Once upon a time, there lived a couple. One night the wife dreamt that she could pick the whole bunch of coconuts and saw a full moon. When she got up in the morning, she walked toward a fortune-teller's house, but he was not at home; so the woman told the fortune-teller's wife about her dream. The fortune-teller’s wife thought that the woman would have a baby boy, and the child would become a dignitary. Instead of telling the woman the truth, she told her that the baby boy would become a servant. After learning this bad news, she returned home. When the time of birth delivery had come, she gave a birth to a lovely baby boy, and he was named THUN CHEY. When THUN CHEY was 7 years old, he always went to play around a wealthy official's residence. One day, while the official's wife was weaving in the house, a shuttle dropped on the ground, and she called to THUN CHEY, 'CHEY! Pick the shuttle for me.' 'If I pick it for you, what will you give me?' asked THUN CHEY. 'I will give you pounded rice,' the official's wife replied. So, THUN CHEY picked the shuttle for her, and he waited for pounded rice from the official's wife, who offered him a basket of it. But THUN CHEY denied, 'I will not take this little amount of pounded rice. CHEY! The pounded rice is a lot already,' she consoled him. But Thun Chey became even more furious, demanding more pounded rice.
The official heard the argument and went in and asked, 'CHEY! Why are you weeping?' His wife said, 'I asked him to pick the shuttle for me, promising to give him pounded rice. Now I give him the rice, but he refuses to accept it.' Suddenly, the official said, 'You don't know CHEY's heart! Let me deal with him.' Then, the official poured pounded rice into a flatten basket, spreading it as big as can be seen. Also, he poured pounded rice into another bowl-shaped basket and called THUN CHEY to come. THEY, come here! Which basket will you choose, the bowlshaped basket or the flatten one?' he asked. CHEY pointed to the flatten basket which was full of pounded rice and it looks a lot. However, THUN CHEY was upset when he poured the pounded rice into his bag. 'I am tricked by the official. I will outwit him to my heart's content.' Chey said to himself.
THUN CHEY walked home and told his parents, 'I want to serve as a servant at the official's residence.' His mother listened and told him, 'My dear son, I have not owed the official any money. So, how can I send you to be a servant like that?' 'I want to go to live there simply to outwit the official!' Chey told his mother. The mother allowed THUN CHEY to serve as a servant for the official from then on. Every morning the official asked THUN CHEY to hold a box of betel nut and follow him to the royal hall. THUN CHEY walked slowly, and THUN CHEY could not catch up with the official as the official was riding a horse. The official said,
THEY! Why can't you catch up with me?' 'Because I fear that I may drop the betel nut.' THUN CHEY replied. 'Next time, try to catch up with me and do not need to pick the betel nut up if it drops.' the official told THUN CHEY. THUN CHEY listened and followed the order of the official. On the next day, the official rode a horse and had THUN CHEY run after the horse. While running, betel nut was dropping oyt ofthe bag. Arriving at the royal hall, the official got off the horse and went to meet the royal mandarins of all levels. He then asked THUN CHEY to give him a box of betel nut for eating. THUN CHEY gave the box to the official and then he tried to find a suitable seat for his own. When the official saw the empty box, he was too embarrassed to speak out. After that, when they arrived back home, the official asked THUN CHEY to get in and asked, THEY! Why did the betel nut drop from the bag?' 'I was afraid that I could not catch up with you. So, I did not stop to pick them up, and you had also told me not to care about picking up the nuts, but to catch up with you.' THUN Chey answered. Then, the official advised him, 'Next time, if something drops, you must pick them all up.' When the dawn broke, the official rode a horse to pay an audience to the King as usual, and THUN CHEY carried the bag of betel nut carefully. On the way, the horse defecated. THUN CHEY picked the horse dung and put them into the box of betel nut. When the official arrived at the meeting, he took the box of betel nut from THUN CHEY, and he saw the box filled with the horse dung. The official was so embarrassed in front of the royal mandarins at the meeting hall.
Whey they were back home, the official told THUN CHEY, 'CHEYI You don't need to follow me to the royal hall any longer. But you must go to look after anorchard.' When THUN CHEY was at the orchard, there were a number of cattle eating the crops, but THUN CHEY did not chase the cattle out. The crops were completely destroyed. The official learned that and scolded THUN CHEY, 'CHEY what were you doing while the cattle were eating the crops?' 'I did not drive them out because you had told me to only guard the fi eld not the crops.'
THUN CHEY argued. The official said, 'You are no longer allowed to guard the, orchard any more, you must go to look after the cattle.' THUN CHEY replied, 'Yes, sir. But all the cows are considered as my wives.' Then, THUN CHEY walked out to look after the cattle in a field. At the field, oxen came to mate the cows. THUN
CHEY captured all the oxen. Then, the owners ofthe oxen came to take them back, but THUN CHEY said, 'Your oxen intended to sleep with my wives. I will not give your oxen back unless you pay me a certain amount.' The owners of the oxen were all annoyed and went to complain to the official. The official thought, 'If I keep asking him to do things, he will spark more provocations.' Then, he called THUN CHEY to come in and asked, 'CHEYI Why did you capture their oxen?' 'I had informed you that the cows were all my wives. Their oxen wanted to mate my wives, so I captured them.' THUN CHEY replied. The official listened to
THUN CHEY and said, 'you must give oxen back to the owners and don't need to guard the cattle any more. You must work indoors instead.'
One day, the official was talking to a group of the royal mandarins, THUN CHEY, who was asked by the official's wife to invite her husband to have lunch, walked to the official and shouted at the top of his voice, 'Master, please go and have lunch.' The official was so embarrassed that he could not say any words. He was very angry, and walked down from the hall to his residence and blamed THUN CHEY, 'CHEY I Why did you shout at me so loudly? Why didn't you whisper in my ears softly?' THUN CHEY listened and tried to remember the advice. One day, when the official was supervising his men at work, his house caught fire. His wife was so horrified and ordered THUN CHEY to tell her husband urgently. THUN CHEY rushed to the official and whispered softly in his ear. The official was listening to THUN CHEY's whispering, but he couldn't hear him well and kept asking, 'CHEY I What are you saying? I cannot hear you at all.' 'Master, a fire is engulfing the house. ‘THUN CHEY whispered again. When the official heard that, he told THUN CHEY to take light things which hadn't been damaged by the fire yet. THUN CHEY rushed to bring out more than 30 nests of hence and chicken and kept them at a place. When the fire was put off, the official collected all things taken and saved from the fire and when he saw THUN CHEY, he asked, THEYl What things did you get?' THUN CHEY showed him all the nests of hence and chicken. The official exclaimed, 'There were a lot of things that should have been taken, why did you take such nests of hence and chicken?' THUN CHEY replied, 'Because you had told me to take care of all the light things.' 'Go and get what caused the fire to me.' The official commanded. THUN CHEY went to fetch the cooking stove to show it to the official and said, 'This -cooking stove is the cause of the fire, sir.' Then, the official thought, 'I cannot keep THUN CHEY as my servant anymore. If he continues to live with me, a lot more properties will be lost and destroyed. Therefore, I should bring him to serve His Majesty the King.'
When the dawn broke, the official brought THUN CHEY to the King. The official told the King, 'Your Majesty, I have a cunning boy who is very skillful in lying and cannot be outwitted. I now bring him over to be your servant. ‘The King listened and asked THUN CHEY, 'CHEY! You are good at telling lies, aren't you? ‘THUN CHEY responded, 'Yes, I am.' 'Now, lie to me!' The King commanded. THUN CHEY said, 'The doctrine of telling lies of mine is kept at home.' Then, the King ordered his servant to bring the doctrine of lies from THUN CHEY's house. The royal servant arrived and told CHEY's mother to give him doctrine. But his mother denied having it. The royal servant returned and told the King what happ-ened. The King asked THUN CHEY, 'CHEY! You had told me that you had tbe doctrine of lies at home, but your mother denied having it.' THUN CHEY replied, 'this is a so-called telling a lie.' The King was baffled, staying calm and accepted THUN CHEY as his servant.
