Min Thein Kha - Bagan Thar Maung Ba Maw

Noah's Ark

One day, a nine-year-old boy was leaning against a large brick pillar on the grand staircase of a very ancient monastery in the Myinkapa area of ​​Bagan, reciting the following verse in unison.

"Noah, Noah, the ninth day of the month"

"Noah, Noah, the son of Noah"

After closing his eyes and chanting continuously, he became a little tired and then opened them. When he opened them, he saw a girl of the same age as him, wearing a dress (called a turban) and looking at him. He was surprised and left.

"I've been here for so long, what are you talking about?"

"The girl asked." The boy didn't answer, but just stared at the girl intently.

"I'm asking, what are you talking about?"

"Who are you?"

The boy didn't answer, so he asked again.

"My name is Thithi"

"Where did you come from?"

"I'm coming with Daddy."

"What is a DJ?"

"It's not a dog, it's a nickname for my father."

"Do you call your father Daddy?"

"Okay...yes"

"Where are you from?"

" he asked, and the boy wiped the snot off with his shirt.

"You can't wipe it with your shirt. Didn't the teacher tell you what to wipe it with?"

"What kind of guy is Teacher?"

"Tell the teacher, it's not a bug."

"I don't have a teacher, I only have a monk. My monk knocks on my head if I have snot in my nose, and doesn't tell me what to wipe it with."

The girl giggled. After laughing...

"You are very dirty."

When she said that, the boy asked, “What did you say?” The girl explained, “I just said it was too late.” After explaining,

"What's your name?" he asked.

"My name is Bamao"

"What grade are you in at school?"

"The inner and outer conquests have been completed, and the golden valley of treasures has begun to be explored."

"I'm vomiting, right?"

"Oh, I'm so tired."

"If you're vomiting, won't the doctor come?"

"What kind of doctor is this?"

"It's not a body, it's an injection."

"Why do I still have to get an injection?"

"If you're vomiting"

"Speaking of the alphabet"

"Tell me you're studying."

"Memorization is remembering in the mind, understanding is remembering in the mouth"

"How do you get to school?"

"I live here"

"Board"

"What is a boarder?"

"You're just talking nonsense. You're not a beast. You're talking about a boarding school."

"Aye...yes, I sleep at school, eat at school, and live at school."

"How much is the buffet?"

"What is a buffet?"

"Don't ask me what kind of guy I am anymore?"

"You don't like being asked what kind of guy you are."

The girl laughed in agreement. After laughing, she asked how much boarding school fees were, and the boy said...

“If you are a boarder at the monastery, you don’t have to pay. Even if there is a Buddha festival, the monk still gives me money. If the monk is not available, I have to go with him. Then I have to go to the Kanto festival, but I don’t get any money. If the monk is flying, I get a lot of money.”

"Is it a monk flying?"

"Aye..yes, the monk from the school over there flew in the summer."

“Oh My God! How can a monk fly?”

"What did you say?"

"How can a monk fly without wings ?"

"Flying is not about flying into the sky, it's about entering the earth."

“Oh... did you tell me about the forest?” “Hey.. don’t you live in school?” “Of course, I live in Saint Mary’s School.”

"Yeah..your school's name is 'Sein', our school's name is also 'Sein'."

"What is your school called?"

"Diamonds are not available"

The boy said the name of the Saint Tamara Monastery, comparing it with the name of the Saint Mary Monastery. Then he said to the girl...

"What letter did you receive?" I asked, and the girl giggled.

"Tell me what grade you're in, I'm in third grade," he said.

"Then show me your worldly ethics."

"I can't say no."

"Don't you even teach worldly etiquette in your school? It's pretty cute."

' The girl nodded her head. Then the boy picked up the cigarette that had been placed next to the pillar, and, striking the thin lighter, lit it, and eagerly lit the cigarette.

"You... smoke, right?"

"The cigarettes I got when I was going to send them to Matha"

"The girl is a man holding a cigarette."

If you look at your child's hands and see that their nails are long and have dirt inside them...

"You...don't cut your nails?"

"No, I just bite it with my mouth"

"You shouldn't keep your nails long. If there is dirt in your nails, it can cause disease."

"No way, the old man who lives under the school has nails that are even longer than mine. Haven't you heard that the old man has a disease?"

"Have you finished eating yet?"

“I haven’t eaten yet. Monk, I will give you the rice first, then the korin, then the korin, then my turn, then the toe lon.”

"Who is Toe Lon?"

"Toelong is what we call the dog at our school."

"I have already eaten."

"Say it," the girl climbed onto the brick steps and sat down, but the boy objected loudly.

"You can't sit on top. If a woman is on top and a man is on the bottom, then the man is often humiliated."

"What is meant by humiliation?"

"To be humiliated is to be humiliated, to be humiliated is to be humiliated."

"Hey... the girl is on top and the boy below is on the bottom, I don't believe it."

“Don’t do it if you don’t believe me, the monk said. If the monk doesn’t believe me, he’ll be very angry. Once, I didn’t believe my brother from the city, so I picked him up with a pair of scissors and showed him my forehead. No matter what you say in front of the monk, I’ll say I believe you. You’ll be showing your forehead for a long time,” the boy warned the girl.

The girl giggled and laughed.

During lunch, the boy went to school and worked. After eating, he returned to his place and studied. While he was studying, a girl came. In the girl's hand, she had a can of coffee and a tin of bread. Then the two of them talked. At about 1:00 in the afternoon, the girl poured coffee from the can into the lid of the can, then took out a slice of bread and jam from the can and gave it to the boy.

"If I eat, there won't be any left for you to eat. I have a plan."

"I eat."

"I'll bring a lot tomorrow."

"Sadhu...Sadhu, the forest of wealth

"What are you talking about?"

“Our monk used to say the same thing when he offered something, and now you’re offering me this, right?”

"I'm not donating, I'm feeding you"

"If you don't want to pay, just donate."

"Oh...yes, I donated."

The boy took a sip of coffee, smiled at the girl, took a bite of the cake, smiled, and kept doing that. In fact, the boy was paying the price he could afford by smiling like that.

Thus the girl and the boy became friends and left. In the evening, a car stopped not far from the monastery. An old man of about 40 got out of the car and went up to the monastery. He bowed to the monk at the top of the monastery and took the girl away.

The girl said to the boy, "I'll bring you lots of bread tomorrow, Bamo." Then she got into the car. The car drove back the way it came. The girl waved her hand and left. The boy, not knowing what to do, was left staring at the snot that had come out of his nose with his shirt.

This is the beginning of Maung Ba Maw and Thithi's acquaintance. In other words, it can be said that it is the beginning of the story of Maung Ba Maw, a monk student who memorized the poem "Noah E Naw" from the Koya School, and Thithi, a student at St. Mary's Convent.