Uncle Sok was a farmer, and his wife was a home-based dress maker. They had two sons. Many years later, his wife fell seriously ill. Losing hope of recovery, Mother talked to her children painfully, "My two beloved children, I have nothing to give you except these two needles," and as soon as she finished the words, she passed on.
One year later, since there was no one taking care of his children and house, Uncle Sok married another woman; and they had a daughter. However, the stepmother did not like her two stepsons at all.
One day, after Uncle Sok went to work on his paddy field, his wife made Num Korm desserts (a kind of Khmer pyramidal desserts usually filled with sweeten coconut). After the desserts were cooked, the stepmother talked to her two stepsons that, "You two should not eat the desserts now; you should wait for your father until he arrived home"; and then she turned around to simply feed her daughter with the desserts.
The two brothers were waiting for their father until the evening. As soon as they saw their father reaching home, they went to get and eat the Num Korm desserts hungrily. At that time, Uncle Sok's wife talked to him that, "You see! Your sons don't behave well as my daughter."
Because of impoverished and inharmonious life of the family, the couple decided to abandon their two sons in the woods. Next day, Uncle Sok's wife prepared a pack of cooked rice and a big packed bag for her husband, and then the father drove his ox-cart to carry his sons away.
At the middle of their way, the father turned around to ask his sons that, "Do you know the place?", and his sons responded, "Yes! We know the place because we have taken our cows here." Hearing that, the father continued his trip forwards.
When they reached the depth of the wood, Uncle Sok asked his sons again that, "Do you know the place?", and his sons responded, "No! We don't." Then the father told his sons that, "Rest at this place, you two. I will drive the ox-cart farther to cut firewood, and I will come back soon."
The two brothers just waited and waited for their father until the afternoon when they knew that father carried them there in order to desert them. Therefore, they opened the pack of cooked rice to eat. As soon as they ate a small amount of cooked rice, they spat it out because the rice was mixed with lots of sand.
The two brothers sat embracing each other and crying, and thought that, "Today, if we couldn't find anything to eat, we will die." In wake of this thought, they thought of their mother and took out the needles to look at.
At that time, the older brother saw a dove sitting on a tree branch near him. After pondering a moment, he took a piece of bamboo pipe, picked up a feather, tied the feather at the needle-eye part, and then blew the feather-attached needle through the bamboo pipe aiming at the dove. The feather-attached needle hit the dove, causing the bird fell from the tree branch suddenly.
They prepared the dove for their meal. While they were cleaning the dove, there appeared seeds of rice, corn, bean and pumpkin from the dove's crop. The older brother collected the seeds and dried them in the sun and the younger brother took the dove to grill.
The two brothers chopped down trees and cut off tree leaves to make a shack there. As night came, their surrounding was so quiet and the two brothers had to face dangers from wild animals.
Next day, the two poor brothers sowed the seeds to grow crops for food. They fished, searched for crabs and snails, and picked fruit for food. Several months went by, their crops bore their fruit. The two brothers endeavored to take care of their crops until the crop fruit became ripe, and the two brothers simply tried to sow more seeds.
The two poor brothers struggled to clear land and raise crop beds until they had a very large farm. Owing to their endurance and endeavor for many months, they both could grow a great amount of crops covering hectares of land.
Afterwards their crops bore a great amount and merchants came all the time to buy their produce. Since then, they had high living conditions since they had a lot of money, silver, gold, poultry and cattle. Their wealth accumulation transformed them from the poor men to the wealthy men.
Day after day, their crop in the field kept expanding until the stems of their pumpkins growing all over the field grew into their father's banana farm. At that time, Uncle Sok so wondered and thought, "Who let their pumpkin stems grow into my farm?", so he tried to follow the pumpkin stems to look for the new farm's owners.
Uncle Sok had walked for a very long time before he arrived at the house of the farm's owners, and, out of a sudden, he met two men. Uncle Sok didn't recognize the two men. However, the two sons recognized their father clearly, so they rushed to hug their father. The father asked his sons to forgive him for all his faults done towards them.