The King then thought, 'I will try outwitting CHEY. 'Then he went to a quay, calling the royal mandarins to stash an egg each and dipped into water with THUN CHEY. When they emerged, they made sound a hence usually makes and said, 'I hatched one egg' and they brought the eggs to the King. As for THUN CHEY, he was the last and couldn't hatch even an egg. So, he emerged and made sound a cock usually makes and said, 'I am a cock' The King asked, 'CHEY! Where is the egg?' THUN CHEY replied, 'Because I am a cock and I sleep with those hence, that's why they hatched those eggs.' The King listened to him and praised THUN CHEY's wit and asked THUN CHEY, THEY! How old are you?' THUN CHEY replied, 'I am II years old.'
One day, the King went out walking in the woods and commanded THUN CHEY, THEY! You will ride an elephant with food supplies, and if you cannot catch up with me, you will be punished!' However, the elephant was too old to walk, so THUN CHEY invented a sail and used a gaffto pole. The King arrived at the royal tent and did not see THUN CHEY, so he thought that he would have an excuse to punish THUN CHEY. Moments later, THUN CHEY showed up, and then the King asked, 'Why are you so late?' THUN CHEY said, 'Because the elephant was too old and walked too slow. I even made a sail and used a gaff to pole it as Your Majesty can see.' The King listened and did not say anything. The King thought, THEY is very intelligent. What should I do to outwit him?' The King commanded the royal mandarins to find a horse each to escort him to the forest. If anyone does not have a horse, they will be punished. The King told THUN CHEY, THEY! You must accompany me to the forest. But you have to search for a horse for yourself.' THUN CHEY tried to borrow a horse from other people. But no one dared to lend him a horse. THUN CHEY was so baffled that he decided to take a wooden horse used in chess game, holding it tightly to accompany the King. The King arrived at the royal tent, he asked THUN CHEY, THEY! I command you to ride a horse, so where is the horse?' THUN CHEY showed the King the chess horse and told him, 'This is a horse I ride. ‘The King was baffled, staying calm and did not punish THUNCHEY.
Next day, the King commanded THUN CHEY to clean the mess under the royal court. When THUN CHEY was preparing to clean, a group of ladies-in-waiting saw THUN CHEY and they started to trample above the head ofTHUN CHEY. 'These ladies-in-waiting like to walk over my heads, so I have to do something so that the King will not command me to clean here.' Then, THUN CHEY shouted with offensive language, 'Bitches! You live and eat upon. Your ass!' Those ladies-in-waiting were very furious and made a complaint to the King. The King was very aggravated, and berated THUN CHEY, 'CHEY! Why did you insult my wives?' THUN CHEY said, 'I did not reprimand those ladies-in-waiting. When I was cleaning mess, there were a lot of webs of spiders on my head; so, I insulted those spiders.' From then on, the King had never commanded THUN CHEY to clean under the court any more.
The King thought, 'I really cannot outwit CHEY; but I will playa cock fighting with him and I'll tell all the people not to lend and sell cocks to CHEY.' The next morning, the King started the cock fighting in front of the Royal Square and said to THUN CHEY, 'CHEY! Go and find cock to fight with rriine.' THUN CHEY couldn't find even a cock and thought, 'The King wants to outwit me again. So, I will bring a baby chicken to fight with the King's cock.' When THUN CHEY arrived, the King asked, 'CHEY! Take out your cock. ‘At the King's command, THUN CHEY took out his chick to fight against the King's cock. But the chick was feeling nervous and thought that the big cock was its mother; so it ran to hide under the chest of the cock. The cock felt ticklish, so it ran away quickly from the ranch. THUN CHEY applauded, 'Well done! Win! Win. ‘The King saw that and felt so embarrassed that he ordered THUN CHEY to be banned from entering the Royal Palace for I0 years. Then, THUN CHEY returned to his home.
Four days later, the King invited a monk chiefto preach at the Royal Palace. THUN CHEY heard the news, so he came to sit in the hall to meet the royal mandarins, saying, 'The King will invite me to go the Royal Palace.' When all the royal mandarins heard that, they laughed at him. Immediately after the monk chief arrived, THUN CHEY said, 'My hair is as nice as peacocks,' but your face is only better than my ass.' The monk chief listened and got very angry with THUN CHEY, so he went to complain to the King about what had happened. The King ordered a royal servant to send THUN CHEY in. THUN CHEY arrived, paying tribute to the King quietly. And the King asked, THEY! Why did you insult the senior monk chief? THUN CHEY replied, 'I really said so, but I didn't mean to insult him. I only told him because he was permitted to enter the Royal Palace, but I was not. That's why I said that. After listening, the King said to the monk chief, 'Please, be not be angry with CHEY, he only said to himself.'
Then, the King commanded all ladies-in-waiting in the Royal Palace to defecate at THUN CHEY's house. Those women arrived and informed THUN CHEY, 'The King told us to defecate at your house.' THUN CHEY responded, 'as it is his command, I don't dare to prevent all of you from doing so. You can defecate, but you must not urinate at the same time, otherwise all of you will violate the order.' THUN CHEY walked over and saw the women not only defecating but also urinating, so he hit them. The women were so furious that they went to complain to the King.
The King ordered the soldiers to arrest and brings THUN CHEY to him and then he asked, 'Hey! Chey! Why did you hit my servants?' THUN CHEY answered, 'You’re Majesty, because they disobeyed your order.' 'What did they do?' the King confirmed. 'Your Majesty, you ordered them to defecate at my house; however, they not only defecated, but also urinated; so, I hit them,' answered CHEY. Hearing that, the King kept quiet and didn't punish THUN CHEY. Later, the fame of THUN CHEY was known and widespread up to China. The King of China consulted his mandarins and that they would go to challenge THUN CHEY in Khmer Empire. Then, the King of China sent a letter to the King of Khmer Empire. The letter stated that the King of China would send three watermelons and 500 junks with 500 crew members on each junk. They would have riddle for Khmer scholars to answer. If Khmer scholars could find the right answers to the riddle, the King of China would provide the 500 junks together with all crew members on board to the Khmer Empire. In contrast, the Khmer Empire would be taken as a colony of China if the Khmer sage could not find the answers to the riddle.
Having read the letter, the King of the Khmer Empire told THUN CHEY what it was all about. Then THUN CHEY replied, 'You’re Majesty, don't worry about that. Leave it all to me.' But THUN CHEY was very worried, being the sage of the country. THUN CHEY was thinking of ways to work this out, but he could not get any idea. He murmured to himself, 'The King assigned me as the Khmer scholar to meet the Chinese scholars to solve the riddle. If I cannot solve the riddle, the King will take my life. There is no doubt that I would not be able to answer the riddle, and it is obvious that the King would kill me afterwards. So, it is better to drown myself to death.' When the night time came, THUN CHEY dived deeply and floated his body up on the water surface and drifted on and on until he reached the Chinese junks.
At that time, THUN CHEY overheard the Chinese scholars on the junk talking to one another, 'What should we do next after we have done the watermelon riddle? We have only three watermelons altogether, and here is only one seed in the first watermelon, two seeds in another watermelon, and three seeds in the third one.' One Chinese man said, 'We will have one more riddle to ask after they have solved the watermelon riddle; that is one Niel (about 600 kg) of pork for the King of Khmer Empire to eat for 2 years without making the meat to be salty or dried and the meat must not be spoiled.' 'How can it be done?' One of the Chinese scholars wondered. One of the other Chinese scholars answered, 'That can be done on the last day of the previous year and the first day of the new year. We use that pork to cook within that period. Even if it is only two or three days, they are still considered as the period of two years because one day is in the previous year and another day is in the new coming year.' All Chinese mandarins were very excited after knowing this secret and they strongly believed that Khmer Empire shall belong to them. After hearing the secret answers, THUN CHEY returned home happily.
