Maung Kyaw - Smile softly, smile softly

The South is a prison.

In ancient times, among the princes and nobles who came to study with the great teacher Disapamokka, there was a poor man.

When the disciples were fully educated, they paid homage to the teacher and returned to their respective homes. The teacher then taught each of the disciples one by one, until finally it was the turn of the poor man.

The poor boy listened respectfully, wondering what kind of advice the teacher would give him. However, unlike the other students, the teacher did not give him general advice, but...

" My student is poor, so I'll take this child."

He said briefly and gave him only a small knife. The poor man did not listen to the advice as he had hoped, so he left the teacher and went home. On the way, the rain began to fall, and he decided to stop traveling and sleep under a big tree near the edge of the forest. Leaning his head against the root of the tree, he wondered why the teacher had given him a knife and not like the other students. He angrily threw the child into the bushes near the tree and, tired from the journey, fell asleep soon.

When the morning light came, he woke up and was about to continue his journey. At night, he remembered the sword he had thrown away. The master thought that the sword was not worth giving to him for no reason, so he searched for it. He found the sword planted in a mushroom, so he pulled out the mushroom and kissed it. His nose grew long, so he threw the sword away in fear. The sword went and planted itself in a mushroom again.

" Wow.... This sword is made from mushrooms again. I love mushrooms so much... Come try it."

Disappointed that his nose had grown long, his son planted another mushroom. He angrily pulled out both the knife and the mushroom that had been planted in the mushroom and said, "Now... the mushroom that makes my nose grow long, make my nose as long as you want it to be." He angrily kissed the mushroom. Then, the long nose returned to its original shape.

Astonished by the uniqueness of the two mushrooms, he took both mushrooms and continued his journey to his parents' home.

Since arriving in the area where he lived, he had been thinking about using the two mushrooms as a resource to change his family's poverty.

Thus an idea was born. To put the idea into practice, it had to be done as secretly as possible. So he chose the hour of night when everyone was asleep and quietly crept into the garden of the princess. Then he ground the first mushroom he had brought from the forest and sprinkled it on the flowers.

Within a few days, as the poor man had expected, he heard the king's order proclaiming, "The king will reward the one who can make a long-nosed person have a normal nose."

Then the poor man went to the minister who was driving and said, “My lord, I can do it.” The minister said, “Okay... follow me,” and took him to the palace. When he saw the king’s daughter and her attendants, they all had long noses.

The poor man, who had already fulfilled his wish, pretended not to know and asked him what had happened. The king's daughter replied shyly that she and her attendants had picked flowers to decorate the garden and kissed them, which had caused their noses to grow long. The poor man assured her not to worry and that he would cure her with his medicine. His treatment was to kiss the second mushroom he had brought and his daughter and his attendants, who had long noses. Then the daughter and the attendants' long noses returned to their original shape.

When the king heard that his nose had returned to normal, he was overjoyed. The king, as promised, gave the poor man a crown from the mountain and appointed him to a position of royal service.