Asa kara ban made, Hatarake do hatarake do, binbō de un ga arimasen deshita.
He worked and worked from dawn to dusk, but he was poor and without luck.
Hatarake is in the imperative form, like somebody is making a request, "Please work". What is the "do" that comes afterwards? I don't think I've ever seen it before.
Aru hi no koto desu. Otoko wa, saigo no shudan toshite, noma zu kuwa zu de, kannon sama ni o-inori shimashita.
Then one fateful day when the honest but unlucky man had not eaten or drank and things looked bleak, he prayed to Kannon, the God of Mercy.
I understand "aru hi" means "one day" or "a certain day" but why the "no koto"? That makes it "one day's things". How would you translate "no koto" in this example?
Suruto, yūgata kuraku natta toki, kannon san ga me no mae ni araware, kō iimashita.
Then, when evening came, Kannon, the God of Mercy, appeared before the man's very eyes and spoke the following words.
I think this means, "It is said that..." or "people say that..." Am I correct?
Nanno yaku ni mo tatanai to omoimashita ga, otoko wa, wara o motte nishi ni aruite ikimashita.
He thought to himself, "Of what possible use could this be!", but he took the stalk of straw and headed west.
Nanno - what kind; what sort
yaku - use
tateru - to build
"Nanno yaku ni mo tatanai...." - "what kind of use to not build..." - How do I make sense of this? Does "tatanai" mean something else? I don't understand the particles either.
Utsukushii nuno o mite, samurai wa, uma to kōkan suru yō ni iu to, nuno o motte higashi no hō e itte shimaimashita.
The samurai saw the beautiful cloth, and proposed a trade for the horse.
The "to" here suggests a quotation but "you ni iu" can't be inside that quotation. "You ni iu" is what is said when describing another person's instructions, not your own. The samurai can't say, "uma to kōkan suru yō ni iu" because that doesn't mean, "uma to kōkan shite" - so why does the "to" come after "you ni iu"?
The rich man invited the man back to his house.
Otoko wa chōja san no ie ni manekaremashita.
What is the plain form of this verb and what does it mean? The kanji is "招かれました" if that helps. I can't find it in any dictionary.
Musume san ga, chōja san to otoko ni, ocha o motte kimashita. Nanto, otoko ga mikan o ageta musume san deshita.
When they arrived at the house, a young woman brought the two men some tea. The young woman, daughter of the rich man, was none other than the young woman from the side of the road!
The dictionary tells me that "nanto" means "what, how, whatever" but none of those seem to fit here. Is there a better translation for it?
Chōja san wa, fushigi na en to otoko no yasashisa ni kokoro utare, musume o otoko ni totsugaseru koto ni shimashita.
The rich man was deeply impressed by the man's kindness and the remarkable fate of their meeting, and he gave his blessing for their marriage.
ni kokoro utare - The rich man was "struck in his heart"? Like, he was shocked?
The word order in "musume o otoko ni totsugaseru" is very confusing, why doesn't the direct object ("musume") come directly before the verb? I would have guessed "otoko ni musume o totsugaseru" would be more correct.
Otoko wa, kannon sama ni iwareta tōri, wara i-ppon de chōja ni narimashita.
The man carried out Kannon's orders exactly as he was told, and with just one stalk of straw he became a rich man
The only thing in the dictionary for "toori" is "to pass (by); to go through; to walk along; to pass exams; to attend (e.g. school)", none of those definitions work here. What is a better translation?
Medetashi, mededashi.
The end.
The dictionary says "medetashi" means "wonderful". Is it commonly used as "the end"?
