原文
"I thought them out in the fir grove one night," he said dreamily. "Of
course I didn't BELIEVE them but I THOUGHT them. YOU know, teacher. And
then I wanted to tell them to somebody and there was nobody but Mary
Joe. Mary Joe was in the pantry setting bread and I sat down on the
bench beside her and I said, 'Mary Joe, do you know what I think? I
think the evening star is a lighthouse on the land where the fairies
dwell.' And Mary Joe said, 'Well, yous are de queer one. Dare ain't no
such ting as fairies.' I was very much provoked. Of course, I knew there
are no fairies; but that needn't prevent my thinking there is. You know,
teacher. But I tried again quite patiently. I said, 'Well then, Mary
Joe, do you know what I think? I think an angel walks over the world
after the sun sets . . . a great, tall, white angel, with silvery folded
wings . . . and sings the flowers and birds to sleep. Children can hear
him if they know how to listen.' Then Mary Joe held up her hands all
over flour and said, 'Well, yous are de queer leetle boy. Yous make
me feel scare.' And she really did looked scared. I went out then and
whispered the rest of my thoughts to the garden. There was a little
birch tree in the garden and it died. Grandma says the salt spray
killed it; but I think the dryad belonging to it was a foolish dryad who
wandered away to see the world and got lost. And the little tree was so
lonely it died of a broken heart."
語彙など
- fir:モミ
- grove:林
- but:〜を除いて
- pantry:食料品室
- lighthouse:灯台
- fairy:妖精
- dwell:住む
- queer:奇妙な
- provoke:立腹させる
- prevent:妨げる
- patiently:辛抱強く
- angel:天使
- silvery:銀のような
- fold:折り畳む
- wing:翼
- flour:小麦粉
- scare:怖い
- whisper:ささやく
- birch tree:樺の木
- spray:噴霧
- dryad:ドリュアス(木の精)
- get lost:道に迷う
- broken heart:絶望