Item details
Item ID
KK1-0290
Title Magwi tai wa ai maumwi (The daughter-in-law who became an elephant) with English translation
Description Translation (by Seng Pan)
This is about a human transforming into elephant. Long ago, there were a woman and her daughter-in-law. They were farmers of shifting cultivation. Every day, the woman went to the field and cleared the grass. But her daughter-in-law just stayed at home and only sewed the cloths. So, the woman said, "Daughter-in-law, you cannot make a living only by sewing the cloths. There are many weeds in our field. Let's go and clear them! If not, our paddy will be destroyed." However, the daughter-in-law didn't listen to her. So, she angrily ordered to go and clear. Since the daughter-in-law had magical power, she didn't go to the field before. But this time, she had to go there because of her mother-in-law's command. Although her mother-in-law removed the grasses by hands, she used her power and called out all the grasses from the field to the slope. And she pressed them with a large flat stone. In the evening, when she arrived back home, she said, "Mother-in-law, I have cleared all the grasses." "Really! Even though I have gone there every day and been doing it for several weeks, there still remains many grasses to be cleared. You just spent a day there and cleared all of them. Are you kidding?" the woman replied. "If you don't believe me, go and check! I've cleared all," her daughter-in-law insisted. So, the woman went to the field. She found out there was no single grass remained in the field. She was curious where her daughter-in-law threw the grasses because she used to throw in the forest. Therefore, she looked for the grasses. When she saw a large flat stone, she turned it over. Then, the sods sprang out to the field again. She went back home and told her daughter in law that she had made the sods spring out to the field. Her daughter-in-law went to the field again. As she saw it, she was so depressed. That's why she wore all the cloths she sewed and went in to the deep forest. Later, she became elephant by wearing those cloths. Therefore, the skin of elephant's front legs, hind legs, and head are not the same because the daughter-in-law sewed many different cloths into a very thick suit.

Transcription (by Lu Awng)
Magwi tai wa ai maumwi re ndai gaw, moi shan moi nga ai da. Shanhte kamoi nga ai kanam nga ai yi galaw sha re da. Yi galaw sha re majaw, yi galaw kamoi gaw shani shagu yi sa, tsing magang tsing mau mana magang kanam jan gaw nta nga di rai hkrai chyoi da rai hkrai chyoi rai hkrai chyoi kamoi gaw tsun ai da, e nam e nang nta hkrai nga di gaw rai hkrai chyoi di gaw hpa nsha na re loh an moi ni yi mung she sa yu ga, yi tsing hkrai hkrai reng gaw mam mung n kaja ai yawng si mat na ra ai ngu tsun ai da. Nsa ai da kanam gaw kade tsun tim nang kamoi gaw ram di sai hku nga bai nang na nang magang sanu nang ngai mung n jin sai. Dang kanam gaw sa ai da, kanam gaw loi ah lawng re hku nga dai majaw shi gaw ah tsam nga ai majaw shi gaw nsa ai. Sa yu yang tsing hkrai da, tsing dai ni hpe shi gaw kamoi gaw langai hpang langai baw ai, shi gaw nbaw di yawng gau gau gau gau gau di hka raw de htep rai chyum chyum di n lung kaba langai myet gap di kau sai da. Shana de wa sai kamoi hpe mahkra ngut sai moi yawng magang ngut sai hku nga, kamoi gaw taw ngai shani shagu sa ai bat kade magang tim pyi nma ai tsing wa nang lani mi sha sa magang ai ma ai nga gaw majoi nga ai she re ngu ai da. Sa yu u moi nang nkam yang chyawm gaw ngai yawng ngut sa ngu, kaja wa kamoi sa yu yang yi ting ah krin tsing nnga ga de ya tsing pa ndai gara kaw da ai i ngu kamoi gaw loi shashay mayu sai hku nga tsing pa ndai gara kaw da tam, langai kaw tam taw tsing gara de baw kau ai ndai gaw tsing pa gaw nga ra ai myi ngai htingga ran hte baw gun di lam de ru shingnawm de ru re she reng me. Tsing pa gaw nga ra ai, tam hkrai tam tam hkrait tam, nlung tsawm ra lung byeng langai mi kaw ndai kaw mi re kun ngu di lap di dat ai hku nga kamoi gaw, tsing ni bai lagat di myi na shara de hprawt rai yawng bai grim da. kei dai she wa sai da, kamoi gaw e nam e nang e yawng gawt bang da ai makoi da ai tsing wa moi nchyoi di bai lap dat di yawng myi na bai rut rai sai, ngu hku rai nga. Kanam bai sa yu she kanam gaw sa yu kaja wa tsing bai yawng rut deng she kanam gaw myit htum mat ai hku rai nga. E moi ndai rau gaw n byin sai shi chyoi hkrai chyoi chyoi hkrai chyoi palawng yawng kahtap hpun la na nam de shang mat ai da. Nam de shang mat nam de shang mat hpang gaw dai wa manu mana sumwum sumwam yawng gai ngan re kaba rai chyoi ai prat tup chyoi wa ai palawng hpun di nam de shang mat ai wa dai hpang gaw magwi tai mat ai da. Dai majaw magwi gaw lagaw, lata, baw, yawng hkan ni hpyi shan nga tim langai hte langai nbung ai sumlan mung nbung hkat ai ngu dai manu mana myit htum mat ai prat tup chyoi ai kanam jan sumwum sumwam re nam kaw shang mat ai kaw na tai mat ai majaw ding re re da.
Origination date 2017-01-30
Origination date free form
Archive link https://catalog.paradisec.org.au/repository/KK1/0290
URL
Collector
Keita Kurabe
Countries To view related information on a country, click its name
Language as given Jinghpaw
Subject language(s) To view related information on a language, click its name
Content language(s) To view related information on a language, click its name
Dialect Standard Jinghpaw
Region / village Northern Myanmar
Originating university Tokyo University of Foreign Studies
Operator
Data Categories primary text
Data Types Sound
Discourse type narrative
Roles Keita Kurabe : depositor
W. La Tawng : speaker
DOI 10.4225/72/59889320d4944
Cite as Keita Kurabe (collector), Keita Kurabe (depositor), W. La Tawng (speaker), 2017. Magwi tai wa ai maumwi (The daughter-in-law who became an elephant) with English translation. EAF+XML/MPEG/VND.WAV. KK1-0290 at catalog.paradisec.org.au. https://dx.doi.org/10.4225/72/59889320d4944
Content Files (3)
Filename Type File size Duration File access
KK1-0290-A.eaf application/eaf+xml 15.8 KB
KK1-0290-A.mp3 audio/mpeg 2.45 MB 00:02:40.574
KK1-0290-A.wav audio/vnd.wav 88.4 MB 00:02:40.546
3 files -- 90.9 MB -- --

