Читать книгу Soo Thah: A Tale of the Making of the Karen Nation - Alonzo Bunker - Страница 7

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SOO THAH'S father and mother, as intimated, were heathen, never having heard of the living God. It is true that their elders used to relate stories about a great Nat or Spirit--just which they seemed not to know--who used to love and care for his people; but when they forsook his word, and would not follow his teachings, he turned away from them and left them to themselves. Said these elders, "He never seems to harm us, but he loves and cares for us no longer."

Hence these people were so busy trying to please the nats, that they had no time to worship the great Spirit, whom they called Yuah. In fact they knew very little about him. But Yuah having forsaken them, they were wholly absorbed in seeking to please those spirits that did notice them, and were aiming to destroy them. Unlike other heathen, they had no images nor any visible objects of worship.

Such being the teaching of their elders, this people, whom the Burmans call Karens (a term of reproach), were quite ignorant of God's care and love. They had no Bible, nor indeed had they a written language until the missionaries gave them one. This accounts for their great ignorance and constant fear of evil spirits.

Soo Thah therefore knew nothing of schools, or meetings for worship, or Sabbath days. To him one day was as any other, save when his relatives made a solemn feast to the nats. In respect to bathing and hair-cutting he was almost a stranger, and as for clean clothes, he seldom wore any at all till he was about ten years of age.

It would be a mistake, however, to suppose Soo Thah had nothing to do. For as soon as he could climb a hill and carry a load he was obliged to go to the brook for water, and to the jungle for wood with which to cook the daily food. His father had made him a little bamboo basket, narrow at the bottom and wide at the top and nearly as long as himself. Two yokes one for each shoulder, were attached to the basket and these were joined to each other by a bark strap for his forehead, thus enabling him to carry wood and water quite easily. The water was first dipped from the brook into the joints of bamboo, used for buckets, and several of these joints were carried in the basket.

It was a great day for him when he could go with his mother and sisters to the jungle for firewood, or visit the mysterious forest where he fancied all sorts of strange things dwelt. Often on these expeditions they found the hole of a large mole beside their path, or of the giant cricket; and then came the excitement of unearthing the game to be taken home for curry, which they ate with boiled rice, and regarded as delicious. There was very little that flies, creeps, crawls or runs, that lives in air or water, which Soo Thah's folks were not glad to capture for food. They drew the line at crows, however; though Soo Thah and his companions used to have no end of fun with these birds. When they captured one, the fun began in earnest, for the captured bird was pegged down to the ground on his back, his feet clawing the air. His cries summoned the whole crow family within hearing, and they would swoop down upon their imprisoned companion, calling as if in distress or anger; and some would dash at him with beak and claw, as if to kill the poor bird. Whatever their intent, it looked as though they thought he was disgracing the crow family or that they were punishing him for his carelessness in getting caught. But it afforded rare sport for Soo Thah and his fellows; for some of the crows in attacking the imprisoned bird got entangled in its claws and were thus held until the boys captured them, and pegged them also to the ground to become in turn traps to catch others. The boys used to say it was a pity crows were not good eating, as they were so easily caught.

Though these little brown children had to work hard from the time they were able to do anything, they managed, as most boys will, to get a good deal of enjoyment out of life. Besides their common bows and arrows they used a bow with two strings; the latter being connected by a net-work where the shaft of the arrow is usually placed. By this device they could shoot birds with marbles made of baked clay. Some also had small bamboo tubes eight or ten feet long through which an arrow, tufted with cotton, was blown with much force. The same useful plant also served for making harps, viols, flutes and drums.

There was also the game of "the fighting cocks," too comical to describe, and that of the rocking-horse. Girls also engaged in these plays. Indeed Karen young people are much like their brothers and sisters the world over. There is a great lizard, a foot long, which usually has its home in hollow trees, or in the roofs of houses. Now and then this lizard would call out loudly, "Touktay, touktay," several times, ending with a long growl. So the young people used to divine as to their future wives and husbands by following the lizard's call. As it called out, "Touktay," a young miss would follow each call with "Old man?" "Young man?" or may be with "rich man?" "poor man?" The question followed by the growl of the lizard was her answer, or such would be the man she was to marry. If it happened to be an old man or a poor man, how heartily her companions would laugh at her!

