A COLLECTION OF CAMBODIAN FOLK TALES

The Father who was strick in Choosing his Son-in-Law

Once there were an old man and woman who had a pretty daughter. They would never accept a boy to marry their daughter if the boy called someone names. One day, a smart, handsome boy went to ask for their daughter in marriage. They said " Yes! we accept you but must abstain from calling anyone names and serve us as we order you. If you can't abstain I won't give my daughter to you. I have to tell you first because I do not want you to think later on that I am very severe and wicked. "   

The boy said " Yes! I can abstain from calling anyone names and do everything for you as you order. " The father told him " If you can abstain from calling anyone names, you had better go home, but you must come back in the morning early. " The boy said good bye to him and came back home. In the morning, the boy came to serve his future parents-in-law. The father told his daughter to give him some food to eat, then he told him " Son! you go plowing in the field and plow until a stone near the field cries. When you hear the sound of the stone crying you take the yoke off the oxen. "          

The boy yoked the oxen and went plowing from dawn until afternoon. But the stone did not cry. The oxen could not pull the plow and the stone was still quiet. The boy was very hungry. He could not work without eating anything, so he called the stone names " Mother stone! why don't you cry? " The boy called the stone names and the father appeared from the bush near the stone. He told the boy " I break your betrothal with my daughter, because you can't abstain from calling the stone names. " The boy took off the yoke from the oxen and went home sorrowfully.     

Later there was another boy who came to ask for the hand of daughter and the father ordered him as he did the first boy. But this boy was not handsome. He was very clever. When his father-in-law asked him to plow the field, he brought some food with him to eat. He worked until he was hungry, then he stopped for a while to eat and kept working until afternoon. The oxen could no longer walk. When he directed the plow near the stone, he talked to the oxen " Oh, stone! Please cry! The oxen can not pull the plow! Take pity on the oxen! For myself, I do not care! I have some food to eat, and I can plow until night! If you do not have pity on me, please have pity on the oxen because they are animals"    

That boy begged the stone, but the stone still did not cry. He did not call the stone names because he knew that his father-in-law was hiding behind the stone. He begged many times for the stone to cry until the father saw his oxen so tired. The father had pity on his oxen, then he cried behind the stone to mimic the sound of the stone. The boy let the oxen to pasture in the field and came back to his future father-in-law. The father asked his daughter to prepare food for him. That night the father told him to go to his house and come back in the morning. The boy said " Good bye " to the family and went home.     

At night, when the future parents-in-law went to bed, the boy came stealthily and hid under their house to listen to what plan they made. The father went to bed with his wife and made plans 

" Hi dear! That boy can abstain from calling the stone names, but he is not handsome, so we had better make plans to make him angry, then he won't abstain from calling someone names " His wife said " It is very easy to find out his mistakes. Tomorrow you hid in one sack and I will put some rice in the other sack, In the morning when that boy comes, I will tell him to carry them on his shoulder for you, who will have gone to cut wood at the top of the mountain.       

He will not able to carry them because they are so heavy. So he will be angry and then he will call them names. As you are in the sack you will hear very well. When you come back we will break him with our daughter. " The husband and wife made this plan and slept. The boy who was hiding under their house already knew their plans and went back home. In the morning, the boy came to serve his future parents. His future mother-in-law showed him two sacks and told him " Son! Your father has gone to cut some wood at the top of the mountain. He wanted me to tell you to carry these two sacks for him and to cook for him. Do not be late. "    

The boy carried the two sacks near the foot of the mountain, but they were too heavy for him to go up the mountain. Some distance from home, he dropped them on the ground and said " Oh, father! I am hungry, I can not carry these sacks up the mountain. They are so heavy. Who can carry them up the mountain? If father has no pity on me, he will hit me, but I will submit to this punishment. " Then he carried them down and put them on the dry grass. He left them for a while. When he came back to these sacks he put the dry grass on fire around them. When the grass was burning the fire went to the sacks.          

