“With the help of the natives and of the monks from a nearby village, I managed to bury these corpses in the sandy river bank. And while digging in the sand one day I found a large ruby—one of the famous Burmese rubies. it shone like a deep red flame of dazzling brilliance.

As I held it in my hand this jewel reminded me of the souls of the dead. Since I could not carry their ashes around with me, I regarded this ruby as symbolizing the spirits of all the men who had died here in Bruma; and thereafter I always kept it on my person. Whenever I visited a temple I placed it on the altar to worship.”

—Michio Takeyama, Harp of Burma, translated from the Japanese by Howard Hibbett, 1966.