５月１９日（金曜日）２０２３
水曜日に今学期初めての小学校での読み聞かせに行きました。実はもう少しで当番に穴を開けるところでした。気づいて準備不足を恥じつつもどうにか小３い組の教室にはいれて胸を撫で下ろした次第です。
家にある数少ない絵本の中から慌てて選んだのは講談社の「一寸法師」。１０分で読み終わるという第一のハードル通過のほかに古典的で穏やかな絵の美しさに魅かれました。一寸がどれぐらいの長さか子供達と確認した上で話をスタート。全てがナンセンスな展開ですが「ゆ〜びにたりない一寸法師 〜」と歌があったことを思い出し、この昔話のメッセージを考えました。大きな恐ろしい鬼に立ち向かう小さな一寸法師の勇気を讃えたものか、あるいは出世して美しいお姫様と結婚する成功談か。取り立てて感動する話でもないけれど、読み終えて爽やか、元気になれる昔話といったところでしょうか。
Last Wednesday, I went to the elementary school to read aloud to children, and it was my first visit this semester. As a matter of fact, I was about to miss my duty because of my careless mistake but I could catch the schedule fortunately.
I picked a picture book "Issun boshi (One Inch Boy)" which was on my bookshelf. There were two reasons I chose it. One of them was that I could finish it in ten minutes and another reason was the pictures were classic and so beautiful. In class, before I started reading, I confirmed with the kids how long "Issun" was. I thought, what was the message of this story? Is it to praise the courage of a small boy who fought a big demon? Or is it a success story of a man who was promoted and finally got married to a beautiful princess? It is a simple and not very exciting story, but we feel better and more cheerful by this old folktale.
