Help in translation and grammar

Hi I have some sentences which i'm not sure the grammar i applied is correct or whether i interpreted wrongly. Please do help me!

1. むかしむかし あるところに たいへん 足の はやい 男が いまし
た。 あんまり 足が はやいので みんなから 「走る名人」と よばれています。

Long, long time ago, in one/a certain place, there was a man which was very fast (and had great feet??). Its not his feet that is really fast so he is called 'running master' by everyone.

2.「なんだ なんだ そんなに あわてて どうした？」
と 友だちが 聞くと 「走る名人」は
「じつは どろぼうを おいかけて いるんだ」

I understand the contents but i don't understand the use for the とparticles. と 友だちが 聞くと. The first と is a quoting と for the quote to perform the verb to ask (聞く) on the phrase. However i dont understand why the 2nd と is used. Is it a conditional と to mean, "when asked by my friend"?

3. おしょうさんは 人に 分けてやるのが 大きらいで
おいしい物が あると 小ぞうさんに かくれて みんな 食べて しまいます。

The head priests hates sharing things with people. When there is tasty food around, the head priests hides it from the junior monks( and everyone eats it unintentionally)?????

The bracketed portion sounds really weird.

4.子どもたちを 森へ すててきておくれ

Please throw the kids in the forest and come back. (In preparation for something)

捨てておくれ. Is おくれ a combination of the おく grammar after the te form to show that the action is done in preparation for something in the future and くれ which is to say to give me the favour of.. if its the full form shouldnt it be 捨てておくをくれ?

1)
足が/の速い means "to be fleet of foot", as the same structure as 背が高い "to be tall" or 頭がいい "to be clever".
あんまり means "excessively". This is not negative.

2)
Yes, the second と is conditional.
聞く is active, not passive 聞かれる, thus, the subject is 友だち, not 走る名人.
The narrator is not 走る名人, so it's "his friend", not "my friend".

3)
隠れる[かくれる] is intransitive, and the transitive pair is 隠す[かくす]. He hides nothing.
みんな means "all (of the tasty food)". This is the object, not the subject.

4)
"お + the -masu stem of a verb" is a soft/tender imperative form, often said by adults to children.
e.g.
お食べ (tender version of 食べろ/食べなさい)
お行き (tender version of 行け/行きなさい)

Thanks for answering!

1. I thought it was a slang for あまり! Okay understood.

2. If it was in passive form, would it be「なんだ なんだ そんなに あわてて どうした？」
と 友だちが走る名人に聞かれた. (The friend was asked "what, what? What happened for you to be in such a panic?" By 走る名人)

And in this case, is the subject still the friend?

3. So is the correct translation "The head priests hates sharing things with people. When there is tasty food around, the food is hidden from the junior monks and the head priest eats it all.

4. Understood!

Thanks i learned alot

1)
あんまり can be the colloquial/slangy form of both あまり and あまりに（も）. It's the latter there since it's not negative sentence.

お腹はあんまり（＝あまり）空いていない。
お腹があんまり（＝あまりに（も））空きすぎて、倒れそうだ。

2)
Yes. The functions of the two persons, asker and responder, are opposite to the original, though.

3)
As I wrote, 隠れる is intransitive. The subject is おしょうさん.

「なんだ なんだ そんなに あわてて どうした？」
と 友だちが 聞くと 「走る名人」は
「じつは どろぼうを おいかけて いるんだ」
「なに！ そのどろぼうは どこだ？ どこだ？」
「ほれ うしろから 走ってくる」

According to jref, the ren'youkei + てくる (te kuru) can mean "to do something and come back" or it can describe a process that "comes upon you". Sometimes it can even simply describe the way you are coming.

In the last sentence, 後ろから走ってくる(the thief is running from your back (coming towards you?)) Doesn't it seems abit weird?

くる, when it refers to movement, generally refers to movement towards the speaker's current location. The "and return" part comes from the fact that, relative to where you are standing now, the return part of, e.g. 買ってくる is くる from wherever you went to buy something.

"Coming at (you?) from behind" would be an obvious rephrasing.

Hytherion said:

In the last sentence, 後ろから走ってくる(the thief is running from your back (coming towards you?)) Doesn't it seems abit weird?

Click to expand...

うしろ means "behind of me" there.

ほれ うしろから 走ってくる
Look. The thief is running toward me (= the speaker/走る名人) from behind.

It's a joke. You got the meaning?

Toritoribe said:

うしろ means "behind of me" there.

ほれ うしろから 走ってくる
Look. The thief is running toward me (= the speaker/走る名人) from behind.

It's a joke. You got the meaning?

Click to expand...

Oh!!!! I was thinking why would the thief chase the catcher!! Haha ok thx guys i thought it was weird.