Chin Chin Kobakama
『ちんちん小袴』
（Chin-chin kobakama）
訳者：ラフカディオ・ハーン（Lafcadio Hearn）
怠け者の娘が嫁に行き、戦で留守しがちな夫がいない夜に物音で目覚めると、裃<かみしも>を着て髷<まげ>を結い、刀を差した何百人という小人が「ちんちん小袴、夜も更け候。お静まれ姫君、やあとんとん。」と彼女を小馬鹿にしながら歌い踊っていました。それから連夜小人たちは現れ、妻は病気になってしまいます。戻った夫が話を聞いて夜中に見張り、畳から現れた小人に斬りかかると、小人たちは爪楊枝<つまようじ>に変身し畳の上に散らばりました。妻は怠け癖から使った爪楊枝を捨てず、畳の縁に差し込んでいたのです。夫が妻を叱り、爪楊枝を家人に焼かせると、その後、小人が現れることはありませんでした。
A lazy maiden was married to a warrior, whose duties on the battlefield kept him away from home. One such night, the bride was awakened by a clatter, and saw hundreds of little men, dressed just like Japanese warriors but only about an inch high, making merry at her. "We are the Chin-chin Kobakama; the hour is late; sleep honorabe noble darling!" they chanted, teasing her as they sang and danced. They appeared every night thereafter, and the warrior's wife gradually fell ill. When her husband came back, she told him of the men, and he waited for their appearance that night. When they began to pop out of the soft "tatami" mats of woven straw, he cut them down with his sword, and they all changed into toothpicks, scattering on the mats. Because of her slothful ways, his wife was in the habit of sticking used toothpicks between mats instead of properly discarding them. The husband scolded her and had a retainer burn the toothpicks. The little men never again appeared.