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Collection Information
Collection ID KK1
Collection title Kachin folktales told in Jinghpaw
Description Recordings of Kachin folktales and related narratives in Jinghpaw. These materials were collected by Keita Kurabe, Gumtung Lu Awng, Sumdu Ja Seng Roi, Hpauhkum Htu Bu, Labang Tu La, Gumtung Htu Nan, and Lashi Seng Nan as part of community-based collaborative fieldwork in northern Myanmar. A total of 2,491 stories with 2,481 ELAN files, 2,481 transcriptions, and 1,369 translations are currently available (March 25, 2024). Transcriptions were contributed by Gumtung Lu Awng, Pausa La Ring, Galang Lu Hkawng, Sumdu Ja Seng Roi, Hpauhkum Htu Bu, and Keita Kurabe. Stories were translated by Nbanpa Rita Seng Mai, Sumlut Gun Mai, Lazing Htoi San, Maran Seng Pan, Dumdaw Mike Tu Awng, Nhkum Htoi Awng, and Keita Kurabe.

Animated stories are available at:

https://catalog.paradisec.org.au/collections/KK3
https://www.youtube.com/@kachinfolktales
https://www.facebook.com/KachinStories

Other Kachin culture and history are available at:

https://catalog.paradisec.org.au/collections/KK2

Our research was made possible under the support of JSPS KAKENHI Grant Number JP17H04523, JP20K13024, JP20H01256, Linguistic Dynamics Science 3 (LingDy3) from Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa (ILCAA), Tokyo University of Foreign Studies (TUFS), and JSPS Program for Advancing Strategic International Networks to Accelerate the Circulation of Talented Researchers "A collaborative network for usage-based research on lesser-studied languages."
Countries To view related information on a country, click its name
Languages To view related information on a language, click its name
Access Information
Edit access Nick Thieberger
Keita Kurabe
View/Download access
Data access conditions Open (subject to agreeing to PDSC access conditions)
Data access narrative
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