THE ADVENTURES OF HUCKLEBERRY FINNで主人公が詐欺師の二人に二人の部屋に黒人が出入りするのを見たと嘘をついたあとの詐欺師の台詞です。
"It does beat all how neat the niggers played their hand. They let on to be SORRY they was going out of this region! And I believed they WAS sorry, and so did you, and so did everybody. Don't ever tell ME any more that a nigger ain't got any histrionic talent. Why, the way they played that thing it would fool ANYBODY. In my opinion, there's a fortune in 'em. If I had capital and a theater, I wouldn't want a better lay-out than that -- and here we've gone and sold 'em for a song. Yes, and ain't privileged to sing the song yet. Say, where IS that song -- that draft?"
今日の話題は上記台詞の中の "for a song" ですが、いつもと違ってこの慣用句は数年前に覚えて意味（OneLook Quick Definitions: for a relatively small amount of money ）は知っているものですが、由来が気になったので調べて見ました。 まず分かったのは、この表現は次に引用するシェークスピアの作品から来たのでした。
Phrase for a song is from "All's Well That Ends Well" Act 3, Scene 2
Clown: Why, he will look upon his boot and sing; mend the ruff and sing; ask questions and sing; pick his teeth and sing. I know a man that had this trick of melancholy sold a goodly manor for a song.
シェークスピアからと言うのは分かりましたが、これだけでは何故 "for a song" が "for a little money" になったのか余りピンと来ません。 しかし、American Heritage Dictionary次ぎの説明があったので納得です。
This idiom alludes to the pennies given to street singers or to the small cost of sheet music. [Late 1500s]
"It does beat all how neat the niggers played their hand. They let on to be SORRY they was going out of this region! And I believed they WAS sorry, and so did you, and so did everybody. Don't ever tell ME any more that a nigger ain't got any histrionic talent. Why, the way they played that thing it would fool ANYBODY. In my opinion, there's a fortune in 'em. If I had capital and a theater, I wouldn't want a better lay-out than that -- and here we've gone and sold 'em for a song. Yes, and ain't privileged to sing the song yet. Say, where IS that song -- that draft?"
今日の話題は上記台詞の中の "for a song" ですが、いつもと違ってこの慣用句は数年前に覚えて意味（OneLook Quick Definitions: for a relatively small amount of money ）は知っているものですが、由来が気になったので調べて見ました。 まず分かったのは、この表現は次に引用するシェークスピアの作品から来たのでした。
Phrase for a song is from "All's Well That Ends Well" Act 3, Scene 2
Clown: Why, he will look upon his boot and sing; mend the ruff and sing; ask questions and sing; pick his teeth and sing. I know a man that had this trick of melancholy sold a goodly manor for a song.
シェークスピアからと言うのは分かりましたが、これだけでは何故 "for a song" が "for a little money" になったのか余りピンと来ません。 しかし、American Heritage Dictionary次ぎの説明があったので納得です。
This idiom alludes to the pennies given to street singers or to the small cost of sheet music. [Late 1500s]
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