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. 

A COLLECTION OF CAMBODIAN FOLK TALES

A Long Eel and A Long Cooking-Pot

Once there was a family, a husband and a wife. One day the husband went out for a walk and bought a long eel for his dinner. He thought " I will have a good dinner today. " He gave it to his wife and said " Cook some soup for dinner! " His wife look at the eel and wondered " Where could I find a cooking-pot long enough to cook this eel? "

She went to a shopkeeper and asked the man if he had a long cooking-pot. The man replied " I'm sorry, there is no long cooking-pot in my store. But if you want it, you had better wait for it, I will ask the potter to make a special pot for you. " So she returned home and told her husband " I could not find a long cooking-pot to make eel soup for you. "

* What?
* No cooking-pot long enough to put in your eel, and to cook it.

Her husband looked over his shoulder and said " If you can't cook it, you should hang it up on the wall. " He lay down on his bed, his right hand on his forehead and thought " How stupid my wife is! " Then he went into the kitchen to cook it and after finishing the work called her to eat the dinner. After the dinner her husband went out. When she was alone, she went into the kitchen and looked around to find out the long cooking-pot in which her husband had cooked the eel. For a long time she could not find it. But finally she found it.

- Hey! How could my husband cook it with the short cooking-pot?

She was very much surprised. She looked into the cooking-pot and finally saw that there was a little piece of eel at the bottom of the cooking-pot. She put her head into the cooking-pot to lick the little piece of eel. She cleaned the cooking-pot with her tongue and she hummed alone " It is so delicious! " When the pot was dried, she could not get her head out of the cooking-pot. She didn't know how to take the pot off and so she went to hide behind the granary. 

The Fisherman and His Wife

There was a man who went fishing with his son in a river. When he dropped his fishing line into the river, it got tangled around the root of a tree, but the man thought that his fishing line caught a big fish, he could not lift the line, then he told his son to go home and tell his wife to quarrel with the family and the neighbors, because he did not want his relatives to ask for some fish. Then his son went to his house to tell his mother to provoke a quarrel.

She put on only a strip of cloth round her chest and a sampot under her navel and she pretended to be like a foolish woman, then she painted her face black, and then went to her relative's houses.

All her relatives saw her in a strange condition, so they asked her " Hi! why did you do this? why do you put black coal on your face? " Then she blamed them and called them names " Damned! are your heads heavy, when I paint my face black? What is that to you. Do I hurt you, when I paint my face black? "

All her relatives heard her calling them names and they were very angry with her, then they called her names in return. Some were very angry, they took her to the judge. The judge asked her to pay money to those whom she called names. After the fisherman had told his son to ask his wife to provoke a quarrel with his relatives, he dived to take the fish that the fishing line had caught.

When he dived into the water, his head was hurt by the tree which got tangled with the fishing line, his eyes began to bleed, then he fumbled around to find the fish, but he found only the root of the tree, then he got out of the water and put up his hands to shield his eyes, and finally he went to the place where he had took off his clothes. But while he dived into the water his clothes were blown away by the wind.

The fisherman felt very cold, his eyes pained him very much, and he wanted to go home but he could not go because he was naked, then he hid within a bush till night came. At night he crept in to his house, but he could not get into his house because it was lighted, then he called his wife to give him some cloth, after putting this on, he entered his house.

His wife told him that she gave as a fine all the money and goods to their relatives because she called them names. The two lost everything, the man did not catch the fish, his eyes were hurt, his clothes were gone, and his wife was fined by the judge. 

 Fours Liars

One there were four liars. They planned playing tricks on people. When they were all ready and agreed with one another, they left their house to go far away from their village. They met two persons, husband and wife, who worked by the river far away from anyone's home. The four liars knew that the two were rich, so they said " We must stop here and tell them a lie to cheat them of their goods.

