~takbum gyal ~translated by namchuk don’t abandon the past it can teach you a lesson about life, also help to pursue your future. -anonymous The sun trembling and gathering all its brightness back into a circled reddish ray. The formation of the house and the fence in this valley appearing yellow under the zephyr of evening as if it was stained by a golden-colour. And the less number of trees are grown scattered with different distances at river bank which gave a slightest live to this paled clad-less valley. Sound of the fluctuation of river which is neither too loud or nor too weak, and the smoke of fire-cleanse making all its way afar from every house of the village, and on addition, a huge pine tree at the top of village gave a vision of a world from the ancient fairy tales…And this village also used to stretch down an old long saga through many generations. Usually, when the sun climbed on that western hill, all the children of the village used to gathered in a circle around the pine tree to hear the ancient tales. Today, also like usual, all the children of the village are already gathered themselves together under that huge tree but they are completely in silence, discussing nothing about anything each other. Oh.. someone was absent from them, who is that person might be?? oh yes,,an old lady named luku kyi is not there today, who used to narrate them diffent kind of stories. All the children called her “narrator-mother”. A week ago, she passed away.. just before that evening, before she died.. she sat down under that tree, gathered her wrinkles forehead and glanced long distanced away with her deepened old eyes with a long sigh of lament and elegy.. if you look down from here you can see a couple of water-girls with their utensils and a couple of man with their ride(horse), going here and there at that distant river bank. “what is that?” Narrator-mother made her eyes toward the other side of the river and saw a person with his own burden descending from that narrow-road with his walking-stick. Probably, he might be a pilgrim and, through all these years narrator-mother used to see lots of pilgrims in their torn old clothes like this.. “a beggar, haha” “narrator-mother!, let hear us story” “please, narrator-mother” Now, she come to know that children are waiting eagerly to narrate her stories and she rub the ring on her left finger as she usually do and, here she begin the story “once upon a time there was a sympathised young man… he dont have wife though he was already at twenty eight…. you know why? because he was poor.. He woke up early in the morning before the dawn and made to the hill to collect the firewood… at the time when sun is at the top of the mountain he descend down with huge weighed firewoods… how fortunate it will be, if that is all he have to do in a day… but he have to sell it to landlord tendak. Though he arrived at landlord he have to respect the manager with all his appealing way to make him feel good.. at last, after the evening twilight, that manager will thrust out meagre amount of coin on the table in front of him as a daily wage…after given the money, then he can have his meal with other servants wiping his sweats,, how difficult it was” she always bring out this story after narrating a fairlytale-like story to the children. Though she dont know how many time she had been narrated it before, children dont even lost their interest and listening eagerly even without moving their eyes as if they are hearing it at very first time, asking “what happened then?” usually she always stopped here and didnt continue further through the story up to the end even once a time.. “please, narrator-mother tell us” “where is that beggar gone” she stretch her neck toward that narrow road without responding to the children. “he must have gone.. then what happened narrator-mother?” after lingering her eye for a while staring at the opposite side where the narrow way lied, she gathered her eye-sight back and said “i used to tell this every time ..you dont feel annoyed?” “no, we don’t children sound all in one, loudly. when she narrate that conclusion-less story her turning of phrases have a huge change within time to time, opening her eyes more bigger and her mouth to express the real essence of the story along with her body movement…. and she has lots of appearance when she narrate that particular story and children don’t ever feel annoyed for that story. “after that” she take a long deep sigh and continued “there was a girl in the circuit of landlord tendak, she is a beautiful girl in her eighteen at that time and left with her genuine childish innocent face. Her parents passed away from long time ago….her reddish cheeks like an apple with her eternal smile on her face never departed from her beautiful face.. also her eyes are as same as a child, haha!!” narrator-mother laughed at the sudden though she dont ever use to laugh like this ever before. This is the first time to the children to see her in such laughing way, perhaps it is also a last time. “so then.. tell us then” “so then..both of them agreed” “what agreed? means?” “then, one day when that young man went to the manager with his firewoods.. she saw that manager scolded him with extortion.. he end his half of that day under the extortion without anything to eat.. that manager don’t even payed him to eat and he dont have another choice than staying at outside.. after a while that girl,surreptitiously bring a bread and cup of boiled water to him.. he devoured it at the same time and made his pace toward his home. the girl keep following him… when they arrived at a small remote area the young man turn back and ‘what are you dong? if you dont go back, manager will eat you up!’ she was in silence, saying nothing but touching her end of hair tress. ‘run back.. day is about to set’ the boy shouted again… The girl lift her head and take a look toward the trembling sun gathering all its brightness back and then, again stay silent touching her tress with her eyes down.. ‘what!? can’t lose that piece of bread?’he sounds irritated and showing her all his rough appearance.. She was frightened suddenly and keep staring at him… after staring for a while he is showing a secret smile from his eye…and they stared each other for a while and both of them broke into laugh when they lose their patience. Narrator mother stopped at the sudden and keep staring at that deep ravine down below afar.. “narrator mother…then, after that” children shouted more louder and pleading her to be continue.. “what is that?