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CẬU ẾCH CỨU TOKYO – ANH VIỆT ĐỐI CHIẾU

MURAKAMI Haruki

Hai bản dịch Anh và Việt từ nguyên tác tiếng Nhật của truyện ngắn "Kaeru-kun

Tokyo wo sukuu" của Murakami Haruki, được trình bày song ngữ đối chiếu dưới

đây, tiện cho độc giả cảm nhận đôi điều khác biệt về văn hóa Đông Á và Âu Mỹ

trong việc đọc và dịch văn Nhật Bản.

Katagiri found a giant frog waiting for him in his

apartment. It was powerfully built, standing over six feet

tall on its hind legs. A skinny little man no more than

five-foot-three, Katagiri was overwhelmed by the frog

" said the frog in a clear, strong voice.

Katagiri stood rooted in the doorway, unable to speak.

m not here to hurt you. Just come in

and close the door. Please."

Briefcase in his right hand, grocery bag with fresh

vegetables and canned salmon cradled in his left arm,

"Please, Mr. Katagiri, hurry and close the door, and take

off your shoes."

The sound of his own name helped Katagiri snap out of

it. He closed the door as ordered, set the grocery bag on

the raised wooden floor, pinned the briefcase under one

arm, and unlaced his shoes. Frog gestured for him to

take a seat at the kitchen table, which he did.

"I must apologize, Mr. Katagiri, for having barged in

while you were out," Frog said. "I knew it would be a

shock for you to find me here. But I had no choice. How

about a cup of tea? I thought you would be coming

home soon, so I boiled some water."

ề phòng thì

ước cái vóc dáng bề

ạc vang lên từ phía con ế

không làm gì

đâu. Vào đây

đứng chôn chân tạ

SUPER-FROG SAVES TOKYO

Jay RUBIN translated

Katagiri still had his briefcase jammed under his arm.

s playing a joke on me, he thought.

s rigged himself up in this huge frog costume

just to have fun with me. But he knew, as he watched

Frog pour boiling water into the teapot, humming all the

while, that these had to be the limbs and movements of a

CẬU ẾCH CỨU TOKYO

Phạm Vũ Thịnh dịch

ạnh bàn ăn trong phòng bế

y anh Katagiri". Con

nói. -"Tôi đườ

ế nào khác đượ

ước sôi đấ

ể là trò đùa gì đây? Có

trà, cái dáng

thì đúng là

ầm vào đâu đượ

But still Katagiri could not speak.

"I know I should have made an appointment to visit you,

Mr. Katagiri. I am fully aware of the proprieties. Anyone

would be shocked to find a big frog waiting for him at

home. But an urgent matter brings me here. Please

"Urgent matter?" Katagiri managed to produce words at

"Yes, indeed," Frog said. "Why else would I take the

liberty of barging into a person

discourtesy is not my customary style."

have something to do with me?"

"Yes and no," said Frog with a tilt of the head. "No and

ve got to get a grip on myself, thought Katagiri.

"Do you mind if I smoke?"

"Not at all, not at all," Frog said with a smile. "It

t have to ask my permission. Smoke and

drink as much as you like. I myself am not a smoker, but

I can hardly impose my distaste for tobacco on others in

their own homes."

Katagiri pulled a pack of cigarettes from his coat pocket

and struck a match. He saw his hand trembling as he lit

up. Seated opposite him, Frog seemed to be studying his

every movement.

t happen to be connected with some kind of

gang by any chance?" Katagiri found the courage to ask.

"Ha ha ha ha ha ha! What a wonderful sense of humor

you have, Mr. Katagiri!" he said, slapping his webbed

hand against his thigh. "There may be a shortage of

skilled labor, but what gang is going to hire a frog to do

their dirty work? They

d be made a laughingstock."

re here to negotiate a repayment, you

wasting your time. I have no authority to make such

decisions. Only my superiors can do that. I just follow

t do a thing for you."

Frog set a cup of green tea in front of Katagiri, and

poured another one for himself. Sipping his tea, Frog

asked, "Calming down?"

"Please, Mr. Katagiri," Frog said, raising one webbed

finger. "I have not come here on such petty business. I

am fully aware that you are assistant chief of the

Lending Division of the Shinjuku branch of the Tokyo

Security Trust Bank. But my visit has nothing to do with

Katagiri và mộ

đã bình tâm

ừa rót trà vào cố

a anh Katagiri,

ắm, nên xin anh tha lỗ

lên được vài tiế

a anh Katagiri,

đâu có đườ

ỗi là đứa không biế

ện gì quan hệ đế

ệc làm của tôi à?"

ệ nói có thì

có, mà nói không thì

nói tiếp. -"Không cũ

đúng mà có cũng không sai".

ưa, tôi có thể hút đ

được không?"

ơ mà, đâu có

thân tôi thì không hút

mình ghét khói

không dám đâu anh".

túi áo khoác

anh, có vẻ thú vị

ực nào đó không?"

-"Ha ha ha ha ha". Con

tràng dài khoái trá, bàn

ngón tay đánh đét lên đùi một cái thậ

-"Anh Katagiri c

nhân tài đế

Làm thế, thiên hạ

vô ích thôi".

khoát. -"Cá nhân tôi không có

Dù ông có làm gì tôi đ

vô ích thôi".

