Ngaba (15)

This translation of Maung Htin's Ngaba covers the text on page 17, as shown in the scanned image below,

Vocabulary:

ကတုတ် ။ breastwork; earthen embankment
လူလူသူသူ ။ to (live) decently
ပွတ်သီးပွတ်သပ် ။ in a close and intimate manner; touching or grazing lightly
ချူ ။ a small metal bell
ညည်း ။ to hum, coo
ဇွဲ ။ tenacity; perseverance; steadfastness; determination
လှောင် ။ to store up for future use
ဗဟိိရ ။ additional little issues
ကတ်သီးကတ်သတ် ။ in a cramped or restricted manner; with great difficulty
ငေါက် ။ to berate, shout at
ဆတ်ဆတ် ။ really, actually, definitely
အလန့်တကြား ။ in a startly manner
ပါးစောင် ။ buccal cavity, mouth
ဗြောင် ။ openly, frankly, candidly
ခန်းထုတ် ။ ?
မြှူ ။ to lure, entice, tempt, persuade
တွဲလောင်း ။ in a dangling position
ခို ။ to take refugee or shelter; seek protection
ပု ။ to draw one's head in and keep it down
နန့် ။ wag, jiggle; be flighty; flirt
ကဲ့ရဲ့ ။ dispraise, censure
ပါး ။ cheek
တံစဉ် ။ sickle
ရှ ။ to abrade, cut superficially
ပွတ် ။ to rub, smear, polish
ဗျာများ ။ to be full of anxiety, distress or worry; be harassed.
တလင်း ။ plain bare ground, paddy threshing ground
ညင်း ။ soft, gentle
ဖြေဖျောက် ။ to forget
အရှင်လတ်လတ် ။ while still alive

Translation:

"Our daughter is still young."

"I already want her to quickly grown up. After that, our young son-in-law after making the earthen embankment around the land while working hard within 4-5-6 years I will be able to sucessfully head about 60 acreas [of paddy land]. Ah, the life of a farmer, is it so very exhausting? Never will I be able to live decently with my own field and my own stream. While Ngaba, with his rough hand gently touched the bangs of hair on Mi Paw's forehead, he hummed the sound of a small metal bell. While reaching and groping for the cheroot, Mi Paw turned her back on Ngaba. When she found the cheroot with the not yet extinguished flame, while slowly puffing she relaxed back with her thoughts.

"Ah, my husband is intense with [his] tenacious work. His plan, his desire, is within five years, while being able to plough 60 acreas of paddy fields he will be able to store up for future use at least one hundred [baskets] of rice supplies per year. Rice from U Tha Gaung will increase from 200 hundred [baskets] to 500 [baskets]. In what way will ao little cash of 300-400 [kyat] year to year incresae? Oh, if that is the case since additional issues have arisen, in order to establish our daughter and to hold a shin byu ceremony for our sons, it is not proper to live in our little hut. Ah, in our field there will of course be a sofisticated person. And since he is an honest and upright person while seeing the type of great love with which last year he planted paddy will his heart change I don't know. With the last little thoughts entering to the back of Mi Paw's mind with great difficulty, Mi Paw suddenly became worried that her husband would take a minor wife tomorrow or the day after.

While Mi Paw called out "Right here, right here" with an angry shout she turned to Ngaba's face.

Ngaba in a startling manner shouted back "Hey! What?"

After Mi Paw's spirit did not feel secure she put the cheroot in her mouth and while puffing wondered whether it would be good if she asked candidly.

In the light of the fire that she was puffing Ngaba could see Mi Paw's sloppy appearance. Oh, that maiden's whole body that was sufficiently lost and a little bit broken enticed Ngaba. As for Ngaba, he happened to think that now on Mi Paw's bossom if a little "inmasi" string was dangling for protection she would looked even better "Right here, where has the great love that you often store up for future use arrived at?"

"How do I know? That girl is just not someone who has a foundation."

"She's a little flighty, isn't she?"

"Yeah... "

"Right here, with old sons and old daughters, don't set down hearts that want to be happy. Our daughter is no longer young. In a very long time she will be a person to be greatly censured."

With the palm of his hand that was abrased and very rough like a sickle Ngaba rubbed Mi Paw's cheek and said with a heavy voice "from wherever it has come, it is not a great plot that is well attended."

"Oh, because I'm worried, I have to talk. It is because in a very long time I am fully of anxiety to be between two wives."

"Having been together this much, are you still not at ease? I'm not interested in those ways. Your son's mother's partner if he had gone to the pagoda to attend school just in order to be able live decently enough, you're thinking and worried. This year if I can sell the paddy per field at the viss price... "

For Ngaba these words were truely and greatly inauspicious. In the pleasant night, while he was forgetting about settling down with Mi Paw in the future, the gentle wind that relieved the intense heat was nibana in this very life. Now these words...