The Remedy
Original Japanese title:
医者と病人《いしゃとびょうにん》
(Doctor and Patient)
Author:
Yumeno Kyūsaku
夢野久作《ゆめのきゅうさく》
Translation and notes:
Dan Bornstein
医者と病人《いしゃとびょうにん》
(Doctor and Patient)
Author:
Yumeno Kyūsaku
夢野久作《ゆめのきゅうさく》
Translation and notes:
Dan Bornstein
Bilingual text
▼
死にかかった病人の枕元でお医者が首をひねって、
死《し》にかかった病人《びょうにん》の枕元《まくらもと》でお医者《いしゃ》が首《くび》をひねって、
At the bedside of a dying patient, a doctor tilted his head with puzzlement,
▼
「もう一時間も六カしいです」と言いました。
「もう一時間《いちじかん》も六カ《むつか》しいです」と言《い》いました。
and said: "You are unlikely to live for even one more hour.
▼
「とてもこれを助ける薬はありません」
「とてもこれを助《たす》ける薬《くすり》はありません」
"There is no medication on earth that can alleviate this condition."
▼
これを聴いた病人は言いました。
これを聴《き》いた病人《びょうにん》は言《い》いました。
Having listened to this, the patient said:
▼
「いっその事、飲んでから二、三日目に死ぬ毒薬を下さい」
「いっその事《こと》、飲《の》んでから二《に》、三日目《さんにちめ》に死《し》ぬ毒薬《くすり》を下《くだ》さい」
"In that case, I would rather you gave me a poison that people die from on the second or third day after they take it."
▼
死にかかった病人の枕元でお医者が首をひねって、
死《し》にかかった病人《びょうにん》の枕元《まくらもと》でお医者《いしゃ》が首《くび》をひねって、
At the bedside of a dying patient, a doctor tilted his head with puzzlement,
- 死にかかった: Lit. "About to die". A combination of the verb 死ぬ and the auxiliary かかる, "to be on the verge of doing [the main verb]". The completed (past) conjugation here is a substitute for the ている form. This substitution frequently occurs in descriptive clauses in which the verb precedes its noun. The meaning is the same—an ongoing state, rather than a past action.
- 病人: A general term for a sick person, which can also be used more specifically for a patient in a hospital.
- 枕元: Lit. "pillow-side". The general vicinity of a person who is lying in bed, especially near the head. Also written 枕許.
- 首をひねって: Tilting the head in a gesture of puzzlement, doubt, etc. The expression is literally "twist the neck". 首 can refer to the neck as well as the head (whether as two distinct organs or as a single continuous unit). ひねる means "to twist".
▼
「もう一時間も六カしいです」と言いました。
「もう一時間《いちじかん》も六カ《むつか》しいです」と言《い》いました。
and said: "You are unlikely to live for even one more hour.
- 六カしい: The word むつかしい is an older variant of むずかしい. The correct interpretation of this vague word must be decided according to the context; here it means "very unlikely to happen".
- The spelling 六カしい is an example of ateji—using characters for their sound with no regard to their meanings. 六 is read むつ as in 六つ, and カ is the katakana equivalent of か (do not confuse with the identical-looking kanji 力, "power"). In this case there is apparently no special reason for the writer's decision to write the word in this way, other than mere playfulness.
▼
「とてもこれを助ける薬はありません」
「とてもこれを助《たす》ける薬《くすり》はありません」
"There is no medication on earth that can alleviate this condition."
- とても: Functions in concert with negative expressions to make the negation highly emphatic: "(not) by a long shot", "quite (not)", etc.
▼
これを聴いた病人は言いました。
これを聴《き》いた病人《びょうにん》は言《い》いました。
Having listened to this, the patient said:
- 聴いた: Note that the kanji used here is 聴, "listen", rather than 聞, "hear". The Japanese verb itself expresses both of these meanings, and the distinction is made only in writing. However, in practice the choice of kanji does not always follow this distinction very strictly, so one should not automatically interpret the meaning based on spelling alone.
▼
「いっその事、飲んでから二、三日目に死ぬ毒薬を下さい」
「いっその事《こと》、飲《の》んでから二《に》、三日目《さんにちめ》に死《し》ぬ毒薬《くすり》を下《くだ》さい」
"In that case, I would rather you gave me a poison that people die from on the second or third day after they take it."
- いっその事: "Would rather [that something happened]", "might as well", etc. Used to indicate a preference made with resignation, when faced with unpalatable alternatives and choosing the one that is least objectionable. Here this expression works in concert with 下さい to express the speaker's wish with regard to the listener's action.
- 飲んで: Swallow. Beyond the most common meaning of "drink", the verb can also indicate any form of taking substances through the mouth.
- 二、三日目: The suffix 目 adds the ordinal sense to the number. Also, note how the readings revert to the default on-yomi due to the presence of two different numbers that are linked to the same counter word. In a more typical combination of one number and one counter, the resulting readings would be 二日目 (ふつかめ) and 三日目 (みっかめ).
- According to the patient's absurd logic, taking such a slow-acting poison would keep him alive for as long as the poison takes to kill him, overriding his imminent death.
Original non-annotated text
医者と病人
夢野久作
死にかかった病人の枕元でお医者が首をひねって、
「もう一時間も六カしいです」
と言いました。
「とてもこれを助ける薬はありません」
これを聴いた病人は言いました。
「いっその事、飲んでから二、三日目に死ぬ毒薬を下さい」
医者と病人
夢野久作
死にかかった病人の枕元でお医者が首をひねって、
「もう一時間も六カしいです」
と言いました。
「とてもこれを助ける薬はありません」
これを聴いた病人は言いました。
「いっその事、飲んでから二、三日目に死ぬ毒薬を下さい」