ＷＥＢ絵本『いなか、の、じけん（模範兵士）』

ページ１

After the revolution, bricks came into fashion.
Then, the village leader sold off a half of the huge heap of red clay.
The huge heap was placed along a river and was about 2 kilometers upstream from the village.
御維新後、煉瓦焼きが流行った際に、村から半道ばかり上の川沿いの赤土山を、村の名主どんが半分ばかり切り取って売ってしまった．

The empty lot turned into a copse.
And, spring water was gushing out from there.
A small community of beggars formed around the spring before the village people knew it.
The village people called the small community "Upstream".
そのあとの雑木林の中から清水が湧くのを中心にして、いつからともなく乞食の部落が出来ているのを、村の者は単に川上川上と呼んでいた．

The small community had only 4 or 5 miserable shanties.
But, mail and money orders were delivered.
部落といっても、見すぼらしい蒲鉾小屋が、４つ５つ固まっているきりであったが、それでも郵便や為替も来るし・・・

And, medicine peddlers dropped in them.
・・・越中富山の薬売りも立ち寄る．

Further, in those days, the village people suddenly began to pay attention to the small community because a soldier in uniform visited there every Sunday.
There were romors that the ruin of noble persons might have lived there.

それに又この頃は、日ごとに軍服厳めしい兵隊さんが帰省して来るというので、急に村の注意をひき出した．

何でも立派な身分の人の成れの果てが隠れているらしいという噂であった．

A postman said that the soldier was called Private Westmoreland.
He was good-looking.
And, he was a mild-mannered young man like an actor.
その兵隊さんというのは、郵便局員の話によると西村さんというので、眼鼻立ちのパッチリした、活動役者のように優しい青年であるが・・・

But, he was a newcomer to the small community.
So, he built a shanty a short distance away from the other shanties.
And, he made a woman live there.
She was sick in bed.
・・・この部落の仲間では新米らしく、すこし離れた処に蒲鉾小屋を作って、その中に床に就いたままの女を１人かくまっている．