富子嬢に捧ぐ
と二行にかいてある。主人はちょっと神秘的な顔をしてしばらく一頁を無言のまま眺めているので、迷亭は横合から「何だい新体詩かね」と云いながら覗き込んで「やあ、捧げたね。東風君、思い切って富子嬢に捧げたのはえらい」としきりに賞める。主人はなお不思議そうに「東風さん、この富子と云うのは本当に存在している婦人なのですか」と聞く。「へえ、この前迷亭先生とごいっしょに朗読会へ招待した婦人の一人です。ついこの御近所に住んでおります。実はただ今詩集を見せようと思ってちょっと寄って参りましたが、生憎先月から大磯へ避暑に行って留守でした」と真面目くさって述べる。「苦沙弥君、これが二十世紀なんだよ。そんな顔をしないで、早く傑作でも朗読するさ。しかし東風君この捧げ方は少しまずかったね。このあえかにと云う雅言は全体何と言う意味だと思ってるかね」「蚊弱いとかたよわくと云う字だと思います」「なるほどそうも取れん事はないが本来の字義を云うと危う気にと云う事だぜ。だから僕ならこうは書かないね」「どう書いたらもっと詩的になりましょう」「僕ならこうさ。世の人に似ずあえかに見え給う富子嬢の鼻の下に捧ぐとするね。わずかに三字のゆきさつだが鼻の下があるのとないのとでは大変感じに相違があるよ」「なるほど」と東風君は解しかねたところを無理に納得した体にもてなす。
主人は無言のままようやく一頁をはぐっていよいよ巻頭第一章を読み出す。
Dedicated to Miss Tomiko
So it was written, in two lines. The master wore a faintly mystified expression and for a while gazed at the page in silence, whereupon Meitei peered over from the side, saying, “What’s this, some new-style poetry?” and then, looking closer, praised him warmly: “Ah, dedicated! Kocho, my boy, dedicating it to Miss Tomiko—that’s bold of you.” The master, still looking puzzled, asked, “Kocho, is this Tomiko an actual living woman?” “Why, yes—she was one of the ladies you and Mr. Meitei invited to the reading party last time. She lives quite nearby. As a matter of fact, I only dropped in intending to show you my collection, but unfortunately she’s been away since last month, summering at Oiso.” He delivered this with great solemnity. “Kushami, old man, this is the twentieth century. Don’t look so shocked—go on and read us one of your masterpieces. But Kocho, this dedication of yours is a bit off. This ‘aekani’—do you even know what that elegant word means?” “I took it to be the characters for ‘mosquito-weak’ or ‘frail.’” “Well, it could be read that way, I suppose, but in its true sense it means ‘in a precarious state.’ Now, I wouldn’t have written it like that.” “How would you have written it to make it more poetic?” “Like this, say: ‘Unlike the world’s folk, she appears so fragile—dedicated to the space beneath Miss Tomiko’s nose.’ It’s only a slight change of three characters, but with or without ‘beneath the nose’ makes a world of difference in the feeling.” “I see,” said Kocho, feigning a comprehension he could not quite muster.
The master, still silent, at last turned the page and began to read the opening chapter in earnest.
