Translation of Issunboushi

PaiyrxMon, 11 Oct 2010 07:12:51 -0500
今日は、みんなさん!しつもんがあります。
I've just started reading Issunboushi, and I'm just wondering if my translation of this passage is correct:

むかしむかし、あるところにおじいさんとおばあさんがいました。子どもがいなかったのでおじいさんとおばあさんはさびしくて、 「手のゆびほどの小­さいこどもでもいいからおさずけください。」 とおてんとうさまにおねがいしました。ある日、ほんとうに手のゆびくらいのこどもが生まれてきました。おじいさんとおばあさんはよろこびました。
とても小さい男の子だったので、いっすんぼうしという名前をつけ、かわいがってそだてました。だけど、三年たってもいっすんぼうしはちっとも大きくなりません。五年たっても、大きくなりません。十年たっても、いっすんぼうしはまだ生まれたときと同じように手のゆびのたかさの男の子です。おじいさんとおばあさんはしんぱいになりましたが、いくらだいじにしても、いくら食べさせてもいっすんぼうしは大きくなりません。

'Once upon a time, a long way away, there was an old man and woman. Because they didn't have a child, they prayed to Otendousama and said 'Please give us a child, even if he is as small as a finger'. One day, a child who was truly the size of a finger was born, and the old man and woman rejoiced. Because he was a very small boy, they named him Issunboushi and cared for him lovingly. However, even after three years, Issunboushi didn't get any bigger. After five years, he didn't get any bigger. After ten years, Issunboushi was still the size of a finger; the same as when he had been born. The old man and woman became worried, but even when they fed him and cared for him, he wouldn't get bigger.'

I have a few questions regarding the translation..
-What does ’だいじにしても’ mean? Is it something along the lines of 'caring for'?
-I'm not too sure if 'あるところ' actually means 'a long way away' or 'far away'. Is this correct?
-I find the grammar of the second-to-last sentence pretty confusing - could anyone explain why it's ordered in the way it is?

どうもありがとうございました!
Sayaka MatsuuraWed, 13 Oct 2010 00:32:37 -0500
Paiyrx-san,

Konnichiwa!

Your translation is excellent!! Except for perhaps the phrase 'あるところ' (arutokoro) which actually means "at some place/at some location" - (it could be any place)

'だいじにしても’ (daiji ni shitemo) means "Even if they cared for him"

The second-to-last sentence:
十年たっても、いっすんぼうしはまだ生まれたときと同じように手のゆびのたかさの男の子です。
Probably is best to divide it into parts since it's a long sentence:
十年たっても (Even if 10 years had passed / Even after 10 years)
いっすんぼうし は (Issunboushi is)
まだ (still)
生まれたときと (...of the time he was born)
同じように (same as)
手のゆびのたかさの (size of a finger/ literally: "finger height"
男の子です (is a boy)

Here, you could possibly take out 生まれたときと同じように (the same as the time he was born) and look at the shorter sentence:
十年たっても、いっすんぼうしは手のゆびのたかさの男の子です。
"Even if 10 years passed, Issunboushi is/was a boy of the size of a finger."

Hope that helped!

-Sayaka
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