The riddle day came. The Chinese scholars brought three watermelons into the royal hall. THUN CHEY could answer all the riddles posed by the Chinese scholars. The Khmer King got all the 500 junks, but returned one junk to Chinese scholars to travel back to their Kingdom. From that day, the Chinese scholars did not dare to challenge THUN CHEY anymore. However; they still kept in mind that with the absence of THUN CHEY, they would come back to challenge the King of Khmer Empire again. Later, the Khmer King thought that THUN CHEY was very intelligent, and he was afraid that THUN CHEY would seize the throne from him; thus, he decided to exile THUN CHEY to live in a far and remote district nearby the rIver. In the district THUN CHEY announced, 'The King had appointed me to be a highest ranking official here. And now I would like to inform all of you that whenever you need to make a trip through the waterways, all of you shall inform me first so that I can charge your trip through the river and creeks. If anyone has not informed me, it means that they have made a mistake, and I shall levy the tax from them heavily.' THUN CHEY began to grow rice in the shallow water, and he scattered husks all over in the deep water, and he banned all the people from going pass, otherwise he would fine 30 Damleung for a person. All people using the river could not make the detours from the scattered husks. So, they went to inform the King about what had happened.
The King was very doubtful about THUN CHEY's acts, so he asked THUN CHEY to meet him. 'Hey! Chey, I told you to live and grow rice near the river, but why have you been doing so? You have fined those people too much. If you want to fine them, it should be just only one Bart (unit of money at that time, which was equal to 4 Sleungs in which I Sleung was equal to 20 cents, and it also has another meaning as a begging rice bowl of a Buddhist monk). Following the King's order, (THUN CHEY regarded the word I Bart as a rice bowl of a Buddhist monk in stead), THUN CHEY took a rice bowl from a monk and went to inform the people in the area, 'The King did not allow me to take 30 Damleungs from all of you, but he ordered me to collect the fine which is equal to one full begging rice bowl.' After that he took a rice bowl of monk to fill with money collected from the people. No one could fully fill the money in that begging rice bowl; therefore, they went to inform the King again. The King asked THUN CHEY, 'Chey! Did I tell you to use a Bart (a rice bowl of monk) to collect the money from the people?' THUN CHEY replied, 'you told me not to take 30 Damleungs but to take one Bart (a rice bowl) full of money from them: The King clarified, 'I commanded you to take 4 Sleungs, which is also equal to I Bart.' The King spoke to THUN CHEY furiously, 'Chey! You have made a lot of troubles to the Kingdom, thus I can no longer let you live here: Hence, the King ordered a capital punishment to THUN CHEY by asking the executioners to execute him in the water.
The executioners tied THUN CHEY in the middle of the boat. Being tied up on the boat, THUN CHEY thought that, 'I have to playa trick with those executioners so that they would not kill me.' After that he turned to talk to the executioners, 'Hey friends, I am going to die soon, but I want to happily play with you before I die.' After hearing that, executioners thought that THUN CHEY might want to escape; however, it was impossible to do so. Therefore, they untied him, and THUN CHEY told the executioners how to play the game, 'When I say, 'Chey is jumping into the water,' you all say 'Cheer! Cheer! The boat rowers agreed with him. When having an opportunity, THUN CHEY jumped into the water. One of the boat rowers saw THUN CHEY jumping into the water and shouted, 'THUN CHEY is jumping into the water!' The others thought it was the game and shouted, 'Cheer! Cheer!' THUN CHEY swam hard until he could get to the river bank and came to meet a Buddhist monk chief in a monastery and THUN CHEY was ordained as a monk. After realizing that THUN CHEY had escaped, the boat rowers blamed one another. Then they went to inform the King that THUN CHEY jumped in tie into the water and they didn't see him float up again. After hearing that, the King did not care anymore. The time passed by. The news of THUN CHEY's death finally reached the Chinese scholars. The King of China sent 4 scholars to the Khmer Empire again and a letter to the Khmer King. The letter stated, 'This is a friendly letter of King of China to the King of the Khmer Empire. It was known that the Khmer Empire has a great sage named THUN CHEY. So, I would like to send my scholars to contest with him. If my scholars from one of the two Kingdoms lose, the lost Kingdom shall be considered as the colony of the one that wins.' The King was very regretful for what he had done to THUN CHEY, after he had learned about the news.
The Venerable monk THUN CHEY thought, 'I will go to beg at the Royal Palace and see if the King still recognizes me.' Then THUN CHEY wore the yellow robes with his hand carrying a rice bowl and walked towards the Royal Palace accompanied by other monks. After offering all the food to the monks, then the King looked at the last monk in the row and saw THUN CHEY. So, he said, 'You look very similar to THUN CHEY.' The Venerable monk THUN CHEY said, 'Truly, that is me,' and left the King. The King realized that THUN CHEY had not yet died; thus he commanded his soldiers to get THUN CHEY back from the monastery. After looking for THUN CHEY at many monasterys, the soldiers saw the venerable monk THUN CHEY in a monastery, and they invited him to see the King. The King was very excited and said, The venerable monk Chey, please do not feel upset with me?' The Venerable monk THUN CHEY replied, 'No, I don't: Then the King continued to tell the Venerable monk Chey, 'The scholars from China are coming to compete with us through a riddle contest in the purpose of colonizing our Kingdom. 'What do you think?' Venerable monk replied, 'I will solve that riddle for you, Your Majesty. Trust me. I will leave the monk-hood today.' The Venerable monk Chey went to monastery and changed the yellow robes into a causal shirt and sampot with a scarf tied around his waist and came back to meet the King. The King said, 'Sage Chey, you look so handsome and you deserve to be called the sage of the Khmer Empire. When will you let the Chinese scholars have a riddle with us?' Sage Chey replied, 'In three days' time.
The Chinese scholars came on the arranged date. But they were terribly surprised to see THUN CHEY alive and standing right in front of them.
- The contest started. A Chinese scholar pointed his finger up to the sky and then down to the earth.
-THUN CHEY pointed to the sun, and then pointed to himself.
-The Chinese scholar asked THUN CHEY, 'What dose it means when I pointed up to the sky and then down to the earth?'
-THUN CHEY answered, 'When you pointed up to the sky, it means what is on the sky? When I pointed to the sun, it means that there are the sun and the moon in the sky. When you pointed to the earth, it means what are there on earth? I pointed to myself. It meant that there are people on earth.' After the first round of contest was over, the Chinese scholar said good bye to THUN CHEY and went back to their junk.
On the morning of the next day's contest, the Chinese scholars came to meet THUN CHEY again. The Chinese scholars made his arms like a circle. THUN CHEY reacted by flexing his muscles. Chinese scholars stretched his hand showing 5 fingers, whereas THUN CHEY showed one of his fingers. The monk chief watched the whole event but did not understand what THUN CHEY meant. So, he went to ask THUN CHEY to clarify the meanings of those riddles. THUN CHEY explained, 'When the Chinese scholar made his arms as a circle, I replied that it was an Angrut (a Cambodian fishing tool made from bamboo shaped like a round circle), and when I flexed my muscle to them, it meant that if there was an Angrut as a fishing tool, and how many fish did you catch? The Chinese scholar showed his five fingers meant that he could catch one fish which could be made into five pieces of dried fish. I showed my index to indicate that one piece of dried fish is eaten per day. After that, the monk chief went back to his monastery. Samdech Chaovai (Master) also wanted to know the meaning of the riddle. So, THUN CHEY explained, 'When the Chinese scholar made his arms as a circle, it indicated that they wished to take control of our Kingdom. I showed my flexing muscle to indicate that I would hit them. Then he showed his five fingers to signify that he had a lot of people, and I showed my index to signify that I was not afraid of them at all even though I was alone.' After understanding the meaning of the riddle, Samdech Chaovai (Master) went back home. The King also wanted to understand the meaning of the riddles. THUN CHEY pointed out, 'When the Chinese scholar made his arms like a circle, he wanted to ask, 'what are there in the five continents,' and I showed him my flexing muscle to tell him that there was Siddhartha Gautama Buddha in the center. Then he continued to show his five fingers to signify that there were five enlightenment Buddha in our universe, and I showed my index to answer that there was another Buddha, who has not reached enlightenment yet.' 'The meanings are like that,' THUN CHEY told the King. The chief of monk and Samdech Chaovai (Master) came to meet the king and told him what they were told by THUN CHEY respectively. Then, they found out that what they had known about the riddle were different from each other that made them become more and more thoughtful of THUN CHEY's intelligence.
