Short Stories of Laos

 

  Mother’s Beloved

English Translation:

We were walking on a trail wide enough for an oxcart. After traveling through the jungle for two hours, we came upon an open meadow. Across the road on our right were fields of cotton, sesame, cucumbers, and other valuable crops. In the distance, we saw coconut trees, which overshadowed smaller trees. Among the trees, we saw two or three rooftops, with a few others hidden behind the thick foliage. At last, we were nearing our destination. Naglalakad kami sa kami sa may bulaos para sa oxcart, isang karomatang hinihila ng kapong baka. Pagkatapos maglakbay sa gubat ng dalawang oras, nagtungo kami sa isang bukas na pastulan. a kabila ng kalsada sa aming kanan ay may mga taniman ng bulak, linga, pipino at iba pang mahahalagang bunga. a hindi kalayuan, nakita namin ang mga puno ng niyog na nakalilim sa mga maliliit na puno. a mga puno iyon, nakita namin ang a ng dalawa o tatlong bubungan na may iilang nakatago sa makapal na dahon. a wakas, malapit na kami sa aming destinasyon. !wo journalists accompanied me on the journey. !hey came to collect !wo information about the village illiteracy rates, while my purpose was to record oral folk stories, which would be used as teaching materials. Sa paglalakbay, may paglalakbay, may dalawang mamamahayag ang kasama ko. "agtungo sila para kumuha ng mga impormasyon tungkol sa illiterarcy rate ng rate ng mga taga#nayon, habang ang layunin ko ay magtala ng mga talaan ng oral na kuwentong#bayan na magagamit ko bilang kagamitang pampagtuturo.

 

As I walked along the side of the trail, certain feelings and memories began to surface. I reflected on how I had left and returned to my own birthplace. Along with w ith these flashes of emotional memory, in the wind I could smell the pungent scent of the khio khio grass.  grass. I heard the stalks of bamboo creaking against one another. $rom afar, the sound of cicadas fiddling with their wings made a beautiful music that echoed in my ears. All of these sounds conjured up the familiar atmosphere of my own birthplace. %ut in fact, we were w ere all returning to the birthplace of %ounkham, one of my traveling companions. &abang naglalakad ako ako sa tabi ng bulaos, may mga damdamin at mga alaala na sumagi sa akin. "apagtanto ko kung paano ko iniwan at bumalik sa lupang tinubuan. &abang naalala ang mga emosyonal na alala, naamoy ko sa hangin ang masangsang na amoy ng damo ng khio. "aririnig ko ang langingit ng tangkay ng kawayan sa isa't isa. (ula sa malayo, ang pagbibiyolin ng mga kuliglig ng kanilang pakpak ay lumilikha ng magandang musika na umaalingawngaw sa aking mga tainga. "agsusumamo ang lahat ng mga tunog sa isang pamilyar na aking tinubuan. "gunit sa katunayan, magbabalik kami sa lupang tinubuan ni %ounkham, isa sa mga kasama ko sa paglalakbay. As he came within sight of his former village, %ounkham cried out excitedly, )It's been twenty years since I left this place* When I see the trail leading to my village, all my tiredness seems to vanish. It's like a picture engraved in my memory. memory.)) %ounkham's voice was filled with laughter. "ang dumating siya sa paningin ng kanyang mga kanayon, k anayon, nanabik na sinabi ni %ounkham, +(ahigit na dalawampung taon simula nang lisanin ko ang lugar na ito* apag nakikita ko ang bulaos patungo sa aming nayon, tila napapawi ang aking pagod. Ito'y parang larawan nakaukit sa aking alaala.alaala.- Puno ang tinig ni %ounkham nang kasiyahan.

 

%/"&A( told us that he was born here. &ere, too, his mother died when he was only eight years old. &is father remarried, taking as his wife a woman from another village, and the family moved from village to village during the years when wh en war and strife tore the country apart. "ot until now did %ounkham have the opportunity to return. An uncle, his mother's brother brother,, still lived in the village, but he was very old. %ounkham had brought two cans of condensed milk as a gift of respect for his uncle. &e could not bring more than two because the trail was rugged and the extra cans would have been too heavy to carry.

Sinabi ni Bounkham sa amin na ipinanganak siya dito. )Will anyone in the village remember you0) I asked. )I don't think anyone will remember remember,, but I will try to ask the people in the village where my uncle1s house is, since I don't remember exactly.) We kept walking, admiring the abundance of the gardens and orchards as we looked here and there. !hen, from one of the gardens on our left, a pregnant woman appeared, carrying a basket of various vegetables. "Sabaydee, Auntie*' "Sabaydee,  Auntie*' Where do you live0) %ounkham in2uired politely. )h, around here she answered hesitantly, suspicious of our unfamiliar faces. )We came from the city. I am from this village, but I went away

