ＷＥＢ絵本「ルルとミミ（夢野久作）」

第７回配信

湖の御殿の真珠の屋根は、月と星の光りを受けて見る見る輝き始めました．
The pearly roof of the Palace of the lake began to shine rapidly reflecting the lights of the moon and the stars.

瑠璃の床、青玉の壁、翡翠の窓、そんなものが皆それぞれの色に、いろめき始めました．
The floors of lapis lazuli, the walls of sapphire, the windows of jade and the like began to glow with their respective colors.

湖の女王の沢山の家来・・・
赤や青や、紫や、黄金色の魚たちは、皆ビックリした眼をキョロキョロさして、われもわれもと列を組んで御殿の周りに集まって来ました． その有様はまるで虹が泳いで来るようでした．
A lot of servants of the Queen of the lake......
Red, blue, violet and gold fishes came rolling their eyes surprisedly.
They gathered around the Palace in files.
It looked as if a rainbow came swiming.

湖の女王様は手を上げてその魚どもを呼び集められまして、これからルルとミミに出来るだけ立派な御馳走をするのだから、その支度をせよと言い付けられました．
The Queen of the lake raised her hand and called those fishes.
And she ordered them to prepare the best possible dishes for Ruroo and Memie.

湖の御殿の噴水を立派に直したルルは、もう歩く事が出来ないほど疲れておりました．
けれども・・・この噴水がもう二度と再び壊れないようになった・・・この湖の中に在る数限りない者の生命は助かった・・・そうしてこれからのち何万年経っても、この水は濁らない・・・村に悪い事も起こらないのだ・・・と思うと、ルルは嬉しくて堪りませんでした．
その嬉しさに疲れた体をおどらせながら女王様の前に帰って来ました．
その時にルルは、今迄にない美しい御殿の様子に気が付きました．
御殿の大広間は夜光虫の薄紫の光りで夢のように照らされておりました．
広い広い部屋いっぱいに飾られた水草の白い花は、ほのかな匂いを一面に漂わせておりました．
その中に群れ集まる何万とも何億とも知れぬ魚の数々．その奥の奥に見える紫水晶の階段．
その上に立っていられる女王様のお姿．そうして今、一人の美しい女の子の姿・・・ミミ・・・
Ruroo excellently repaired the fountain of the Palace of the lake.
He was so tired that he could hardly walk.

However, Ruroo thought:
The fountain will never break;
The life of the countless creatures in this lake has been saved;
The water won't turn muddy even if tens of thousands of years passed;
Bad things won't happen at the village.

Then, he couldn't help feeling happy.
The happiness made his weary body excited. And he came back before the Queen.
Then, Ruroo noticed that the Palace was more beautiful than ever.
The spacious hall of the Palace was illuminated by the pale purplish lights of the dreamlike noctilucas.
The spacious room was decorated with a lot of white flowers of water plants, which gave forth their perfume all around.
There was a gathering of hundreds of thousands of fishes.
There was a flight of steps of Amethyst in sight far away.
There were the figure of the Queen on the top of steps and the figure of a pretty girl...... Memie......

ルルは思わず段の上に駆け上がってミミを抱きました．ミミもしっかりとルルの首にしがみ付きました．
Ruroo ran up the steps unconsciously and hugged Memie.
She tightly clung to Ruroo's neck.

今まで虹のようにジッと並んでいた数限りない魚の群れは、この時ゆらゆらと動きだしました．
Until now, the countless fishes kept still in lines like a rainbow. But they began to move gently.

青、赤、紫、緑、黄色、銀色、銅色、黄金色と、とりどりの様々の色をした魚が、同じ色同志に列を作って、縞のようになったり、渦のようになったりしました．
The fishes in various colors such as blue, red, violet, green, yellow, silver, copper and gold lined up accoding to their respective colors.
And they made stripes or vortexes.

または花の形を作ったり、鳥の形を作って見せたり、果ては皆一時に入り乱れて、一つひとつに輝きひるがえる美しさ．
Moreover, they made shapes of flowers or birds.
Furthermore, they all mixed in confusion at the same time.
And each and every one shone and waved beautifully.
（つづく）