THUN CHEY went to his home and put a square board under a piece of paper and a script. Then he dipped the crab legs into the ink and let those crabs creep over that piece of paper. The sheet was painted by the crabs' legs, and after that he dried out those sheets under the heat of the sun. Then he asked many kids to sit around and handed out the sheets to them and ordered them to pretend to read out loud whatever they wanted as if they had been reading literature. In the morning, the Chinese scholars left his junk and came towards THUN CHEY's house to challenge him again. THUN CHEY welcomed them, had them sit on chairs and offered them some tea. Meanwhile, the kids were reading loudly and it was impossible to understand what they were reading about. The Chinese scholars came to observe them, but they could not identify what kind of script it was. THUN CHEY questioned the Chinese scholars, 'Do you know this kind of script?' The Chinese scholars answered, 'No.' Then THUN CHEY told him, and ‘This is Mingchhveng, the Brahman script of Cham. If you don't know it, it means you lose because you are not able to identify this script. The Chinese scholars accepted the defeat. THUN CHEY warned the Chinese scholars, 'Now, you have lost but I will take only four of your junks and the properties on board. You can take back the remaining junk to use as transportation back to your Kingdom, and I will not take your Kingdom as our colony. But from today on, you should be scared whenever you hear my name.' THUN CHEY brought all the junks and the properties on board to the Khmer King. THUN CHEY did not take anything.
Learning that THUN CHEY won the contest, the King was overjoyed, and he allowed THUN CHEY to choose a woman in the Royal Palace to be his wife. But THUN CHEY replied, 'I don't want to marry any woman here, as all of them are not ladies; they are only females.' 'Where can you find a lady?' the King asked. THUN CHEY replied, 'I am going to find that lady, but please kindly give me a number of silky cloth and sampots so that I can find that lady.' The King agreed to the request. When THUN CHEY arrived in a village, he met a lady named Soursdey. THUN CHEY asked, 'Excuse me, is there a lady in this village?' Soursdey replied, 'Is there a gentleman in your village?' THUN CHEY thought, 'She is a lady I am looking for.' Then, he replied, 'There is also a man in my village. How do you know about that?' She replied, 'I know that because the man named Chey is usually an important person, Chey wins all contests, so he is called a real man. And you, do you know a lady?' THUN CHEY answered, 'Yes, I do. The lady named Sours dey and she shall defeat all opponents incomparably.' Finally, they talked to each other about their backgrounds.
When THUN CHEY was aware that Soursdey was still single, he unfastened his pack so as to show Sours dey’s parents. Seeing the silky cloth and a lot of sampots, Soursdey's parents came to ask, 'Where are you taking this silk cloth to?' THUN CHEY replied, 'I am looking for a lady as my wife. If you kindly permit, I will stay here serving you as your son in your family. I will carry the water, prepare the fire wood, pound the rice, and I will never be lazy at all.' Soursdey's parents talked to each other, perhaps this man loves our daughter and he must be from a very good family.' Soursdey's parents asked more questions, 'Do you want to marry my daughter?' THUN CHEY replied, 'Yes, I do. I love her with all my heart.' Soursdey's parents said, 'I agreed, but you have to find a go between.' THUN CHEY asked the villagers to be his go- between to ask for Soursdey's hands. There were many young and old people carrying the jewels to the house to attend the engagement, and a wedding date was set. After marriage, THUN CHEY left his wife and his parents-in-law to collect debts from some royal officials who owed him.
THUN CHEY arrived at the Royal Hall meeting all the royal officials and talked to them, 'Do you all want to bet with me? I can command the King to do something.' All royal officials surprised, 'Really? If you can, I will give you some money.' Then, those royal officials went to inform the King about that. The King became furious and asked THUN CHEY to see him, 'Chey, did you say that you could command me to do something?' THUN CHEY replied, 'Your Majesty, now I have not been able to command you yet unless you turn your face around.' The King turned his face around as THUN CHEY commanded. Then, THUN CHEY said, 'Your Majesty, this is what we call "order".' After hearing that, the King was very angry.THUN CHEY collected money from those royal officials and gave it to his wife. Because of the anger they had with THUN CHEY, the royal officials convinced the King to exile THUN CHEY by making him travel by junk to China.
They knew that China was very a big country and all Chinese people hated him so much, and they would kill him. After the King was convinced, he told THUN CHEY, 'Chey, I want you to live in China because that Kingdom is very big and you cannot live in the Khmer Empire any more.' THUN CHEY followed the King's order.
As soon as THUN CHEY arrived in China, he sent a message through a junk owner, 'Please, tell my wife I will come back in the next 7 months.' THUN CHEY worked as a servant of a Chinese mandarin. When he saved enough money, he bought rice to make Num Banh Chok (Cambodian traditional noodle) and gave it to Chinese people it. At that time, Chinese people did not how to make noodle yet. So, when they saw THUN CHEY's noodle, they bought to eat. Then they said that THUN CHEY's noodle was really delicious. This information reached the King of China. The King commanded his royal servants to bring THUN CHEY to him and asked, 'Your noodle is very long. What is it called?' THUN CHEY replied, 'It is called Num Banh Chok. If you want to eat it, you have to raise your head up, open your mouth broadly, and use your hand to lift the noodle highly so that you can eat it deliciously.' The King followed THUN CHEY's advice. Seeing that, THUN CHEY mocked at the King, 'Chinese King's face is so black, whereas Khmer King's face is like a full moon.' Hearing that, the King of China became so furious that he made a command to his servants to imprison THUN CHEY into a bronze cell. That cell was very cold and whoever was imprisoned there would hardly survive.
THUN CHEY stayed in the cell with another Chinese prisoner. Being very cold, THUN CHEY wheedled that man to do wrestling with each other until they sweated and their body got warm. Several days later, the guards saw the prisoners still alive, but they just ignored. THUN CHEY made a kite with very strange sound and flied it every night. Hearing the strange sound, the Chinese King wondered why this kind of creature wept only at the night and never at the daytime. So, he called the royal astrologer to interpret the sound of the kite. The astrologer interpreted, 'The creature weeps means that bad something will happen in our Kingdom. If we cannot find it, it will eat all people in our country.' The King continued to question, 'Why dose this creature weep?' Astrologer replied, 'I see that there is a Khmer sage who is living in exile in our Kingdom and now he is in prison. Send him back to his own Kingdom is a good solution.' After THUN CHEY was sent back to the Khmer Empire, the Khmer King really appreciated THUN CHEY's intelligence, and from then on the King did not dare to cause any troubles to harm THUN CHEY.
