新潟市立総合教育センター
Old Story

4　The Statues with Hats　　（笠地蔵）　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　

Scene 1　　　　ALTによるReading (slow) 　　　ALTによるReading (fast)

　　　Once upon a time, an old man and his wife lived in the mountains. They made hats of sedge and sold the hats in a town nearby. One year in late December, the old couple had no money to buy rice cakes for their New Year’s meal.
　　　“Let’s make some hats to sell in the town,” the woman said to her husband. “If we can sell six hats, we can get enough money to buy rice cakes for New Year’s.”
　　　So the old couple began making sedge hats. They worked all day and all night. When they finished the hats, it was the day before New Year’s. The old man tied the hats to his back and put his own hat on his head.
　　　“Goodbye,” he said to his wife. “I’ll try to sell the hats quickly, buy some rice cakes, and return home before nighttime.”
　　　“Good luck, and be careful,” said his wife. “Don’t lose your way in the deep snow.”
　　　The old man stayed in the town all day, but he couldn’t sell even one hat. So he had no money to buy rice cakes. In the evening it began to snow very hard, so the man started walking home. On his way home he passed seven stone statues of the god Jizo.
　　　“You must be cold,” said the man to the statues. “And you have no hats. You will be warmer if you wear one of my hats.”
　　　 The old man gave his hats to six of the jizos. There weren't enough hats for all of the jizos, so the man put his towel on the head of the last jizo. Then he continued walking home.
　　

Scene ２　　　　ALTによるReading (slow)　　　ALTによるReading (fast)

　　“Did you sell all of the hats?” the old woman asked when her husband returned home. “Did you get any rice cakes? And where is your towel?”
　　　Then the old man told his wife that he couldn’t sell the hats. He told her about giving the hats and the towel to the jizos.
　　　“So we have no rice cakes for New Year’s,” said the woman. “But I am proud that you gave the hats and towel to the cold statues. We’ll have a nice New Year’s dinner, even without rice cakes.”
　　　The old man and his wife were tired that evening, so they soon went to bed. Early the next morning, the man heard a strange noise　outside.
　　　“Did you hear that noise?” he asked his wife.
　　　The man opened the door of the house and looked outside. On the ground in front of the house he saw a very big and beautiful rice cake, some vegetables, and some treasure!
　　　“Who made this rice cake, and who brought all of these things here?” the woman asked.
　　　The old man could see many footprints by the house. He looked out across the snow. Far away, walking away from the house along the road to the town, were seven figures. Six of them wore sedge hats, and one had a towel on its head.
　　　“Look”, said the man. “Those are the jizos I helped yesterday.”
　　　“They came to thank you for your kindness,” said his wife. “We’ll have a rice cake for New Year’s after all.”
　　　“Thank you for the rice cake. Happy New Year!” shouted the old man and his wife to the jizos.

＜注＞
once upon a time（昔々），hats of sedge（菅笠），nearby（すぐ近くの），one year（ある年），
late December（１２月の終わり），couple（夫婦），rice cake（餅），New Year（新年），
meal（食事），all day（１日中），all night（夜通し），
the day before New Year’s（大晦日），tie（ひもで縛る），back（背中）, nighttime（夜間），
Good luck.（幸運を祈ります。），lose one’s way（道に迷う），even（～でさえ），
on one’s way home（家に帰る途中で），pass（～のそばを通る），must（～に違いない），
wear（身に付ける），towel （手ぬぐい），proud（誇りに思う），noise（音），outside（外で），
vegetable（野菜），treasure（宝），footprint（足跡），look out（外を見る），
along（～に沿って），figure（姿），thank you for ～（～に対して感謝する），
kindness（親切），after all（結局）

Questions and Answers: Please answer the following questions in English in a complete sentence, with a subject and a verb.

Q1. What did the old man and woman want for their
　　 New Year’s meal?

A1.

Q2. Could the man sell any hats in the town?

A2.

Q3. Why did the man give the statues his hats and the towel?

A3.

Q4. Who gave the old couple a beautiful rice cake and
　　　other nice things?

A4.

Q5. Why did the jizos bring the old couple the rice cake,
　　　food, and treasure?

A5.

＜解答例＞

A1. They wanted rice cakes.

A2. No, he couldn’t.

A3. Because they looked cold (in the snow).

Because he thought (that) they were cold.

He gave his hats and the towel to make them warmer.　　

等，上記内容に合っていて英文として通じれば可

A4. The (seven) jizos (he helped) did.

A5. They brought them to thank the old man for his kindness.

Because the old man gave them his sedge hats and the towel.

　等，上記内容に合っていて英文として通じれば可