Tuscan wine, lay the Tyrrhenian, inmost sea of the Middle Kingdom. Upon its sleeping surface bobbed a motley flotilla of Folletti; aboard were the Mona- ciello, those rotund and randy Monks of Naples; the Linchetti, horse-teasing sprites from Lucca; snicker- ing Baraboas, the peeping toms of Venice; the gay Farfarelli (so dear to Dante) of Florence; Parma- dina, the fat gangsters from Genoa (stowed away in the hold); even hardy Salvani and Aguane, cliff- dwellers from the wintry Piedmont. All the airless night they drifted, until dawn showed over the Apennine hills. Suddenly, the im- petuous Samascazzo, Wind-Folletti of Sardinia, filled their sails, and away they sped toward the Pillars of Hercules. Now, in the eternal whirlwinds above Persia’s Mountains of Kaf, appeared a caravan of magic- wrought carpets, and upon them rode the banished elder spirits of Araby: monstrous Deevs, desert-born giants; the Peri, bright and beautiful as starlight; and the wish-granting Djinn, formed of smokeless fire, at last free from Man’s lamps and bottles. Exiled by the Law of the Prophet, all these, too, sought and found the sunset land-crimson flowers, crystal fountains, sweet-scented winds-an Earthly Paradise. Then, in their airy wake, out of Nubia and Ethiopia and the jungles beyond the Mountains of
答えた。 『アダムとイブの子孫じゃないよ。
トロウの姿は二度とスコットランドでは見ら
れなくなるんだ』 と・・・・・・」
この一行のにわか造りの船は、 水の精シル
キーとケルピーの水先案内で大海を無事越し
て、 西方の新大陸カナダ東岸へと向かった。
スカンディナビアからは、木の妖精エルフ
オークたちが、 氷と緑のフィヨルドをかきわ
け、ワシが棲むとうわさに高い地をめざして、
恐ろしい顔をした船飾りに航海の安全を見張
らせながら航海をはじめた。
農場に棲んでいた毛深いいたずら妖精ニセ
ン、石の塔に棲みつく巨人のグリムや、 ずん
ぐりしたからだでやぶにらみの小妖怪ウッド・
トロールや、川の精リヴァ=トロールなどが
この船にのりこんでいた。 船首にすわって冷
たい海水のしぶきにまっすぐ顔を向け、 黄色
い髪を風になびかせつつ、青みがかった灰色
の眼で水平線のかなたを見つめているエルフ
がこの冒険者たちのリーダーだった。 神々に
たてついて戦争をしかけたことで有名な巨人
族ヨトウンのなかで、祖国スカンディナビア
24
…”I am not a descendant of Adam and Eve. The Trows shall never more be seen in Scotland…”
This hastily assembled fleet of boats crossed the great ocean safely under the navigation of the water spirits the Silkies and Kelpies, heading west toward the eastern shores of Canada in the New World.
From Scandinavia, the wood fairy Elves set out through ice-green fjords, heading for the land rumored to be home to eagles, keeping watch over their safe passage with terrifying ship-prow figureheads.
Aboard this ship were: the hairy mischievous farm sprite Nissen, the giant Grims from stone towers, the squat squinting Wood Trolls, and the River Trolls. The leader of these adventurers was an Elf — sitting at the prow, face turned straight into the cold sea spray, yellow hair streaming in the wind, blue-grey eyes fixed on the far horizon. Among the giant clan Jotun, famous for making war against the gods, only some of the Kobolds remained behind in their Scandinavian homeland…
24