-"Anh Katagiri n

ị nói. -"Tôi không đế

ế đâu. Tôi

ngân hàng Tín

Katagiri scanned the room for a hidden TV camera in

case he was being made the butt of some huge, terrible

joke. But there was no camera. It was a small apartment.

There was no place for anyone to hide.

"No," Frog said, "we are the only ones here. I know you

are thinking that I must be mad, or that you are having

some kind of dream, but I am not crazy and you are not

dreaming. This is absolutely, positively serious."

"To tell you the truth, Mr. Frog"

"Please," Frog said, raising one finger again.

"To tell you the truth, Frog," Katagiri said, "I can

understand what is going on here. It

s not that I don

trust you, but I don

t seem to be able to grasp the

situation exactly. Do you mind if I ask you a question or

"Not at all, not at all," Frog said. "Mutual understanding

is of critical importance. There are those who say that

is merely the sum total of our

misunderstandings, and while I do find this view

interesting in its own way, I am afraid that we have no

time to spare on pleasant digressions. The best thing

would be for us to achieve mutual understanding via the

shortest possible route. Therefore, by all means, ask as

many questions as you wish."

"Now, you are a real frog, am I right?"

"Yes, of course, as you can see. A real frog is exactly

what I am. A product neither of metaphor nor allusion

nor deconstruction nor sampling nor any other such

complex process, I am a genuine frog. Shall I croak for

Frog tilted back his head and flexed the muscles of his

huge throat. Ribit! Ri-i-i-bit! Ribit-ribit-ribit! Ribit!

Ribit! Ri-i-i-bit! His gigantic croaks rattled the pictures

hanging on the walls.

"Fine, I see, I see!" Katagiri said, worried about the thin

walls of the cheap apartment house in which he lived.

s great. You are, without question, a real frog."

"One might also say that I am the sum total of all frogs.

Nonetheless, this does nothing to change the fact that I

am a frog. Anyone claiming that I am not a frog would

be a dirty liar. I would smash such a person to bits!"

nhà nghèo, tườ

-"Thôi, thôi".

vàng nói. -"Tôi

the repayment of loans. I have come here to save Tokyo

from destruction."

Katagiri nodded. Hoping to calm himself, he picked up

his cup and swallowed a mouthful of tea.

"You said before that you have come here to save Tokyo

from destruction?"

"That is what I said."

dính dáng gì đế

đây là để bàn

ị phá huỷ đấ

Phòng trọ thì nhỏ

đâu có chỗ

khác ngoài chúng

điên khùng gì đây,

ế là tôi không điên

Katagiri nói dè dặ

ột ngón tay lên, đính chính:

là tôi không

ảy ra. Vì vậy, cho tôi hỏ

được không?"

không có thì

ỏi bao nhiêu câu xin anh cứ

ậu có thật là ếch không?"

đây. Để tôi kêu vài tiếng cho anh nghe nhé".

ể thì tôi là ế

ỉu, tôi sẽ

đập tan nó ..."

ước trà lên uố

-"Vâng, tôi đã nói thế

Mouth dropping open, Katagiri looked at Frog. And

Frog, saying nothing, looked at Katagiri. They went on

staring at each other like this for some time. Next it was

s turn to open his mouth.

"A very, very big earthquake. It is set to strike Tokyo at

eight-thirty a.m. on February 18. Three days from now.

A much bigger earthquake than the one that struck Kobe

last month. The number of dead from such a quake

wouldprobablyexceedahundredandfifty

mostlyfrom accidentsinvolving the

commuter system: derailments, falling vehicles, crashes,

the collapse of elevated expressways and rail lines, the

crushing of subways, the explosion of tanker trucks.

Buildings will be transformed into piles of rubble, their

inhabitants crushed to death. Fires everywhere, the road

system in a state of collapse, ambulances and fire trucks

useless, people just lying there, dying. A hundred and

fifty thousand of them! Pure hell. People will be made to

realize what a fragile condition the intensive collectivity

really is." Frog said this with a gentle

shake of the head. "The epicenter will be close to the

Shinjuku ward office."

"Close to the Shinjuku ward office?"

"To be precise, it will hit directly beneath the Shinjuku

branch of the Tokyo Security Trust Bank."

A heavy silence followed.

"And you," Katagiri said, "are planning to stop this

"Exactly," Frog said, nodding. "That is exactly what I

propose to do. You and I will go underground beneath

the Shinjuku branch of the Tokyo Security Trust Bank to

do mortal combat with Worm."

As a member of the Trust Bank Lending Division,

Katagiri had fought his way through many a battle. He

had weathered sixteen years of daily combat since the

day he graduated from the university and joined the

s staff. He was, in a word, a collection officer

post that carried little popularity. Everyone in his

division preferred to make loans, especially at the time

of the bubble. They had so much money in those days

that almost any likely piece of collateral

was enough to convince loan officers to give

away whatever they were asked for, the bigger the loan

the better their reputations in the company. Some loans,

though, never made it back to the bank: they got "stuck

to the bottom of the pan." It was Katagiri

care of those. And when the bubble burst, the work piled

on. First stock prices fell, and then land values, and

collateral lost all significance. "Get out there," his boss

commanded him, "and squeeze whatever you can out of

đúng vào lúc

nhau ngay trong gi

ị nghiêng ngã,

không còn đườ

sát bên Tòa hành chánh

-"Sát bên Tòa hành chánh quận Shinjuku kia à?"