And then they asked them " Oh! old ones! we come form far away. We seek someone who knows an ancient tale, because we want to know it. Now we meet you who, perhaps, can tell us an ancient tale. Could you tell us one? The two old ones told them " Oh, young ones! old ones have not heard any tale since they were children. Please young ones go to ask someone who knows one. "

The four liars told them " Oh, old ones! If someone knows an ancient tale, do you want to listen to it? " " Yes, young ones! We would like very much to listen to it, but we cannot find someone who is able to tell us an ancient tale " said the old ones.The four liars told them naughtily " We all know one because we heard it from our ancestors, but when we tell it to you, you must believe us. " Then the old ones said " We must believe

The first one began his lie, he said " When I was three months old in my mother's womb I scented, a ripe fruit in front of my house. That tree was about sixteen feet and it had only one fruit. My mother did not know how to pick the fruit to eat, when I thought that my mother wanted to eat it, I came out of her womb, then I climbed up the tree to pick up the fruit for her. Finally I got into her womb again. "

The second one said " When I was six months old in my mother's womb, my mother was very busy working in the field, so I came out of her abdomen. I worked with her, tending oxen and buffaloes, cooking for her in the morning. At night when there were nothing to do, I got into her womb again. "

The third one told them " I am a god coming down from heaven to be born in my mother's abdomen. When I come out from her womb, I go to serve her in every thing. I will get in her abdomen again before I die and I will be born young again. "

The fourth one said " When I came out from my mother's womb I practiced five commandments and waited for eight commandments very different from others. I can drink, smoke and kill, when I die, I will be born in heaven. "

The liars told the old ones these lies and asked them " All the tales that we told you are true. Do you believe us? " The old one answered " Yes, I believe all you said. " but the old ones know that the boy were liars.

When the liars could not play any more tricks on them, they asked the old ones to tell them some tales. But before the old ones had told them a tale, they asked them to promise to believe their tales as the four liars did.

The old man said " Oh, young ones, my children! Since I had planed cotton for five or six years, I made enough money to spend and to feed you. But this year, the cotton plants do not yield anything. I do not know why. One day as I went to my field, I saw a cotton plant as big as a palm tree with a fruit. I took the fruit home and when I stripped it, I saw four seeds each of which was a boy, I told my wife to feed them, when all the boys grew up, they went away from us. Now I see they have come back to live with us. You are those boys. "

The four liars were afraid and said " We do not believe this " But the old ones told them " If you do not believe this, you break your promise, so you must live with us and serve us as good sons should serve their parents. The four liars then became their servants.  

 The Hunter and The Bird

 There was a hunter who had caught a black bird, a peacock and a heron. He taught them to play circus. He taught the black bird how to speak like men, and the peacock and the heron how to dance. When the hunter taught the tree birds skillfully, he took them to play circus for the king in his palace for gift and money from the king as he wanted. The king asked him " What do the tree birds know "

The hunter replied " This blackbird can speak like men " then he let the blackbird talk. The blackbird spoke, showed his knowledge in talking the human language, then he asked the peacock to dance for the king. The peacock danced as well as he was taught. The king was delighted to see the two birds and he told his men to put them in the cage to be in the care of servants.

Next the hunter took the heron off the cage and let him act for the king, but the heron was a clever bird and knew bad times and good times. He thought that the blackbird and the peacock who showed their skill to the king who was delighted at their acts, were put in the cage to be in the care of the king's servants. If I showed my skill to the king he would put me in the cage as he did the two birds.

Being always in the cage, I shall have no freedom and no happiness. So it is not good to show my dancing. Let me pretend to be ignorant. Then the heron did not dance and cried " krack! krack! " The hunter tried to make him dance, but the heron did not do anything, he just cried " krack! krack! " then the king saw that the heron did not know how to act, so he told the hunter to free him.

The hunter freed the heron as the king told him. When the heron was free from the hunter he flew up and talked to the peacock and the blackbird " Being clever and proud and making people amused you both, peacock and blackbird are in the cage. It is wonderful and happy for you, but for me, it is unhappy to be in the cage, so I did not show my knowledge, I pretended to be ignorant and I became hated by people, then they freed me, and now I will see my family whom I left.

You, peacock and blackbird, showed your skill which tied up your neck. I do not admire at all the skill which put you in the cage. Oh, poor birds, peacock and blackbird, you did not know what was good or not good for you in showing your skill, so you had better live in the cage for you can not go anywhere. " Thus the heron told them proudly and he flew away to his place. This story tells of the person who does not know how to use knowledge in good or bad conditions and has it tied around his neck.