The time went by, THUN CHEY had a serious illness and it could not be cured. THUN CHEY left a few words to his wife, 'Remember that after I die, you have to grow some sharp stakes on my tomb and go to inform the King that I am dying. ‘Soursdey fo llowed THUN CHEY's advice. Learning that THUN CHEY was dying, the King visited him. THUN CHEY told the King, 'If you eat Trey Proul (c irrhinus auratus), please don't leave its scales, if you eat Trey Bra (iridescent shark-catfish), don't leave its gills and if you cook the head of Trey Bra sour soup, don't forget to put Sandan (a kind of sour plant, usually its leaves are used to cook).' After THUN CHEY died, his body was buried and sharp stakes were put up on his tomb. Those who hated THUN CHEY asked other people to defecate on THUN CHEY's tomb. When they sat down to defecate their buttocks were stabbed by the stakes. From then on, they never dared to go to THUN CHEY's tomb again. People said, 'He is really a wise man. Although he died, no one can defecate on his tomb.'
THE END
The official heard the argument and went in and asked, 'CHEY! Why are you weeping?' His wife said, 'I asked him to pick the shuttle for me, promising to give him pounded rice. Now I give him the rice, but he refuses to accept it.' Suddenly, the official said, 'You don't know CHEY's heart! Let me deal with him.' Then, the official poured pounded rice into a flatten basket, spreading it as big as can be seen. Also, he poured pounded rice into another bowl-shaped basket and called THUN CHEY to come. THEY, come here! Which basket will you choose, the bowlshaped basket or the flatten one?' he asked. CHEY pointed to the flatten basket which was full of pounded rice and it looks a lot. However, THUN CHEY was upset when he poured the pounded rice into his bag. 'I am tricked by the official. I will outwit him to my heart's content.' Chey said to himself.
THUN CHEY walked home and told his parents, 'I want to serve as a servant at the official's residence.' His mother listened and told him, 'My dear son, I have not owed the official any money. So, how can I send you to be a servant like that?' 'I want to go to live there simply to outwit the official!' Chey told his mother. The mother allowed THUN CHEY to serve as a servant for the official from then on. Every morning the official asked THUN CHEY to hold a box of betel nut and follow him to the royal hall. THUN CHEY walked slowly, and THUN CHEY could not catch up with the official as the official was riding a horse. The official said,
THEY! Why can't you catch up with me?' 'Because I fear that I may drop the betel nut.' THUN CHEY replied. 'Next time, try to catch up with me and do not need to pick the betel nut up if it drops.' the official told THUN CHEY. THUN CHEY listened and followed the order of the official. On the next day, the official rode a horse and had THUN CHEY run after the horse. While running, betel nut was dropping oyt ofthe bag. Arriving at the royal hall, the official got off the horse and went to meet the royal mandarins of all levels. He then asked THUN CHEY to give him a box of betel nut for eating. THUN CHEY gave the box to the official and then he tried to find a suitable seat for his own. When the official saw the empty box, he was too embarrassed to speak out. After that, when they arrived back home, the official asked THUN CHEY to get in and asked, THEY! Why did the betel nut drop from the bag?' 'I was afraid that I could not catch up with you. So, I did not stop to pick them up, and you had also told me not to care about picking up the nuts, but to catch up with you.' THUN Chey answered. Then, the official advised him, 'Next time, if something drops, you must pick them all up.' When the dawn broke, the official rode a horse to pay an audience to the King as usual, and THUN CHEY carried the bag of betel nut carefully. On the way, the horse defecated. THUN CHEY picked the horse dung and put them into the box of betel nut. When the official arrived at the meeting, he took the box of betel nut from THUN CHEY, and he saw the box filled with the horse dung. The official was so embarrassed in front of the royal mandarins at the meeting hall.
Whey they were back home, the official told THUN CHEY, 'CHEYI You don't need to follow me to the royal hall any longer. But you must go to look after anorchard.' When THUN CHEY was at the orchard, there were a number of cattle eating the crops, but THUN CHEY did not chase the cattle out. The crops were completely destroyed. The official learned that and scolded THUN CHEY, 'CHEY what were you doing while the cattle were eating the crops?' 'I did not drive them out because you had told me to only guard the fi eld not the crops.'
THUN CHEY argued. The official said, 'You are no longer allowed to guard the, orchard any more, you must go to look after the cattle.' THUN CHEY replied, 'Yes, sir. But all the cows are considered as my wives.' Then, THUN CHEY walked out to look after the cattle in a field. At the field, oxen came to mate the cows. THUN
CHEY captured all the oxen. Then, the owners ofthe oxen came to take them back, but THUN CHEY said, 'Your oxen intended to sleep with my wives. I will not give your oxen back unless you pay me a certain amount.' The owners of the oxen were all annoyed and went to complain to the official. The official thought, 'If I keep asking him to do things, he will spark more provocations.' Then, he called THUN CHEY to come in and asked, 'CHEYI Why did you capture their oxen?' 'I had informed you that the cows were all my wives. Their oxen wanted to mate my wives, so I captured them.' THUN CHEY replied. The official listened to
THUN CHEY and said, 'you must give oxen back to the owners and don't need to guard the cattle any more. You must work indoors instead.'
One day, the official was talking to a group of the royal mandarins, THUN CHEY, who was asked by the official's wife to invite her husband to have lunch, walked to the official and shouted at the top of his voice, 'Master, please go and have lunch.' The official was so embarrassed that he could not say any words. He was very angry, and walked down from the hall to his residence and blamed THUN CHEY, 'CHEY I Why did you shout at me so loudly? Why didn't you whisper in my ears softly?' THUN CHEY listened and tried to remember the advice. One day, when the official was supervising his men at work, his house caught fire. His wife was so horrified and ordered THUN CHEY to tell her husband urgently. THUN CHEY rushed to the official and whispered softly in his ear. The official was listening to THUN CHEY's whispering, but he couldn't hear him well and kept asking, 'CHEY I What are you saying? I cannot hear you at all.' 'Master, a fire is engulfing the house. ‘THUN CHEY whispered again. When the official heard that, he told THUN CHEY to take light things which hadn't been damaged by the fire yet. THUN CHEY rushed to bring out more than 30 nests of hence and chicken and kept them at a place. When the fire was put off, the official collected all things taken and saved from the fire and when he saw THUN CHEY, he asked, THEYl What things did you get?' THUN CHEY showed him all the nests of hence and chicken. The official exclaimed, 'There were a lot of things that should have been taken, why did you take such nests of hence and chicken?' THUN CHEY replied, 'Because you had told me to take care of all the light things.' 'Go and get what caused the fire to me.' The official commanded. THUN CHEY went to fetch the cooking stove to show it to the official and said, 'This -cooking stove is the cause of the fire, sir.' Then, the official thought, 'I cannot keep THUN CHEY as my servant anymore. If he continues to live with me, a lot more properties will be lost and destroyed. Therefore, I should bring him to serve His Majesty the King.'
When the dawn broke, the official brought THUN CHEY to the King. The official told the King, 'Your Majesty, I have a cunning boy who is very skillful in lying and cannot be outwitted. I now bring him over to be your servant. ‘The King listened and asked THUN CHEY, 'CHEY! You are good at telling lies, aren't you? ‘THUN CHEY responded, 'Yes, I am.' 'Now, lie to me!' The King commanded. THUN CHEY said, 'The doctrine of telling lies of mine is kept at home.' Then, the King ordered his servant to bring the doctrine of lies from THUN CHEY's house. The royal servant arrived and told CHEY's mother to give him doctrine. But his mother denied having it. The royal servant returned and told the King what happ-ened. The King asked THUN CHEY, 'CHEY! You had told me that you had tbe doctrine of lies at home, but your mother denied having it.' THUN CHEY replied, 'this is a so-called telling a lie.' The King was baffled, staying calm and accepted THUN CHEY as his servant.
The King then thought, 'I will try outwitting CHEY. 'Then he went to a quay, calling the royal mandarins to stash an egg each and dipped into water with THUN CHEY. When they emerged, they made sound a hence usually makes and said, 'I hatched one egg' and they brought the eggs to the King. As for THUN CHEY, he was the last and couldn't hatch even an egg. So, he emerged and made sound a cock usually makes and said, 'I am a cock' The King asked, 'CHEY! Where is the egg?' THUN CHEY replied, 'Because I am a cock and I sleep with those hence, that's why they hatched those eggs.' The King listened to him and praised THUN CHEY's wit and asked THUN CHEY, THEY! How old are you?' THUN CHEY replied, 'I am II years old.'
