Ngaba (21)

This translation of Maung Htin's Ngaba covers the text on page 23, as shown in the scanned image below.

Vocabulary:

ပွက် ။ to boil and bubble
လု ။ to take by force, snatch
လဲ ။ to fall down
ဆင်ခြင် ။ consider
သုံးသပ် ။ to ponder, consider
ပစ္စန္တရာဇ် ။
ဇနပုဒ် ။ hamlet; small village
တခမ်းတနား ။ splendidly
လွှင့်ထူ ။ (of a sail or flag) to hoist
မော်ကွန်း ။ a record of a significant event meant to last
ထိုက် ။ particle suffixed to a verb to convey the sense of being fit, proper or deserving (equivalent in usage to phrases 'fit to', 'deserving of ')
သုဂတိ ။ the three pleasant planes of existence
လား ။ to reach
ပဲ့ပြင် ။ to steer (a boat)
သွန်သင် ။ to instruct
ကြင်နာ ။ to be kind, compassionate
သိမ်းပိုက် ။ to confiscate, colonize
နုံချာ ။ to be poor
ဖျင်း ။ dull, stupid, inferior, undeveloped
ရည်သန် ။ hope for; aim at; intend; be meant for
ဆုတ်ခွာ ။ retreat; withdraw
မူရင်း ။ original
လက်မွန် ။ the very beginning; first.
ဆွ ။ to loosen or turn up (earth, soil, hay, etc); incite; agitate; stir up.
ထူထောင် ။ to establish
စုတ်သပ် ။ be deeply moved or touched

Translation:

Chapter 4
The Start of a Route of Goodwill

What Phyo Dote had done was very shameful. It was not up to the standard of a national of a great country.

Oh my! He used our great national flag that was noble and brought about inate pride for us by snatching it and sticking in on the pile of rice. From the position of a citizen of a great country, was this shameful? It would be good for us to fall down and die with shame.

However, it is a shame to waster a life. It would not be appropriate to fall down and die without reason. We should think and consider and ponder and only when it is appropriate to die should we die.

Ahh... on reconsidering, in the future history of our Burmese the day during the liberation of our great Burmese country when our great Burmese national [Phyo Dote] who was a rural villager magnificently hoisted the great national flag will be a day in which we will take great pride.

And it would be quite proper to be very greatful to the good and noble people who created [a situation] which allowed us to be able to take great pride like that.

Did they not admonish, guide and instruct our Burmese nationals, both the rural folk and mountain folk together, for more than a hundred years with a foundational education system that is very strong, high and noble so as to reach a good and lofty level? Those benefactors, if it is because they were full in every way, imbibed Phyo Dote with such expansive intelligence and perspective.

That is the truth. Those words are true. When Ngaba's lord master kings of the English government colonised Ngaba's great country of Myanmar with great compassion capable of pity and kindness like a close son to the nationalities born of the country of Myanmar, the status of the Myanmar nationals was zero degrees. While aiming to increase the status that was poor and undeveloped the lord master English kings worked hard and in the [Myanmar Era] year 1304 when they sucessfully withdrew, the original status of our Myanmar nationals, the Ngabas and the Phyo Dotes had increased from zero degrees to twice zero degrees.

Therefore, we should not be ashamed about the representative of the collected Burmese national farmers, the upright Thakin Phyo Dote who had first established the great Burmese country that was free and liberated while planting the national flag on a pile of rice. As for Ngaba, he was not even a little bit ashamed.

Really, as for Ngaba he was not ashamed even a little. Only he did not want to have endured the knife cut on his back.

Therefore, we do not need to be deeply moved by Phyo Dote who was not be up to the calabre of a national of a great nation and who had never lived the life of a national of a great nation. Leave it for those who are able to be ashamed to be ashamed of those who give shame.