CHAPTER X
Hla Byu's outlook was too Eastern to be contemplated by any woman of the West. Very much the dog's point of view.
There is endless talk about the faithfulness of dogs, but does not experience teach that it really consists of faithfulness to a master rather than to one master? The dog who loses one master, to be kindly adopted by another, suffers from the change only until he has grown accustomed to the new touch upon his head. His heart beats as happily in a little while to the new tread along the garden walk. He is still faithful in his allegiance—to the hand that feeds him. When the old master returns he will remember, till then he will philosophize.
The Burmese woman who is sold to the white man has this advantage over his dog. The Unexpected does not occur. She knows that she will, possibly, change masters more than once in her life. She may prefer one to another, but, in most cases, the change is accepted philosophically and is followed by few heart-burnings and useless regrets. So that the man be just to her and kind, so that he clothe her and approve of her housekeeping, she is content. Her lighthearted affection goes to the children, who are bone of her bone, and of whom she need not stand in awe.
If the man has any notion of fair play, when the time comes for him to leave her, he will provide for the children; if he deny all responsibility, there are still the missions, who look upon such things with solemn and sentimental eyes, and are, consequently, helpful.
Cyprian learnt during the next two years to understand this enduring passivity of the Buddha's children. Not that they followed blindly the precepts of the Great Teacher: they had simply adapted them to the changing times and needs of the Race.
Little Hla Byu was a regular attendant on festival occasions at the Aracan Pagoda in Mandalay. She knelt before the big gold Buddha, solid from many coatings of precious metal, when the flickering candles dripped grease, and the scent of the incense-sticks penetrated through the scent of perspiring humanity.