The following text and translation covers page 31 (the final page) of Thein Pe Myint's short story "ငွေစိန် လှေလှော်ရင်း တက်ကျိုးခြင်း", which I have scanned from page 359 of "ဝတ္ထုတိုပေါင်းချုပ်သစ်" [A new collection of short stories]. With this post, the translation series of this short story is completed.
Vocabulary:
ကယ်တင် ။ to save; rescue
လှိုင်း ။ wave, billow, unevenness
ထန်ထန် ။ violently
စွန့် ။ throw away; discard; abandon; forsake; dare; risk
အလှည့် ။ turn; change
ခုံဖိနပ် ။ a type of Myanmar sandal
ဝပ် ။ to prostrate, cower with fear
ဆို့ ။ stop up; obstruct; block; choke
ကြည်နူးခြင်း ။ delight
အဟုန် ။ velocity; momentum; power
Translation:
[Now what is important is to search to find Ngwe Sein] and to rescue [her]. While rowing in a storm her oar has broke. However violently the wind blows, however much danger there is, go to Ngwe Sein and rescue her, mate.”
“Relax, sir. I will of course risk my life. This time it is my turn.”
“Okay, go on. And I will take a shower.”
Speaking thus I got up from sitting. I called a servant and asked for a pair of sandals. And he got up from sitting and taking the cherry skin hand-bag set it down in front of me and prostrated.
If only Ngwe Sein was here, the two of them together would prostrate and express their gratitude to me.
My heart choked. With powerful joy and delight my heart choked. Was this not more delightful than getting the lawyer fee of 200 kyat in cash? Not once had I ever previously experienced such delight and powerful joy.
“Please come [later on] and tell me about the matter.”
“Okay, sir.”
[From] that day I did not see Htun Khin ever again.
In their life [that was in] a violent wind, while working hard rowing a boat in order to rescue Ngwe Sein whose oar had broke did Htun Khin’s oar break as well, I still could not say.
2 comments:
'seik cha ba' = rest assured
'khon hpanat' = clogs
'yin hso' = lit. chest blocked, lump in the throat (emotional)
Whatever political acrobatics he had gone through - co-founder of the Communist Party of Burma, freedom fighter, revisionist, guru and cheerleader of the military dictatorship, TPM will remain one of Burma's best short story writers, novelists and chroniclers.
Thank you for posting it. His collection of short stories was one of the few books I bought from Rangoon's pavement bookstalls to leave Burma with all those years ago.
Wagaung,
Thank you kindly for all of your clarifications. I appreciate the contributions very much. I hope to read many more of Thein Pe Myint's stories when I get the opportunity.
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