đúng thì là

ủa ngân hàng Tín dụng an toàn Tokyo đấ

ảng yên lặ

-"Vâng, đúng

Katagiri chui xu

ngân hàng Tín

để đánh nhau vớ

ậu Trùn đấ

"What kind of destruction?"

"Earthquake," Frog said with the utmost gravity.

ột lúc, quan sát vẻ

Là nhân viên

ngân hàng Tín

giành công tác

ngân hàng đầ

p trong kho, ch

chút nhà đấ

đủ để đả

càng có thành tích.

giá, không còn có ý

đám chuyên môn đòi

đồng nào hay đồ

It was not Katagiri but the thugs surrounding him who

got nervous when they saw him so calm and cool. He

soon earned a kind of reputation in their world as a

Now, though, the tough Katagiri was at a total loss.

What the hell was this frog talking about? Worm? "Who

is Worm?" he asked with some hesitation.

"Worm lives underground. He is a gigantic worm. When

he gets angry, he causes earthquakes," Frog said. "And

right now he is very, very angry."

"What is he angry about?" Katagiri asked.

"I have no idea," Frog said. "Nobody knows what Worm

is thinking inside that murky head of his. Few have ever

seen him. He is usually asleep. That

s what he really

likes to do: take long, long naps. He goes on sleeping for

inthewarmthanddarkness

underground. His eyes, as you might imagine, have

atrophied, his brain has turned to jelly as he sleeps. If

d guess he probably isn

anything at all, just lying there and feeling every little

rumble and reverberation that comes his way, absorbing

them into his body, and storing them up. And then,

through some kind of chemical process, he replaces

most of them with rage. Why this happens I have no

idea. I could never explain it."

Frog fell silent, watching Katagiri and waiting until his

words had sunk in. Then he went on:

The Kabukicho neighborhood of Shinjuku was a

labyrinth of violence: old-time gangsters, Korean

mobsters, Chinese mafia, guns and drugs, money

flowing beneath the surface from one murky den to

another, people vanishing every now and then like a puff

of smoke. Plunging into Kabukicho to collect a bad debt,

Katagiri had been surrounded more than once by

mobsters threatening to kill him, but he had never been

frightened. What good would it have done them to kill

one man running around for the bank? They could stab

him if they wanted to. They could beat him up. He was

perfect for the job: no wife, no kids, both parents dead,

brother and sister he had put through college married

off. So what if they killed him? It wouldn

anything for anybody

least of all for Katagiri himself.

t misunderstand me, though. I feel no

personal animosity toward Worm. I don

t see him as the

embodiment of evil. Not that I would want to be his

friend, either: I just think that, as far as the world is

concerned, it is in a sense all right for a being like him to

exist. The world is like a great big overcoat, and it needs

pockets of various shapes and sizes. But right at the

lùng gì ở đấ

ng bao quanh, h

nhân viên quèn đ

ngân hàng mà làm gì.

ị là ngườ

ậu Trùn, là cái quái gì thế

ậu Trùn là ai thế

chút mà tích

ồi nói tiế

cái ác đâu nhé.

cái túi hình

Katagiri reached for his cup of tea, picked it up, and put

t get it," he said. "Why did you choose me to

Frog looked straight into Katagiri

s eyes and said, "I

have always had the profoundest respect for you, Mr.

Katagiri. For sixteen long years, you have silently

acceptedthemostdangerous,leastglamorous

the jobs that others have avoided

you have carried them off beautifully. I know full well

how difficult this has been for you, and I believe that

neither your superiors nor your colleagues properly

appreciate your accomplishments. They are blind, the

whole lot of them. But you, unappreciated and

unpromoted, have never once complained.

"Nor is it simply a matter of your work. After your

parents died, you raised your teenage brother and sister

singlehandedly, put them through college, and even

arranged for them to marry, all at great sacrifice of your

time and income, and at the expense of your own

marriage prospects. In spite of this, your brother and

sister have never once expressed gratitude for your

efforts on their behalf. Far from it: they have shown you

no respect and acted with the most callous disregard for

your loving-kindness. In my opinion, their behavior is

unconscionable. I almost wish I could beat them to a

pulp on your behalf. But you, meanwhile, show no trace

"To be quite honest, Mr. Katagiri, you are nothing much

to look at, and you are far from eloquent, so you tend to

be looked down upon by those around you. I, however,

can see what a sensible and courageous man you are. In

all of Tokyo, with its teeming millions, there is no one

else I could trust as much as you to fight by my side."

"Tell me, Mr. Frog

" Katagiri said. "Please,"

làm mà thôi.

đàn ông mà nuôi

Để làm đượ

ế đâu. Hoàn toàn không.

ậy mà anh cũ

ận chúng chút nào.

moment Worm has reached the point where he is too

dangerous to ignore. With all the different kinds of

hatred he has absorbed and stored inside himself over

the years, his heart and body have swollen to gargantuan

bigger than ever before. And to make

matters worse, last month

s Kobe earthquake shook him

out of the deep sleep he was enjoying. He experienced a

revelation inspired by his profound rage: it was time

now for him, too, to cause a massive earthquake, and

d do it here, in Tokyo. I know what I

about, Mr. Katagiri: I have received reliable information

on the timing and scale of the earthquake from some of

my best bug friends." Frog snapped his mouth shut and

closed his round eyes in apparent fatigue.

re saying is," Katagiri said, "that you and I

have to go underground together and fight Worm to stop

the earthquake."

