back the horse. The following night, I took it away again. This went on for some time, with the horse being stolen every night. Finally, I got a good idea. I stole the horse in the afternoon, and got an early start on the trail, so those four Indians were never able to catch up with me. I rode for many days until at last I came here, to the land of the Nootka. No one here had ever seen a horse, either. They must have thought, seeing me on its back, that I was one of those half-horse men among the Shining Ones, so they let me stay. Here I am.’ That was my grandfather’s story.” Like many fabulous, fantastic tales told by Native Americans, this Nootka legend appears to contain some historical truth. The part about the horses, for instance, sounds factual enough … Thus, the tale may explain the mysterious dis- appearance of the Fair People from this continent. Threatened once again by the coming of Man (with his doubts about Beauty and his faith in Ugliness), the “Shining Ones” fled-into the sea, the hills, the wind, into the wilderness, underground, into diaspora. Imagine the Leprechauns of Erin (whose earliest roots in the New World were doubtless in Massachu- setts) as from their hiding places they watched the Mayflower drop anchor and saw upon its deck a grim-faced throng of Celt-murdering Puritans. . . . . Consider a group of those frugal Lowland Dwarves, the Alven, hovering, invisible, and observing in eco- nomic agony while their old friends the Canarsie tribe traded Manhattan Island for a handful of trinkets! *What remained of the shattered Huron nation seems to have later followed the path of these “Shining Ones,” wandering through Michigan, Ohio, and Wisconsin. A small band survives in Oklahoma. where they call themselves “Wyandot”
とのなかの半馬神とまちがえたらしい。
こうしたわけで、わしはヌトカ族と生活を
ともにすることになったのさ。
アメリカ原住民によって語りつがれた数多
くの伝説同様、このヌトカ族につたわる物語
にもいくつかの歴史的事実がふくまれている
ように思われる。 たとえば、 馬の話などがそ
うだ。
あか
アメリカ大陸から妖精たちが姿を消してし
まった不思議も、この物語りがよく説明して
いるのかもしれない。 美を解さず、 醜いもの
を崇める人間の出現によって二度も脅かされ
た輝く人びと” は、 海や山、 風や荒野、 さ
らには地中にまで逃げこみ、 離散してしまっ
たのだ。
アイルランド出身の小妖精レプラコーンが
身を隠した浜辺から、 メイフラワー号投錯の
ようすと、 甲板にあいさつにいった仲間を新
参の人間が残酷な顔つきで殺すのを見ていた
としたら……。
52
あのつつましいスコットランド出身の小人
ブラウニーたちが姿を消したまま空を舞い、
旧友のカナーシィ族がつまらぬ品物と引き換
えにマンハッタン島を手放すのを、心配そう
に見おろしていたとしたらどうだろうか?
数世紀のあいだ、 新発見のフロリダ砂浜で
のんびりと遊び、 いねむりをしていたリビエ
ラ出身のドラクは、おそらく、 征服者たちが
大地をゆるがせる勢いで上陸するのを見て仰
天し、 若さを保つ魔法をとく暇もなく、 あわ
てて逃げだしてしまったのだろう。
おおぜいの妖精たちが、 クモの子を散らし
たように広大な未開のアメリカ大陸を逃げま
どい、冷酷な狩猟犬に追われるキツネのよう
に走りまわる光景が想像できるだろうか?
ヨー・リブとその仲間たちが、 失意のまま
小さなグループにわかれて太平洋を背にし、
茫然と立ちつくしている光景を想像できるだ
ろうか?
そうしているうちに、 空は汽車の煙りや、商
業や、町に汚されて暗くなり、最後の汚れな
い妖精たちが旧世界から消えたのと同じよう
53
…of the Shining People — a centaur, apparently.
And so it came to pass that I began living together with the Nootka people.
Like many legends passed down among Native Americans, this Nootka story too seems to contain certain historical truths. The part about the horse, for instance.
This story may also explain the mystery of why the fairies vanished from the American continent. Threatened for a second time by the arrival of humans — beings who cannot appreciate beauty and worship ugliness — the “Shining People” fled into the sea, the mountains, the wind, the wilderness, and even underground, scattering into diaspora.
Imagine the Irish Leprechaun, hiding on a beach, watching the Mayflower drop anchor — watching with his own eyes as the newcomer humans killed his companions who had gone to offer greetings, their faces twisted with cruelty…
What if those humble Scottish Brownies, invisible and drifting through the air, looked down anxiously as their old friends the Canarsie people traded away Manhattan Island for worthless trinkets?
The Riviera-born Dracs, who had spent centuries lazily playing and dozing on the newly discovered Florida beaches — they must have been utterly astonished to see the Conquistadors landing with earth-shaking force, and fled in panic without even time to lift their youth-preserving spells.
Can you picture the vast untamed American continent scattered with fleeing fairies — running like foxes before merciless hunting hounds?
Can you picture Yo-Rib and his companions standing in small, heartbroken groups with their backs to the Pacific, dazed and motionless?
And all the while the sky darkened, fouled by train smoke and commerce and towns — just as the last of the Fair People had vanished from the Old World…
52-53
