老人と鷹／Of Old Men and Hawks

金曜日の朝、三線を練習している時、知らないおじいちゃんが寄って来た。おじいちゃんはウクレレを習っている、音楽が好きだから俺の演奏を聞きに来たと説明した。（奥さんがキャンパスでウォーキングをしているとも言った。奥さんを待っているからちょっと暇だという印象もした。）

ずっと一緒に話したけど、途中で「ほら、鷹居るぞ」と。本当に鷹が居た！キャンパスにこんな鳥を見る筈あまり無いのに。最初は地面で何かを食べていたけど、後でその物を枝の上に持って行った。鷹が木の中に居たから、ちょっと写真撮りにくかったけど、「まあまあ」写真が３枚、「よかね」写真が一枚出来た。

While I was practicing sanshin last Friday morning before class, an old man came up to me and started talking with me.  He told me he liked music and he was learning ukulele, so he was interested to see what I was doing.  He was also waiting for his wife who was walking on campus.

While we were talking, he suddenly pointed and said, "Look, there's a hawk!"  The hawk was on the ground at first, but he then took the thing he was eating and flew up into a tree.  This made him harder to photograph unfortunately, but I got some ok photos anyway.

 The one above is probably the best of the bunch.

鷹が飛んで、どこかに行った後もおじいちゃんと話し続けた。そして、若い女性が二人前を通ったところ、おじいちゃんは彼女達に声を掛けて、「これは君達の同級生よ。こんな楽器見た事無いだろう？一曲聞けば？」と勝手に誘った。
二人の女性はちょっと恥ずかしながら寄って来て、一曲を聞いて呉れた。一曲が終わったら、おじいちゃんは急に「じゃ、家内を探しに行かんば」と言って出かけた。わざと女性を呼んでから俺と三人きりにしたという感じがした。マッチメーカーおじいちゃん、面白いなぁ。
After the hawk flew away, I talked a bit more with the old man.  When two young women walked by, he suddenly called out to them "Hey, have you ever seen an instrument like this?  This guy is one of your schoolmates.  You should come over and listen to him play a song."  The two women obliged, and then after I played a song the old man announced that he had to go find his wife, leaving me alone with the two women.  Very clever!