Thêm vào đó,

mình gây nên

côn trùng thân

ủa tôi. Tin chính xác đấ

ắn không sai".

vì phải nói nhiề

Đúng thế đấ

ại trên bàn.

ọn tôi làm ngườ

-"Anh Katagiri". C

trên và đồ

liêu đã không đánh giá

ẫn không than trách mộ

không có ai khác đâu".

"Tell me, Frog," Katagiri said, "how do you know so

much about me?"

"Well, Mr. Katagiri, I have not been frogging all these

years for nothing. I keep my eye on the important things

"But still, Frog," Katagiri said, "I

m not particularly

strong, and I don

t know anything about what

happening underground. I don

t have the kind of muscle

it will take to fight Worm in the darkness. I

can find somebody a lot stronger than me

does karate, say, or a Self-Defense Force commando."

Frog rolled his large eyes. "To tell you the truth, Mr.

Katagiri," he said, "I

m the one who will do all the

fighting. But I can

t do it alone. This is the key thing: I

need your courage and your passion for justice. I need

you to stand behind me and say,

Way to go, Frog!

re doing great! I know you can win! You

fighting the good fight!

Frog opened his arms wide, then slapped his webbed

hands down on his knees again.

"In all honesty, Mr. Katagiri, the thought of fighting

Worm in the dark frightens me, too. For many years I

lived as a pacifist, loving art, living with nature. Fighting

is not something I like to do. I do it because I have to.

And this particular fight will be a fierce one, that is

certain. I may not return from it alive. I may lose a limb

or two in the process. But I cannot

away. As Nietzsche said, the highest wisdom is to have

no fear. What I want from you, Mr. Katagiri, is for you

to share your simple courage with me, to support me

with your whole heart as a true friend. Do you

understand what I am trying to tell you?"

None of this made any sense to Katagiri, but still he felt

unreal as it sounded

he could believe whatever

Frog said to him. Something about Frog

his face, the way he spoke

had a simple honesty to it

that appealed directly to the heart. After years of work in

the toughest division of the Security Trust Bank,

Katagiri possessed the ability to sense such things. It

was all but second nature to him.

"I know this must be difficult for you, Mr. Katagiri. A

huge frog comes barging into your place and asks you to

believe all these outlandish things. Your reaction is

perfectly natural. And so I intend to provide you with

proof that I exist. Tell me, Mr. Katagiri, you have been

having a great deal of trouble recovering a loan the bank

made to Big Bear Trading, have you not?"

có tài cán gì, mà

là không đủ

khác có tài trí

là lính biệt kích, chẳ

đôi mắt, tròng mắ

mình tôi thì không đấ

khí và chính

ậu có chính nghĩ

ỗ đánh đét lên hai đầ

hòa bình cùng

nhiên, yêu thích

hoàn toàn không thích

mà tôi không

nâng đỡ tôi

ừ tâm-thành

ạn thân. Anh có hiể

ế cho tôi không?"

Frog said, raising one finger again. "Call me

s true," Katagiri said.

lên, đính chính:

-"Tôi làm thân ế

Đời có gì cầ

chân thành, kêu

ế đã đượ

ư là thiên tính

-"Anh Katagiri n

xông vào nhà,

i hoang mang. Ph

ự nhiên thôi.

ế nên tôi đị

ương Higashi Ôkuma đấy không?"

t worry, Mr. Katagiri. Leave everything to me. By

tomorrow morning, old Frog will have your problems

solved. Relax and have a good night

With a big smile on his face, Frog stood up. Then,

flattening himself like a dried squid, he slipped out

through the gap at the side of the closed door, leaving

Katagiri all alone. The two teacups on the kitchen table

were the only indication that Frog had ever been in

The moment Katagiri arrived at work the next morning

at nine, the phone on his desk rang.

"Mr. Katagiri," said a man

s voice. It was cold and

businesslike. "My name is Shiraoka. I am an attorney

with the Big Bear case. I received a call from my client

this morning with regard to the pending loan matter. He

wants you to know that he will take full responsibility

for returning the entire amount requested by the due

date. He will also give you a signed memorandum to

that effect. His only request is that you do not send Frog

to his home again. I repeat: he wants you to ask Frog

never to visit his home again. I myself am not entirely

sure what this is supposed to mean, but I believe it

should be clear to you, Mr. Katagiri. Am I correct?"

"You are indeed," Katagiri said.

"You will be kind enough to convey my message to

Frog, I trust."

"That I will do. Your client will never see Frog again."

-"Không sai tí nào".

ết hoàn toàn. Anh cứ yên tâm ngủ ngon

đã có ở đây.

"Well, they have a number of extortionists working

behind the scenes, and those individuals are mixed up

with the mobsters. They

re scheming to make the

company go bankrupt and get out of its debts. Your

s loan officer shoved a pile of cash at them without

a decent background check, and, as usual, the one who

left to clean up after him is you, Mr. Katagiri. But you

having a hard time sinking your teeth into these fellows:

re no pushovers. And there may be a powerful

politician backing them up. They

re into you for seven

hundred million yen. That is the situation you are

dealing with, am I right?"

"You certainly are."

Frog stretched his arms out wide, his big green webs

opening like pale wings.

"Thank you very much. I will prepare the memorandum

for you by tomorrow."

"I appreciate it," Katagiri said.

The connection was cut.

Frog visited Katagiri in his Trust Bank office at

"That Big Bear case is working out well for you, I

Katagiri glanced around uneasily.