One day, the King went out walking in the woods and commanded THUN CHEY, THEY! You will ride an elephant with food supplies, and if you cannot catch up with me, you will be punished!' However, the elephant was too old to walk, so THUN CHEY invented a sail and used a gaffto pole. The King arrived at the royal tent and did not see THUN CHEY, so he thought that he would have an excuse to punish THUN CHEY. Moments later, THUN CHEY showed up, and then the King asked, 'Why are you so late?' THUN CHEY said, 'Because the elephant was too old and walked too slow. I even made a sail and used a gaff to pole it as Your Majesty can see.' The King listened and did not say anything. The King thought, THEY is very intelligent. What should I do to outwit him?' The King commanded the royal mandarins to find a horse each to escort him to the forest. If anyone does not have a horse, they will be punished. The King told THUN CHEY, THEY! You must accompany me to the forest. But you have to search for a horse for yourself.' THUN CHEY tried to borrow a horse from other people. But no one dared to lend him a horse. THUN CHEY was so baffled that he decided to take a wooden horse used in chess game, holding it tightly to accompany the King. The King arrived at the royal tent, he asked THUN CHEY, THEY! I command you to ride a horse, so where is the horse?' THUN CHEY showed the King the chess horse and told him, 'This is a horse I ride. ‘The King was baffled, staying calm and did not punish THUNCHEY.
Next day, the King commanded THUN CHEY to clean the mess under the royal court. When THUN CHEY was preparing to clean, a group of ladies-in-waiting saw THUN CHEY and they started to trample above the head ofTHUN CHEY. 'These ladies-in-waiting like to walk over my heads, so I have to do something so that the King will not command me to clean here.' Then, THUN CHEY shouted with offensive language, 'Bitches! You live and eat upon. Your ass!' Those ladies-in-waiting were very furious and made a complaint to the King. The King was very aggravated, and berated THUN CHEY, 'CHEY! Why did you insult my wives?' THUN CHEY said, 'I did not reprimand those ladies-in-waiting. When I was cleaning mess, there were a lot of webs of spiders on my head; so, I insulted those spiders.' From then on, the King had never commanded THUN CHEY to clean under the court any more.
The King thought, 'I really cannot outwit CHEY; but I will playa cock fighting with him and I'll tell all the people not to lend and sell cocks to CHEY.' The next morning, the King started the cock fighting in front of the Royal Square and said to THUN CHEY, 'CHEY! Go and find cock to fight with rriine.' THUN CHEY couldn't find even a cock and thought, 'The King wants to outwit me again. So, I will bring a baby chicken to fight with the King's cock.' When THUN CHEY arrived, the King asked, 'CHEY! Take out your cock. ‘At the King's command, THUN CHEY took out his chick to fight against the King's cock. But the chick was feeling nervous and thought that the big cock was its mother; so it ran to hide under the chest of the cock. The cock felt ticklish, so it ran away quickly from the ranch. THUN CHEY applauded, 'Well done! Win! Win. ‘The King saw that and felt so embarrassed that he ordered THUN CHEY to be banned from entering the Royal Palace for I0 years. Then, THUN CHEY returned to his home.
Four days later, the King invited a monk chiefto preach at the Royal Palace. THUN CHEY heard the news, so he came to sit in the hall to meet the royal mandarins, saying, 'The King will invite me to go the Royal Palace.' When all the royal mandarins heard that, they laughed at him. Immediately after the monk chief arrived, THUN CHEY said, 'My hair is as nice as peacocks,' but your face is only better than my ass.' The monk chief listened and got very angry with THUN CHEY, so he went to complain to the King about what had happened. The King ordered a royal servant to send THUN CHEY in. THUN CHEY arrived, paying tribute to the King quietly. And the King asked, THEY! Why did you insult the senior monk chief? THUN CHEY replied, 'I really said so, but I didn't mean to insult him. I only told him because he was permitted to enter the Royal Palace, but I was not. That's why I said that. After listening, the King said to the monk chief, 'Please, be not be angry with CHEY, he only said to himself.'
Then, the King commanded all ladies-in-waiting in the Royal Palace to defecate at THUN CHEY's house. Those women arrived and informed THUN CHEY, 'The King told us to defecate at your house.' THUN CHEY responded, 'as it is his command, I don't dare to prevent all of you from doing so. You can defecate, but you must not urinate at the same time, otherwise all of you will violate the order.' THUN CHEY walked over and saw the women not only defecating but also urinating, so he hit them. The women were so furious that they went to complain to the King.
The King ordered the soldiers to arrest and brings THUN CHEY to him and then he asked, 'Hey! Chey! Why did you hit my servants?' THUN CHEY answered, 'You’re Majesty, because they disobeyed your order.' 'What did they do?' the King confirmed. 'Your Majesty, you ordered them to defecate at my house; however, they not only defecated, but also urinated; so, I hit them,' answered CHEY. Hearing that, the King kept quiet and didn't punish THUN CHEY. Later, the fame of THUN CHEY was known and widespread up to China. The King of China consulted his mandarins and that they would go to challenge THUN CHEY in Khmer Empire. Then, the King of China sent a letter to the King of Khmer Empire. The letter stated that the King of China would send three watermelons and 500 junks with 500 crew members on each junk. They would have riddle for Khmer scholars to answer. If Khmer scholars could find the right answers to the riddle, the King of China would provide the 500 junks together with all crew members on board to the Khmer Empire. In contrast, the Khmer Empire would be taken as a colony of China if the Khmer sage could not find the answers to the riddle.
Having read the letter, the King of the Khmer Empire told THUN CHEY what it was all about. Then THUN CHEY replied, 'You’re Majesty, don't worry about that. Leave it all to me.' But THUN CHEY was very worried, being the sage of the country. THUN CHEY was thinking of ways to work this out, but he could not get any idea. He murmured to himself, 'The King assigned me as the Khmer scholar to meet the Chinese scholars to solve the riddle. If I cannot solve the riddle, the King will take my life. There is no doubt that I would not be able to answer the riddle, and it is obvious that the King would kill me afterwards. So, it is better to drown myself to death.' When the night time came, THUN CHEY dived deeply and floated his body up on the water surface and drifted on and on until he reached the Chinese junks.
At that time, THUN CHEY overheard the Chinese scholars on the junk talking to one another, 'What should we do next after we have done the watermelon riddle? We have only three watermelons altogether, and here is only one seed in the first watermelon, two seeds in another watermelon, and three seeds in the third one.' One Chinese man said, 'We will have one more riddle to ask after they have solved the watermelon riddle; that is one Niel (about 600 kg) of pork for the King of Khmer Empire to eat for 2 years without making the meat to be salty or dried and the meat must not be spoiled.' 'How can it be done?' One of the Chinese scholars wondered. One of the other Chinese scholars answered, 'That can be done on the last day of the previous year and the first day of the new year. We use that pork to cook within that period. Even if it is only two or three days, they are still considered as the period of two years because one day is in the previous year and another day is in the new coming year.' All Chinese mandarins were very excited after knowing this secret and they strongly believed that Khmer Empire shall belong to them. After hearing the secret answers, THUN CHEY returned home happily.