… look” narrator mother keep looking very carefully without moving her eyes toward the deep ravine below. A beggar in all his torn clothes drinking water with his palm in the river, he seems like feeling very thirsty after wandering from long distant.. “he is that beggar before” “is that him?” narrator mother gave her left-out piece of bread to a child and requested “go and give this to that beggar,, how poor he is”. “no…i want to listen the story” the child shook his body expressing he cant do that. “i will not tell the rest until you back..now go” “dont continue till i back then” she nodded her head by taking a long deep sigh.. The boy come back running and panting at the same time.. that beggar already went down by keeping the bread in his bag. “is he gone?” narrator-mother again rub her ring and continued “where we left? oh yes.. both of them agreed each other.. and they cant even stay apart for a shortest period, if one doesnt eat, one also stay eating nothing… but both of them depend their livelihood to landlord tendak and they cant stay as they wish.. so they try to make their rendezvous after the nightfall under the moon by loopholing to very secret and remote area where no one can see them. is they will have a joyful and perpetual life ahead?” “yes..they will” all of the children answered in one voice, almost shouting. “you all wrong” narrator-mother gathered all her wrinkles forehead and continued with a lamenting voice “they cant..when landlord tendak come to know about their preparation for marriage, he proclaimed them to not to see each other… the girl cried three days consecutively without eating anything,,but she stopped crying after that and at the same night they planned to elope afar from that village… unfortunately, oh god.. landlord immediately send some of his men to forbid them and they caught out just in a span time of a dinner..” at this spot, narrator-mother cried desperately. “narrator-mother, what happened?” “dont cry” some of children making noise and others are wondered and giggling.. one or two of them felt quite afraid and rushed back to their home. “narrator-mother dont cry” She wiped her tears by sleeve of her clothes and said “you know..how they have beaten up” she then shake her head in despair and continued “both of them tightened with a rope and taken back,, then that heartless manager beat up the young man even he was soaked in blood and the girl lost her consciousness while she try to cover him up and got hit on her back. After few days that brutish manager come to the young man and announced that he dont have allowed to live here anymore and the he got banished to other place. they meet once a time before he departed and she saw a huge scar on his fohead just at that time…when the girl gradually touched her trembling hand on the scar he cant stretch his patient any longer with the sadness of departure and gave her a ring which is from his forefathers and said ‘dont feel depressed.. there will be time that we can be together..i will make my abode in a tranquil world and come to take you..you must have to wait for me’. from that time she wait for him. you dont have any idea how she wait in what condition” narrator-mother shook her head and take a deep breath looking at the setting sun. there he appears, again, the beggar come into their eye.. he is begging in front of a house with his burden on his back.. at this time non of the children plead her to continue the story as they do before, they all fallen in a deep silence as if they feel downhearted and trying to encourage that young man and girl with their sympathy. “how poor he is….i wish they will give him a lodge” narrator-mother gathered her wrinkles and continued with the story “oh yes..you dont know how she waited for him…it been exact three years..at that same year that heartless manager lost his wife to death and he coercion the girl to be his wife..because of that she escaped to another village and live there with an old couple as a foster daughter, there was a huge tree beside their house” The story ends here…it is hard to tell if this is the really end of the story. She didnt continue with the story further from that point..And who knows if that evening would be her last evening of life. now, its the end of her to narrate the story without any sense of least difficulty and she cant awake from her last dream.. Also the children dont have any more opportunity to support their hand beneath the head and listen to those wonderful tales eagerly. At the following evening, that beggar standing at the funeral of narrator mother and “you dont know..i am in search of you along all these several years.. i also prepared a tranquillity abode for us.” Murmuring himself by staring at the funeral as if he is calling back the spirit which is gone afar from him. There is a old dim scar on his tautened thin-skinned forehead which is not emerge that much clear though. When the sun already set down behind the western hill by trembling and gathering the brightness, a fairytale-like story which arises from this valley indeed end at all.
Posted on: Sat, 02 Aug 2014 16:24:29 +0000
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