đây. Nhân viên

anh Katagiri ra

hình tôi hiể

ế, có đúng không anh?"

sau, Katagiri v

ại trên bàn đã reo ngay.

ông đòi đúng

thân tôi có đôi

-"Vâng, tôi hiể

ất rõ". Katagiri đáp.

Ếch giùm cho".

ẽ không đế

ư đến cho ông".

-"Xin ông giúp cho".

ủa Katagiri trong ngân hàng.

Higashi Ôkuma xong rồ

ốt nhìn quanh xem có ai không.

t worry," Frog said. "You are the only one who

can see me. But now I am sure you realize that I actually

exist. I am not a product of your imagination. I can take

action and produce results. I am a real, living being."

"Tell me, Mr. Frog

"Please," Frog said, raising one finger. "Call me

"Tell me, Frog," Katagiri said, "what did you do to

"Oh, nothing much," Frog said. "Nothing much more

complicated than boiling Brussels sprouts. I just gave

them a little scare. A touch of psychological terror. As

Joseph Conrad once wrote, true terror is the kind that

men feel toward their imagination. But never mind that,

Mr. Katagiri. Tell me about the Big Bear case. It

Katagiri nodded and lit a cigarette. "Seems to be."

"So, then, have I succeeded in gaining your trust with

regard to the matter I broached to you last night? Will

you join me to fight against Worm?"

Sighing, Katagiri removed his glasses and wiped them.

"To tell you the truth, I

m not too crazy about the idea,

s enough to get me out of it."

"No," Frog said. "It is a matter of responsibility and

honor. You may not be too

about the idea, but

we have no choice: you and I must go underground and

face Worm. If we should happen to lose our lives in the

process, we will gain no one

s sympathy. And even if

we manage to defeat Worm, no one will praise us. No

one will ever know that such a battle even raged far

beneath their feet. Only you and I will know, Mr.

Katagiri. However it turns out, ours will be a lonely

y, anh Katagiri

nhé.Tôi không

đâu. Tôi đã hành độ

đấy. Tôi có thật và đ

ưa Ông Ếch ..." Katagiri nói.

lên, đính chính:

ch". Katagiri ch

tôi đã làm có

ạ chúng tí chút thôi,

anh Katagiri, chuy

ể cùng tôi đánh

ắt kính ra lau.

ưng có lẽ không làm cũng không đượ

anh Katagiri ph

ứ không còn cách nào khác.

nào thì cũng là mộ

Katagiri looked at his own hand for a while, then

watched the smoke rising from his cigarette. Finally, he

spoke. "You know, Mr. Frog, I

m just an ordinary

please," Frog said, but Katagiri let it

m an absolutely ordinary guy. Less than ordinary. I

m getting a potbelly, I turned forty last

month. My feet are flat. The doctor told me recently that

I have diabetic tendencies. It

s been three months or

more since I last slept with a woman

and I had to pay

for it. I do get some recognition within the division for

my ability to collect on loans, but no real respect. I don

have a single person who likes me, either at work or in

my private life. I don

t know how to talk to people, and

m bad with strangers, so I never make friends. I have

no athletic ability, I

m tone-deaf, short, phimotic,

and astigmatic. I live a horrible life. All I

ả lên từ đ

nói: -"Ông Ế

Katagiri không để ý, anh nói tiế

thôi. Không, còn

Bàn chân thì

ỉ là gái đĩ

là thích tôi

ạ thì tránh, khó làm

hoàn toàn không

Katagiri sighed again, more deeply this time.

"All right then, what do you want me to do?"

Frog told Katagiri his plan. They would go underground

on the night of February 17 (one day before the

earthquake was scheduled to happen). Their way in

would be through the basement boiler room of the

Shinjuku branch of the Tokyo Security Trust Bank.

They would meet there late at night (Katagiri would stay

in the building on the pretext of working overtime).

Behind a section of wall was a vertical shaft, and they

would find Worm at the bottom by climbing down a

150-foot rope ladder.

"Do you have a battle plan in mind?" Katagiri asked.

"Of course I do. We would have no hope of defeating an

enemy like Worm without a battle plan. He is a slimy

creature: you can

t tell his mouth from his anus. And

s as big as a commuter train."

"What is your battle plan?"

After a thoughtful pause, Frog answered,

"Hmm, what is it they say ‘Silence is golden’?"

"You mean I shouldn

s one way of putting it."

"What if I get scared at the last minute and run away?

What would you do then, Mr. Frog?"

"Frog. What would you do then?"

Frog thought about this a while and answered, "I would

fight on alone. My chances of beating him by myself are

perhaps just slightly better than Anna Karenina

chances of beating that speeding locomotive. Have you

read Anna Karenina, Mr. Katagiri?"

When he heard that Katagiri had not read the novel,

Frog gave him a look as if to say, What a shame.

Apparently Frog was very fond of Anna Karenina.

"Still, Mr. Katagiri, I do not believe that you will leave

me to fight alone. I can tell. It

s a question of

which, unfortunately, I do not happen to possess.

Frog laughed with his mouth wide open. Balls were not

all that Frog lacked. He had no teeth, either.