The father who was in the sack felt hot and moved the sack, because he was afraid that the fire would burn his sack, but he could not get out. That boy came running from somewhere and exclaimed " Gee! who burn my sacks? How can I come thought because the fire is burning around like this? " Then he stood outside of the fire and exclaimed until the fire was burning the father's sack. The boy jumped into the fire and dragged the sack from the fire. As the fire was burning the tie of the sack, the father appeared from the sack. His body was plotted, his hair was scorching.       

The son coaxed him " Hi ! Father! Why didn't you tell your son! If I hadn't saved you from the fire maybe, the fire would have burnt you alive and mother would have been a widow. " The man was so angry, he could not say anything, then he went home without saying anything. He was weary, because his future son-in-law had dragged him from the fire and as well, the fire had burned his body and scorched his hairs. At home, he told the boy to go to his house and come again in the morning. The boy went back and came at night to hide under the house to listen to his parent's plans.      

At night, his parents-in-law went to bed and made another plan. The husband asked his wife " How can I find the trick to break him off from our daughter? This boy is very clever, but we cannot give our daughter to him, because he is not fit for our daughter. Yesterday, he knew that I was in the sack, he swung that sack in which I was against the stone and set a fire to burn me alive. Now how can we make another plan? " The wife told him " Now I have a plan, tomorrow, you will pretend to be a master and tell him to be a dog. Then you and he go hunting tortoise in the bush. But you make him creep like a dog. If he cannot find the tortoise or cannot crawl after you, we will break off his engagement with our daughter. "           

The husband agrees to her plan and said " It is fine! Tomorrow, I will do as you say " They slept. The boy under their home knew their plans and went home and bought some tortoise. He put all the tortoise in the bush everywhere, then he went back home to sleep. At dawn, he went to serve his future parents-in-law. They asked their daughter to give him some food to eat and said to him " Son! Today I want to hunt tortoise, but we do  have any dog. Now you are a dog, I am your master and we will go hunting some tortoise for dinner. " The boy said cheerfully " Yes! "       

The father carried the food and water. The boy crawled after him. When they arrived in the bush where the boy tied the tortoise, the dog boy ran in front of him and barked for tortoise. The father ran towards the place where his dog was barking. He saw his dog bring a tortoise in his mouth. He caught seven tortoises. At the afternoon, the father was hungry, sat down and ate lunch. His dog crawled looking at him. His master did not give him anything to eat, so the dog saw a herd of oxen near by and he ran and bit them.       

When the oxen came into the field and ate the vegetation, the father ran towards the herd of oxen and called them off from the field. The dog returned to eat all the food and ran away. The father did not have anything to eat, so he was very hungry, because the dog had eaten up his food. He was very angry with his dog. He beat his dog, but the dog ran so fast, he could not beat him anymore. The father was very hungry, his home was very far away, he was too weary to walk home. He did not punish his dog because this was the way of the dog.     

They arrived home together. After dinner, he told his future son-in-law to go home and come again in the morning. At night the boy came and stayed under the house to listen to their plans for the next day. At night, the parents-in-law went to bed. The husband told his wife that his son had maltreated him and asked for another plan from her. His wife answered " Today, you are his master, now it is your turn to be a dog and make him your master. Tomorrow, you and he go hunting tortoise again. " They slept. The boy under their house knew everything and went back home.     

In the morning, the boy came to serve them. His father asked his daughter to give some food, then he told him " Yesterday you were my dog, today I am your dog and you are my master to go hunting tortoises again. " " Yes! " the boy answered and they left home together. The dog, his father, crawled after him. Some distance from home, the boy walked at full speed, because he did not want his dog father walking near him. His father could not crawl well, because he was too old, and he stopped after him.      

