Story summary
ミクロメガスのあらすじ
- 読了7分
- 7 parts
- 音声は近日公開
A giant from Sirius and a dwarf from Saturn land on Earth and squint to find anyone living there.
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ミクロメガスの概要
要約：読むのに7 minかかります
- 読書時間
- 約30 min20 min fast, 35 min slow
- 所要時間
- 6,680語
- ライブラリ内の難易度
- 標準 longer sentences, everyday words
- 初版刊行年
- 1752by ヴォルテール
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). 古典を読むのにかかる時間 · 更新日
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ミクロメガス in short
Micromegas is a short story built on one idea. A being's sense of its own size is a matter of where it stands. Voltaire sends a giant from Sirius, punished for a curious book, to Saturn and then to Earth.
What ミクロメガス is about
What would a visitor from another star make of us? In this tale, he cannot even find us. A giant from a planet of Sirius, eight leagues tall, steps onto the shore of the Baltic Sea in 1737 and walks around the whole globe in search of living beings. He sees none.
Micromegas was written by Voltaire, the French writer of the Enlightenment. It is a short philosophical tale, told with a straight face and a sly eye. Two huge travelers cross the solar system, and the listener gets a funny, sharp view of war, learning, and vanity.
対象読者. You will love this tale if you enjoy witty satire, early science fiction, and big questions asked with a smile. It suits readers who like Enlightenment ideas and clever looks at human vanity.
The story in 7 parts
Key idea 1 · free to read
A giant is banished for a curious book
The tale opens on a planet that circles the star Sirius. There lives a spirited young man named Micromegas, a name that joins the small and the large. He stands eight leagues tall. The narrator claims he met this visitor on his last trip to what he calls a little anthill.
Then comes a joke about mathematics. Geometers, the narrator says, will rush to calculate the size of the giant's home world. His nose is over 6,000 feet long, and his planet must be 21,600,000 times wider than Earth. Every figure is offered as plain and obvious, and that calm tone is what makes it funny.
Around the age of 450 Micromegas dissects tiny insects and writes a curious book about them. The mufti of his country, an ignorant alarmist, reads it and smells heresy. He worries whether the substantial form of the fleas of Sirius matches that of snails. The trial lasts 220 years. In the end legal experts who have not read the book condemn it, and the author is told to stay away from court for 800 years.
He writes a funny song about the mufti and sets off to see the universe. With a ray of sunlight or a comet he leaps from globe to globe like a bird from branch to branch. A man punished for a curious book becomes a wanderer who sees more than his judges ever will.
- 2無料で読書を始めます
Saturn's dwarfs teach the giant humility
Micromegas crosses the Milky Way and arrives at Saturn.
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Two minds compare senses, lifespans, and discontent
In their first talk, the secretary tries to praise nature with comparisons.
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The travelers hop across planets toward a pitiful candle
As the two philosophers prepare to leave Saturn, the ruler of the planet arrives in tears.
- 5無料で読書を始めます
Two giants cannot find anyone on Earth
After a rest, the travelers eat two mountains for lunch.
- 6無料で読書を始めます
Careful looking shows that small beings can think
Micromegas reaches out with two fingers, draws them back for fear of an error, and then lifts the ship and its crew onto his fingernail.
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Tiny philosophers quarrel about everything, even the soul
Micromegas speaks to the little people with great hope.
Read all 7 key ideas now
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Characters, plot and themes
Main characters
- Micromegas A giant from a planet of Sirius, eight leagues tall, who is banished for a book on insects and sets out to travel and learn.
- The Saturnian secretary A small, spirited secretary of the Academy of Saturn who has invented nothing but understands others' inventions very well, and who joins Micromegas on his voyage.
- The ruler of Saturn A pretty, petite brunette who weeps when her companion leaves to travel with a giant and soon finds comfort elsewhere.
- The mufti An ignorant alarmist of Sirius who finds heresy in a book on fleas and has the author banished from court.
- The thinker who measures A daring philosopher aboard the ship who calculates the dwarf's height from afar and astonishes both travelers.
- The little man in the square hat A scholar of Saint Thomas who tells the visitors that all their worlds were made for humankind.
How it ends (spoiler)
Micromegas promises the little philosophers a beautiful book, written very small for their use, in which they will see the point of everything. Before he leaves he hands it over. It is taken to the Academy of Sciences in Paris. When the old secretary opens it, he finds nothing but blank pages and says he suspected as much.
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『ミクロメガス』についての質問
What is Micromegas about?
It follows a giant from a planet of Sirius and a dwarf from Saturn as they travel to Earth, struggle to find life there, and then speak with a ship of human philosophers about war, learning, and the soul.
What does the name Micromegas mean?
The name joins Greek roots for small and large. It suits a character who is huge in body yet learns that size is a poor measure of worth, and who finds great minds in tiny beings.
Is Micromegas an early science fiction story?
Many readers call it one of the first. It sends travelers across the solar system by comet and sunbeam, uses a microscope and a speaking trumpet, and uses its scale to look back at human life.
Is Micromegas easy to read?
It is short, with seven brief chapters, a clear storyline, and a lively comic voice. The jokes about scholars and quarrels add flavor, and the main scenes can be followed with no background.
What is the main message of Micromegas?
Voltaire argues that we should not judge worth by size, that human pride and war look foolish from far away, and that real wisdom admits how little we know.
この版を引用します
Voltaire. Micromegas. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/micromegas.
Voltaire. (2026). Micromegas. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/micromegas (Original work published 1752)
Voltaire. Micromegas. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/micromegas.
@book{voltaire2026micromegas,
author = {Voltaire},
title = {Micromegas},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/micromegas},
note = {First published 1752}
}
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ミクロメガスの要約を最後まで無料で読めます
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