ＷＥＢ絵本『カマド神の起り』

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Bad things happened continuously around that time in the main family, where the husband had kicked out the wife.
So, the family business of the husband went downhill gradually.
He lost his ancestral farm and became very poor.
In the end, he became a basket seller.
そのちょうど同じ頃から、女房を追いだした本家の方では損をするような事ばかり続いて、次第に身上が左前になり、仕舞いには親代々の田畑まで無くして、零落してザル売りになってしまいました．

The basket seller peddled here and there.
そのザル売りが、そちこちを売り歩いているうちに・・・

One day, he happened to visit the great solitary house in the mountain.
And he got all of his baskets bought.
After that day, he came to the solitary house in the mountain almost everyday because he could sell nothing anywhere else.
And he begged purchase of his baskets.
 ．．．ある時ヒョッコリ山の中の立派な一軒家にやって来て、持っていたザルを残らず買ってもらいました．
それから後も他へ行っては少しも売れないので、毎日のように、この山中の一軒家に来て頼んでザルを買ってもらうことにしていましたが・・・

One other day, the housewife gazed at the face of the basket seller and said "Why did you fall into poverty like this? Have you forgotten your divorced wife?"
Then he noticed that she was surely his wife, who he kicked out with the red ox at the previous year.
He was terribly shocked at this fact.
And he suddenly died frothing at the mouth.
・・・ある日、その家のおかみさんが、つくづくとザル売りの顔を見ていて、どうしてお前さんはそのように落ちぶれたか、元の女房も見忘れてしまったかと言うので、初めて気が付いて見ると、なるほど前の年、赤牛に乗せて追い出してしまった自分の妻であったので、ビックリ仰天して泡を吹いて死んでしまったそうであります．

The housewife looked at his death and felt pity for him.
And so, she calmly buried his body in the dirt floor behind the kitchen stove without being noticed by anyone.
女房はそれを見て可哀想に思いました．そうして誰も知らぬうちに、ソットその死骸をかまどの後ろの土間に埋めて・・・

And she cooked rice pudding with red-bean paste and offered it to his spirit.
・・・自身で牡丹餅をこしらえて供えました．

At that day, the houseworkers (maidservants, manservants, etc) came back.
Then she said "Today, I made the holy table for the Kitchen-Stove Deity behind the kitchen stove. And I cooked the rice pudding with red-bean paste for its celebration. Please help yourselves to the pudding."
People say that they cook rice pudding with red-bean past in order to worship the Kitchen-Stove Deity at farmhouses from then onward.
(Kazusa province Choseigun county)
その日、外に出ていた家の人たち下女下男などが帰って来ますと、今日はカマドの後ろに荒神様を祀って、その御祝いに牡丹餅をこしらえたから、幾らでも食べるようにと言いました．
それが始まりで今でも百姓の家では牡丹餅をこしらえて竈の神の御祭をするのだそうであります．
（上総長生郡）

――　奥付　――
昔話絵本『カマド神の起り』
絵・訳：茜町春彦
原作：柳田国男

A Picture Book : "The Origin of the Kitchen-Stove Deity"
Illustrated and translated by : Akanemachi Haruhiko
Original author : Yanagida Kunio

参考文献：
日本の昔話（2005年10月25日36刷　柳田国男著　新潮文庫）