The boy looked back at him " Dog! Do not waste the food! Work for me! Why don't you run before me! Don't walk after the master! How can you find the tortoise? " His father could not run in the bush and could not find tortoises. The boy beat him almost to death. The father crawled wearily, but he did not say anything, because he was ashamed before his son. In the afternoon, the boy ate food and gave some fish bones to his father to eat and said to his dog father " I never saw a dog like you run after the master, how can the dog run after the master and catch tortoise? I don't waste food on you! Eat the fish bones! "         

His father could not eat bones, because he was toothless. He was so hungry, that he crawled looking at him eating food until he had finished. His son beat him with a stick and told him to crawl home.

His father was very tired. He could not crawl, so he walked after his son. His son told his mother-in-law " Mother! I did not catch any tortoise because this is not a good dog. " His father was very hungry. He told his son to go home and come back in the morning. He went home and came at night to listen to their plans under the house.    

At night when the old ones went to bed, the husband told his wife about how his son had maltreated him and not given him any food to eat. His wife said " So, give our daughter to him, we can't break him from her. This boy is so clever, he know all our plans. He maltreated you almost to death. Why are you not afraid of death? " The husband said " I don't want to give our daughter to him because he is not handsome, and he is not fit for our daughter. When we played tricks with him, he was never angry, he did not call anyone names. So can you make another plan to break him from our daughter? "     

His wife told him " Yes! Now in the earliest morning you wash your face eat and smoke, then you get in the sack again and I will put some rice in another sack. In the morning he will come and I will tell him that you are going to the town to buy something. " She added " I will tell him to carry these sacks at lunch time. Perhaps, he cannot carry them, because they are heavy and it is a long way. If he cannot get there on time we will break him from our daughter. " After making the plans, they went to bed. And the boy who was under their house, knew their plans and went back home.      

In the morning, the boy came to serve them again. His future mother-in-law asked her daughter to give him some food. After breakfast, his mother gave two sacks to the boy to carry to the town for her husband as they had planned the night before. The boy carry the two sacks on the way to town, thinking " This time, I will terribly maltreat my father-in-law until he cannot play another trick and will have to give his daughter to me. " He carried the two sacks on his shoulder, about half way from home to town, he dropped them down and put them near the edge of the bridge, strongly tying the sack in which his father was.    

He said " Oh, it is too late. My father will call me names. I cannot carry the sacks on my shoulder, because they are so heavy. I cannot not be there on time. If my father will call me names, I will not care. I had better put them here and go somewhere for rest, then I will carry them on. " For a while he took a stick as long as an elephant's leg and stepped on the bridge. The sound was like an elephant's walk. He went across the bridge and said " Who put two sacks on this bridge? My elephant will step on them. Please move them. " he warned and stepped toward the sacks.     

The father in the sack thought it was an elephant and afraid of death, he moved the sack away from the "elephant" over the bridge and fell down into the water. His father's nose was full of water. His son saw his father's sack fall into the water, but pretended not to see, because he wanted his father to drink some water in the sack and wanted him not to make another plan. Then exclaimed fearfully " Who rides the elephant to kick my sack into the water? oh, my rice will be spoiled! oh, my father may call me names, the sun is high, my rice is spoiled. "     

The boy saw his father struggling in the sack " Oh, there are some fish come beating in my sack, I had better lift it. " Then the boy lifted it to land and said " If it gets wet, I have to dry it, then I will carry it back for my mother to make cake for my father. " When he untied the sack, he exclaimed sorrowfully " Oh, father! Why didn't you tell your son. If I had not lifted you, perhaps, you would have died. Some one has ridden from somewhere and he let his elephant kick you into the water. "    

The father heard, stood up and went back home silently. He arrived home, could not find another plan, so he prepared the wedding for his daughter and the clever boy.

 Chan Chak Smok

There was a man called CHAU CHAK SMOK whose name means the man who weaves boxes with palm leaves. One day he went to weave boxes at the top of the palm tree. He cut strips of the leaves and then he planned to make the boxes. While he wove the boxes, he thought " When I make a lot of boxes, I will sell them to the store, then I shall buy a hen. Later the hen will give chickens, then I will sell the chickens. So I will get five hundred riels. With, this, I will buy a pig. 

