The Secret · American Version Page 23
Page 23 of the American edition of The Secret
Plate · page 23, American edition Zoom Full-size scan

THE SECRET

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

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Page 23 of the American edition of The Secret
American edition page 23
Page 23 as printed in the Japanese edition
日本語版 · Japanese edition

日本語版の本文

The Japanese text with an English back-translation.

Japanese text

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。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。

English back-translation

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. 40-41

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