Item details
Item ID
KK1-0490
Title Jan shu mayu ai lam (TThe Frog Who Swallowed the Sun) with English translation
Description Summary (Keita Kurabe)
Long ago, there was a village where night never fell. One day, an old woman and her grandson from the village went to pick pennyworts (Hydrocotyle asiatica). They picked them for two days without sleeping because there were no nights. Then suddenly it got dark. When they investigated the cause, they found a frog with a large belly, round and shining, and thought that it got dark because the frog swallowed the sun. Since that day, the days and nights have been distinguished. Nights have begun to fall when the frog moves his belly.

Translation (Htoi San)
I am going to tell a story about how the darkness became because a frog swallowed the sun. Once upon a time, there was a village. In that village, there was no darkness. Therefore, the people from that village did not have time to rest and sleep. Due to the lack of darkness, a gentleman from the village set a rule to sleep at ten o'clock, so people had time to rest until ten o'clock. If the villagers could not sleep in the morning, people could die due to the lack of sleep. Therefore the village head issued the rule to sleep at ten o'clock. One day, a grandma and her grandchild went to pluck pennywort leaves. They got a large amount of pennywort leaves, so they could not eat them all alone. They had to share the leaves with each of their neighbors. Thus, they plucked as many leaves as possible. Their village only had daylight, and it shone for two days. They did not have night. Even though there was no night in their village, it suddenly became dark one day. It was automatically nighttime as it was dark. The people were amazed by how it happened and looked for the result. They found out that there was a round ball inside a giant frog's stomach, and it was shining. People saw brightness and looked seriously at the lamps. They finally assumed the frog swallowed the sun, so there was darkness. They told their leader about this, "Village leader, and we have darkness in our village." The village head was so happy when he heard they had darkness in their hamlet. Then he asked, "How do you know that?" The people answered, "We had darkness because of the frog." The leader asked again, "How can the frog create the darkness?" People replied, "One day, when we went to pluck the pennywort leaves, the sun was there as usual, but it went down suddenly, and the brightness disappeared." "So we walked and walked and found a frog which looked like it swallowed a round shape inside its stomach. Then the stomach was so bright. So we believed that the frog swallowed the sun. As a result, the frog makes the night for us." From that day onwards, as the frog swallowed the sun, it did not have the power to be shone. The sun could only shine when it came out from the frog, and it became dark when the frog swallowed back. It was bright, and then it was dark later. Since the frog had swallowed the sun, we had daytime and nighttime from that time onwards. If the frog did not swallow the sun, we humans could not have had time to sleep and rest and had to work and work all the time. Therefore, the night and the day have been separated since that time.