Next

A COLLECTION OF CAMBODIAN FOLK TALES

 The Deer, The Crow and The Tortoise

There were three animals who were friends, a deer, a crow and a tortoise. One day the deer went to look for food in the forest and was caught in a hunting trap. When the tortoise and the crow went to search for the deer they saw him in the trap. They asked him " Why did you not see the trap? " Then the deer told them " Oh friends! I was wrong, please help me to save my life. "

The crow and the tortoise agreed to help the deer, then the crow took some water to soften the trap and the tortoise gnawed the trap. They gnawed the trap from evening to dawn, but they could not sever it, they could sever only two strings. When the hunter was coming, the the crow and the tortoise told the deer " Friend! now the hunter will come soon. We can gnaw only two strings. You must break it yourself. "

While the three animals spoke to one another the hunter came, then the crow and the tortoise left the deer alone. They entered the forest to wait for the deer. When the deer saw the hunter come near him, the deer broke the trap and went away into the forest. The hunter was very sorry to lose the deer then he ran after him to bring him back, but he could not run so fast, and then he saw the tortoise who hide in the forest.

The hunter brought the tortoise back and set the trap again.When the crow saw the hunter take the tortoise back, he told the deer a plan to save the tortoise from the hunter, then the crow said to the deer " Let the hunter run after you he will drop the tortoise down and then you must run into the forest. "The deer agreed. When the deer ran near the hunter, he pretended to have a broken leg, he ran on only three legs in front of the hunter.

The hunter did not know the deer's tricks, then he thought that the deer had a broken leg, because he was caught by the trap and he ran after the deer. When the deer looked back he saw that the hunter did not drop the tortoise yet, so he planned to be crippled animal again and ran slowly. The hunter thought " What good is this tortoise? He is enough for only two meals, but the deer will give me much meat. "

The hunter dropped the tortoise into the bush.The deer saw the hunter drop the tortoise, and he let the hunter get close to him. When he was far enough from the place where the hunter dropped the tortoise, the deer came back and picked up the tortoise with his mouth and the crow guided them into the forest. They lived in the forest peacefully. 

 The Hungry Liar

Once a boy lived with his mother who fed a pip, when the pip grew up, the boy wanted to eat it, he said " Mother! I want to eat pork. Mother, may I kill your pig to eat it? " The mother refused saying " No! why do you like to eat so much? keep him to sell. " When the boy heard his mother's refusal, he still wanted to eat pork day after day.

One day, the boy woke up and told his mother " Mother! God send me a dream last night of a place where there is a lot of gold. Mother! could you go with me to bring the gold? " The mother asked him " where is it? "; " If you go with me and do as I tell you, you will see the gold." said the boy.

The boy with his mother took a basket and went to the forest far away from home, then the covered a place with the basket and sat tightly an it and call his mother " Mother! come to help me to push the basket down on this place where there is a lot of gold. Mother! Keep on pushing it and wait for me while I run back home to get a hoe to dig for the gold. Mother ! Keep on pushing this basket, do not leave it. If you leave it, the gold may go away."

When the mother heard what her son told her. She pushed on the basket strongly and waited for him to come from home. The boy arrived at home, killed the pig and ask his friends to eat and drink happily. The mother waited for him in the forest for a long time. She did not see him come back and was very tired. Her hands and legs were weary, so her hands left the basket, then she looked in the basket, Nothing was in it.

When the mother knew that her son had played a trick on her, she came back home. She saw that her son had eaten up the pork with his friends and drank happily. She was very angry with him and told her brother " My son is very bad. I will not feed him any more. You must put him in the sack and throw him alive into the river " " What is wrong with you? Why do you want to kill your son? " said her brother.

She told him " He played a trick on me asking me to stay in the forest and to collect gold. I had waited for him a long time in the forest until I was hungry. When I came back home I saw that he with his friends had killed my pig and ate it. I had only one pig which I fed for sale. " Then her brother put the boy in the sack and brought him to the river.

