Friday, December 13, 2013

KEONAMA, THIDA MOUK SES (HORSE-FACE WOMAN)

In a kingdom, there was a prince who liked flying kites. One day, the wind was so strong that the kite's string broke. The prince and the servants followed the direction where the kite fell down. Speaking of an old couple, they had a young daughter, named Keonama. Unfortunately, she had the head of a horse, while her body was that of a human. That day, the old couple went to sell watermelons as usual. But Keonama was playing in front of their house. Coincidentally, the kite fell on the roof of her house, and she took it. However, the prince saw this and said, "Lady, can I have my kite back? Whatever you want, I'll give you it." She responded, "I'll never give the kite to you unless you marry me." "Give the kite to me. When I am back at the palace, I will ask people to come and hold a parade to take you there.”

Many days passed by; Keonama had been waiting for the prince to come. She was sitting alone feeling sad. Seeing her overwhelmed with sorrow like that, the old couple made up their minds to go to the palace and report the whole matter to the King. The King called the prince to ask about it. Learning the truth, the King blamed the prince, "You are part of the royal family; you must keep your word." Three days later, he asked people to organize a parade to take Keonama to the palace.

The King tried to make up excuses to prevent her from getting married to the prince. He said that the prince was sick. He asked her to search for the breast milk of the tiger that had given birth to its first offspring to heal the prince; then, the marriage would take place. The Indra understood that the King asked her [Keonama] to do this so she would be eaten by the tiger. He then transformed himself into a tiger that gave birth to its first offspring and let her get the milk. Having got the tiger milk, the King asked her to look for a seven-colored flower to be for added the treatment.

She took an adventurous trip to search for the seven colored flower. After quite a long time traveling, she met a hermit. The hermit understood the case and told her, "Granddaughter, the seven-colored flower does not exist; you have been asked to do this with the intention of having you killed. Stay here with me." Later, Keonama learnt the magic from the hermit in that deep forest.

Some years after Keonama's departure [to search] for the seven ‘colored flower, the prince asked the King for a trip in the sea. At that time, a giant flew across the prince's junk. He then spread a net and took away the junk.

Arriving at the giant's Kingdom, the prince saw his two daughters and he fell in love with them. They were also in love with him. Their father, Giant Kanaso, knew about this and caught the prince to inflict brutal torture. The hermit learnt of the matter and told Keonama, "Go and help your husband; he is suffering now." He advised her to name herself Meanup when she transformed herself into a man, and names herself Keomony when she transformed herself into a woman. She transformed herself into Meanup and went to the giant's Kingdom to fight with Giant Kanaso and liberate the prince.

The prince thanked Meanup for saving him. Then Meanup said good bye to the prince. Shortly after that, Meanup transformed himself into the beautiful Keomony. When the prince saw her, he fell deeply in love with her. He shared his life with her until she became pregnant.

Speaking of Giant Kanaso, he felt restless, for he had lost in the fight with Meanup. He went to his master for help. Kanaso's master asked Maung Kasakdey to fight with Meanup, but it is prohibited to fight with a pregnant woman. Since she was afraid that her husband would be in danger, Keomony consequently left the prince and transformed herself into Meanup to fight with Kanaso again. Unfortunately, Kanaso kicked the abdomen of Meanup who was pregnant. The power of Kanaso then vanished, and Kanaso was immediately be headed by Meanup. Shortly after that, she was having labor pains and gave birth to twin baby boys whose delivery was assisted by the two daughters of the giant. She transformed herself into Meanup in order to take the two sons to the hermit to look after for a while.

The prince traveled to the Giant's Kingdom. He saw only the giant's two daughters. Then, he took them to his Kingdom. Keomony intended to learn about her husband's heart by transforming herself into her original body and returned to the palace. However, the prince had her detained, for he did not want to see her.

The giant’s two daughters went to visit Keonam, for they knew her whole story and persuaded her to transform herself into Meanup or Keomony. However, the prince followed them and saw all the vents. He then got in and begged Keonama to forgive him. The prince said, “My Dear Keomony, please forgive me, I was wrong.” “My Dear Husband, I would never blame you, for this is my misfortune.” The giant’s daughters said, “Sister Keonama, from today onward, we want to live n peace. You shall be Keomony forever. “Yes, my dear Keomony,” responded the prince. The four of them went to greet the King and the Queen. They were so glad that they all loved one another.

Shortly after that, Keomony said goodbye to her parents-in-law and her husband to bring her two children back to the palace. For Krong Mohamek, who was the master of Kanaso, after learning that his student had been killed he left the cave to avenge [the murder of] his student. Having thought about that, Mohamek flew to the hermit's hermitage to catch the two twins.

The two royal children asked the hermit for permission to leave the hermitage to play in the forest with Akaing who was also a student of the hermit. While they were competing in hunting the wild animals, the royal children saw a deer running past them. They followed it into the deep forest. The deer became the Giant, Krong Mohamek. He threw the net upon the two children and took them to his Kingdom.

At the Kingdom of Krong Mohamek, the two children were caged and beaten till they were unconscious. Keomony traveled to and arrived at the hermit's hermitage while Akaing was running to tell the hermit that the Giant, Krong Mohamek had caught the two royal children. The hermit gave a magic string and a wand to Keomony so that she would succeed in the fight.

Meanup arrived at the old couple's house and stayed there overnight before continue the journey the next morning. The two giants arranged plenty of foods for him. When he finished the meals, he fainted.

When he came back to consciousness, he knew that he had been cheated by the giants. Thanks to the magic, the magic string and the wand, Meanup could get out of the cage easily. The giant gathered all the soldiers to fight with Meanup. Dedicating [his actions] to the hermit to help with the magic string and the wand, he then shot and destroyed all the giant soldiers as he wished with arrows. Having learned that all the giant soldiers had been killed Moharnek grabbed the two children in his hands and threatened to drop them into a pan of oil. However, he was tied up with the magic string. Meanup suddenly ran to take the two sons and killed Mohamek in a short moment.

She brought her children to bow before the hermit and Akaing. Then, the three royal family members stayed on a flying board returning to the Kingdom. Then the prince as well as his three wives and their children lived happily ever after. 

- The END -

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