今から千数百年も前のこと、北方の異民族が国境を越えてしきりに攻め込んでくるようになった。皇帝は国を守るため、ついに全国の家々に対し、家ごとに男子を一人ずつ差し出すよう徴兵の命を下した。
More than a thousand years ago, in ancient China, the tribes of the north began crossing the border again and again, pressing their attacks against the empire. At last, in order to defend the realm, the emperor issued an order of conscription throughout the land — every household was to send forth one man.
一通の召集令状が、辺境のとある村にある木蘭の家にも届いた。家族は皆、その紙を握りしめながら長く黙り込むほかなかった。
One such conscription notice reached the home of a young woman called Hua Mulan, in a small village out on the frontier. Holding the paper between them, the family fell silent for a long time and could find nothing to say.
木蘭の家には、年老いて病がちな父と、年老いた母、そしてまだ年端もいかない弟しかいなかった。「父上を戦場へ送り出すなど、できようはずがない。かといって、皇帝の命に背くわけにもいかない」と、木蘭は幾晩も眠れぬ夜を過ごした。
In the Hua household there were only an aging, ailing father, an elderly mother, and a little brother who was still no more than a child. "Sending Father onto the battlefield is unthinkable — and yet it is no more possible to defy the emperor's command," Mulan whispered to herself, and for many nights she lay sleepless.
悩み抜いた末に、木蘭はある重大な決断を下した。驚くべきことに、彼女は男に身をやつし、父に代わって戦場へ赴こうと決意したのである。
At length, after agonizing back and forth, Mulan reached a momentous decision. Astonishingly, she resolved to disguise herself as a man and go to the front in her father's place.
「お前がそのようなことを口にするとは思いも寄らなかった。どうか思いとどまっておくれ」と、両親は涙を流して止めにかかった。しかし「たとえこの命を落とそうとも、家族だけは守ってみせる」という木蘭の覚悟は、もはや揺らぐことはなかった。
"We never dreamed we should hear such words from your lips. Please — give up this idea," her parents pleaded in tears, doing everything in their power to stop her. But Mulan's resolve — "even if I should fall in battle, I will see this family kept safe" — would not be shaken.
翌朝、木蘭は市場へ出向き、駿馬と鞍、そして弓と剣を一そろい買い揃えた。長く伸びた髪をばっさりと切り落とし、父の若い頃の鎧を身につけたその姿は、見間違うほどに凛々しい一人の若武者そのものであった。
The next morning, Mulan went to the marketplace, where she chose a fine horse and saddle, a bow, and a sword. She cut her long hair short at a single stroke, put on her father's old armor from his youth, and to look at her was to see a young warrior so noble and proud that no one would have guessed otherwise.
父と母にひざまずいて別れを告げると、木蘭はためらうことなく馬に飛び乗り、軍の集結地に向けて故郷の村を後にした。彼女のその行いは、家族への深い愛情と父への孝心にほかならなかった。
Kneeling, she said her farewells to her father and mother, then sprang into the saddle without hesitation and rode out of her village toward the army's mustering ground. That she could do such a thing was, in the end, owed to nothing other than her deep love for her family and her devotion to her father.
戦場での暮らしは、女の身としては想像を絶するほど過酷なものであった。日中は厳しい訓練にしごかれ、夜は凍てつくような寒さの中で野営を強いられた。
Life on the frontier was, for a woman, harsh beyond imagining. By day she was driven through grueling training; by night she was forced to camp out in the bitter cold.