Mya Than Tint - International Modern Classics Short Stories

The father and son were sitting by the fire near the entrance of the hut, with a sigh. Inside the hut, his wife, Budi, was suffering from a rare form of convulsions. The sound of her shrieking made it seem as if both their hearts had stopped beating. It was a winter night. The whole village was silent and shrouded in darkness.

“They’ve been working all day, I think the girl’s condition is pretty bad, come in and take a look, ” Su said.

"What's the big deal, father? It's better if you die quickly," replied Mamadhava.

"You're such a cruel guy. Don't you even have mercy on your wife, who's been with you for a year?"

“I don’t want to see him suffer like this, father.” “Their father and son were shoemakers who were notorious in the village. Su used to work for three days after a single job. His son Madhav didn’t want to strain his muscles. After working for half an hour, he would rest for an hour and smoke. So they didn’t want to do any good work for their father and son. Even if there was a handful of rice in the house, they wouldn’t do any good work. So after not eating for two days, Su climbed a tree and cut branches. His son Makhav sold sheep in the market. If he had a little money from selling firewood, he wouldn’t work any more. When there was no food, he would cut firewood and sell it. Otherwise, he would do some other work.

There is no shortage of work for their farming village. If they want to work, there is a lot of work. But they are forced to work without any problem. If they are called, they work together. If they are called, they work together. If they are just two people, I don't think they need to practice the Dhamma of contentment. They are two people who are content with whatever they get.

Their life was also quite strange. There was nothing else in the hut except two or three earthen pots. The clothes they wore were worn out, but they were only worn out. They were in debt. But as the saying goes, "A wife with a lot of debt is a wife with a lot of money." They did not worry about it. They were always poor, so their friends would lend them money. They never had to pay back their debts. When the beans and potatoes were in season, they would steal from other people's fields. Sometimes they would steal from other people's sugarcane fields. So they lived in this world for sixty years. Their son, Dhab, was also a great son, and he was able to follow in the footsteps of his father. He was a month older than his father, and even worse than his father. | Ghisu's wife had died a long time ago. Madhab had only been married about a year ago. When he got married, his wife tried to organize their household. He still maintains it. His wife drives the cart. She mows the grass. In this way, he feeds two lazy and strong adults. Since he arrived, his father and son have become more lazy than before. Not only that, their spirits have also risen. If you call them to work, they are much better. Now, the daughter-in-law and wife who have been feeding them are unable to give birth and are dying. They do nothing. They are waiting for the sun to die so that they can sleep peacefully.

Gisu continued to peel the stolen potatoes after they were roasted.

“Go and see, I don’t know if there are any bad or evil spirits in the village. I think I’m possessed by a witch. I don’t know if it will go away if I call a healer. But the problem is that in our village, you have to pay at least one kyat to a witch doctor.”

Madhav didn't want to go inside. He was afraid that his father would eat all the baked potatoes as he went inside. "I don't dare go inside, father, I'm afraid." "What's so scary? If I were here alone, father, go and see for yourself." "You were waiting for me when you were my mother. I was by her side for three days until she died. Do you want to go? Your wife must be shy. I haven't even seen her face properly. Now, when I'm still in pain, I'm afraid that I'll go. At this point, I won't even be able to put on clothes. When I get there, I won't be able to move my legs or arms to relieve her pain."

"When a baby is born, it's a disaster. We don't even know what to do. We have nothing at home, no oil, no palm oil, nothing at all."

