本日は、前回「カエル」のエッセイを提出してくれた「いよさん」が、もうひとつの思い出「おやこバッタ」について、英語でチャレンジしてくださいました。みなさんもぜひ、おやこバッタを思い出しながら読んでみてください。
エントリーナンバー13 いよさん
Oyako batta / おやこバッタ
One of the knowledge which I gain after I grew up is Oyako(mom and her baby) batta (grasshopper) is not “oyako.” To be exact, it is called “Onbu(piggy-back ride) batta,” and they are a couple. After mating, a male protects a female from various dangers.
After summer, rice fields turning to grass fields, I used to spend my time sprawing in the fields all day long. It was one of the most peaceful and the happiest moment of my childhood.
I saw crickets, bellcrickets, migratory locusts, grasshoppers and “Oyako batta” in the fields. When I found “Oyako batta,” I took away the male grasshopper(the upper one) and put it down on the ground.
I thought the baby grasshopper (I believed) return on its mother’s back like when I fell from my mother’s back and got back onto her back again.
What happened to the “Oyako batta” after that? I wonder if they could be back to their original position, but there’s no way I can find it out.
Picture dictionaries don’t tell us what we want to know. (985 words)
ありがとうございます、いよさん!英語でチャレンジ、すてきです。こどものときの体験を、英語にしてみようとするこの姿勢、ここが夏休みおとなの宿題のだいご味かも。
ちなみにおんぶバッタはこれ。思い出した方も多いでしょう。今ではなかなか見つからないところが多くなっているかも。
本格的夏休みに入りました。この機会にぜひあなたの宿題を送ってください。送り先は:etwasneuesbooks@gmail.comまで。
Saburo 2020年8月13日
I am impressed with your nice essay. Males and females are destined to help each other and live together in the threatening environments. We men and women must live together in peace to protect ourselves, as insects do.