Of the origin of the Hound of the Baskervilles there have been many statements, yet as I come in a direct line from Hugo Baskerville, and as I had the story from my father, who also had it from his, I have set it down with all belief that it occurred even as is here set forth. And I would have you believe, my sons, that the same Justice which punishes sin may also most graciously forgive it, and that no ban is so heavy but that by prayer and repentance it may be removed. Learn then from this story not to fear the fruits of the past, but rather to be circumspect in the future, that those foul passions whereby our family has suffered so grievously may not again be loosed to our undoing.

バスカヴィル家の犬の起源について / 沢山の記述がなされてきた / しかし私がヒューゴ・バスカヴィルからの直系となり / そして私はこの話を父から聞いた / 父はそれを祖父から / 私は確信を持って書き下ろす / それはここに書かれたように起きたと◆そして私はお前達にも信じさせたい / 息子達よ / 罪を罰した同じ神は / 同時に寛大にそれを許しうる / 呪いはそう重くなく祈りと悔い改めで避け得る◆この話から知るべし / この過去の報いを恐れず / 将来について慎重に配慮することを / それによって我が家が悲惨に苦しめられることになった間違った熱情が / 再び我々の破滅へと放たれることはないように

“Know then that in the time of the Great Rebellion (the history of which by the learned Lord Clarendon I most earnestly commend to your attention) this Manor of Baskerville was held by Hugo of that name, nor can it be gainsaid that he was a most wild, profane, and godless man. This, in truth, his neighbours might have pardoned, seeing that saints have never flourished in those parts, but there was in him a certain wanton and cruel humour which made his name a byword through the West. It chanced that this Hugo came to love (if, indeed, so dark a passion may be known under so bright a name) the daughter of a yeoman who held lands near the Baskerville estate. But the young maiden, being discreet and of good repute, would ever avoid him, for she feared his evil name. So it came to pass that one Michaelmas this Hugo, with five or six of his idle and wicked companions, stole down upon the farm and carried off the maiden, her father and brothers being from home, as he well knew. When they had brought her to the Hall the maiden was placed in an upper chamber, while Hugo and his friends sat down to a long carouse, as was their nightly custom. Now, the poor lass upstairs was like to have her wits turned at the singing and shouting and terrible oaths which came up to her from below, for they say that the words used by Hugo Baskerville, when he was in wine, were such as might blast the man who said them. At last in the stress of her fear she did that which might have daunted the bravest or most active man, for by the aid of the growth of ivy which covered (and still covers) the south wall she came down from under the eaves, and so homeward across the moor, there being three leagues betwixt the Hall and her father’s farm.

「大内乱時代の頃と知れ / 教養あるクラレンドン卿のこの歴史を / 私は熱心に注意を払うようお前達に勧める / このバスカヴィル荘園はヒューゴー・バスカヴィルに統治されていた / 人の言う事を聞かないばかりか / 彼は非常に荒々しく / 不敬で / 無信心の男だった◆これは / 実際 / 近隣の者が容赦していたのかも知れない / 聖者がこの地方で活動しなかったので / しかし彼には勝手気ままで残酷な性格があり / 彼の名前は西部で通り文句となっていた◆ふとした事でこのヒューゴーは恋に落ちた / 実のところ、もしこの黒い情念を / このように輝かしい言葉で呼ぶならば / バスカヴィルの領地の近くに土地を持っていた郷士の娘に◆しかしこの若い女性は / 分別があり評判もよかったが / 彼をずっと避けつづけた / 彼女は彼の悪名に恐れをなしたので◆それで、ある聖ミカエル祭の時 / このヒューゴーは / 五、六人の怠け者で不道徳な仲間を連れ / 農場に忍び込みこの女性を運び出した / 父親と兄弟は家にいなかった / 彼はそれをよく知っていた◆彼らが彼女を館に運んできた時 / この女性は上の階の部屋に入れられた / ヒューゴーと彼の友人が長い酒盛りをしている間 / 彼らの夜の習慣として◆この上の階の哀れな少女は / おそらく動転しただろう / 歌やら叫びやら恐ろしい悪態が / 下から聞こえてきて / 評判だったので / ヒューゴー・バスカヴィルが使う言葉は / 酒を飲んだ時は / 言っている人間が呪われるほどだと◆遂に恐怖の重圧で / 彼女は最も勇敢で活動的な男でさえ怖気づくかもしれないことをやった / 茂ったツタの助けをかりて / 南の壁を覆っていた(今も覆っている) / 彼女はひさしから下りた / そして家に向かって荒野に踏み込んだ / 館と彼女の父親の農場の間は三リーグあった」

“It chanced that some little time later Hugo left his guests to carry food and drink – with other worse things, perchance – to his captive, and so found the cage empty and the bird escaped. Then, as it would seem, he became as one that hath a devil, for, rushing down the stairs into the dining-hall, he sprang upon the great table, flagons and trenchers flying before him, and he cried aloud before all the company that he would that very night render his body and soul to the Powers of Evil if he might but overtake the wench. And while the revellers stood aghast at the fury of the man, one more wicked or, it may be, more drunken than the rest, cried out that they should put the hounds upon her. Whereat Hugo ran from the house, crying to his grooms that they should saddle his mare and unkennel the pack, and giving the hounds a kerchief of the maid’s, he swung them to the line, and so off full cry in the moonlight over the moor.

「しばらく後でたまたま / ヒューゴーは客を残し / 飲食物を運んだ / / おそらく他の邪悪なものを持って / / 閉じ込めた娘に / そして籠がカラで鳥が逃げた事を知った◆それから / どうやら / 彼は悪魔に取り付かれ始めたようだ / 階段を駆け下りて食堂に飛び込み / 彼は大きな食卓に跳びかかった / 酒瓶や木皿を投げつけ / 仲間全員の前で大声で叫んだ / この聖なる夜に彼は肉体と魂を悪魔に捧げると / もし彼がただ少女に追いつけたら◆そして酒に酔った男達がこの怒り狂った男に向かい合って立っていると / 一人もっと性格の悪い、いや / もしかすると / 他の人間よりもっと酔った男が / 彼女に犬をけしかけろと叫び声をあげた◆その時、ヒューゴーは家から走り出た / 馬手たちに叫びながら / 馬に鞍をつけて猟犬一式を小屋から出すように / そして犬に女性の頭巾を嗅がせ / そして臭いへ向け / 激しい勢いで追わせた / 月明かりの中を荒野の向こうへ」

“Now, for some space the revellers stood agape, unable to understand all that had been done in such haste. But anon their bemused wits awoke to the nature of the deed which was like to be done upon the moorlands. Everything was now in an uproar, some calling for their pistols, some for their horses, and some for another flask of wine. But at length some sense came back to their crazed minds, and the whole of them, thirteen in number, took horse and started in pursuit. The moon shone clear above them, and they rode swiftly abreast, taking that course which the maid must needs have taken if she were to reach her own home.

「しばらく酔った男達は口を開けて立っていた / こんなにあわただしく起こった事全てを理解できずに◆しかしすぐに我に返り / この行為の意味に気づいた / 荒野で行われようとしている◆全てが大混乱になった / ピストルを要求する者もあり / 馬を呼ぶ者もあり / 別のものはワインをもう一瓶要求した◆しかし程なく狂った心に自覚が戻り / 彼ら全員は / 13人いたが / 馬に乗って追跡に乗り出した◆月は彼らの上で鮮やかに輝いていた / そして彼らは並んで素早く馬を走らせた / 少女がきっと取ったであろう方向に向けて / もし彼女が自分の家に帰るなら」