| A-sitting On A Gate |
|
 |
|
I'll tell thee everything I can：
There's little to relate.
I saw an aged aged man,
A-sitting on a gate.
“Who are you, aged man？” I said.
“And how is it you live？”
And his answer trickled through my head,
Like water through a sieve.
He said “I look for butterflies
That sleep among the wheat：
I make them into mutton-pies,
And sell them into the street.
I sell them unto men”, he said,
“Who sail on stormy seas；
And that's the way I get my bread――
A trifle, if you please.”
But I was thinking of a plan
To dye one's whiskers green,
And always use so large a fan
That they could not be seen.
So, having no reply to give
To what the old man said,
I cried“Come, tell me how you live！”
And thumped him on the head.
His accents mild took up the tale：
He said “I go my ways,
And when I find a mountain-rill,
I set it in a blaze；
And thence they make a stuff they call
Rowland's Macasser-Oil――
Yet twopence-halfpenny is all
They give me for my toil.”
But I was thinking of a way
To feed oneself on batter,
And so go on from day to day
Getting a little fatter.
I shook him well from side to side,
Until his face was blue：
“Come, tell me how you live,” I cried,
“And what it is you do！”
He said “I hunt for haddocks' eyes
Among the heather bright,
And work them into waistcoat-buttons
In the silent night.
And these I do not sell for gold
Or coin of silvery shine,
But for a copper halfpenny,
And that will purchase nine.
“I sometimes dig for buttered rolls,
Or set limed twigs for crabs：
I sometimes search the grassy knolls
For wheels of Hansom-cabs.
And that's the way”(he gave a wink)
“By which I get my wealth――
And very gladly will I drink
Your Honour's noble health.”
I heard him then, for I had just
Completed my design
To keep the Menai bridge from rust
By boiling it in wine.
I thanked him much for telling me
The way he got his wealth,
But chiefly for his wish that he
Might drink my noble health.
And now, if e'er by chance I put
My fingers into glue,
Or madly squeeze a right-hand foot
Into a left-hand shoe,
Or if I drop upon my toe
A very heavy weight,
I weep, for it reminds me so
Of that old man I used to know――
Whose look was mild, whose speech was slow
Whose hair was whiter than the snow,
Whose face was very like a crow,
With eyes, like cinders, all aglow,
Who seemed distracted with his woe,
Who rocked his body to and fro,
And muttered mumblingly and low,
As if his mouth were full of dough,
Who snorted like a buffalo――
That summer evening long ago,
A-sitting on a gate. |
|
|
『鏡の国のアリス』第8章「わしの発明」
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
| 門に座って |
|
|
|
|
|
白の騎士がアリスを慰めるために歌った、長くて実に美しい歌がこの「門の上に座って」。
この歌を聴くと誰もが目に涙を浮かべるか、それでなきゃ目に涙を浮かべないか…。
そして、この歌は「門の上に座って」だですが「方法と手段」と呼ばれていて、歌の名前は「タラの目」ですが「年寄りの年寄り男」と呼ばれています。
白の騎士曰くメロディは「わしの発明」だそうですが、アリスは『I give thee all, I can no
more』の節回しだと思っています。そして、注意深く聴いても、アリスの目に涙は浮かんできませんでした。 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
