servants, the Klabautermannikins, made ready their broad-bottomed boats, and away they sailed, to settle peaceably, at length, among rolling hills by a wide river richly lined with cliffs and trees. Clear, running creeks they found there, and wildcats in abundance, wherefore they named their new home “Kaaterskill” (Wildcat Creek). From Eire (that most distressful country), the con- quered and humbled native gentry, the Sidhe, set forth to follow in Brandan’s path, accompanied on board by such of their lower-class countrymen as the shoe-making Leprechauns and the endlessly joking, drunk, and disorderly Fir Darrigs. Observed a mortal Irish observer:* ”The fairies … are retiring one by one from the habitations of man, to the distant islands where the wild waves of the Atlantic raise their foaming crests …” Lost to the Scottish Highlands then an’ evermair was the Seelie Court: the Fair Folk known as Trows, Fachans, Brownies, an’ People o’ Peace. As the tale is told, “Only two children marked their passing, as the wee creatures rode their shaggy ponies down to the sea. The mortal lad called out to the last rider, ‘What are ye, little mannie? And where are ye go- ing?’ ‘Not of the race of Adam,’ said the creature, turning for a moment in his saddle: ‘the People o’ Peace shall never more be seen in Scotland.’ “** Their rough-hewn barks were piloted West by *Sir William Wilde **Hugh Miller of Edinburgh
楽園のうわさを耳にすると、すぐに船にのり
こんだ。
当時、 栄華を誇ったオランダ商業帝国も活
落期にあった。 召使いで水夫のクラボテール
マニキンたちが平和な暮しを夢みて、 底の広
い船を用意して航海に出、崖や木々の豊かな
広い河のそばにある起伏の多い丘に到着した。
そこには、澄んだ小川が流れていて、 たくさ
んの山猫がいた。 クラボテールマニキンたち
はこの地をカータズキル” (山猫の小川)
と名づけた。
•
もっと悲惨な状態にあったアイルランドか
らは人間に征服され辱しめをうけた貴族のシ
ーが、靴職人の小妖精レプラコーンや、のべ
つまくなしに冗談をいう酔っぱらいで騒々し
いばかりの小人ファー ディヤルグといった
身分の低い妖精たちを連れて、 あざらしの皮
でできたカヌーにウィスキーをいっぱいつめ
こんで新大陸をめざして進んだ。 赤いトンガ
「帽子や長いマントをきた妖精たちの姿は、
それ以来、 アイルランドで見かけられなくな
ってしまったわけだ。
アイルランドの妖精研究家ウィリアム・ワ
22
…upon hearing rumors of paradise, they immediately boarded ships.
The once-flourishing Dutch commercial empire was also in decline. The servant-sailors the Klabautermanikins, dreaming of a peaceful life, prepared their broad-bottomed boats and set sail, arriving at rolling hills beside a wide river rich with cliffs and trees. There they found clear running streams and many wildcats. The Klabautermanikins named this place “Kaaterskill” — the wildcat’s stream.
From Ireland, in an even more wretched state — the aristocratic Sidhe, conquered and humiliated by humans, set out for the New World together with the lowly sprites: the shoemaking Leprechauns, and the endlessly joking, drunk and boisterous little Fir Darrigs — their sealskin canoes packed full of whiskey. The sprites in their red pointed hats and long cloaks have not been seen in Ireland since.
Irish fairy researcher William Wa…
22
