The Seven Stars - The Big Dipper (asterism)

2022年08月20日

レフ・トルストイ(1828-1910)は「戦争と平和」「アンナ・カレーニナ」など巨作を書く一方、子供たちのための多くの読み物を書きました。この物語はアメリカに広く伝わっている民話をトルストイが題材に用いたものです。真の芸術は人生のために有益なものでなくてはならない。つまり耽美的や享楽的なものではなく、世界的に普遍的なものを明瞭・単純・簡素な形式を要する、と彼は語っている。(English) Lev Tolstoy (1828-1910) wrote many readings for children while writing such giants novels as War and Peace and Anna Karenina. This story is Tolstoy's use of a folk tale widely circulated in the USA as a subject. He said, "True art must be beneficial to life." In other words, he said, it is not aesthetic or hedonistic but requires a universal clear, simple, and concise form.

The Seven Stars. - The Big Dipper (asterism)

Once upon a time, the earth was subjected to terrible droughts.

Rivers and wells dried up dry.

Trees and grass withered.

People and animals alike became thirsty and died.

One night, a girl wanted to give her sick mother a drink of water.

She took a tin ladle and left the house.

Then she walked around looking for water.

But no matter how far she went, she could not find water.

Then, tired, she lay down on the grass in the field.

She was exhausted, and she fell asleep.

After a while, she woke up and tried to hold the ladle, but strangely enough, it was full of water.

The girl had a start and immediately tried to drink.

However, she was afraid she would not have enough to give her mother.

So she went straight to the house with the ladle, trying not to spill the water.

However, she was in such a hurry that she didn't notice the dog at her feet and tripped.

She dropped the ladle.

The dog made a plaintive cry.

The girl hurried to pick up the ladle.

She thought the water must have already spilled off the ladle.

But the water was back, fulled in the ladle.

So the girl put some water in the palm of her hand.

And she gave it to the dog to drink.

The dog was pleased, wagging its tail and prancing around.

Then the girl tried to go back to her house soon.

A silver ladle had somehow replaced the tin ladle she held.

The girl arrived home.

Immediately she gave the ladle to her mother.

Then her mother said to her.

"I am dying anyway, so you drink this water."

But at that moment, the silver ladle turned into a golden ladle.

The girl had run so fast that she was very thirsty.

So she is trying to take a sip of water.

Then, suddenly, a traveler came in through the doorway.

'May I have some water, please?' He said.

When she saw the traveller, she swallowed her spit and offered him a ladle.

10)

And at that moment, seven large diamonds appeared on the golden ladle.

And at the same time, cold water poured out of the ladle with great force.

11)

As the daughter and her mother looked on in amazement, the seven diamonds in the golden ladle soared into the sky.

Then they became the seven stars of the northern sky, the Big Dipper in the shape of a ladle.

12)

Please look at the sky at night.

Even now, the stars are shining beautifully.