When the pig has young ones, I will sell them, I will thus earn two hundred riels, then I will buy a colt. When I sell it, I will make a lot of money, about two or three hundred riels, then I will buy fields and cultivate them. When the field crops, I will sell them and I will have a good deal of money, then I will find a pretty girl to be my wife. Later I will became a rich man and I will buy slaves to toke care of my children. When my slaves cannot take care of my children I will hit them. "

While the man was daydreaming, he kicked at the palm leaves. The leaf was broken so the man fell, but he caught himself under the palm leaves. When the wind blew, he swung like a swing, but he could not climb up to the top of the tree. Meanwhile, there was a man who rode on an elephant coming near the palm tree, then Chau Chak Smok asked the man for help " Please save me. Please take me down. I will serve you all my life. "

When the elephant-driver brought the elephant to the palm tree, he stood up on the elephant's back, his toes seemed to let the elephant go, so the elephant-driver was hanging under the man, then the elephant-driver begged the man not to let go of the palm leaf and he said " Please do not let go of the leaf and I will be your servant all my life. " 

The man's hands were very weary, then he told the elephant-driver to let go of his legs, but the elephant-driver did not let go, and then he said again " If you do not let go of my legs, I will fall from the leaf and drop my body on your and kill you. " The elephant-driver begged the man to hold the leaf very strongly, and he said " I fear to let go and drop my body down. Please hold on. If you save my life, I will be your servant. "

While they spoke to each other, there were four bald men who came by that way, and brought a large net. When the men who swung under the palm branch saw them come by, they called for help, but they told the two men " How can we help you down, because you are swinging below each other " then they begged them to help and said " If you save us, we will serve you all our life. Please spread your net and tie it around your necks, and we will drop in the net. "

The four bald men spread the net in a square, then they said " Please drop one after one. " But the men did not drop one after one, they dropped at the same time into the net, so the four bald men were dragged to hit each other's heads and crushed their skulls.

When the two men were saved, they saw four bald men die, then they discussed with each other about burning them, but one said " If we burn them at the same time, some one will think that we killed the men, and the government will put us in jail. So we had better bury them, and we will pardon them, because they died for us. "

 One Crow to Ten Crows

There were two men named Akhoch and Akhil who lived in two different villages, and had different opinions. Akhoch put manure in a jar and sealed it. And Akhil made a little sword and put it in a big scabbard. Akhil took his sword over his shoulder to sell, and Akhoch took his jar of " prahok " to sell too, Akhoch went from here and Akhil came from here, when they met each other, Akhoch called out " Come to buy my prahok! My prahok is delicious and boneless. You can make soup or eat it fresh. Come on and buy it! "

Akhil answered warmly " I am sorry, because I can't sell my sword, I don't have any money, could you exchange your prahok and my sword? " Suddenly Akhoch saw the long sword and said " yes! " Akhil gave the sword to Akhoch and spoke proudly " my sword is very sharp. I made it from magnet. Don't open it unless you need it. You can't open it now, because if you open it on the way home, you could not put it in, and you will be blinded. I am very sorry to sell it. If I weren't starving, I would not have sold it to you.

Akhoch gave the jar to Akhil and told him " My prahok is it very delicious. You can open it when you eat it. Don't open it right now, because it will be spoilt. I want to tell you how to eat it. If you want to eat it at the same time that you open it. This is very delicious. " They went back home. When Akhoch arrived home, he told his wife " Cook soon! I have some prahok " His wife asked him " Where did you get " " I got it from Akhil. I exchanged my little sword with Akhil for this prahok. " said Akhoch.

His wife was very happy and thought " my husband knows how to trade a little sword for delicious prahok. " Then she washed a dish to put the prahok in, and she opened the jar with a blunt knife, and then she put her hand in the jar to take out the prahok and put it in the dish to steam it. The manure was on her fingers, then she put them in her mouth to taste it and said " wow! the prahok stinks like manure! Come and taste it. " When her husband tasted it, he said sourly " It is manure! " She vomited and offended her husband.