Thus Soo Thah spent his days till he was old enough to take a big knife and go with his father to the rice fields. Hitherto his life had been full of little excitements; but now, as the sphere of his activities enlarged, his adventures greatly increased. The forests were full of wild animals and birds. Many kinds of snakes also lived in the deep ravines, where grew a dense jungle of small palms, rattans, and tree-ferns. His father made him a bow as soon as he was strong enough to use one. The arrows were tipped with a deadly poison prepared from the juice of a tree which grew in the deep forest. With this he was often able to kill game for food.

In the forest were also many kinds of monkeys and baboons, the latter almost as tall as himself, which ran hand over hand under the great branches of trees or along the ground. Others called to their mates in the trees, sounding like a lot of boys just out of school. Soo Thah loved to tell of the fine sport he once had with a flock of monkeys which were accustomed to feed on the fruit of a banyan tree near his house. There was only one way they could reach this fruit tree, and this was by the lower branches of a tree standing near by. Along this narrow way a large flock had reached their feeding place with their babies, and had begun their feast. Soo Thah crept up as near this crossing as he could without attracting their notice and then ran with a loud shout, hoping to keep the monkeys on the tree where he could shoot them with his bow. But they were too quick for him, all scampering over the crossing, the last one just as he reached it. So sudden had been their flight, however, that most of the mothers had left their babies on the tree. Missing them and hearing their calls and seeing that monster at the crossing, Soo Thah said the distress of these mothers was too great to describe. It was very much like human mothers in like circumstances. Soo Thah watched them with great curiosity. They would run down near him and show their teeth, chattering and scolding, as if to frighten him away. The continued calls of their babies only added to their excitement. At last one mother could restrain herself no longer. She would rescue her baby even at the risk of her own life. So she dashed across the bridge, almost within touch of Soo Thah, seized her baby, which clung tightly around her neck, and rushed back again, disappearing in the forest. Soo Thah said she was so brave he could not bear to shoot her.

At midday the great forest was silent. The fierce heat sent all the jungle creatures to their noonday rest. But early in the morning and in the evening the forest was full of life and song. At such times Soo Thah delighted to roam about, or, finding some secluded spot, to sit and watch the jungle life. There were several kinds of squirrels which afforded him special amusement by their pranks. A saucy red fellow, much like his namesake in temperate climates, as full of frolic as a school boy, played hide and go seek with him. Then there was the great black squirrel, as large as a small cat, with a long and wide spreading tail, which he managed as gracefully as a young lady does her fan. Soo Thah would often sit concealed at the foot of a large tree and draw these to him by imitating their call. But on discovering the deceit, they would scamper away with a cry as of disgust.

In the evening there were flocks of flying foxes--large bat-like animals--calling to each other, as they flew high in the air to their feeding places in the wild mango trees. There were also flying squirrels as large as a small cat, of a glossy, gray colour, and with sparkling eyes. Their fore and hind legs were connected by a membrane which enabled them to skip from tree to tree easily. Of lizards there was no end, bright coloured and dull, large and small, crawling, jumping, flying. They were found largely on the trees or scudding along the ground under the leaves. Land turtles also were seen crawling over the ridges from one stream to another. As for birds, the jungle at such times was swarming with them, all busy with their domestic affairs--house-building, or feeding and caring for their young. The dark, thick, glossy foliage of the trees afforded them good shelter from the various hawks, which were always watching for them.

The colours of these tropical birds are remarkable for variety and brilliancy; and our boy was constantly making new discoveries in this branch of jungle study. He soon learned about a great variety of birds for which he had his own names. How their brilliant colours flashed in the bright sunlight, as they flitted in and out of the dark foliage, or skipped from bough to bough in search of food, or in play, or shot up into the air among the swarms of flying white ants at evening time! Flocks of pigeons, large and small, swept through the air from one fruit tree to another in search of food, or called to each other from their home-trees. How often Soo Thah had tried to find the home of the hermit pigeon, a most brilliantly coloured bird, which he saw now and then darting along the ground, making for the deepest gloom of the forest!

Then the sad cry of the turtle dove, the loud "hock, hock" of the great horn-bill, the scream of the parrot,--all these cries made up a bird-language in which Soo Thah grew so skilled that he could call many birds as well as animals near, by imitating their cry. It was really a school of languages, as well as of manners and customs of these jungle dwellers, in which Soo Thah grew very efficient, and in which he found special delight.