夜空にうっすらと白く輝く天の川。その川のほとりには、はるか昔から一人の偉大な天の神様が住んでおられた。
The Milky Way that gleams faintly white across the night sky — by the banks of that great river of stars, since time out of mind, there had dwelt a single great god of Heaven.
神様には織姫という美しい娘がいた。彼女は朝から晩まで機の前に座って、神々や天人たちが身にまとう絹の着物をせっせと織り続けていた。
This god had a beautiful daughter named Orihime. From morning till night she sat at her loom, weaving the silken robes that the gods and the heavenly beings wore.
一方、天の川の向こう岸には、彦星という働き者の青年がいた。彼は天界の牛たちの世話をするのが仕事で、一頭一頭の体を磨き、餌をたっぷり与えてはかわいがっていた。
Meanwhile, on the far bank of the Milky Way, there lived a hardworking young man called Hikoboshi. His task was to tend the cattle of Heaven, brushing each one until its coat shone, giving them their fill of fodder, and caring for them as for his own.
二人それぞれの仕事ぶりについては、すでに天界中で評判であった。神様も「二人とも、これほど真面目な働き手はそうそういない」と、日頃から深く感心しておられたのである。
Each of them, in their own duties, was already well known throughout the heavens. "You will not find two such diligent workers as those two anywhere else," the god himself often remarked with deep admiration.
そんなある日、神様は「これほどの働き者同士なら、夫婦にすればさぞ幸せに暮らすであろう」と、二人を引き合わせることに決めた。初めて会った織姫と彦星は、互いに一目で深い愛情を抱き、まもなくめでたく夫婦となった。
One day the god thought to himself, "If two such tireless workers were to be married, they would surely live in great happiness together," and he arranged for them to meet. The moment Orihime and Hikoboshi laid eyes on each other, they fell deeply in love, and before long they were happily joined as husband and wife.
ところが、結婚を契機に、二人の暮らしぶりはがらりと変わってしまった。一緒にいるのがあまりに楽しすぎるあまり、二人はすっかり仕事の手を止めてしまったのである。
But once the wedding was past, everything about how the two of them lived changed completely. So sweet was their joy in being together that, before they knew it, they had let their work fall entirely from their hands.
織姫は機の前に座っても、すぐに席を立っては彦星に会いに行ってしまうばかりであった。神々の着物はみるみるうちにすり切れ、新しい一着すら織り上がらない有様であった。
Even when Orihime sat at her loom, she would jump up again at once and go off to be with Hikoboshi, and that was all she did. The robes of the gods grew threadbare before everyone's eyes, and not a single new garment was completed.
彦星もまた、牛の世話を放り出して、毎日織姫と笑い興じる始末であった。世話をされなくなった牛たちは、痩せ細って次々に病に倒れていった。
Hikoboshi too had thrown over the care of the cattle, and spent his days laughing and idling with Orihime. The cattle, neglected as they now were, grew thin, and one after another they fell sick.