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彗星の話

by Yoshio Toyoshima

An orphan in rural Greece and the story of a comet.

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Original language: JapaneseLevel: Beginner3,564 characters · ≈ 14 minSource: 青空文库

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Sample: three-line reading

Each word has its meaning in this sentence underneath, and each sentence has a full translation. Read the original and glance down only when you need to.

一one
One
むかしlong agoギリシャのGreek / of Greece片田舎にin a small rural villageケメトスというnamed Kemetos人がa person (subject marker)いましたlived / there was
Long ago, in a small Greek village, there lived a man named Kemetos.
小さい時にwhen he was small; at an early age両親をhis parents (object)失ってlost (and)お祖父さんの手でby his grandfather's hand; by his grandfather育てられていましたwas being raisedがbut非常な乱暴者でwas a very wild person, and近所の子供達とwith the neighboring children喧嘩をしたりdid things like fighting他人の果樹園にinto other people's orchards忍び込んでsneaked in and林檎や無花果の実をapples and figs (fruit)盗んだりdid things like stealing野山をthrough the hills and fields駆け廻ったりdid things like running aroundしてdoing (and)その日その日をeach day; day after day遊び暮らしていましたspent his time playing
He lost his parents at an early age and was raised by his grandfather, but he was very wild: he fought with the neighboring children, sneaked into other people's orchards to steal apples and figs, ran around the hills and fields, and spent his days playing.
お祖父さんはhis grandfather (topic)非常にvery心配してworried andいろいろ言い聞かせましたgave him various adviceけれどhoweverケメトスはKemetos (topic)耳にも入れませんでしたdid not listen at all
His grandfather was very worried and gave him plenty of advice, but Kemetos did not listen.

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About the book

This passage opens the story of Kemetos, an orphan in the Greek countryside, whose grandfather warns him—because a star fell the night he was born—that his fate is ill-omened and must be remade by his own hands. The tone is calm and folktale-like, mixing a boy's mischievous liveliness with a quiet sense of destiny under the starry sky.

Cultural notes (selection)

Background a translation can’t carry: social roles, history and allusions. While reading, tap “Note” at the end of a sentence to see them all.

十尺二十尺 History

The 尺 (shaku) is a traditional East Asian unit of length; in Japan one shaku is about 30.3 cm, differing from the Chinese chi (about 33.3 cm). Ten shaku is roughly three metres, seventy or eighty shaku about twenty to thirty metres, and a tower of three hundred shaku about ninety metres.

抱えられ Social role

Here 「抱える」 means a master taking someone into his household and providing food and lodging, like a retained retainer or client. The king 'kakae'-ing Kemetos means he took him on as a court entertainer, supporting him in the palace.

もうせん Customs

毛氈 (mōsen) means felt: a thick blanket made of pressed wool, long used to cover seating places and to decorate ceremonial grounds. The felt spread beneath the tower was padding prepared for Kemetos to land on, and together with the bonfires around it formed part of the ceremony's staging.

How the glosses are made

Word glosses and sentence translations are generated in context by AI models (DeepSeek and Zhipu GLM), and every word is checked to have a gloss. AI can make mistakes; you can report problems from the book page.

FAQ

Is this the original text?

Yes. The library holds the opening section of the public-domain original, taken from 青空文库.

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What level is it?

This one is marked “Beginner”. Every word is glossed, so you can keep reading even with a small vocabulary.

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English and Chinese glosses are prepared in advance; signed-in readers can generate other languages.

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