As he had come across his sons, he felt a very great happiness. The father told his sons that, "My beloved sons! Since living without you, I have lived so poorly and terrible life. I shouldn't have abandoned you to live lonely in the middle of the woods."
The two sons took some money, silver and gold to offer to their father out of their gratitude. Uncle Sok started his trip back home happily because he had met his sons and got some money, silver and gold to support his family.
Upon arriving home, Uncle Sok smiled happily and recounted to his wife and child about everything. Since his wife saw that he could get money from his sons so easily, she often asked him to go and ask for money from his sons again and again many times without any consideration of the two sons' feeling at all.
Even though Uncle Sok's sons gave him a lot of money, the living conditions of Uncle Sok's family still faced shortage because his wife did not try to save by spending extravagantly and recklessly. One day, she ran out of money, so she asked her husband to see and ask his sons for more money.
After arriving at his sons' house, Uncle Sok told his sons about his family's troubles. The sons understood their father's feeling, so they prepared gifts of many items and valuable things for presenting to their father.
When Uncle Sok was about to start his trip back home, he saw a buffalo; so he talked to his sons that, "My packed bag is so much heavy that I can't carry it. So can you give me a buffalo in order that I can ride it to the house as I am so old now?"
Without rejecting the idea, the sons went to take the buffalo and gave it to their father immediately; and then, Uncle Sok carried his bag and rode the buffalo far away. When he arrived in a village, lots of dogs, once seeing the buffalo, rushed to bark at or bite the buffalo, causing the buffalo to fright and to run away out of sight.
About Uncle Sok, he could not hold on to the buffalo, fell off, and was seriously hurt. The villagers who saw that felt pity on him, so they helped to lift him up and carry him to his house.
At that time, Uncle Sok realized that because of his greed, he got injured, unable to walk and work. He felt ashamed of himself and did not want to ask for money from his two sons any more.
About Uncle Sok's wife, she now tried to correct herself by working so hard with out regard to being tired. Regarding the two sons, since they thought that their parents were trying to correct themselves, the two sons sent their parents more money often. Since then, Uncle Sok's family lived in harmony and happily.
The End
"Industriousness always pays off."
One year later, since there was no one taking care of his children and house, Uncle Sok married another woman; and they had a daughter. However, the stepmother did not like her two stepsons at all.
One day, after Uncle Sok went to work on his paddy field, his wife made Num Korm desserts (a kind of Khmer pyramidal desserts usually filled with sweeten coconut). After the desserts were cooked, the stepmother talked to her two stepsons that, "You two should not eat the desserts now; you should wait for your father until he arrived home"; and then she turned around to simply feed her daughter with the desserts.
The two brothers were waiting for their father until the evening. As soon as they saw their father reaching home, they went to get and eat the Num Korm desserts hungrily. At that time, Uncle Sok's wife talked to him that, "You see! Your sons don't behave well as my daughter."
Because of impoverished and inharmonious life of the family, the couple decided to abandon their two sons in the woods. Next day, Uncle Sok's wife prepared a pack of cooked rice and a big packed bag for her husband, and then the father drove his ox-cart to carry his sons away.
At the middle of their way, the father turned around to ask his sons that, "Do you know the place?", and his sons responded, "Yes! We know the place because we have taken our cows here." Hearing that, the father continued his trip forwards.
When they reached the depth of the wood, Uncle Sok asked his sons again that, "Do you know the place?", and his sons responded, "No! We don't." Then the father told his sons that, "Rest at this place, you two. I will drive the ox-cart farther to cut firewood, and I will come back soon."
The two brothers just waited and waited for their father until the afternoon when they knew that father carried them there in order to desert them. Therefore, they opened the pack of cooked rice to eat. As soon as they ate a small amount of cooked rice, they spat it out because the rice was mixed with lots of sand.
The two brothers sat embracing each other and crying, and thought that, "Today, if we couldn't find anything to eat, we will die." In wake of this thought, they thought of their mother and took out the needles to look at.