When he arrived at the river, the boy said to his uncle " Oh my uncle! Please have pity on me. I will die so please go back home and bring my book of lies which I put on the self. When I die I will be reborn. If I do not have the art of lying how could I play a trick for food? I may die again. "

The uncle took pity on his nephew, and then he went back home to pick up the book for him. The uncle left him by the side of the river. At that time a leper came to the boy. On learning that there was a leper near by he said " To heal my leprosy I have been in this sack a long time, but I can't see for myself if it has been cured or not. But when I touch my body, it seems to have been cured. "

The leper heard that the boy was in the sack to treat the leprosy, so he asked the boy " Have you been cured? " The boy told him " Because I have been a leper, one put me a long time in this sack for being healed, but I do not know whether I have been healed or not. Please have pity on me to untie the sack. " The leper untied the sack to get the boy out.

The boy got out and brushed himself off and said " I am healed. ". The leper heard the boy say he had cured, then he asked the boy " May I cure my leprosy in your sack? " The boy was very happy and he thought " I won't die. I have this leper to die for me " The boy told the leper " If you want to heal very fast, you must not speak to him. " When the leper knew the boy's explanations, he got in the sack and told the boy to tie it up.

The boy tied the sack and went away from it. His uncle could not find the lying book, so he knew that his nephew told him a lie. His uncle was very angry and he thought " When I arrive at the river, I will throw him into the river ", so he walked with a stick. The boy wanted to be cured, so he kept silent. The uncle thought that it was his nephew and after the drubbing he threw him into the water.

When the boy went away form the leper, he met another liar who bathed. That liar saw the boy from afar, he dived for a while and then emerged " I dived to the bottom of the river, I saw people playing cards. I won and I got a lot money, but I could not take it with me. I brought only a little. " The boy heard and trust him, so he dived into the river to take the money from people.

When he dived, he hit his head on a tree in the water and it stared to bleed. Then he knew that man who told him was a liar too. The boy planned to get even with him and came out of the water " When I dived into the water to ask for the money from people as you have told me, I saw many people playing games, I won and got a lot money. When I asked for the money form them, they told me to ask you. If you do not believe me, look at my broken head. "

The liar knew that the boy was clever to lie against a liar. Finally the liar gave him some money and asked him to be brotherly so they could lie together from that day on.

The Two Neighbors

Once there were two neighbors. One day they planned to set traps to catch animals. As the sun was setting behind the mountain, they left together for the forest. In the forest, one said " I will set my trap near the foot of the tree, because this tree has many fruits, and at night, many animals come to eat the fruits. "

The other one said " I want to set my trap here too, but now if you set it near the foot of the tree, I will set mine on the top of the tree and we shall see tomorrow whose trap will catch the animals. " After discussion, one set his trap near the foot of the tree, and the other set his trap on the top of the tree, then they came back home.

But the man who set the trap on the top of the tree, after reaching home, that night, discussed this with his wife. He said " Of all our ancestors, did you ever hear if any one who set a trap on the top of the tree caught four-footed animals who walk on the earth? But right now if I have set my trap on the top of the tree, how will it catch an animal? Thus I will have to wake up very early, and if I see my neighbor's trap on the ground catching an animal, I shall take it off and put it in my trap at the top of the tree, and then I will again go with him to see the trap. Then I have to give a share of the animal to judge Sek. If my neighbor does not agree with me, he will go to judge Sek, too, and Mr. Sek will let me win.

The husband and wife, after discussion, went to bed, but the man woke up very early. He smoked and left his home to see his trap. He saw his friend's trap holding a deer and then he took off the deer and put it in his own trap. After that, he returned home. At dawn, the man who set the trap on the ground asked the other man to come and see their traps, but the other man said " Do not be in a hurry, my trap will not catch any animal because it is at the top of the tree. May be your trap is holding some animal, if your trap is holding some animal, you had better give me some meat to eat. "

He spoke proudly because he already knew what was there. The two men left their home together to see their traps. Unfortunately, the trap on the top of the tree was holding an animal. The man who had the trap in the tree said " Hi! Look! You did not believe me, I told you " Do not set the trap on the ground, set it on the tree " Now look! whose trap is holding the animal? " He climbed up the tree and took down the deer. The two neighbors came home together.