Không có thì

đâu là đầ

đâu là đuôi

tàu trên đườ

ặng là vàng, không nói ra thì tố

ĩa là tôi cũng không nên hỏ

-"Vâng, nói thế

ờ phút chót mà tôi

nói. -"Xác-suấ

c Anna Karenina ch

ậu thích cuố

t anh Katagiri s

mình tôi đâu. Nói

là dái, thì loài ế

chúng tôi không có thôi.

có dái đã đành, mà ră

ũng không có nố

do is eat, sleep, and shit. I don

living. Why should a person like me have to be the one

to save Tokyo?"

"Because, Mr. Katagiri, Tokyo can only be saved by a

person like you. And it

s for people like you that I am

trying to save Tokyo."

Unexpected things do happen, however.

Katagiri was shot on the evening of February 17. He had

finished his rounds for the day and was walking down

the street in Shinjuku on his way back to the Trust Bank

when a young man in a leather jacket leaped in front of

để làm gì.

ậy thì, tôi phải làm cái gì đây?"

ngân hàng Tín

ớ làm thêm để ở

ại trong toà nhà.

ện không đoán trướ

ợ vòng vòng, lúc

ề phía ngân hàng,

When he woke up, he was in bed. He opened one eye,

took a moment to survey his surroundings, and then

opened the other eye. The first thing that entered his

field of vision was a metal stand by the head of the bed

and an intravenous feeding tube that stretched from the

stand to where he lay. Next he saw a nurse dressed in

white. He realized that he was lying on his back on a

hard bed and wearing some strange piece of clothing,

under which he seemed to be naked.

Oh yeah, he thought, I was walking along the sidewalk

when some guy shot me. Probably in the shoulder. The

right one. He relived the scene in his mind. When he

remembered the small black gun in the young man

hand, his heart made a disturbing thump. The sons of

bitches were trying to kill me! he thought. But it looks as

if I made it through OK. My memory is fine. I don

have any pain. And not just pain: I don

feeling at all. I can

t lift my arm . . .

The hospital room had no windows. He could not tell

whether it was day or night. He had been shot just before

five in the evening. How much time had passed since

then? Had the hour of his nighttime rendezvous with

Frog gone by? Katagiri searched the room for a clock,

but without his glasses he could see nothing at a

"Excuse me," he called to the nurse.

re finally awake," the nurse said.

hình dáng cái giá

ừ đó thòng

anh. Khi anh nh

mà mình không

À không, đâu

ơ cánh tay lên cũng không đượ

ng? Katagiri ng

phòng không, vì không có

nên không nhìn rõ đượ

s face was a blank, and he gripped a small

black gun in one hand. The gun was so small and so

black it hardly looked real. Katagiri stared at the object

s hand, not registering the fact that it was

aimed at him and that the man was pulling the trigger. It

all happened too quickly: it didn

t make sense to him.

But the gun in fact went off.

Katagiri saw the barrel jerk in the air and, at the same

moment, felt an impact as though someone had struck

his right shoulder with a sledgehammer. He felt no pain,

but the blow sent him sprawling on the sidewalk. The

leather briefcase in his right hand went flying in the

other direction. The man aimed the gun at him again. A

second shot rang out. A small eatery

signboard exploded before his eyes. He heard people

screaming. His eyeglasses had flown off, and everything

was a blur. He was vaguely aware that the man was

approaching with the pistol pointed at him. I

die, he thought. Frog had said that true terror is the kind

that men feel toward their imagination. Katagiri cut the

switch of his imagination and sank into a weightless

"What time is it?"

She looked at her watch. "Nine-fifteen."

"Nine-fifteen a.m.?" Katagiri groaned, barely managing

ỏ quá và đ

có cái cò súng

và không có ý

au. Katagiri nh

n. Katagiri ngh

ng ra. Katagiri

mình, và chìm sâu vào cái

-"Cô ơi". Katagiri lên tiế

ọi cô y tá.

-"Bây giờ là mấ

Cô y tá lướt nhìn đồ

eo tay: -" 9 gi

-"Cái anh nầy. Sáng rồ

i sao?" Katagiri h

The nurse shook her head. "Not as far as I know."

He breathed a sigh of relief. Whatever had happened, the

earthquake at least had been averted.

s my wound doing?"

"Your wound?" she asked. "What wound?"

"Where I was shot."

"Yeah, near the entrance to the Trust Bank. Some young

guy shot me. In the right shoulder, I think."

The nurse flashed a nervous smile in his direction. "I

sorry, Mr. Katagiri, but you haven

t? Are you sure?"

"As sure as I am that there was no earthquake this

Katagiri was stunned.

"Then what the hell am I doing in a hospital?"

ộng dài giữa ban ngày? Katagiri chẳ

to lift his head from the pillow. The ragged noise that

emerged from his throat sounded like someone else

voice. "Nine-fifteen a.m. on February 18?"

"Right," the nurse said, lifting her arm once more to

check the date on her digital watch. "Today is February

t there a big earthquake in Tokyo this morning?"

"Somebody found you lying in the street, unconscious.

In the Kabukicho neighborhood of Shinjuku. You didn

have any external wounds. You were just out cold. And

t found out why. The doctor

d better talk to him."

Lying in the street unconscious? Katagiri was sure he

had seen the pistol go off aimed at him. He took a deep

breath and tried to get his head straight. He would start

by putting all the facts in order.

re telling me is, I

ve been lying in this

hospitalbed,unconscious,sinceearlyevening

yesterday, is that right?"