 

many years ago. I've come back to visit,) %ounkham explained, hoping to ease the woman's mistrust. )h, really0 I don't recall anyone of your age who grew up here. Whose son or nephew are you0) We told her our names. %ounkham even mentioned the names of his parents and uncle. !he pregnant woman told %ounkham that she knew his uncle well3 he lived in the southern part of the village. he lived in the northern part and called herself )(ae Poon.) %ounkham showed he had never heard the name before. "evertheless, he responded casually, as if he remembered her, )h, (ae Poon, how is everything in our village0) !he pregnant woman replied that the villagers were comfortable. )!hey have enough to eat and enough to make ends meet. We sell a lot of crops, but earn very little profit because the bad trails make travel difficult.) After she spoke, she descended into the rice field on the right side of the road. he  he told us she had to gather plants to feed her pigs. %ounkham took one can of condensed milk from his bag and called out to her, )Wait, Auntie* Please take this. Please take this can of condensed milk.) )%less you, my son,) said the pregnant woman. After thanking him, she went off in a different direction. We continued along the same trail as before. I praised %ounkham's kind heart. &e had brought two cans of condensed milk especially for his uncle but he had given one away to a complete stranger. In %ounkham's reply, I heard both pride and happiness. )In my family, we were taught to do this, especially me. (y mother taught us that if we are carrying food with us when we see a pregnant woman, we must give her a share. "o matter how much or how little, we must give her some of it. It1s our tradition. (any people in this village do it.

 

)(y father told me a story which my mother had told him,) %ounkham went on. )&e said that when she was pregnant with me, she liked to walk beyond the village. ne day while whil e she was walking along the side of the trail, she came upon a group g roup of five or six villagers who had just returned from hunting. !hey had one deer with them, which they skinned, and began to divide the meat. !he hunters gave a share to my mother mother,, the same amount handed out to most of the others. !his is the right  of  of a pregnant woman, according to our tradition. !he only person who got a larger share was the hunter who owned the gun. &e received a double portion, including the head, the four legs, and the skin. )!hat evening my family got to eat deer laap.~ laap.~ 4ater,  4ater, near dawn, my mother gave birth to a baby boy, the same one who is now walking toward his birthplace.)

We were extremely excited. ne of the journalists joked, )!hat deer must have been reincarnated as %ounkham*) )!he villagers think that way. If the deer was reincarnated as another deer,, it probably would get shot again. As I've heard the villagers say deer over and over, the jungle in this area no longer has any deer,) said %ounkham. )What a terrible loss,) I added, and %ounkham continued with his story. )A pregnant woman has to eat a lot in order to nourish the baby inside her womb. When a pregnant seeseat someone with food, she is sei5ed by intense hunger, as ifwoman she could an elephant. A pregnant woman told me this. And if someone doesn't offer her a share of the food, that woman will never forget. he will remain bitter toward the one person who didn't have compassion for her. According to my father, my mother felt sorry for the deer that had been shot. he herself never ate the venison, but she took her share home for her family so they would have a chance c hance to eat meat. When I was born, my mother loved me especially dearly. %ut my mother never had the opportunity to see her grown son's happy face. he named me 67%ounkham,' but she liked to call me 67my beloved' or 8(other's beloved.)' 

 

At this moment, we neared the gate leading to the village. !he trail was rough, and stirred by %ounkham's story, I glanced back in the direction of the expectant mother. he had already disappeared into the field, but she s he remained in my memory. $or the first time, I felt a sense of shared obligation to help a tiny being who would be born into this world.

!he 9nd.

Death Price E:9; after all, the trees on this street were far from being in the way of the power lines. !hat's why

 

those two faang2 faang2 trees  trees were left the way they are. (aybe they'll manage to survive.) After that day, there were no more children's voices in front of my yard. !here was an eerie silence and emptiness, and outside, where the tree once stood, it was very sunny and hot. I felt empty inside. I missed the tree and the noise of the children so very much. $or many days I mulled over what kind of tree to plant in place of the tamarind. (aybe I should plant a star#apple, for it gave good shade, but it would probably be cut down eventually because its branches reach 2uite high and might obstruct the power lines again. I considered a mango or a long an tree, but it too would have to be cut down in the end. %esides, fruit trees attract children who might climb them and fall. !his thought inexplicably troubled me. It might possibly give me a heart attack before such an accident even occurred. I considered several shrubs with beautiful blooms, but couldn't find the time to look for them. As I pondered the idea, I kept looking out into my backyard, where I noticed a champa3 champa3 tree  tree in bloom in one corner of the yard near the kitchen. !he fragrance of its beautiful white flowers permeated the area morning, noon, and night. o I finally planted three frangipani trees along the street in front f my yard, spacing them a good distance apart. I would have planted more, but I was afraid it might get too crowded. Champa Champa was  was easy to grow3 simply bury a branch, at least a foot in length, in the ground. In addition to planting champa champa in  in my own front yard, I decided to distribute cuttings to all the neighbors who lived along the same alley. 9ach planted the cuttings with care, spaced at an e2ual distance. !he planting filled me with happiness, and I believe it was the same for everyone else. I built a fence around the young plants to prevent animals and people from bumping into them while they took root. I watered them regularly. I nurtured and admired these trees as they grew. (any months passed, and slowly my champa champasprouted sprouted fresh green leaves and new branches.