The man whose trap was on the tree went to see judge Sek and told him " I and my neighbor set trap. My friend set it on the ground, and I set it on the top of the tree. I took the deer caught in his trap. If the case comes to you, you have to cover over my fault and give the punishment to my friend.

Then judge Sek got a share of the deer and said " You have to bring a lot of betels and arecas very early for tomorrow when your friend comes to see me, I will ask him to bring the same thing. As he is very poor, he can not bring anything, so you will win the case. Go ahead to find the betel and arecas. "

The man who had set the trap on the ground was disappointed and did not agree with his friend about the catch. So he went to the judge Sek and told him the same way as his friend had told him. Mr. Sek said to him the same as he said to his friend.

In the morning the man who had set the trap on the tree brought a lot of things very early to Mr. Sek. But the poor man who had set the the trap on the ground could not bring anything to Mr. Sek. He was afraid of losing the case and of being in prison. He ran from village to village to find the betels and arecas.

He went and met another judge, Mr. Rabbit. Mr. Rabbit asked him " What is the matter that you are running about like this? Stop! " He said " Please help me because I and my friend went to set the trap together, but I put it on the ground and my friend's trap was on the tree. Unfortunately, my friend's trap, on the top of the tree, caught an animal. I did not believe this, so went to see the judge. The judge ordered me to bring the betels and arecas very early. The one who could not bring them to him will be punished. This is why I am very afraid. "

Judge Rabbit said " Do not be afraid, this afternoon we shall go together. " In the afternoon they went together to judge Sek's house. He said " Why are you so late? You lost your case. " Mr. Rabbit answered " We are very late because we went to see fish flying and eating the leaves at the top of of the tree. " Mr. Sek said " Who ever heard that, from the time of our ancestors? I have never heard that the fish fly and eat the top leaves of the tree. "

Mr. Rabbit answered " From the time of our ancestors, I have never heard that he who set the trap on the tree can catch an animal who is a quadruped. Do you hear it? Everyone of you, people? "

Mr. Sek was quiet. Mr. Rabbit convinced the court that the man who had the trap on the tree should go to the prison. Mr. Sek was ashamed before the people because of his ambition. He sat quietly and looked towards the wall.

" Ambition is put to shame before law." 

A Dwarfish Dog

There was a man who fed a dog who could give him all kinds of service. One day the man went to work in the field, but before he left his house, he had told his wife to let the dog carry the food for him in the afternoon. In the afternoon, when his wife had finished cooking she tied the basket of food to the dog's neck and told him to carry it to his master.

The dog ran towards the field where his master worked, but when he was half way from home, there flowed a small river which was not shallow enough to be crossed by walking. And as there was no boat there, and the dog could not avoid it, he began to swim across the river, for it was mid-day and almost lunchtime. When the dog swam across the river, the food became soaked in water.

But he ran straight to his master. The master untied the basket from the neck of the dog and opened it. On seeing that the food was soaked in water, he was very angry with the dog and struck him with a stick. The dog was annoyed with his master and thought " I am very powerful, but the stick is much more powerful than I am. He hit me, so I had better pray to the god to change my body into a stick. Please change me into a stick! "

When the dog prayed to the god he came and changed the dog into a stick as he wished. The stick dog flew everywhere and hit everyone. All the people were annoyed with the stick-dog, then they asked the god to change the stick, so the god made fire to burn the stick-dog. When the stick-dog saw fire burning him, he thought that fire was much more powerful than the stick, then he begged the god to change him into fire.

The god changed the dog into fire as he wished. The fire-dog spread everywhere burnt everything. The world was very angry with the fire-dog, then they asked the god to weaken it. The god brought down rain to stop the power of the fire. The fire-dog thought that fire was not as powerful as rain, so he begged the god to change his body into rain.

The god changed the dog into rain as he wished. The rain-dog played havoc with agriculture. The world was very angry with rain, then they told the god to weaken the rain. The god brought wind to stop the rain. The rain-dog was over powered by the wind, then he begged the god to change him into wind. The god changed the dog into wind as he wished.

