GRANDAD PHAUK AND HIS SONS-IN-LAW

Grandad Phauk and his wife lived with their daughter and two sons-in-law near a small lake. One day, Grandad told his daughter to cook rice, to pack bags, and to prepare bamboo pipes of drinking water for the trip to cut firewood to be used during the rainy season.

Grandad and his sons-in-law together boarded a boat and rowed the boat away. When they reached a land, they heard a gray crane singing noisily all over the wood.

The older son-in-law asked his father-in-law that, "Father! Why can that gray crane sing so loud?" Father-in-law responded, "You know! The reason that gray canes can sing so loud is because they have long necks."

Knowingly the two men agreed so well with each other about the :answer, the younger son-in-law felt so displeased and said, "What about adult and young frogs? They don't have long necks, yet why can they cry so loud?"

Grandad Phauk and his older son-in-law could not find any ideas to argue, so they just kept quiet. Then, when they reached a mound, they saw that the mound had nothing growing on it not even a blade of grass. The older son-in-law wondered and asked his father-in-law that, "Father! Why was there no grass growing on the mound?"

Father-in-law responded to his older son-in-law that, "Once upon a time, Ta Prum cooked his rice on that mound and drained off his cooked rice water on it; therefore, no grass can grow on the mound because the hot rice water killed all grass."

Then, the older son-in-law talked to his father-in-law that, "You are right. Ta Prum's rice water was so hot and if he had drained off his rice water on a place, grass couldn't grow on that place."

The younger son-in-law interrupted, "What about your bald head that has no hairs, father? Is your head bald because Ta Prum has drained off is rice water on your head?" The two men could not find anything to argue, so they just kept quiet. They continued their trip forwards.

As the father-in-law and his sons-in-law rowed their boat and reached a corner of a hill, they saw a rock was broken into two. So the older son-in-law asked his father-in-law, "Look! Father, why did the rock break into two?"

The father-in-law replied, "Once up on a time, Preah Rama and Preah Leak dragged their swords along the ground and across the rock, so the rock was cut by the tips of their swords and then broke into two."

The older son-in-law responded, "Oh! That's right; Preah Rama's sword is so sharp, so if he dragged his sword across any thing, the thing would be cut into two."

The younger son-in-law immediately responded, "What about the crack in our buttocks. Did Preah Rama drag his sword across it?" The father-in-law and the older son-in-law thought that their chatter was ridiculous and could not reply, so they just kept quiet.

The three father-in-law and his sons-in-law continued rowing their boat and then reached the woods. Then, they each tried to cut firewood. Grandad Pauk glanced at his younger son-in-law's face often and thought, "He is still young, but he is cleverer than I am." When the boat was full of firewood, they returned home.

While rowing the boat, Grandad Phauk saw a flock of wild ducks swimming, so he talked to his younger son-law that, "Well! My younger son-in-law, if you know a lot of things, Can you think of the reason why ducks can float on water?" The younger son-in-law replied that, "Well Father, because they have feathers."

The father-in-law responded, "What about our boat? It has no feathers, but why can it still float on water too?" The three father-in-law and his sons-in-law stopped chatting and just continued rowing their boat home.

- The END -

"Remember no one likes a know-it-all."