shoes.
「ああ、ジョバンニ、お仕事がひどかったろう。今日は涼しくてね。わたしはずうっとぐあいがいいよ」
"Oh, Giovanni. Work must have been hard on you. It was cool today, so I've been feeling much better."
ジョバンニは玄関を上がって行きますとジョバンニのお母さんがすぐ入口の室に白い巾をかぶって寝んでいたのでした。ジョバンニは窓をあけました。
When Giovanni stepped up into the house, his mother was lying in the room just off the entrance, a white cloth over her. Giovanni opened the window.
「お母さん、今日は角砂糖を買ってきたよ。牛乳に入れてあげようと思って」
"Mother, I bought sugar cubes today. I thought I'd put some in your milk."
「ああ、お前さきにおあがり。あたしはまだほしくないんだから」
"Oh, you have some first. I don't want any just yet."
「お母さん。姉さんはいつ帰ったの」
"Mother, when did Sister get back?"
「ああ、三時ころ帰ったよ。みんなそこらをしてくれてね」
"Around three o'clock. She tidied up everything for me."
「お母さんの牛乳は来ていないんだろうか」
"Hasn't your milk come yet?"
「来なかったろうかねえ」
"I don't think it has, no."
「ぼく行ってとって来よう」
"I'll go and get it."
「ああ、あたしはゆっくりでいいんだからお前さきにおあがり、姉さんがね、トマトで何かこしらえてそこへ置いて行ったよ」
"Oh, there's no hurry for me, you eat first. Your sister made something with tomatoes and left it there for you."
「ではぼくたべよう」
"Then I'll eat."
ジョバンニは窓のところからトマトの皿をとってパンといっしょにしばらくむしゃむしゃたべました。
Giovanni took the plate of tomatoes from the windowsill and munched away at it along with his bread for a while.
「ねえお母さん。ぼくお父さんはきっとまもなく帰ってくると思うよ」
"You know, Mother, I really do think Father will be back soon."
「ああ、あたしもそう思う。けれどもおまえはどうしてそう思うの」
"Yes, I think so too. But what makes you say that?"
「だって今朝の新聞に今年は北の方の漁はたいへんよかったと書いてあったよ」
"Well, this morning's paper said the fishing up north was very good this year."
「ああだけどねえ、お父さんは漁へ出ていないかもしれない」
"Yes, but your father might not even be out fishing."
「きっと出ているよ。お父さんが監獄へはいるようなそんな悪いことをしたはずがないんだ。この前お父さんが持ってきて学校へ寄贈した巨きな蟹の甲らだのとなかいの角だの今だってみんな標本室にあるんだ。六年生なんか授業のとき先生がかわるがわる教室へ持って行くよ」
"He must be. There's no way Father could have done anything bad enough to end up in prison. That huge crab shell he brought back and gave to the school, and the reindeer antlers too, they're still in the specimen room right now. The teacher even takes them round to the sixth-grade classrooms for lessons."
「お父さんはこの次はおまえにラッコの上着をもってくるといったねえ」
"Your father did say he'd bring you back an otter-fur coat next time."
「みんながぼくにあうとそれを言うよ。ひやかすように言うんだ」
"Everyone says that to me whenever they see me. They say it to tease me."
「おまえに悪口を言うの」
"Do they say unkind things to you?"
「うん、けれどもカムパネルラなんか決して言わない。カムパネルラはみんながそんなことを言うときはきのどくそうにしているよ」
"Yes. But Campanella never says anything like that. Whenever the others say things like that, Campanella looks like he feels sorry for me."
「カムパネルラのお父さんとうちのお父さんとは、ちょうどおまえたちのように小さいときからのお友達だったそうだよ」
"I hear Campanella's father and your father were friends from the time they were small, just like you two."
