第一回目 Zora Neale Hurston ”Magnolia Flower”に心躍らせる
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この小説は著者が1960年に亡くなられ2010年には日本における著作権が消滅しているはずです（参照：https://www.jbpa.or.jp/copyright.html）。
2016年に読書した時の私のStudy Noteを公開します。和訳本「マグノリアの花、珠玉短編集」が彩流社より出版されています。比べて読まれると楽しいかもしれません。a）原文にある口語表現を英語勉強中の日本人（すなわち私本人）に分りやすく説明しています。b) 英英辞書を抜き書きして自分の単語帳を作っています。c) OALD (7th Edition) を中心に、それ以外の辞書は当該部分に簡略形で示しています。ここに(I), (II), (III),・・として分割して示した原文は次に示すサイトから転記しました。 https://my.vanderbilt.edu/zora/files/2015/04/Z_N_Hurston_Magnolia_Flower.pdf
Magnolia Flower by Zora Neale Hurston
*** ORIGINAL TEXT (I) ***
Magnolia Flower
The brook laughed and sang. When it encountered hard places in its bed, it hurled its water in sparkling dance figures up into the moon light.
It sang loud, louder; danced faster, faster, with a coquettish splash! at the vegetation at its banks.
At last it danced boisterously into the bosom of the St. John’s, upsetting the whispering hyacinths who shivered and blushed, drunk with the delight of moon kisses.
The Mighty One turned peevishly in his bed and washed the feet of the Palmetto palms so violently that they awoke and began again the gossip they had left off when the Wind went to bed. A palm cannot speak without wind. The river had startled it also, for the winds sleep at the bosoms of the waters.
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単語帳＋部分訳 （上記 ORIGINAL TEXT (I) 部分に対応）
? encounter:
1. to experience something, especially something unpleasant or difficult, while you are trying to do something else (= meet with, run into)
? coquettish: < coquette:
[noun] (literary, often disapproving) 1. a woman who behaves in a way that is intended to attract men (= flirt)
? splash:
1. [c] the sound of something hitting liquid or of liquid hitting something: >>We heard the splash when she fell into the pool.
（和訳）The brook laughed and sang. When it encountered hard places in its bed, it hurled its water in sparkling dance figures up into the moonlight.
ここの小川は笑い声をあげたし歌もうたった。川底に硬い部分が露出した場所では、小川は流れる水を弾き上げるので水は月明かりの空中に舞い上がりダンスする生き物の姿に変身した。
（和訳）It sang loud, louder; danced faster, faster, with a coquettish splash! at the vegetation at its banks.
（川底に硬いものがある場所では）小川は大きな声で、ますます大きな声で歌った。水しぶきが土手の草木にぶつかり魅惑するような音を奏で、その音に合わせて、ダンスの動きはますます速くなった。
? dance into:
< dance: 3. [intrans. v] to move in a lively way: >>The children danced around her. >>The sun shone on the sea and the waves danced and sparkled. >>The words danced before her tired eyes.
? boisterously: < boisterous:
(of people, animals or behaviour) noisy and full of life and energy
? shiver:
shiver (with something) (of a person) to shake slightly because you are cold, frightened, excited, etc.
（和訳）At last it danced boisterously into the bosom of the St. John’s, upsetting the whispering hyacinths who shivered and blushed, drunk with the delight of moon kisses.
仕舞いには、小川の水は勢いよく（母のような）セント・ジョンズ川の胸の中に踊るように流れ込んだ。ヒヤシンスの花々は、お月様のキッスの心地よさに酔っ払いうっとり痺れて頬を染めささやいていたのに、雰囲気を壊され迷惑顔をした。
? peevish:
easily annoyed by unimportant things; bad-tempered (= irritable)
? water:
5. waters [plural] the water in a particular lake, river, sea or ocean: >>the grey waters of the River Clyde: *This species is found in coastal waters around the Indian Ocean.
（和訳）The Mighty One turned peevishly in his bed and washed the feet of the Palmetto palms so violently that they awoke and began again the gossip they had left off when the Wind went to bed. A palm cannot speak without wind. The river had startled it also, for the winds sleep at the bosoms of the waters. このでかいやつ（the St. John’s川のこと）は自分の寝床で落ち着きなく寝返りを打ちパルメット・ヤシ（ヤシの一種）の木々の足元を洗ったもので木たちは目を覚ましゴシップ話を始めた。ついいましがたあの「風のやつ」が寝床に行ってしまったので歌うのをやめたばっかりなのに。どのヤシの木も風無しでは歌いはしない。この川が（川自身を流れる）水の胸に潜って眠り込んでいる「風のやつ」をも（ヤシの木もろとも）揺り起こしたのだった。
*** ORIGINAL TEXT (II) ***
The palms murmured noisily of seasons and centuries, mating at birth and the transplanting of life. Nature knows nothing of death.
The river spoke to the brook:
“Why, O Yong Water, do you hurry and hurl yourself so riotously about with your chatter and song? You disturb my sleep.”
“Because, O Venerable One,” replied the brook, “I am young. The flowers bloom, the trees and wind say beautiful things to me: there are lovers beneath the orange trees on my banks, - but most of all because the moon shines upon me with a full face.”
“That is not sufficient reason for you to disturb my sleep,” the river retorted. “I have cut down mountains and moved whole valleys into the sea, and I am not so noisy as you are.”
The river slapped its banks angrily.
“But,” added the brook diffidently, “I passed numbers of lovers as I came on. There was also a sweet-voiced night-bird.”
“No matter, no matter,” scolded the river. “I have seen millions of lovers, child. I have borne them up and down, listened to those things that are uttered more with the breath than with the lips, gathered infinite tears, and some lovers have even flung themselves upon the soft couch I keep in my bosom, and slept.”
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