Transcription (Lu Awng)
Ya ngai tsun na maumwi gaw ndai ningsin byin wa ai lam ngu hta shu gaw ndai jan hpe mayu kau ai lam hpe ngai hku na tsun na hku re. Moi shawng de da mare langai mi nga ai da. Dai mare hta gaw da ningsin ngu nnga ai majaw da dai shanhte na mare shinggyim masha ni hku na yup hkring sa la na aten wa nnga taw ai da. Dai mare kaw gaw da ningsin ngu nnga ai majaw dai mare salang gaw da gara hku htuk da ai i nga yang dai hpe hkying 10 gaw masha ni na yup hkring sa la na aten re ai i hkying 10 du hkra yup hkring sa la na aten nga ai. Anhte i lamana jahpawt kaw gaw nmai yup ai ngu tsun yang anhte ndai kaw nga ai shinggyim masha ni gaw yup nlu yup na si mat ai baw sha rai na re dai majaw hkying 10 gaw yup hkring sa la na aten re nga na shi gaw dai hku htuk da ai da. Lani mi na aten hta da shanhte i dai ndai dinggai ma yen gaw hparang gaw sa ai aten hta da hparang ni oh gaw sa ai da, shanhte na mare gaw i hparang ni gaw sa ai shaloi hparang ni grai law hkar lu jang shanhte sha nmai sha ai da. Nta htingbu grup grup hpe jaw ra ai da. Dai hku jaw ra ai majaw i hparang ni grai law hkra gaw gaw gaw gaw gaw nga yang she shanhte na mare gaw shani sha nga ai re majaw da 2 ya dang gaw tim shani sha rai shi ai da, shana nna ai da. Shana nna re she i dai shaloi wa she kalang ta nyip nga i kalang ta chyang mat tai, chyang mat re kalang ta nsin tai mat ai, shanhte gaw mau har ndai i hpa a majaw rai nga na mahtai tam ai. Mahtai tam re shaloi i shu langai mi gaw da shi na ndai shu kaba law shu langai mi gaw da ndai shi na ndai kan kaw din ai din ai rai rawng taw ai zawn shi na kan ah htoi rai taw ai hpe shi mu ai da. Ahtoi re hpe shi mu re ndai i masha ni gaw i yu i, yu yu yu wan kawk ni hte ah tsawm di yu ai shaloi shnahte na ndai du shamu la ai lam gaw i shu gaw ndai jan hpe mayu kau ai majaw ndai jan ndai ningsin nga mat ai ngu hku i shanhte gaw ndai hku shadu la ai da. Dai hku shadu nna she shanhte gaw i mare salang hpe sa tsun ai da, mare salang anhte na mare buga hta ningsin ngu gaw nga sai ngu tsun ai da. Ningsin ngu nga dai hku nga sai tsun ai shaloi ndai mare salang ni ma grai pyaw ai da, grai pyaw na shahte hpe san ai da, nanhte gara hku na chye ai i ngu na dai hku tsun tsun tsun tsun tsun re na dai gaw i anhte ndai ningsin nga ai gaw i shu ni a chyeju re ai i, dai majaw anhte ni hku na shu gaw hpa na ndai ningsin hpe gara hku na lu chye galaw ai wa nga na san ai shaloi ndai anhte ndai lani mi na hparang gaw sa ai ten hta ndai jan wa i an na ndai kaw jan ndai hku i nga taw ai shaloi jan wa kalang ta npu de yu na kalang ta nyip nga mat ai da. Dai shaloi da anhte ni ndai hkawm hkawm hkawm hkawm re shaloi da shu langai mi gaw da kaba law shi na ndai kan yang gaw ndai din ai rai hpe ma-ut bang da ai zawn rai na dai kan kaw htoi taw ai hpe mu ai i, ndai jan gaw ndai shu gaw dai jan hpe ma-ut kau ai gaw i kaja wa nan rai taw sai dai majaw ndai shana hpe galaw ya ai gaw ndai jan re aw ndai shu re. Dai hku tsun ai da, dai hku tsun ai kaw na da dai shani kaw nna jan hpe shi ma-ut kau sai majaw da jan a hpa ngu na i jan a nhtoi n gun nnga sai le i jan a nhtoi n gun nnga sai shu na ndai kan kaw na she pru ai dai nhtoi hte hkring jang bai sin mat bai nhtoi dai bai sin dat na ya anhte ni gaw i ya htoi taw sai yahkring gaw mang sa na i dai hku dai shani kaw nna dai prat kaw na da ndai shu gaw jan hpe mayu kau ai dai shaloi kaw na da ya anhte gaw da nhtoi nga ai shana nga ai nhtoi nga ai shana nga ai re da. Lamana shu she ndai jan hpe n ma-ut kau jang gaw da anhte shinggyim masha ni hku na yup hkring sa la na aten nnga ai sha bungli sha galaw bungli sha galaw dai hku na nga ra na re da. Dai kaw na i ndai nsin hte nhtoi ngu gaw garan gyinghka ai i nga ai re da.
Origination date 2017-02-08
Origination date free form
Archive link https://catalog.paradisec.org.au/repository/KK1/0490
URL
Collector
Keita Kurabe
Countries To view related information on a country, click its name
Language as given Jinghpaw
Subject language(s) To view related information on a language, click its name
Content language(s) To view related information on a language, click its name
Dialect Standard Jinghpaw
Region / village Northern Myanmar
Originating university Tokyo University of Foreign Studies
Operator
Data Categories primary text
Data Types Sound
Discourse type narrative
Roles Keita Kurabe : depositor
L. Lu Lu Awng : speaker
DOI 10.4225/72/59889674a85e7
Cite as Keita Kurabe (collector), Keita Kurabe (depositor), L. Lu Lu Awng (speaker), 2017. Jan shu mayu ai lam (TThe Frog Who Swallowed the Sun) with English translation. EAF+XML/MPEG/VND.WAV. KK1-0490 at catalog.paradisec.org.au. https://dx.doi.org/10.4225/72/59889674a85e7
Content Files (3)
Filename Type File size Duration File access
KK1-0490-A.eaf application/eaf+xml 19.2 KB
KK1-0490-A.mp3 audio/mpeg 3.8 MB 00:04:09.390
KK1-0490-A.wav audio/vnd.wav 137 MB 00:04:09.365
3 files -- 141 MB -- --

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Collection Information
Collection ID KK1
Collection title Kachin folktales told in Jinghpaw
Description Recordings of Kachin folktales and related narratives in Jinghpaw. These materials were collected by Keita Kurabe, Gumtung Lu Awng, Sumdu Ja Seng Roi, Hpauhkum Htu Bu, Labang Tu La, Gumtung Htu Nan, and Lashi Seng Nan as part of community-based collaborative fieldwork in northern Myanmar. A total of 2,491 stories with 2,481 ELAN files, 2,481 transcriptions, and 1,369 translations are currently available (March 25, 2024). Transcriptions were contributed by Gumtung Lu Awng, Pausa La Ring, Galang Lu Hkawng, Sumdu Ja Seng Roi, Hpauhkum Htu Bu, and Keita Kurabe. Stories were translated by Nbanpa Rita Seng Mai, Sumlut Gun Mai, Lazing Htoi San, Maran Seng Pan, Dumdaw Mike Tu Awng, Nhkum Htoi Awng, and Keita Kurabe.

Animated stories are available at:

https://catalog.paradisec.org.au/collections/KK3
https://www.youtube.com/@kachinfolktales
https://www.facebook.com/KachinStories

Other Kachin culture and history are available at:

https://catalog.paradisec.org.au/collections/KK2

Our research was made possible under the support of JSPS KAKENHI Grant Number JP17H04523, JP20K13024, JP20H01256, Linguistic Dynamics Science 3 (LingDy3) from Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa (ILCAA), Tokyo University of Foreign Studies (TUFS), and JSPS Program for Advancing Strategic International Networks to Accelerate the Circulation of Talented Researchers "A collaborative network for usage-based research on lesser-studied languages."
Countries To view related information on a country, click its name
Languages To view related information on a language, click its name
Access Information
Edit access Nick Thieberger
Keita Kurabe
View/Download access
Data access conditions Open (subject to agreeing to PDSC access conditions)
Data access narrative
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