When Akhil arrive home, he told his wife " One jar of manure can be exchanged for a long sword " Meanwhile, when a dog urinated on the flowers, Akhil threw the sword at the dog to stay him with the sharp sword. When he opened it, he saw the sword was too short, then he came into the house to show his lovely wife, and then they laughed. Finally Akhil told his wife " Akhoch is clever as I am. I want him to be my friend and I will play tricks on people with him. " Akhoch went back to see Akhil and he met him on the way.

When Akhoch saw Akhil reach him, he smiled widely " Where are you going? " " I come to see you and ask you to be my friend " said Akhil. " I come to ask you to be my friend too. " said Akhoch. Then they went to a rich man's house. The rich man had just died and was in the coffin to be burned. All the rich man's family wept. Akhil and Akhoch asked the neighbors " Why do they weep? " The neighbors told them " The rich man has died! "


The two friend then planned to write a false letter to show the rich man's family and to tell them that the rich man gave this letter to one of them before he had died, to come to take his goods. One of them went stealthily into the coffin, and the other took the false letter to the rich man's family. None in the rich man's family saw the one who crept stealthily into the coffin, because all the laymen pored over prayer book to pray and the entire family was grieving. Akhoch took the false letter to show them.

They read " The poor boy, called Akhoch, is my foster-son, now I am old. Oh, son! Come to take the goods. " The members of the rich man's family did not agree with him, because the letter has no signature and stamp. Akhoch told them " Please ask your father who is in the coffin. If he does not talk, I am playing tricks on you. " The rich man's son called his father in the coffin. Akhil who was in the coffin answered " Did you give a letter to your son to take the good? " the son said.

" Yes! I did. Load my goods in a big cart and give it to him. " said Akhil. The son was duped by the tricks of Akhil and Akhoch, then they were very angry with their strange father who died and talked. They wanted to open the coffin, but the relatives said that if someone saw the corpse, the corpse would frighten them at night, so they believe the relatives, and then they gave the goods to Akhoch. They pulled a big cart full of the goods and grieved because they were sorry for their goods.

Akhoch rode the cart full of the goods to his house. Akhil crept out of the coffin and ran to meet Akhoch and both thought " Now we have a lot of goods, but we are hungry. If we stop to cook, it may be that some thieves will come to rob our goods. Now Akhoch , wait for me here, I go to beg food for you. " Akhil went to a village to beg food. When he got some food he put poison in the food, because he wanted to kill Akhoch and take all the goods. When Akhil went to beg food from people, Akhoch set a trap to kill Akhil, because he wanted to own all the goods too.

That time Akhil ate some food and brought some food for Akhoch, but he put the poison in the food for Akhoch. When Akhil came from begging food, the trap killed him, then Akhoch saw Akhil die, he went straight to eat the food, and then he died too. After they died, the oxen pulled the cart with goods away and they broke off the yoke. The cart full of goods got stuck by the lake. In the morning, a man came and saw the cart, he was happy but afraid.

He thought " A poor person never has goods like this. If I take these goods home, it may be dangerous. " then he pulled the cart into the river and came back home. When the man reached home, he wanted to test his wife and he thought " If my wife is a good woman, I will take all the goods home. If I tell her something, she may tell someone and I will give all the goods to the government. I want only freedom. "

He told his wife " When I went to the restroom, one crow flew out from my anus, but you must not tell it to anyone. It is not good to tell about me. If anyone knows that and we cannot give the proof, I shall be spread on the cross or in the prison. " His wife went to tell someone that her husband went to the restroom, there two crow flew out from his anus and she said " Do not tell anyone. " One crow from the man's anus got out from mouth to mouth until it became ten crows.

When the king heard this story, he told his men to bring that man to him and then the king asked him " Is it true or not? "

The man told the king " Sir I told a lie to my wife, because I wanted to know whether she would tell it to somebody or not, I saw a cart full of goods. " The man told the king and pointed out that place where the cart was to the king. The king gave half of the goods to the man.