「ああだからお父さんはぼくをつれてカムパネルラのうちへもつれて行ったよ。あのころはよかったなあ。ぼくは学校から帰る途中たびたびカムパネルラのうちに寄った。カムパネルラのうちにはアルコールランプで走る汽車があったんだ。レールを七つ組み合わせるとまるくなってそれに電柱や信号標もついていて信号標のあかりは汽車が通るときだけ青くなるようになっていたんだ。いつかアルコールがなくなったとき石油をつかったら、缶がすっかりすすけたよ」
"Yes, that's why Father used to take me along to Campanella's house. Those were good times. I'd often stop by Campanella's house on the way home from school. He had a little train that ran on an alcohol lamp. You put seven rails together and they made a circle, and it even had telegraph poles and a signal, and the signal light only turned blue when the train went past. Once, when the alcohol ran out, we used kerosene instead, and the whole tank got completely covered in soot."
「そうかねえ」
"Is that so."
「いまも毎朝新聞をまわしに行くよ。けれどもいつでも家じゅうまだしいんとしているからな」
"I still deliver the paper to his house every morning. But the whole house is always still so quiet."
「早いからねえ」
"Well, it is early."
「ザウエルという犬がいるよ。しっぽがまるで箒のようだ。ぼくが行くと鼻を鳴らしてついてくるよ。ずうっと町の角までついてくる。もっとついてくることもあるよ。今夜はみんなで烏瓜のあかりを川へながしに行くんだって。きっと犬もついて行くよ」
"They have a dog called Sauer. His tail is just like a broom. Whenever I go by, he snuffles and follows me, all the way to the corner of the street. Sometimes farther than that. Tonight everyone's going down to float the gourd lanterns on the river. I'm sure the dog will go along too."
「そうだ。今晩は銀河のお祭りだねえ」
"That's right. Tonight is the festival of the Milky Way."
「うん。ぼく牛乳をとりながら見てくるよ」
"Yes. I'll go and see it while I get the milk."
「ああ行っておいで。川へははいらないでね」
"All right, off you go. Just don't go into the river."
「ああぼく岸から見るだけなんだ。一時間で行ってくるよ」
"I'll only watch from the bank. I'll be back within the hour."
「もっと遊んでおいで。カムパネルラさんといっしょなら心配はないから」
"Stay out and play a little longer if you like. If you're with Campanella I won't worry."
「ああきっといっしょだよ。お母さん、窓をしめておこうか」
"Yes, I'm sure I'll be with him. Mother, shall I close the window?"
「ああ、どうか。もう涼しいからね」
"Yes, please do. It's turned cool now."
ジョバンニは立って窓をしめ、お皿やパンの袋をかたづけると勢いよく靴をはいて、
Giovanni stood, closed the window, cleared away the plate and the bread bag, and pulled on his shoes briskly.
「では一時間半で帰ってくるよ」と言いながら暗い戸口を出ました。
"I'll be back in an hour and a half, then," he said, and went out through the dark doorway.
Vocabulary
巾（きん）— cloth, here a light coverlet
蟹の甲ら（かにのこうら）— crab shell
となかいの角（つの）— reindeer antlers
標本室（ひょうほんしつ）— specimen room
ラッコ — sea otter
ひやかす — to tease, to mock playfully
箒（ほうき）— broom
烏瓜（からすうり）— snake gourd (its hollowed-out fruit is used as a lantern in the festival)
Grammar notes
Dialogue-only chapter: nearly the entire scene unfolds in spoken exchange, a technique that lets Giovanni's home life, his mother's illness, and his father's absence emerge naturally without direct narration.
〜はずがない: "there's no way that ~", used in お父さんが監獄へはいるようなそんな悪いことをしたはずがないんだ to express Giovanni's firm conviction that his father is innocent.
〜そうだ (hearsay): カムパネルラのお父さんと…お友達だったそうだよ uses this pattern to mark information the mother has heard rather than witnessed herself.
Key kanji
漁（りょう）—
fishing
監獄（かんごく）— prison
寄贈（きぞう）— donation, presenting as a gift
途中（とちゅう）— on the way, midway
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