Week 3: 小川未明童話集 - Ogawa Mimei’s Collection of Children’s Stories

I promised some more explanations, so here goes:

Part I

名を知られなかった - [spoiler]this is 知られる[/spoiler] - Jisho.org - “his name was not known”

~ておりました - this is the same as ~ていました (see 居る - Jisho.org). It is used for various reasons, e.g. to indicate old man’s speech, to indicate humbleness, and it is even used in some dialects.

幾人となく - [spoiler]https://jisho.org/search/となく[/spoiler] - maybe something like “how ever many people”?

しばらく休もうといたしまするうちに - here we have a nice collection of 3 grammar points :sweat_smile: Let’s pick them apart for a bit:

Part II

いつともなしに体が連れてきました - [spoiler]See https://learnjapanesedaily.com/japanese-grammar-ともなく/ともなしに-tomonaku-tomonashini.html[/spoiler] - without knowing when / without realizing, my body got tired.

眠っちゃならない - casual contraction of 眠っては - must not sleep
我慢をしていなくちゃならない - casual contraction of いなければ - must endure

For more information on casual contractions please see this excellent forum post.

麻酔薬をかがされた - causative passive form of 嗅ぐ (to sniff) - was made to inhale

Part III

頼みを聞いてくれぬか - ぬ is an old form of ない, so this is the same as くれないか or くれませんか

頼まれれば - [spoiler]The ば-form has the meaning of “if”. See Conditionals – Learn Japanese

やらぬわけにはゆきません - Again these are two points mingled together a little bit.

  • ゆきません - this is an alternative spelling for 行きません
  • やらないわけには行きません - [spoiler]I have no choice but do (due to circumstances outside of my control). See My Grammar Mastery - Kanshudo

またたくまに - This should be more understandable in kanji: 瞬く間に - in the time of a blink. This is a very common construction that comes in all shapes and sizes, e.g. ああという間に - in the time it takes to say “aaa”, or (as you will see later in this story) 見る間に - while watching. Also the verb 間に合う has the same root - to meet in time.


Hope this list helps you a bit, and happy reading!

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