The riddle day came. The Chinese scholars brought three watermelons into the royal hall. THUN CHEY could answer all the riddles posed by the Chinese scholars. The Khmer King got all the 500 junks, but returned one junk to Chinese scholars to travel back to their Kingdom. From that day, the Chinese scholars did not dare to challenge THUN CHEY anymore. However; they still kept in mind that with the absence of THUN CHEY, they would come back to challenge the King of Khmer Empire again. Later, the Khmer King thought that THUN CHEY was very intelligent, and he was afraid that THUN CHEY would seize the throne from him; thus, he decided to exile THUN CHEY to live in a far and remote district nearby the rIver. In the district THUN CHEY announced, 'The King had appointed me to be a highest ranking official here. And now I would like to inform all of you that whenever you need to make a trip through the waterways, all of you shall inform me first so that I can charge your trip through the river and creeks. If anyone has not informed me, it means that they have made a mistake, and I shall levy the tax from them heavily.' THUN CHEY began to grow rice in the shallow water, and he scattered husks all over in the deep water, and he banned all the people from going pass, otherwise he would fine 30 Damleung for a person. All people using the river could not make the detours from the scattered husks. So, they went to inform the King about what had happened.
The King was very doubtful about THUN CHEY's acts, so he asked THUN CHEY to meet him. 'Hey! Chey, I told you to live and grow rice near the river, but why have you been doing so? You have fined those people too much. If you want to fine them, it should be just only one Bart (unit of money at that time, which was equal to 4 Sleungs in which I Sleung was equal to 20 cents, and it also has another meaning as a begging rice bowl of a Buddhist monk). Following the King's order, (THUN CHEY regarded the word I Bart as a rice bowl of a Buddhist monk in stead), THUN CHEY took a rice bowl from a monk and went to inform the people in the area, 'The King did not allow me to take 30 Damleungs from all of you, but he ordered me to collect the fine which is equal to one full begging rice bowl.' After that he took a rice bowl of monk to fill with money collected from the people. No one could fully fill the money in that begging rice bowl; therefore, they went to inform the King again. The King asked THUN CHEY, 'Chey! Did I tell you to use a Bart (a rice bowl of monk) to collect the money from the people?' THUN CHEY replied, 'you told me not to take 30 Damleungs but to take one Bart (a rice bowl) full of money from them: The King clarified, 'I commanded you to take 4 Sleungs, which is also equal to I Bart.' The King spoke to THUN CHEY furiously, 'Chey! You have made a lot of troubles to the Kingdom, thus I can no longer let you live here: Hence, the King ordered a capital punishment to THUN CHEY by asking the executioners to execute him in the water.
The executioners tied THUN CHEY in the middle of the boat. Being tied up on the boat, THUN CHEY thought that, 'I have to playa trick with those executioners so that they would not kill me.' After that he turned to talk to the executioners, 'Hey friends, I am going to die soon, but I want to happily play with you before I die.' After hearing that, executioners thought that THUN CHEY might want to escape; however, it was impossible to do so. Therefore, they untied him, and THUN CHEY told the executioners how to play the game, 'When I say, 'Chey is jumping into the water,' you all say 'Cheer! Cheer! The boat rowers agreed with him. When having an opportunity, THUN CHEY jumped into the water. One of the boat rowers saw THUN CHEY jumping into the water and shouted, 'THUN CHEY is jumping into the water!' The others thought it was the game and shouted, 'Cheer! Cheer!' THUN CHEY swam hard until he could get to the river bank and came to meet a Buddhist monk chief in a monastery and THUN CHEY was ordained as a monk. After realizing that THUN CHEY had escaped, the boat rowers blamed one another. Then they went to inform the King that THUN CHEY jumped in tie into the water and they didn't see him float up again. After hearing that, the King did not care anymore. The time passed by. The news of THUN CHEY's death finally reached the Chinese scholars. The King of China sent 4 scholars to the Khmer Empire again and a letter to the Khmer King. The letter stated, 'This is a friendly letter of King of China to the King of the Khmer Empire. It was known that the Khmer Empire has a great sage named THUN CHEY. So, I would like to send my scholars to contest with him. If my scholars from one of the two Kingdoms lose, the lost Kingdom shall be considered as the colony of the one that wins.' The King was very regretful for what he had done to THUN CHEY, after he had learned about the news.
The Venerable monk THUN CHEY thought, 'I will go to beg at the Royal Palace and see if the King still recognizes me.' Then THUN CHEY wore the yellow robes with his hand carrying a rice bowl and walked towards the Royal Palace accompanied by other monks. After offering all the food to the monks, then the King looked at the last monk in the row and saw THUN CHEY. So, he said, 'You look very similar to THUN CHEY.' The Venerable monk THUN CHEY said, 'Truly, that is me,' and left the King. The King realized that THUN CHEY had not yet died; thus he commanded his soldiers to get THUN CHEY back from the monastery. After looking for THUN CHEY at many monasterys, the soldiers saw the venerable monk THUN CHEY in a monastery, and they invited him to see the King. The King was very excited and said, The venerable monk Chey, please do not feel upset with me?' The Venerable monk THUN CHEY replied, 'No, I don't: Then the King continued to tell the Venerable monk Chey, 'The scholars from China are coming to compete with us through a riddle contest in the purpose of colonizing our Kingdom. 'What do you think?' Venerable monk replied, 'I will solve that riddle for you, Your Majesty. Trust me. I will leave the monk-hood today.' The Venerable monk Chey went to monastery and changed the yellow robes into a causal shirt and sampot with a scarf tied around his waist and came back to meet the King. The King said, 'Sage Chey, you look so handsome and you deserve to be called the sage of the Khmer Empire. When will you let the Chinese scholars have a riddle with us?' Sage Chey replied, 'In three days' time.
The Chinese scholars came on the arranged date. But they were terribly surprised to see THUN CHEY alive and standing right in front of them.
- The contest started. A Chinese scholar pointed his finger up to the sky and then down to the earth.
-THUN CHEY pointed to the sun, and then pointed to himself.
-The Chinese scholar asked THUN CHEY, 'What dose it means when I pointed up to the sky and then down to the earth?'
-THUN CHEY answered, 'When you pointed up to the sky, it means what is on the sky? When I pointed to the sun, it means that there are the sun and the moon in the sky. When you pointed to the earth, it means what are there on earth? I pointed to myself. It meant that there are people on earth.' After the first round of contest was over, the Chinese scholar said good bye to THUN CHEY and went back to their junk.
On the morning of the next day's contest, the Chinese scholars came to meet THUN CHEY again. The Chinese scholars made his arms like a circle. THUN CHEY reacted by flexing his muscles. Chinese scholars stretched his hand showing 5 fingers, whereas THUN CHEY showed one of his fingers. The monk chief watched the whole event but did not understand what THUN CHEY meant. So, he went to ask THUN CHEY to clarify the meanings of those riddles. THUN CHEY explained, 'When the Chinese scholar made his arms as a circle, I replied that it was an Angrut (a Cambodian fishing tool made from bamboo shaped like a round circle), and when I flexed my muscle to them, it meant that if there was an Angrut as a fishing tool, and how many fish did you catch? The Chinese scholar showed his five fingers meant that he could catch one fish which could be made into five pieces of dried fish. I showed my index to indicate that one piece of dried fish is eaten per day. After that, the monk chief went back to his monastery. Samdech Chaovai (Master) also wanted to know the meaning of the riddle. So, THUN CHEY explained, 'When the Chinese scholar made his arms as a circle, it indicated that they wished to take control of our Kingdom. I showed my flexing muscle to indicate that I would hit them. Then he showed his five fingers to signify that he had a lot of people, and I showed my index to signify that I was not afraid of them at all even though I was alone.' After understanding the meaning of the riddle, Samdech Chaovai (Master) went back home. The King also wanted to understand the meaning of the riddles. THUN CHEY pointed out, 'When the Chinese scholar made his arms like a circle, he wanted to ask, 'what are there in the five continents,' and I showed him my flexing muscle to tell him that there was Siddhartha Gautama Buddha in the center. Then he continued to show his five fingers to signify that there were five enlightenment Buddha in our universe, and I showed my index to answer that there was another Buddha, who has not reached enlightenment yet.' 'The meanings are like that,' THUN CHEY told the King. The chief of monk and Samdech Chaovai (Master) came to meet the king and told him what they were told by THUN CHEY respectively. Then, they found out that what they had known about the riddle were different from each other that made them become more and more thoughtful of THUN CHEY's intelligence.
