ESL Blogs

Ven. Eindobhasa

28-12-2014 

Once there lived a poor fisherman with his wife and his mother-in-law in a small village. The fisherman was about 40 year old, and he had no children. He loved his wife so much. Therefore she was not allowed to go out to work. Every day he went to the creek near the village fish.

One evening in winter, he said to his wife, “Dear, now I’m going fishing, and maybe I’ll be late; however, don’t worry about me.”

“OK, dear. Take care please!” said his wife.

Then, carrying fishing net on his shoulder, he left home to catch fish. On getting to the creek where he was used to fishing, he put down the fishing net. He looked around and then he took his clothes off. He put the clothes on a branch of a tree on the bank of the creek. After that, he went into the creek that was not very deep, for the tide was not rising at that time.

He started fishing, but it was not easy to catch a fish. A few moments later, he luckily got a big fish, and felt so happy, after which he immediately went back home. As soon as he arrived home, he stood in front of his house happily and loudly calling his wife.

“Hi, darling! I got a big fish today. Please bring a knife, a big plate and a cooker to cut up the fish,” said he.

His wife was in the kitchen cooking, but she happily stopped and brought her husband everything he had asked for. When she saw him carrying the fish and standing in front of the house, she was so surprised. She smiled at and laughed at him, and then quickly returned to the kitchen without giving him what he asked for.

The man got very angry with his wife, so he said to his mother-in-law, “I’ve caught a big fish today. Please bring a knife, a big plate, and a cooker. Before taking a bath, I want to cut the fish up. Your daughter didn’t give me what I asked for. She even laughed at me; I can’t understand her today.”

His mother-in-law brought all the things, and came out to the front of the house. When she saw her son-in-law who was standing in front of the house, she was so surprised and laughed at him. After that, she went into the house bringing the things with her.

At that time, he was so angry with both of them. He went into the house angrily.  He got what he needed to cut up the fish; he started cutting the fish up. At that time, a cat came near him, and the cat was looking at him, crying ‘Meow! Meow! Meow!’.  He thought that she wanted to eat a piece of fish. Hence, he shared a piece of fish to her. But she did not take it, and continued meowing. He again gave little more fish. However, she went on looking at him and meowing.  

The man was so angry that he could not control his mind. At once, he stood up to kill the cat with knife, and he tried to gird his dayo[1]. At that time, he found himself wearing nothing, and he realized why his wife and mother-in-law smiled at and laughed at him, and the cat meowed. He felt so ashamed of his mistake that he left home and quickly ran to the creek to take the dayo that he, before going into the creek for fishing, left on the branch of the tree.

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[1] ‘Dayo’ in Arakanese is called ‘longyi’ or ‘paso’ in Burmese, which is a long piece of brightly colored cloth used as clothing.

Ven. Eindobhasa