Athaw Hla Aung - I'm sorry.

"How are you, my dear? Are your hands tired from harvesting? Look up at the sky. Isn't it beautiful to see the sun shining with the birds?"

A flock of falcons were plucking ears of corn in a field. No one was bothering them. But they spread their manes, raised their heads, and looked to the left, and flew away in a frenzy. It seemed as if they were carrying the sun with their wings.

While Ma Tu was picking rice from the sheaves, Lang turned his eyes to the flock of birds that had flown away at Malay Yu's words. He also spoke back to Malay Yu.

"It's not yet dark, my dear. The work is not yet finished, but we must work quickly. If we work slowly, the French will take all the grain and there will be no food left. Then we will have to go to the forest and eat monkey eggs and goose eggs."

Matu and Malayu stopped talking and continued to sing a song as they continued to weave sheaves.

“The golden rice fields are ripe, the birds are flying far away,

Since it is the first harvest, I intend to offer alms to the Buddha.

Then come back and eat the rest.

There are plenty of straws left for you,

The rice is for us.

Morning and night, we are here,

I had to go to the fields to carry the basket.

The golden yellow rice that we have,

The golden yellow rice we grow ourselves..."

As time passed, the baskets on their backs filled with rice. Malay Yu looked at Matu two or three times. Then he approached Matu and asked.

“Did you go to Thi Ohn Spring to get water this morning?”

"I'm sorry, I've had it three times. Why? I'm thirsty. Go and drink in the tent."

Malay Yu shook her head, brushing back the hair that had fallen onto her forehead with one hand.

“I’m not thirsty, I’m not drinking. I’ll have to ask, Ma Tu. When you arrived at Thi Ohn Sanchaung, didn’t you see Ko Nyo Pu and his friends? They went down to Dahmarchaung, carrying a basket and a knife.”

“I see, Ma’am, brother Nyo Pur, why don’t you go buy salt for this worm?”

Malay Yu stopped what he was doing and spoke to the digger in a low voice.

"No, sister, I went to Nyo Pu's house."

Malay Yu frowned and continued his words.

"The village of "Kang" does not support the French. When did we go with the French when they forced us to work? If they collected taxes from us, we would not pay them, right? If they attacked us, we would abandon the village and flee to the mountains. So if we go to Ankhe, where the French are, we would be arrested and put in prison."

“If they knew, they would definitely arrest me and put me in prison. But my brother Nyo Pu didn’t go to Ankhe. His mother told me that my brother Nyo Pu went to this village.”

"Ko Nyo Pu didn't tell his mother the truth. He wanted to go to An. He really did go to An. He told his mother that he went to this place with his mouth. He also told his mother that he was going to An Khe."

"What are you going to do?"

"I want to see the French"

"I want to see the French, but I'm not afraid of him. What will he do if he gets caught?"

Malay Yu tried to ease the tightness in his chest and told him about the benefits. However, it didn't work out as he expected. The pain only grew.

That morning, Malay Yu met Ko Nyo Pu on his way to Thi Ohn Spring. Ko Nyo Pu was standing on a rock in the middle of the spring. The water flowed over his feet. The water was gentle. However, around the rock, the water rushed against the rock, and foamed up like a fountain. Ko Nyo Pu took a sip of the water from the spring with his hands. Then he handed Malay Yu a woman's sash.

"I gave it to you"

Malay Yu happily took it. She wrapped the sash around her waist. Then she lowered her head in shame. It seemed to hide her shining eyes.

“I heard Ko Nyo Pu playing the flute last night. It was so nice to listen to. Where else can I go now?”

"I'm going to see my mother."

Malay Yu stared at his face in surprise.

“Why are you going to Ankhe? Aren’t you afraid of the French? Last month, the villagers of Balang were bombed by the French because they refused to do forced labor. Thirty people died. On the same day, when the villagers of Datang were holding a meeting in the monastery, they came and machine-gunned them, killing seventeen people. The French hate us, the people of Ba Na, so much. Why do you want to go and see the French, Ko Nyo Pu?”

Ko Nyo Pu is using his forefoot to push away the seaweed clinging to the rocks.

"Malay Yu, the French have killed many of our people. So I want to see if we can fight them back. Now I'm going. The sun is high."

Malay Yu couldn't do anything. He didn't move from his spot, but kept looking at Ko Nyo Pu. Ko Nyo Pu's hair fluttered in the wind. Then he disappeared from his sight.

Malay Yu took off the sash that Ko Nyo Pu had given him and dipped it in water to soften it. Then, folding it up, put it in a basket and hid it at the bottom. Then he climbed onto the bank and walked towards the field.

When they passed Ko Nyo Pu's fields, Malay Yu stopped and looked at them. All the rice was ripe. He could see Ko Nyo Pu's mother harvesting the rice in rows. Ko Nyo Pu's fields were very productive. They were also very large. Ko Nyo Pu's fields were the largest in their village. It would be difficult for someone to measure the size of his fields by one yard, two yards, one cubit, or two cubits. It was impossible to reach the end of them with just one yard or two yards. They were very wide and long.

Before Ko Nyo Pu cleared the field, it was just barren land. It was full of huge trees. The trees were so big that even four or five people couldn't reach them. Not only that, it was also covered with huge rocks, ranging in size from the size of a bird to the size of a buffalo.

Ko Nyo Pu is an orphan. His father died when he was two years old. He has only an old mother and a younger brother. The younger brother is also not yet literate.

The tenacious Ko Nyo Pu is a self-reliant man. He cuts down big trees himself. He removes big rocks himself. He clears the forest. After he has prepared the land to his liking, he plants rice and corn. Thus, his family becomes more and more independent in the village.

The village elders, such as Uncle Le and Grandmother San, were very fond of Ko Nyo Pu. They were full of praise. Whenever people gathered at the village temple, they would always talk about Ko Nyo Pu first.

"Brother Nyo Pu is a secret, a rare son. He is also a good person,