champions of both groups was quickly transformed into a month-long party-a “jump-up” on the beach, during which festivities, according to legend, rum was invented. So long as the Native Peoples would live in har- mony with Nature, the “ Shining Ones From Over The Big Sea Water ” (as they were called) were content to live in harmony with them. Robin and the Pixies of Britain gave lessons in archery to the Catawba braves, who passed their skill in bowmanship along to the neighboring Cher- okee and Teton Sioux. Leshy and Vily, from the forests of Muscovy, instructed the Mohicans in woodcraft, teaching them to move silently and in- visibly through the trees-a skill which (learned au- thorities say) the Mohicans possessed to the Last. The fabulous carpet weaving techniques of the Djinn and Peri were admired and then mastered by the people who were their neighbors in the vast and pleasant desert regions of the New World’s South- west. (It was the sort of place to which the Spirits of Araby were naturally attracted). Among the native customs quickly adopted by some of the Fairy newcomers was the smoking of To-Bacco–a vice to which the Leprechauns, es- pecially, were susceptible. How long the Fairy Folk of the Old World dwelt peacefully among the natives of the New, no one knows. There are certainly enough “Indian Myths” to establish the historical veracity of the immigration and cohabitation: stories and poems about “Bright Visitors From a Far Place” abound. Yet when mortal men of Europe, Africa, and the
原住民が自然となかよく共存しているので、
彼らのいう“大海を越えてやってきた輝く人
びと”も、 彼らとなかよく共存することに満
足していた。
イギリス出身のロビンは、近くに住むチェ
ロキー族や独自の弓術をもっているカトーバ
族にアーチェリーの技術を教えた。
ロシアの妖精レシャイとヴィリは、モヒカ
ン族に土木技術や、 森のなかで足音と姿を消
して行動する技術を教えた。 識者によると、
これはモヒカン族が最後まで後世に伝えのこ
した技術だという。
アラビアのジンとペリがもっていた絨毯を
織る驚くべき技術は、 新世界南西部の砂漠の
民が習得した。 アラブの妖精たちがこの土地
に住みついたのは、 彼らの故郷の風土によく
似ていたからだ。
いっぽう、 原住民から妖精たちがとりいれ
た習慣に、 喫煙があった。 小人の妖精レプラ
コーンが、 最初にこの悪癖に染まってしまっ
た。
40
旧世界の妖精たちが新世界の原住民たちと
どのくらいの年月、 平和な生活を送ったかは
だれにもわからない。 だが、 現在まで語り伝
えられている”インディアンの神話” は、 妖
精たちの移住と彼らとの共存が歴史的に真実
であったことを証明している。 遠い国より
の輝ける訪問者” についての伝説と詩はたく
さん残されているのだから。
ところが、ヨーロッパやアフリカや東洋の
人間たちが北アメリカにやってきたときには、
13の国々から移り住んだ妖精たちの痕跡はま
ったくなくなっていた。 彼らとその財宝が、
あとかたもなく消え失せていたのだ!
どこに消えてしまったのか?
いつ?
なぜ?
“輝く人びと” がこの地上から姿を消したこ
とを伝えるアメリカ原住民の伝説は、 たった
ひとつしかのこされていない。
カナダのバンクーバー島に住むヌトカ族に
伝わる伝説がそれだ。
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Since the native peoples lived in harmony with nature, the “shining people who came from across the great sea” were also content to coexist with them in harmony.
Robin from England taught archery to the nearby Cherokee and the Catawba, who had their own distinct bowmanship tradition.
The Russian fairies Leshy and Vily taught the Mohicans woodcraft — the skill of moving through forests without sound or trace. According to scholars, this was the very last skill the Mohicans preserved and passed down to posterity.
The astonishing carpet-weaving techniques possessed by the Arabian Djinn and Peri were mastered by the desert peoples of the New World’s southwest. The Arabian fairies settled in this land because it closely resembled the climate of their homeland.
Meanwhile, one custom the fairies adopted from the native peoples was smoking. The leprechaun was the first to fall into this bad habit.
How many years the Fair People of the Old World lived peacefully with the native peoples of the New World — nobody knows. But the “Indian myths” passed down to the present day prove historically that the fairies’ immigration and coexistence with the natives was true. For many legends and poems about “shining visitors from a distant land” survive to this day.
However, when humans from Europe, Africa, and the East came to North America, all trace of the fairies who had migrated from thirteen nations had completely vanished. They and their treasures had disappeared without a trace.
Where had they gone?
When?
Why?
Only a single Native American legend survives describing the disappearance of the “shining people” from this earth.
It is the legend passed down among the Nootka people of Vancouver Island, Canada.
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