“Don’t worry, it will come naturally, you god-carved mouth, I refused to give you any leftover rice today, but if a child is born , they will give you money from here and there. I have given birth to nine children , and each time I give birth, I have nothing in my house, but this is what God has done for me.” “• People who sweat day and night are not lying. Those who know the weaknesses of farmers and take advantage of them are the ones who prosper. Therefore, it is not surprising that Su has such an attitude. Su has no qualifications to be praised for choosing the path of easy living rather than working hard and suffering. Therefore, those who do not work and suck the blood of their lazy fellow villagers can earn money in the village, The ruler is a man who does not suck blood. However, it is obvious that Su is not rich, and he does not have to work hard like others. Moreover, he does not have anything to suck blood from, so he does not have to worry about anything. " The two of them picked up the potatoes from the pile of ashes and ate them while they were still hot. They had not eaten anything for about two days. So they could not wait for the potatoes to cool. They ate them while they were hot, and their tongues burned. The father and son ate the potatoes as quickly as they could until tears fell from their eyes. While eating like this, Su remembered the wedding of the landowner he had attended twenty years ago . At that time, he did not think about it. Every time he went back, he felt a sense of regret. " I will never forget that landowner's wedding. This is the only time in my life that I have ever eaten so much. I will never forget it. The cakes served were so delicious. The smell of butter was so sweet. Everyone who came to the wedding was served, not only that, but also other foods were plentiful. It was delicious. There was yogurt. There were four cups of curry. They also served sweets. I can't even describe how delicious it was. And I ate so much that my stomach was full. I couldn't even drink water after eating. The people who served the rice and the curry were so good. It was so good. | I told them not to eat it and they couldn't even cover the banana with their hands. They forced me to eat it in front of them. After eating and drinking, they washed their hands and then they brought me some betel leaves. But that day, where would I chew betel leaves? I couldn't even get up from my seat. When I got home, I was so tired. "What can I say? I just slept. The landowner fed me that day, and I was so kind."

Mabe imagined his father's food and savored it in his mind.

"These days, there are no such foods anymore, Father."

"Oh, how can they feed us these days? Back then, they were all over the place, but now people are saving up. They don't charge a lot of money for weddings and funerals anymore. They've started to do it on a small scale. I don't know what they do with the money they've sucked from the poor. That's all they have."

"What are you going to do with the money? It's easy to suck blood. It's easy to waste." ""Dad must have eaten about twenty cakes back then." "Where else? It's a lot."

"If I were you, I would have eaten about fifty." "Well, I think I ate that much. At that time, I was young and chubby (I'm nine years old, you're not even half the size I was then." "After eating the baked potatoes and drinking water, the father and son were lying down by the stove, their foreheads touching their knees, their bodies wrapped around their bodies. It was like two giant pythons curling up together.

When Madhava entered the tent in the morning, his wife, Budhi, was dead and cold. Flies were swarming on her face. Her eyes were bulging and staring . Her body was covered in dust. The baby had died in her womb.

Madhav ran outside. The father and son were crying loudly. When the neighbors heard their cries, they came running and spoke their usual words of comfort.

But there was no time to mourn. They had to buy a shroud to cover the body. They had to find firewood to burn the head. Like a kite's nest, their money was scarce. - The father and son came to the landowner's house, weeping and lamenting. The landowner did not even want to look at them. He had often beaten them for stealing beans and potatoes from his fields, and for not coming back when he had work to do.

"Old man, why are you crying again? Go... I don't want to see your faces. What, you don't want to live in this village anymore? Should I drive you out of the village?"

Gisu kicked the ground with his forehead. Tears welled up in his eyes.

“Master, I am in trouble. Last night, Madhava’s wife died. Last night, Loki suffered a lot. We sat by her side all night and watched her. We tried all the medicines we could find and tried to take care of her as best we could. But finally we had to give up. Now we have nothing to eat and drink, and we are in trouble. We don’t even have money to pay for the funeral. So if you don’t save your disciple, no one will. When we take care of him, there will be nothing left. So, the Master will finish his work. There is no one else to ask for help.”

The landowner was a kind and compassionate man. (However, he could not show pity for Suu. It would be useless to pity him. So he wanted to drive him away, saying, “Go away... if you have something to ask, you will not come to me. You will only come to me when you have an emergency.”) “But now is not the time to scold. It is not the time to be angry. The landowner angrily threw two kyats at him. But he did not say a word of consolation. He did not even look at Gee Suu. . . “If the landowner himself gave two kyats, the village merchants and shopkeepers would not dare to refuse. Gee Suu knew that if he used the landowner’s name to ask for help, he would get it. One gave one kyat. The other gave one kyat. From one he got rice and from the other he got firewood. Around noon, the father and son went to the market to buy cloth to cover the body. The neighbors had left everything they had to do for the body.

The compassionate women of the village also came to mourn the loss of the unfortunate Buddha and wept as they watched.