"Right," the nurse said. "And you had a really bad night,

Mr. Katagiri. You must have had some awful

nightmares. I heard you yelling,

Frog! Hey, Frog!

did it a lot. You have a friend nicknamed

Katagiri closed his eyes and listened to the slow,

rhythmic beating of his heart as it ticked off the minutes

of his life. How much of what he remembered had

actually happened, and how much was hallucination?

Did Frog really exist, and had Frog fought with Worm to

put a stop to the earthquake? Or had that just been part

of a long dream? Katagiri had no idea what was true

Frog came to his hospital room that night. Katagiri

awoke to find him in the dim light, sitting on a steel

folding chair, his back against the wall. Frog

18 tháng 2 nă

không có độ

thì không có

đất nào lớ

ẹ nhõm. Dù gì đ

thì đã tránh đượ

ủa tôi có sao không cô?"

ương nào?" Cô y tá ngạc nhiên.

ngân hàng Tín

Cô y tá nhếch môi cười, có vẻ

ổ quá. Anh Katagiri có bị súng bắ

-"Tôi không bị

đã chẳng có trậ

đất nào cả

ẳng còn hiểu ra làm sao nữ

y anh Katagiri n

hôn mê trên đườ

Kabukichô. Không có

rõ nguyên nhân

ảy ra. Anh nói:

ế thì tôi đã

ều hôm qua trong trạng thái bấ

qua anh Katagiri

ả đêm đấ

Ếch là biệ

ạn anh không?"

a anh. Katagiri v

"Frog!" Katagiri called out to him.

Frog slowly opened his eyes. His big white stomach

swelled and shrank with his breathing.

"I meant to meet you in the boiler room at night the way

I promised," Katagiri said, "but I had an accident in the

something totally unexpected

brought me here."

Frog gave his head a slight shake. "I know. It

t worry. You were a great help to me in my fight,

"Yes, you were. You did a great job in your dreams.

s what made it possible for me to fight Worm to

the finish. I have you to thank for my victory."

t get it," Katagiri said. "I was unconscious the

whole time. They were feeding me intravenously. I don

remember doing anything in my dreams."

s fine, Mr. Katagiri. It

s better that you don

remember. The whole terrible fight occurred in the area

of imagination. That is the precise location of our

battlefield. It is there that we experience our victories

and our defeats. Each and every one of us is a being of

limited duration: all of us eventually go down to defeat.

But as Ernest Hemingway saw so clearly, the ultimate

value of our lives is decided not by how we win but by

how we lose. You and I together, Mr. Katagiri, were

able to prevent the annihilation of Tokyo. We saved a

hundred and fifty thousand people from the jaws of

death. No one realizes it, but that is what we

"How did you manage to defeat Worm? And what did I

"We gave everything we had in a fight to the bitter end.

Frog snapped his mouth shut and took one great breath,

" we used every weapon we could get our hands on,

Mr. Katagiri. We used all the courage we could muster.

Darkness was our enemy

s ally. You brought in a foot-

powered generator and used every ounce of your

strength to fill the place with light. Worm tried to

frighten you away with phantoms of the darkness, but

you stood your ground. Darkness vied with light in a

horrific battle, and in the light I grappled with the

monstrous Worm. He coiled himself around me, and

bathed me in his horrid slime. I tore him to shreds, but

still he refused to die. All he did was divide into smaller

pieces. And then... "

bulging green eyelids were closed in a straight slit.

Frog fell silent, but soon, as if dredging up his last ounce

of strength, he began to speak again.

ch". Katagiri g

ồng lên xẹ

nói: -"Tôi đã đị

i lo. Anh Katagiri

-"Tôi đã giúp cậ

y. Anh Katagiri

đã giúp tôi

ế mà tôi đánh

Tôi hoàn toàn

không nhớ mình đã làm gì trong giấ

ế mà đượ

Ernest Hemingway

mà trên cách

ưng chúng ta đã đạ

ế nào mà đánh

tôi thì đã làm được gì?"

ối cùng, chúng ta ..."

ánh sáng vào

và ánh sáng công phá

tôi đã đánh

tôi, trét lên thân

ảnh ra thôi. Thế

ư đã vét đượ

ệng nói tiế

s words seemed to founder.

"Mr. Katagiri, do you mind if I take a brief nap? I am

utterly exhausted."

"Please," Katagiri said. "Take a good, deep sleep."

"I was finally unable to defeat Worm," Frog said,

closing his eyes. "I did manage to stop the earthquake,

but I was only able to carry our battle to a draw. I

inflicted injury on him, and he on me. But to tell you the

truth, Mr. Katagiri . . ."

"What is it, Frog?"

"I am, indeed, pure Frog, but at the same time I am a

thing that stands for a world of un-Frog."

t get that at all."

"Neither do I," Frog said, his eyes still closed. "It

feeling I have. What you see with your eyes is not

necessarily real. My enemy is, among other things, the

me inside me. Inside me is the un-me. My brain is

growing muddy. The locomotive is coming. But I really

want you to understand what I

m saying, Mr. Katagiri."

re tired, Frog. Go to sleep. You

ll get better."

"Fyodor Dostoevsky, with unparalleled tenderness,

depicted those who have been forsaken by God. He

discovered the precious quality of human existence in

the ghastly paradox whereby men who had invented God

were forsaken by that very God. Fighting with Worm in

the darkness, I found myself thinking of Dostoevsky

"I am slowly, slowly returning to the mud, Mr. Katagiri.

And yet . . . I . . ."

Frog lost his grasp on words and slipped into a coma.

