bubble50 DH Freelance 中翻英 英翻中

Source(資料來源): http://www.gly.uga.edu/railsback/CS/CSDeath&Life.html

      This story comes from the Kono people of Guinea. Like many African stories, it is as concerned with the origin of death as with the origin of life, and with the origin of the many races that inhabit the earth.

      這個故事來自於幾內亞的柯諾人。如同許多非洲的故事，它同樣關注死亡的起源與生命的起源，以及居住在地球上許多種族的起源。

Death, and Life and Death

死亡與生死

      In the beginning there was nothing: neither matter nor light existed. In this world lived only Death, whose name is Sa, and his wife and and their only daughter. Needing a place for his family to live, Sa eventually used his magical powers to create a vast sea of mud. They lived in this filth and instablilty for many years.

      最初，一切皆無：既不存在物質也不存在光。在這個世界上只有死亡的存在，他的名字叫作撒，以及他的妻子和他們唯一的女兒。由於需要一個可以讓家人居住的地方，撒終於使用了他的神力創造一片巨大的泥海。他們就在這種污穢而不穩定的環境中生活了許多年。

      Finally the god Alatangana came to visit Sa and his family. Alatangana was appalled at the mess in which they lived, and he condemned Sa for creating such a dirty place that lacked light and life. To set things right, Alatangana first consolidated the mud into the solid earth. However, this lifeless expanse across which he could now walk still depressed him. First he made plants to cover the new earth, and then animals to live on it. Even Sa realized that Alatangana had made the world a much better place, and he took Alatangana in as his guest.

      最後，神，阿拉坦噶那來拜訪撒和他的家人。對於他們生活在骯髒之中，阿拉坦噶那感到震驚，他譴責撒竟然創造了一個缺乏光明與生命的骯髒之地。為了撥亂反正，阿拉坦噶那首先將泥凝固在堅固的大地裡。但是，他仍然對這個雖然現在可以行走在上，但毫無生氣的空間感到沮喪。首先，他製造出植物來覆蓋新的大地，然後是生活在它上面的動物。撒甚至也意識到阿拉坦噶那能讓這個世界變得更加美好，所以他將阿拉坦噶那奉為他的客人。

      Alatangana was wifeless, and eventually he decided he wanted Sa's daughter for his wife. Sa at first was diplomatic in refusing to let Alatangana marry his daughter, but finally he explicitly refused Alatangana's request. Alatangana, however, wooed Sa's daughter, and eventually they eloped to a distant region of the earth.

     阿拉坦噶那沒有妻子，最後他決定要讓撒的女兒成為他的妻子。起初撒只是委婉地拒絕讓阿拉坦噶那娶他的女兒，但是最後他明確地拒絕了阿拉坦噶那的請求。然而，阿拉坦噶那卻向撒的女兒求愛，最終他們私奔到了大地上一個遙遠的區域。

      Alatangana and his new wife set up a happy home amidst the paradise that Alatangana had created from Sa's sea of mud. They had fourteen children. Seven were girls and seven were boys, and of each four had light skin and three had dark. This did not distress Alatangana, but he and his wife were shocked to find that their children spoke different languages that the parents did not understand.

     在阿拉坦噶那從撒的泥海中創造的樂園裡，阿拉坦噶那和他的新婚妻子建立了一個幸福的家。他們有十四個孩子。七個是女孩，七個是男孩，其中分別有四個人的淺膚色，三個人的深膚色。這並沒有讓阿拉坦噶那感到苦惱，但他和他的妻子卻驚訝地發現他們的孩子講不同的語言，而這些語言是這對父母所無法理解的語言。

      Frustrated with this state of affairs, Alatangana finally went to Sa for advice. Sa explained that this was a curse that he had put on Alatangana's children because of the way Alatangana had stolen his daughter. Alatangana returned home, and eventually his children went off to found the peoples of the world, the French, the English, and the other European peoples, and the Kono, the Guuerze, the Manon Malinke, and the Toma Yacouba of Africa.