THUN CHEY went to his home and put a square board under a piece of paper and a script. Then he dipped the crab legs into the ink and let those crabs creep over that piece of paper. The sheet was painted by the crabs' legs, and after that he dried out those sheets under the heat of the sun. Then he asked many kids to sit around and handed out the sheets to them and ordered them to pretend to read out loud whatever they wanted as if they had been reading literature. In the morning, the Chinese scholars left his junk and came towards THUN CHEY's house to challenge him again. THUN CHEY welcomed them, had them sit on chairs and offered them some tea. Meanwhile, the kids were reading loudly and it was impossible to understand what they were reading about. The Chinese scholars came to observe them, but they could not identify what kind of script it was. THUN CHEY questioned the Chinese scholars, 'Do you know this kind of script?' The Chinese scholars answered, 'No.' Then THUN CHEY told him, and ‘This is Mingchhveng, the Brahman script of Cham. If you don't know it, it means you lose because you are not able to identify this script. The Chinese scholars accepted the defeat. THUN CHEY warned the Chinese scholars, 'Now, you have lost but I will take only four of your junks and the properties on board. You can take back the remaining junk to use as transportation back to your Kingdom, and I will not take your Kingdom as our colony. But from today on, you should be scared whenever you hear my name.' THUN CHEY brought all the junks and the properties on board to the Khmer King. THUN CHEY did not take anything.
Learning that THUN CHEY won the contest, the King was overjoyed, and he allowed THUN CHEY to choose a woman in the Royal Palace to be his wife. But THUN CHEY replied, 'I don't want to marry any woman here, as all of them are not ladies; they are only females.' 'Where can you find a lady?' the King asked. THUN CHEY replied, 'I am going to find that lady, but please kindly give me a number of silky cloth and sampots so that I can find that lady.' The King agreed to the request. When THUN CHEY arrived in a village, he met a lady named Soursdey. THUN CHEY asked, 'Excuse me, is there a lady in this village?' Soursdey replied, 'Is there a gentleman in your village?' THUN CHEY thought, 'She is a lady I am looking for.' Then, he replied, 'There is also a man in my village. How do you know about that?' She replied, 'I know that because the man named Chey is usually an important person, Chey wins all contests, so he is called a real man. And you, do you know a lady?' THUN CHEY answered, 'Yes, I do. The lady named Sours dey and she shall defeat all opponents incomparably.' Finally, they talked to each other about their backgrounds.
When THUN CHEY was aware that Soursdey was still single, he unfastened his pack so as to show Sours dey’s parents. Seeing the silky cloth and a lot of sampots, Soursdey's parents came to ask, 'Where are you taking this silk cloth to?' THUN CHEY replied, 'I am looking for a lady as my wife. If you kindly permit, I will stay here serving you as your son in your family. I will carry the water, prepare the fire wood, pound the rice, and I will never be lazy at all.' Soursdey's parents talked to each other, perhaps this man loves our daughter and he must be from a very good family.' Soursdey's parents asked more questions, 'Do you want to marry my daughter?' THUN CHEY replied, 'Yes, I do. I love her with all my heart.' Soursdey's parents said, 'I agreed, but you have to find a go between.' THUN CHEY asked the villagers to be his go- between to ask for Soursdey's hands. There were many young and old people carrying the jewels to the house to attend the engagement, and a wedding date was set. After marriage, THUN CHEY left his wife and his parents-in-law to collect debts from some royal officials who owed him.
THUN CHEY arrived at the Royal Hall meeting all the royal officials and talked to them, 'Do you all want to bet with me? I can command the King to do something.' All royal officials surprised, 'Really? If you can, I will give you some money.' Then, those royal officials went to inform the King about that. The King became furious and asked THUN CHEY to see him, 'Chey, did you say that you could command me to do something?' THUN CHEY replied, 'Your Majesty, now I have not been able to command you yet unless you turn your face around.' The King turned his face around as THUN CHEY commanded. Then, THUN CHEY said, 'Your Majesty, this is what we call "order".' After hearing that, the King was very angry.THUN CHEY collected money from those royal officials and gave it to his wife. Because of the anger they had with THUN CHEY, the royal officials convinced the King to exile THUN CHEY by making him travel by junk to China.
They knew that China was very a big country and all Chinese people hated him so much, and they would kill him. After the King was convinced, he told THUN CHEY, 'Chey, I want you to live in China because that Kingdom is very big and you cannot live in the Khmer Empire any more.' THUN CHEY followed the King's order.
As soon as THUN CHEY arrived in China, he sent a message through a junk owner, 'Please, tell my wife I will come back in the next 7 months.' THUN CHEY worked as a servant of a Chinese mandarin. When he saved enough money, he bought rice to make Num Banh Chok (Cambodian traditional noodle) and gave it to Chinese people it. At that time, Chinese people did not how to make noodle yet. So, when they saw THUN CHEY's noodle, they bought to eat. Then they said that THUN CHEY's noodle was really delicious. This information reached the King of China. The King commanded his royal servants to bring THUN CHEY to him and asked, 'Your noodle is very long. What is it called?' THUN CHEY replied, 'It is called Num Banh Chok. If you want to eat it, you have to raise your head up, open your mouth broadly, and use your hand to lift the noodle highly so that you can eat it deliciously.' The King followed THUN CHEY's advice. Seeing that, THUN CHEY mocked at the King, 'Chinese King's face is so black, whereas Khmer King's face is like a full moon.' Hearing that, the King of China became so furious that he made a command to his servants to imprison THUN CHEY into a bronze cell. That cell was very cold and whoever was imprisoned there would hardly survive.
THUN CHEY stayed in the cell with another Chinese prisoner. Being very cold, THUN CHEY wheedled that man to do wrestling with each other until they sweated and their body got warm. Several days later, the guards saw the prisoners still alive, but they just ignored. THUN CHEY made a kite with very strange sound and flied it every night. Hearing the strange sound, the Chinese King wondered why this kind of creature wept only at the night and never at the daytime. So, he called the royal astrologer to interpret the sound of the kite. The astrologer interpreted, 'The creature weeps means that bad something will happen in our Kingdom. If we cannot find it, it will eat all people in our country.' The King continued to question, 'Why dose this creature weep?' Astrologer replied, 'I see that there is a Khmer sage who is living in exile in our Kingdom and now he is in prison. Send him back to his own Kingdom is a good solution.' After THUN CHEY was sent back to the Khmer Empire, the Khmer King really appreciated THUN CHEY's intelligence, and from then on the King did not dare to cause any troubles to harm THUN CHEY.
The time went by, THUN CHEY had a serious illness and it could not be cured. THUN CHEY left a few words to his wife, 'Remember that after I die, you have to grow some sharp stakes on my tomb and go to inform the King that I am dying. ‘Soursdey fo llowed THUN CHEY's advice. Learning that THUN CHEY was dying, the King visited him. THUN CHEY told the King, 'If you eat Trey Proul (c irrhinus auratus), please don't leave its scales, if you eat Trey Bra (iridescent shark-catfish), don't leave its gills and if you cook the head of Trey Bra sour soup, don't forget to put Sandan (a kind of sour plant, usually its leaves are used to cook).' After THUN CHEY died, his body was buried and sharp stakes were put up on his tomb. Those who hated THUN CHEY asked other people to defecate on THUN CHEY's tomb. When they sat down to defecate their buttocks were stabbed by the stakes. From then on, they never dared to go to THUN CHEY's tomb again. People said, 'He is really a wise man. Although he died, no one can defecate on his tomb.'
THE END
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