His arms hung down almost to the floor, and his big

wide mouth drooped open. Straining to focus his eyes,

Katagiri was able to make out deep cuts covering Frog

entire body. Discolored streaks ran through his skin, and

there was a sunken spot on his head where the flesh had

been torn away. Katagiri stared long and hard at Frog,

who sat there now wrapped in the thick cloak of sleep.

As soon as I get out of this hospital, he thought, I

Anna Karenina and "White Nights" and read them both.

ll have a nice long literary discussion about them

Before long, Frog began to twitch all over. Katagiri

assumed at first that these were just normal involuntary

movements in sleep, but he soon realized his mistake.

There was something unnatural about the way Frog

body went on jerking, like a big doll being shaken by

someone from behind. Katagiri held his breath and

watched. He wanted to run over to Frog, but his own

body remained paralyzed. After a while, a big lump

formed over Frog

s right eye. The same kind of huge,

ugly boil broke out on Frog

s shoulder and side, and

then over his whole body. Katagiri could not imagine

-"Fyodor Dostoevsky

-"Anh Katagiri,

không anh? Tôi mệt quá ..."

ậu nên ngủ

-"Tôi đã không

ỉ kéo đượ

Trùn mà thôi.

ứ gì không phải là Cậ

-"Tôi không hiể

định nói gì".

ế thôi. Cái gì

là chính tôi bên

tôi có cái không

là tôi. Đầ

-"Anh Katagiri,

ếu ... tôi có ..."

chìm vào hôn mê.

dài buông thõng

sàn nhà, cái

lõm sâu trên

ả thích mới thôi.

ẹ thân mình. Lúc

tác không đượ

không làm gì đượ

ừ phía trên

Then, all of a sudden, one of the boils burst with a loud

pop. The skin flew off, and a sticky liquid oozed out,

sending a horrible smell across the room. The rest of the

boils started popping, one after another, twenty or thirty

in all, flinging skin and fluid onto the walls. The

sickening, unbearable smell filled the hospital room. Big

black holes were left on Frog

s body where the boils had

burst, and wriggling, maggotlike worms of all shapes

and sizes came crawling out. Puffy white maggots. After

them emerged some kind of small centipedelike

creatures, whose hundreds of legs made a creepy

rustling sound. An endless stream of these things came

crawling out of the holes.

or the thing that must once have been

was totally covered with these creatures

of the night. His two big eyeballs fell from their sockets

onto the floor, where they were devoured by black bugs

with strong jaws. Crowds of slimy worms raced each

other up the walls to the ceiling, where they covered the

fluorescent lights and burrowed into the smoke alarm.

The floor, too, was covered with worms and bugs. They

climbed up the lamp and blocked the light and, of

course, they crept onto Katagiri

s bed. Hundreds of them

came burrowing under the covers. They crawled up his

legs, under his bedgown, between his thighs. The

smallest worms and maggots crawled inside his anus and

ears and nostrils. Centipedes pried his mouth open and

crawled inside one after another. Filled with an intense

despair, Katagiri screamed.

Someone snapped a switch and light filled the room.

"Mr. Katagiri!" called the nurse.

Katagiri opened his eyes to the light. His body was

soaked in sweat. The bugs were gone. All they had left

behind in him was a horrible slimy sensation.

"Another bad dream, eh? Poor dear."

With quick, efficient movements the nurse readied an

injection and stabbed the needle into his arm.

He took a long, deep breath and let it out. His heart was

expanding and contracting violently.

"What were you dreaming about?"

Katagiri was having trouble differentiating dream from

mùi hôi không

ố chân bò đ

đây là thân

Sàn nhà đầ

và trùn. Chúng

kín cái giá đèn bên

ánh sáng. Chúng bò lên

Chúng bò lên chân

Giòi và trùn

ở đèn. Ánh sáng tràn lan trong phòng.

-"Anh Katagiri". Có tiếng cô y tá gọ

-"Anh Katagiri l

ốc vào cánh tay anh.

ại dãn ra gấp gáp.

ấy gì mà ghê thế?" Cô y tá hỏ

-"Cái gì thấ

what was happening to Frog. He stared at the spectacle,

barely breathing.

"What you see with your eyes is not necessarily real," he

told himself aloud.

s so true," said the nurse with a smile. "Especially

where dreams are concerned."

"Frog," he murmured.

"Did something happen to Frog?" she asked.

ết nín thở

ăm chú nhìn quang cả

Ếch". Anh thì thầ

Ếch làm sao?"

Smiling, the nurse toweled the sweat from his forehead.

"You were very fond of Frog, weren

"Locomotive,"Katagirimumbled."Morethan

Then he closed his eyes and sank into a restful,

dreamless sleep.

translated by Jay Rubin

mà bù vào đấ

hôi trên trán Katagiri.

-"Anh Katagiri h

- Deconstruction: Ph

Jacques Derrida, ch

được ý nghĩ

White Nights" c

a Fyodor Dostoevsky, 1821 Moscow.

Phạm Vũ Thịnh dịch 01-2004

n "Kaeru-Kun, Tokyo wo Sukuu"

"He saved Tokyo from being destroyed by an

earthquake. All by himself."

s nice," the nurse said, replacing his near-empty

intravenous feeding bottle with a new one. "We don

need any more awful things happening in Tokyo. We

have plenty already."

"But it cost him his life. He

s gone. I think he went back

ll never come here again."

ấy. Có đủ quá rồ