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Summary (by Keita Kurabe)
Long ago, there was a woman whose father-in-law became very old. Because she hated him, she asked her husband to abandon him in a forest. The husband abandoned his father in the vicinity of the village. Although the old man had a poor eyesight, his dog took him home. When he came back, the wife got angry and asked her husband to abandon him in a more distant place. When the husband was making a basket to carry his father, his son came to him and said "Take the basket back home for me because I will use it when you get old." Since then, the man and his wife changed their minds and lived with their parent happily.
Translation (by Mike Tu Awng)
The story I am going to tell you is about "wives should be good and affectionate, and if not, many problems will arise in a family. Long ago in a village, there was a very cruel wife in a family. In their family, her father-in-law was already in a very old age. The wife did not like her father-in-law. She said to her husband, "Bring your father to a very far away place, where no one can see, and leave him there". But, the son did not want to do that. The wife nagged him again and again. As a result, one day the son brought his father outside of the village, not a very far place from village, and left him there. A dog followed them. The dog kept guard of the old man. When the son went back home, that dog lingered and stayed close to the old man. It was getting late in the evening and the old man was getting hungry. When the old man started moving, the dog lead him home. Even though the old man was blind, he was used to moving about with a help of stick. When they got home, the wife was very angry again saying, "I asked you to send away your father but he is back again". The man was very disappointed and unhappy because one day his wife said to him, "If you don't send your father away, I cannot live here, I cannot live in this family". The wife was angry all the time. So, one day, the husband made a bamboo basket to carry his father in it and to send him away. He said, "Father, let's go to the forest today to see farm, to see slash farm. When he was about to put his father into the bamboo basket, the grandson said to his father, "Father, don't throw away that bamboo basket after sending grandfather away. Bring it back". He continued, "When you get old like grandfather, I will need to bring you in that same basket and send you away, too, so bring it back". Then, the father thought about it deeply and realized that he was showing a bad example to his son. He said to his wife, "my dear wife, you and I have been together till we have our child, and you ask me to send my father away. But, if I do, it turns out that our son will do the same thing to us. This cannot happen. You think about it well. And, if you still want me to send my father away, then as you said we will have to live seperately. We still have energy and are still strong, we can work to feed ourself, but my father is blind, he can't stand on his own. And worse, if my son is going send me away just the way I do, it shoul not happen". From that day on, the wife thought about it, and finally realized that things should not be that way. She thought, "If my son does the same thing, it cannot be right". She repented, and from that day on the wife treated her father-in-law well with respect. And, they built a happy family together. This is a story told by ancestors.
Transcription (by Lu Awng)
Ya hkai na maumwi gabaw gaw num ni myitsu ra ai lam. Num n kaja ai lu la yang ganing re ai manghkang pru wa ai dinghku kaw ngu maumwi re. Moi da kahtawng langai mi kaw num grai n hkrak ai num mi nga na re dinghku langai mi hta e shi a kagu dingla wa gaw grai dingla sak kaba sai re da. Dai wa dai kagu dingla hpe num dai kanam jan nra shi a madu wa e she ndai ningwa e oh nam de tsan ai shara de masha kadai nmu ai shara de e sa sa kau su ngu kasha gaw kawa e nwam sa sa ai. Rai tim sa sa su sha ah ngu nga jang kalang mi na gaw oh mare shing nawm loi mi nau ntsan ai shara kaw sa tawn da yang gaw gwi langai mi hkan nang ai da. Gwi dai kaw dai kawa dingla kagu dingla kaw sin nga nshe dai shi e sa sa ai kasha wa wa mat ai hpang e gaw gwi dai gaw dingla dai e kasawt chyu kasawt manam nna shingnga jang gaw kawsi wa jan du wa kawsi wa jang gwi dai mung dingla wa rawt shamu mu jang gaw wa woi sai da. Dai gwi kaw hkan nang wa myi nmu nga tim kachyi chyi gaw she n masawp dam man i, wa yang gaw bai pawt sai da, ning wa e tsan ai de sa sa u ngu ni ai kaw sha sa nna ya dai na bai du wa ai ngu nna pawt rai jang gaw lani mi na gaw madu wa mung grai myit htum dai num jan ningwa e nsa kau gaw ngai nnga ai, ndai nta ngai nnga ai ngu nan pawt nga jang gaw kawa hpe oh tsan ai shara de sa sa na re ngu htingga langai mi ka galaw ai da, kawa hpe gun na matu sa gun sa kau na matu ka galaw nshe kawa hpe wa e an wa dai ni bai oh nam shara mi de sa yu ga, yu sun sa yu let loi sa mada yu ga ngu nshe ka dai kaw bang hkyen sai da, bang nga jang she la kasha shi a kashu dai kasha wa a kashu ma la kasha gaw mu dat nna she, wa ya dai htingga dai nka dai dwi la hpe sa sa kau jang ka dai hkum kau da yaw bai gun wa rit. Ya nang e ma ndai zawn re asak kaba jang ngai bai wa hpe gun sa ra na re ka dai bai la wa rit ngu nna tsun dat sai da. Shaloi gaw myityu sai da kawa dai ma a kawa gaw ga a ya ma ni a man e kasi nkaja ai she galaw na hku she rai sai. E nnu e nang hte an kasha lu hkra nga timmung ya nye wa hpe nang gun sa u nga, ya sa gun sa kau jang an a kasha mung an e bai gun sa na hku she nga nga ai loh ndai gaw nmai na re nang mung atsawm myityu u nang nye wa e n gun sa nhkraw nga jang nang mi nngu na nang tsun ai hte maren nang hte an chyawm hka ra na tai ai, an gaw n-gun lagaw naw rawng ai, tam sha lu ai ya nye wa gaw myi nmi ai hte nchye tam sha sai majaw ngai hpe bai nye kasha ndan di gunsa na hku rai jang gaw nmai na re ai. Ngu nna tsun ai, dai shani kaw na num dai grai myit yu sai da, e rai na re nmai na she re. Ya an e bai an a kasha dai hku galaw wa yang gaw nmai na re ngu myit malai lu nna dai shani kaw nna num dai kagu hpe ah tsawm di na bai tsawra hkungga let woi nga nna dinghku dai hta pyaw ai dinghku de lu ma ai da, dai moi na ni tsun ai maumwi re dan nga langai mi.
Notes
1. Another version of this story is available at KK1-1364.
2. For a general overview of this type of stories in Japan and China, see Yanagita (1970).
3. For more details, see Kurabe (2019).
References
Kurabe, Keita. 2019. "Ubasute-yama" of Myanmar: Folktale texts in Jinghpaw. Kyoto University Linguistic Research 37: 61-77.
Yanagita, Kunio. 1970. Oyasute-yama. Standard Collection of Works by Kunio Yanagita, vol. 21. Tokyo: Chikuma Shobò„.
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