      對於這個狀況感到挫敗之下，阿拉坦噶那終於去向撒尋求建議。撒解釋說，因為阿拉坦噶那偷走了他的女兒，所以這是他對他孩子們的詛咒。阿拉坦噶那回到家中，最後他的孩子們到世界各地建立不同的民族，法國人、英國人和其他歐洲人，以及柯諾人、Guuerze人、Manon Malinke人和非洲的托瑪Yacouba人。

      All these descendents of Alatangana and his wife still lived in darkness, because although Alatangana had made the life that covered the earth, he had could not find a way to make light. As before, his frustration forced him to call on Sa for help, but rather than face his hostile father-in-law, he decided to send two messengers. He chose the tou-tou bird, a small red bird that is one of the first to arise each morning in the forest, and the rooster. These two birds went to ask Sa how the world could be lit so that the new peoples of the earth could see to work.

     阿拉坦噶那和他妻子的所有這些後代仍然生活在黑暗之中，因為雖然阿拉坦噶那創造了覆蓋大地的生命，但他卻找不到創造光的方法。如同之前一般，這樣挫敗的情緒迫使他去找撒尋求幫助，但是他不是選擇去面對充滿敵意的岳父，而是決定派兩名使者去找他。他選了一隻小紅鳥tou-tou鳥，牠是每天早上在森林裡出現的最早的鳥類之一，還有一隻公雞。這兩隻鳥去問撒如何才能照亮這個世界，讓大地上的新人類能夠看見，才能去工作。

      When the two presented their problem to Sa, he invited them into his home and taught them a song with which they could call forth daylight. When the two returned to Alatangana, he was furious at the nonsense they reported about a song they had learned. He nearly killed them, but eventually he sent them on their way.

      當兩隻鳥向撒提出牠們的問題時，他邀請牠們進入他的家，並教牠們一首可以呼喚出日光的歌。當兩隻鳥回去向阿拉坦噶那交差的時候，他感到非常憤怒，因為他對於牠們說學到了一首歌這件事，覺得牠們在胡言亂語。他甚至差點殺了牠們，但最後還是讓牠們回去。

      Not long afterward, the rooster broke into song, and the tou-tou bird sang its first notes. For the first time, dawn began to appear, and soon it was day. The sun that they had called forth made its way across the sky, and when it set the stars appeared to provide faint light at night. Every day since has begun the same way, with the call of the tou-tou bird and the cry of the rooster.

      不久之後，公雞開始唱歌，tou-tou鳥唱起了第一個音符。黎明第一次開始出現，很快地白天就出現了。牠們呼喚出來的太陽穿過天空，而當它落下時，星星在夜晚出現，提供微弱的光線。從此以後，每一天都是以同樣的方式隨著tou-tou鳥的叫聲和公雞的啼聲開始。

      Alatangana was grateful for the gift that he now realized Sa had given to him and his children. Sa was not long, however, in calling for payment of the debt. He came to Alatangana and pointed out the good things that he had done despite Alatangana's theft of his daughter. Now he demanded that in return he could, whenever he liked, claim any of Alatangana's offspring. Knowing his guilt and his debt to Sa, Alatangana agreed, and so it is that Alatangana's children, the human people, must meet with Death whenever he calls for them.

     阿拉坦噶那很感激這份他現在才意識到的，由撒送給他和他的孩子們的禮物。然而，不久之後，撒就要求他要償還債務。他來找阿拉坦噶那，儘管阿拉坦噶那偷走了他的女兒，撒仍然指出他所做過的好事。而作為回報，他要求說他可以隨時隨地索求任何阿拉坦噶那的後代。阿拉坦噶那出於他對撒的內疚和虧欠而同意了。就這樣，阿拉坦噶那的孩子，也就是人類，必須每當死亡呼喚他們時，就得與他相會。