Grandparents' Stories

Dear Madam Ann,
In summer holiday I went to my village. I met my grandmother. I was very happy to see the new face. I hugged with her again and again. She would go and get the sweet potatoes from the field for the dinner. She boiled it and we ate. Then went to bed, instead to going to sleep with the father, I went to grandma’s bed to hear the story of Dangpo…Dingpo…or long long ago.
She told a story of the rich boy and the poor boy. Here it goes:
“Dangpo…Dingpo…There lived two boys. One was rich and one poor boy. The rich boy have many cattles and big stone building, but the poor boy his father was dead. He had little cattle and bamboo house. The two boys went to bring the firewood. They went one black way and one white way. The rich boy was very bad to his friend. The rich boy took the white path and poor boy went from black way. The poor boy went from mountain to mountain. He reached in old house where there was grandmother and grandfather. They both don’t have eye. This grandma and grandpa were very rich. They have many cow, sheep and gold and silver.
The grandma said, “Would you live here?” but he said, “I can’t live here for many days but I can live here for two days.” They said, “You should not take the cattle in the demon house. The demon will also make you blind like us.”
He looked after the cattles and he made an idea to kill the demon one day and get back the grandparents’ eye. He made a big pit and covered the pit with some grass. He kept the one cow near the pit. When the demon came to chase the cow he went inside the pit and he was dead.
He went to the demon house and got the grandmother and grandfather’s eyes back. The boy put the eye in the grandmother and grandfather’s eyehole. They said that they could see better.
The grandfather was happy and gave all the cattle, gold and silver. When the boy went back home the rich boy came with only bangchang where to put his food, but the poor boy came with many cattle, gold and silver. The poor boy had become more rich than the rich boy.”
While my grandma had finished the story, my sister had already sleep and we were laughing.
I love my grandma but I never love my grandpa because he always drink alcohol and just sleep only.
I could see my grandma once a year because the village is very far. It took four days to reach there. Two days in car and two days with the foot.
I will never forget my grandma’s face.

My Grandfather
When my grandfather was three years old, his mother died and he stayed with his sister. He used to look after his sister’s cows ‘til twelve years and he could not go to school because there is no one to put him in the school as his mother had already died.
So when he was fifteen he used to take letter from one place to another because all of the people have to take the letter from one place to another every day when their turn came. They have carried the load of their dzongpan their selves. Dzongpan let work like slaves. When they are working they have to cross lot of mountains and they let the people to look after their horses and cows. When they went to the dzongpan’s place if they are a little late they used to beat them. They used to carry the load of dzongpan from Mongar to Bumthang. They used to walk in barefoot.
They have to go to India to get the salt and they have to carry potatoes to exchange with salt. They took seven days to reach there.
And when he was twenty-four he built his own house and got married with my grandmother.