翻譯練習：【第112個故事：相思病】

翻譯練習皆同步發表在黑心湖和First time for everything這兩個部落格。

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【第112個故事：相思病】

翻譯：國鳳

從前，有位住在鐮倉的女孩，她深深愛戀著某位男孩，某天，她將自己的煩惱告訴母親。她的母親剛好認識這位男孩的父母，於是立刻安排讓這位男孩偶爾來探望女兒。但男孩卻不理會女孩、甚至幾乎不來探訪。最後這名女孩往生了。傷心欲絕的父母將她的骨灰放進小盒，準備將其送至信濃某個寺廟放置。

不久，男孩也跟著生病了，甚至徹底發狂，大家不得不將他鎖在一個小房間內。某天，他的父母聽見他在自言自語，透過門縫查看，只見兒子與一條大蛇對話。

當男孩往生後，他的屍體被放進棺材內，等著被埋葬在附近的山丘。喪禮當天，大家發現棺木內有一條大蛇，盤繞著男孩的屍體。男孩與大蛇被葬在一起。

在將女兒的骨灰送往信濃前夕，女孩的父母將骨灰的盒子打開，想取出部分骨灰存放在鐮倉某個寺廟。他們卻發現，部分女兒的骨灰已變成多條小蛇，另一部分則逐步變形中。

女孩的父母委託一名寺廟住持替女兒誦經，並將整件事的來龍去脈告訴這名住持。這名住持再將這則故事講給他的僧侶朋友們聽。這是在1270年代、也就是這十年內所發生的事。我知道當事人的名字，但我不願將其記錄下來。

【譯註】

這應該是發生在鐮倉幕府時期（西元1192年—1333年）的故事。

就個人偏見，日本古代文學，基本上都是風花雪月，言情是也。相較於古代中國和歐洲，古代的日本男女對性和愛的態度算是非常開放的，尤其是平安時代（西元年794—1192年），未婚男女在許諾婚約前多方交換情詩信物、男孩們到處走訪香閨過夜、女孩們引頸盼望至抑鬱成疾，是非常普遍的。這在中國人眼中傷風敗俗的文化在日本逐步引進儒家思想後，漸漸轉趨低調，本來平安時代的女人地位是很高的（見源氏物語和枕草子便知），後來演變成男人主朝政、女人主後宮，風花雪月被憂國憂民歌頌君王等詩文取代，都是引進中國文化害的（誤）

在日本文學中，大蛇常是女人們妒忌、復仇、慾望、扭曲而病態的愛慾的化身，日本有名的能劇劇本【道成寺】（Dojo-ji）就是有名的例子（上圖就是道成寺的示意圖）。當愛成癡，由愛生恨，我將化作大蛇，纏繞愛人之軀，將其束縛，將其勒斃，使其焚燒，使其痛苦，共赴黃泉，永不分離（可怕吧！！！！抖～～～）

道成寺的故事比較長，有三頁英文原文，需要花點時間，有機會再翻譯。

另外，因鐮倉時代佛教興盛的緣故，文末的priest我覺得是佛寺的住持的機率比較高，比較不太可能是日本神道的祭司。再加上女孩的父母要將骨灰分放在兩個佛寺，故pray over the remains應是委託出家僧人。

－國鳳　　April 12, 2014

　

The following story is an excerpt from Japanese Tales by Royall Tyler, page 162 (1987, first edition).  I first read the stories when I was in a Japanese film class in 2011, and enjoy them ever since.  I still possess the textbook, and occasionally re-read the stories at leisure.  I will remove the following paragraphs if there’s any copyright issue. Thanks!

#112

Lovesick

Sick with love for a boy, a girl in Kamakura confessed her trouble to her mother.  The mother, who knew the boy’s parents, immediately arranged for him to visit her daughter sometimes, but he all but ignored the girl and hardly even came.  In the end the girl died.  Her grieving parents put her ashes in a box and prepared to send them off to a certain temple in Shinano.

Next, the boy became ill too, and went so thoroughly mad that he had to be shut up in a little room.   Hearing him talk in there, his parents peeked in through a crack.  He was talking to a large snake.

When the boy died, his body was placed in a coffin, for burial on the mountain nearby.  At the funeral a large snake was found coiled around his body, right in the coffin, and the two were buried together.

Before sending their daughter’s ashes to Shinano, the girl’s parents opened the box to take out some which they wanted to deposit in a temple in Kamakura.  They discovered that their daughter’s bones had turned into little snakes, or were in the process of doing so.

They told the whole story to the priest they asked to pray over the remains, and the priest passed it on to his colleagues.  It happened in the 1270s, within the last ten years.  I know the names of the people involved but would rather not record them here.

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