When the dog became wind, he blew every thing away, uprooted trees, destroyed boats, houses and kill many people. The world was very angry with the wind-dog and they asked the god to check wind. Then a hillock was put up before him. The wind-dog could destroy everything but could not destroy the hillock. The dog thought that the hillock was more powerful than he, then he asked the god to change him into a hillock. The god changed him into a hillock as he wished.

When the dog was made a hillock, the buffalo gored and destroyed him, then the dog begged the god to change him into a buffalo as he wished. When the dog became a buffalo, people could not use him, because he was very strong cord running through his nose. As the buffalo-dog could not break the cord he thought that the cord was more powerful than a buffalo, so he asked the god to change him into a cord. The god changed him into a cord as he wished.

The god changed the buffalo-dog into a cord but later there came a dwarfish dog near the cord and ate up the cord, because it was made of leather. When the cord-dog saw that a dwarfish dog was more powerful than he, then he asked the god to change him again into a dwarfish dog. The god changed the cord-dog into a dwarfish dog as the cord-dog wished.

The cord-dog became again a dwarfish dog that he had been in the past. 

 Next

Legend

Go directly to school, Come directly back home

 

At a rural area, there lived a boy named Brok. His mother's name was Auntie Prong. She was a widow and lived with her son, Bork.

One morning, Bork said goodbye to his mother before goiing to school. "My Bork! Go directly to school and come directly back home," Auntie Prong  advised her son. After listening to his mother's advice, Brok answered and walked away without caring to say "Yes, I konw, mom!". Not long, Brok almost arrived at a wooden bridge, which was built to cross a stream to a nearby village. Then he saw a man who was sitting and fishing alone.

As he got on the bridge, Brok saw a fisherman who got more and more from fishing. Brok  stood watching unconsciously as the man put the fish into hos basket. Desire for fish, Bork  wanted to make himself a fisherman like the man. While he was thinking about this, he heard the sound of the school bell, "Meung! Meung..." Suddenly he ran quickly toward the school.

Although he ran and walked very hard, the time did not wait for him. Finally, he arrived at the school gate. He walked, with his out-of-breath, and stood near a place, where sugar cane juice was sold. Brok looked at the door gate of his class of grade 3 "B" while he was listening to his female teacher calling students in the class to read the lesson. As he heard about this, he started to fell nervous because of coming late.

At the same time, Brok  heard the sound "Pok...Pork...!" as well as the noise of laughing from the roof end of the house of a grocery seller opposite his school. "They are playing snooker," Brok thought. Without waiting for long,  Brok crossed the road immediately. As he got there, he stood watching people playing snooker from one round to another without going anywhere. Brok  stood there for a long time because he wanted not only to play the game, but also to wait for his schoolmates to go home so that he could mingle with them.

While he was watching the multicolored snooker balls rolling on the table, he heard the sound of the school bell again, telling him that it was 11 o'clock "Meung!,,Meung!..." Brok  was happy as well as nervous as he looked at the students leaving school for home. Qickly Brok  left the snooker's house and with his intention, he mingled with other students.

As he got to the cross road, Brok changed to his way home alone. On the way home, he picked the fruits wherever he found. On his half way home, Brok saw a tree with a lot of fruits near the road, on the corner of a watermelon plantation. He climbed into it very quickly. And then he fell down from the tree, "Prav...Kdouk...". "My husband, can you go and check what the sound is?" the wife of the plantation called her husband. "My wife, Brok, the son of Auntie Prong, falls from the tree!" the man told his wife. The man told his wife as he was going to the site to fetch the boy. When he took the boy to his cottage, he told his wife, "My wife,! Please go and inform Auntie Prong and I will take the boy to the commune hospital".

As soon as the man went on his ox cart taking the boy to hospital, Auntie Prong also arrived there. "Doctor, is my son's leg broken?" Auntie Prong asked the doctor in tears. "It's not broken, but there is a wound in his calf", said the doctor.

The doctor allowed the boy to be taken home due to light injury. After thanking the man, who was the plantation owner, Auntie Prong talked to her son, "I've already told you that go directly to school and come directly back home." "From now on, I will make a good son, "Said Brok.

The End

Animals

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