Part Two of the shelf: the fourth story of Palace Tales (London and New York: Harper & Brothers, 1900) by H. Fielding — Harold Fielding Hall (1859–1917), who spent years in Burma in the government service and heard these stories in the palace world of Mandalay. Billed by author and book, as tales of the old Burmese court; not a survey of all Myanmar's peoples, and no completeness is claimed. For this part, every remaining tale of the book was read in full: three are set aside under the shelf's standing rule and stand named in the shelf register, and the book's other tales follow in later parts.
Disclosure: this performance is narrated by AI-generated voices.
Fresh Butter and Salt — a rainy night in the palace, the storm keeping everyone indoors, and the King calls for a story to make them laugh. The old tale-teller Maung Lat tells of a jungle village that had never seen butter, and of its two rival wise men, Maung Lon and Maung Ba Lu, each determined to be thought the cleverer. Maung Lon floors the village with a word he does not understand himself — "tawbat," butter — and both men slip away to the great city to find out what it means. One comes home certain that a tawbat is a small, round, green thing, very bitter; the other, that it is a huge animal, as high as a house and twice as wicked. Under the big tree the dispute nearly comes to blows — until the headman, who knows no more than anyone else, settles it for good: a young tawbat is a small green fruit, and when it is old, it is an animal. A gentle village comedy, read exactly as printed in 1900.
Chapters:
0:00 Introduction
1:36 Fresh Butter and Salt
H. Fielding, Palace Tales (London and New York: Harper & Brothers, 1900) — public domain.
Narrated by Bruno. Music: opening and closing theme, "Pizzicato Childhood" — heard at the introduction and the close only; the tale itself is read dry.
KacheliTV — world classics, read aloud.
Burmese folk tales · Myanmar folk tales · folk tales of Burma · Palace Tales · H. Fielding · Mandalay palace tales · world folk tales · free audiobook
