Once upon a time, there was a couple working as firewood choppers. They had seven sons. Their family was very poor. Moreover, one problem that made them worry very much was that . their youngest son could not speak much even though he was seven years old. Since he was born, he was very small so he was called " Chaopunmedai "
Chaopunmedai was cleverer than his elder brothers. He disliked talking much, but liked listening to other people speaking. In winter, his parents were unable to find food to feed their children. One night, when the children were sleeping, the husband discussed with his wife. "We are not able to feed our children any longer!" said husband, "we'd rather banish them in the forest than leave them to die of starvation with us." The wife thought a minute, and told her husband hopelessly. "Well, I do not know how to feed them, either! It's up to you." Then, she went to sleep and sobbed.
While the couples were talking to each other, they expected that their children were asleep. In fact, Chaopunmedai hid himself under the old chair where his father sat. After hearing what his parents talked he went to bed and thought of what he should do.
Next day, Chaopunmedai got up early and walked towards the riverbank. He picked up many white gravels and kept them in his pocket. Afterwards, his parents went to cut and collect woods in the forest as usual. While they were walking, Chaopunmedai scattered a lot of white gravels along the path.
The father cut down a lot of trees, while his children actively cut off the branches of the cut trees. When seeing their children working very hard, the spouses escaped quickly from the forest, leaving all of their children in the dense forest. When the spouses arrived home, they met a rich man. The man gave them some money to buy food for the kids. The spouses were very happy and went to buy cake
and tasty food.
As for the children in the forest, not seeing their parents, they all cried for their parents. "Please, stop crying, brothers! I know the way home, and I will take you all to our house," Chaopunmedai told his elder brothers. Then he walked in front of his brothers.
They arrived home in the dusk, but they dared not go into the house. They stood near the doorstep and heard their mother saying to the father: "I'm full, but I miss our children .where are they now? The foxes or tigers may have eaten them. You are a cruel father." The husband was very angry with his wife saying that it was his fault alone. "Oh! My beloved sons! You are so pitiful; where are you this time of the night?" she added.
When hearing their mother saying that the seven sons screamed in one voice, "We have arrived; we are here." Knowing her sons' voices, she opened the door quickly and hugged them. "My beloved sons! I am very happy that you have arrived home. You are so hungry; I'll make food for you, sons," said the mother. Then, she prepared food for her sons to eat well.
Later on, when this family ran out of money to buy food, the parents started to worry again. "We have no way to feed our children," the husband whispered to his wife, "the only way is to banish them in the forest again; but this time it must be further than before so that they aren't able to return home." Chaopunmedai sat near the wall hearing what his father said. Next day Chaopunmedai got up early, intending to pick up the white gravels again; but the door was unlocked. "What should I do? It's over," he murmured.
Then, the husband and wife took their sons to leave home. Unlike before, Chaopunmedai had no white gravels in his pocket this time. He thought of an idea; it was to break the bread into small pieces to scatter along the path so that he could know the way home. While the sons were traveling without notice, their parents escaped their sons and left them in the thick forest. They were very frightened and did not know where to go. Chaopunmedai told his brothers, "We don't get lost; I have scattered pieces of bread along the path so far. Please walk after me." However, it was different from what he thought. The birds ate all the pieces of the bread so that Chaopunmedai could not lead their brothers back home.
A very dark night was coming, and it started to rain so the seven children got lost in the forest. They were afraid of wind, thunder, and lightning, as well as wild animals; Chaopunmedai climbed up a high tree looking everywhere. He saw a light coming out of a house. Then, he took his brothers there. When they arrived, they knocked the door. Suddenly, there was a woman opening the door and asked:" Where are you going in the dark night?" "We are poor kids who were getting lost," they answered quickly, "Could you please let me stay here for one night?" "What a pity!" the woman replied in tears, "You have been in the giant's house. The giant will eat you all; but now the giant is not here. He will arrive soon."
When the seven kids heard that they started to cry and begged the woman, "My aunt, please let us stay here for one night; I am afraid of wild animals, but not very scared of the giant."
In fact, that woman was the giant's wife. She let the kids enter her house. On a big table, they saw a lot of meat, the food already prepared for the giant. A few minutes later, they heard the loud noise of the giant's arrival. The giant's wife told the kids to hide under the table, and went to open the door for her husband.
"Have you prepared food, yet? And is there any wine? I am very thirty," asked the giant. Then, he started eating his meal. He liked eating fresh raw meat. After he ate all food, he raised his head and
said, "There seem to be the smell of raw meat left here?" "It might be the smell of the food I have prepared for your meal tomorrow," replied his wife rapidly. "No," screamed the giant, "It is the smell of the fresh raw meat." The giant bended his head looking under the table. "Ah!" the giant exclaimed, "you tell me a lie, my dear; I am going to eat them right now."
The seven children cried out loudly in the house. When the giant took out his knife, his wife said, "What are you going to do? Please wait for tomorrow meal; we have enough food for dinner tonight."
The giant replied in agreement, "Good, it's even better for tomorrow meal." The giant was very happy. He drank a lot of wine before going to sleep.
The giant had seven daughters; they all ate raw meat like their father. They had small grey eyes, big mouths and long teeth. When their father went to sleep, they also went to sleep. All of the
giant's daughters wore gold crowns on their heads. The giant's wife brought Chaopunmedai's brothers to sleep near her daughters.
They all fell asleep quickly. As for Chaopunmedai, he could not sleep. He was very frightened. He tried to think of how to leave the giant. After thinking hard, he got up, took off the gold crowns from the heads of the giant's daughters, and put them on his brothers' heads. Then, he slept quietly.
At midnight, the giant woke up and thought, "I'll kill those kids right now; for delicious food, no need to wait until tomorrow." The giant took out his knife and entered the room where they were sleeping. He could not see clearly, because it was very dark so he touched the crowns on the heads of Chaopunmedaj's brothers. Then, the giant walked quietly to the other bed and touched the hair. "Ah, here they are!" he thought, "It must be those kids." The giant killed all his daughters one by one, and went to sleep ignorantly.
When the giant left, Chaopunmedai got up and woke up all his brothers. "Get up ... " he said, "Get dressed hurriedly; we must escape here." The seven siblings ran very fast through the forest in the dark night. They did not know where they were going.
As the giant got up, he woke his wife up. "My dear," he said, "let's go to see the kids coming yesterday." When The Giant and his wife opened the room door, they saw all of their daughters die tragically on the bed. Seeing this mournful event, his wife became unconscious at once. The giant screamed loudly, "What have I done? I'll chase you and kill you all, evil kids." The giant took out his Magical Shoes and stepped forward many kilometers jumping over many mountains and crossing over a lot of rives and lakes.
When Chaopunmedai and his brothers saw the giant from the distance, they climbed up and hid on a big tree. Because of not finding the kids and being so tired, the giant took a rest under the big tree and fell asleep. While the giant was snoring, Chaopunmedai put off the giant's magical shoes easily. He could fly as fast as the giant could, too. He flew to the Giant's house and saw the giant's wife crying, so he said, "Aunt! Thieves have caught your husband; they will not free him home unless they get some jewelry." Chaopunmedai added, "Please give me the jewelry; I help take it for the thieves because I know their house."
Because of loving and wanting to save her husband's life, the giant's wife collected all the jewelry she had for Chaopunmedai. Chaopunmedai went back home with a lot of jewelry from the Giant's wife and gave them to his parents. The parents and children were very happy that they could be reunited and had enough properties to support the family, and they peacefully lived together forever.
- The END -
Intelligence is the best weapon to solve every problem.
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