At that time, the older brother saw a dove sitting on a tree branch near him. After pondering a moment, he took a piece of bamboo pipe, picked up a feather, tied the feather at the needle-eye part, and then blew the feather-attached needle through the bamboo pipe aiming at the dove. The feather-attached needle hit the dove, causing the bird fell from the tree branch suddenly.
They prepared the dove for their meal. While they were cleaning the dove, there appeared seeds of rice, corn, bean and pumpkin from the dove's crop. The older brother collected the seeds and dried them in the sun and the younger brother took the dove to grill.
The two brothers chopped down trees and cut off tree leaves to make a shack there. As night came, their surrounding was so quiet and the two brothers had to face dangers from wild animals.
Next day, the two poor brothers sowed the seeds to grow crops for food. They fished, searched for crabs and snails, and picked fruit for food. Several months went by, their crops bore their fruit. The two brothers endeavored to take care of their crops until the crop fruit became ripe, and the two brothers simply tried to sow more seeds.
The two poor brothers struggled to clear land and raise crop beds until they had a very large farm. Owing to their endurance and endeavor for many months, they both could grow a great amount of crops covering hectares of land.
Afterwards their crops bore a great amount and merchants came all the time to buy their produce. Since then, they had high living conditions since they had a lot of money, silver, gold, poultry and cattle. Their wealth accumulation transformed them from the poor men to the wealthy men.
Day after day, their crop in the field kept expanding until the stems of their pumpkins growing all over the field grew into their father's banana farm. At that time, Uncle Sok so wondered and thought, "Who let their pumpkin stems grow into my farm?", so he tried to follow the pumpkin stems to look for the new farm's owners.
Uncle Sok had walked for a very long time before he arrived at the house of the farm's owners, and, out of a sudden, he met two men. Uncle Sok didn't recognize the two men. However, the two sons recognized their father clearly, so they rushed to hug their father. The father asked his sons to forgive him for all his faults done towards them.
As he had come across his sons, he felt a very great happiness. The father told his sons that, "My beloved sons! Since living without you, I have lived so poorly and terrible life. I shouldn't have abandoned you to live lonely in the middle of the woods."
The two sons took some money, silver and gold to offer to their father out of their gratitude. Uncle Sok started his trip back home happily because he had met his sons and got some money, silver and gold to support his family.
Upon arriving home, Uncle Sok smiled happily and recounted to his wife and child about everything. Since his wife saw that he could get money from his sons so easily, she often asked him to go and ask for money from his sons again and again many times without any consideration of the two sons' feeling at all.
Even though Uncle Sok's sons gave him a lot of money, the living conditions of Uncle Sok's family still faced shortage because his wife did not try to save by spending extravagantly and recklessly. One day, she ran out of money, so she asked her husband to see and ask his sons for more money.
After arriving at his sons' house, Uncle Sok told his sons about his family's troubles. The sons understood their father's feeling, so they prepared gifts of many items and valuable things for presenting to their father.
When Uncle Sok was about to start his trip back home, he saw a buffalo; so he talked to his sons that, "My packed bag is so much heavy that I can't carry it. So can you give me a buffalo in order that I can ride it to the house as I am so old now?"
Without rejecting the idea, the sons went to take the buffalo and gave it to their father immediately; and then, Uncle Sok carried his bag and rode the buffalo far away. When he arrived in a village, lots of dogs, once seeing the buffalo, rushed to bark at or bite the buffalo, causing the buffalo to fright and to run away out of sight.
About Uncle Sok, he could not hold on to the buffalo, fell off, and was seriously hurt. The villagers who saw that felt pity on him, so they helped to lift him up and carry him to his house.
At that time, Uncle Sok realized that because of his greed, he got injured, unable to walk and work. He felt ashamed of himself and did not want to ask for money from his two sons any more.
About Uncle Sok's wife, she now tried to correct herself by working so hard with out regard to being tired. Regarding the two sons, since they thought that their parents were trying to correct themselves, the two sons sent their parents more money often. Since then, Uncle Sok's family lived in harmony and happily.
The End
"Industriousness always pays off."
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