Tree planters (1/12)

This post presents page 1 of 12 of Ma Sanda's short story "The tree planters" from her book Blossoming star flower.

 

Vocabulary:

မယောင်မလည် ။ covertly; inconspicuously; in a manner not betraying concern
ရယ်မော ။ to laugh heartily
လွဲ၍ ။ apart from; other than; with the exception of
ဒန့်သလွန် ။ horseradish tree
ပြွတ်ခဲ ။ to be clustered, in a cluster
ဇရာထောင်း ။ TO suffer the ills and infirmities of old age

Translation:

"Hey Poe Tha, you want to eat papaya?"

These were the words that Bo Aung said every time he arrived at Poe Tha's house. After that the two friends would always come to one side of the fence and chat idlely. Looking up at the big plump papayas on one side of the fence, they would say "Feel like stealing and eating one, don't you?" and laugh heartily.

It had not been long since Poe Tha's family had moved into this peaceful neighbourhood. Although there was still a little bit of extra land next to their house, apart from two mango trees there were no other trees. In the garden on the other side, other than large trees like mango, custard apple, horseradish and dog fruit, there were three or for papaya trees clustered together.

As for the elderly man and woman who owned the garden, they were infirm with old age. Mother said "The two of them...