GHOST ON LARGE BANANA TREE

There is an old saying that the ancient Cambodian people had belief and often old their descendants not to grow Check Chvea (a kind of Large Banana Tree) adjacent to the end pieces of house roofs because it was believed that this might bring bad luck to the house owner. This belief was derived from the following story:

Long, long time ago, there lived a poor family who were farmers. One day during a drought, there was no water or rain for farming. The man, then, decided to leave his wife to work as laborer in a far-away village.

After the husband left, there was an epidemic of cholera in the village where his wife lived. This outbreak made the villagers very frightened. At the beginning, only small animals were infected with the disease, but later on, it spread out to the big animals and then to human beings, killing a series of them. No ' one was able to help other ones.

Each house was so quiet. In the night, only the sound of dogs howling was heard and the gentle light of kerosene lamps was seen in sparse places, causing everyone to have goose dimples on their skin, just to think of it. In some villages where the disease had not yet been spread to people and animals, the villagers n those remote areas were scared to earn their living as usual. They were very upset and quiet, only whispered to the each other, not dared to talk loudly or to think of where the incident happened.

One day while the disease was spreading out fiercely, there was a generous person coming to invite a Buddhist monk to recite a protective prayer at his home. When it was the time to take the monks, he came to get a senior monk and two ordinary monks.

When the monks arrived at his home, there were many guests. The three monks were invited to come onto the house and sat on good seats, and then they were traditionally offered drinks, tea, sugars and cigarettes. After that, the people did recitation as a respect for the three jewels (Buddha, Dharma and Sangha) and then it was the monks' turn to recite a protective prayer. But the layman said, 'Would you please not recite Dharma of Karanei to frighten the spiritual evil; rather, skip to recite the Dharma of Viropake right away in order to save time?' The monks started to recite the protective prayer from the beginning, as requested by the layman, skipping the Dhamla of Karanei and moving to Dharma of Viropake.

Suddenly the monks noticed that all generous people were pleased and laughed happily. "They have asked us not to recite Dharma of Karanei and requested us to move right to Dharma of Viropake, but why they turned laughing, it is very odds" doubted the senior monk on the first seat. He was very ashamed and worried that he would be criticized of this mistake, so he went back to Dhanna of Karanei.

No sooner had the monks recited few words than all the generous people suddenly left one by one until the place was empty. Then the candle flame went out immediately. The house where the monks were staying became the thickest dense of bamboo, whereas the cigarettes, tea, and sugar turned out to be charcoal, sand and chopped wood. At that moment, the monks realized that the ghosts had transformed themselves as humans to invite them. Until the laymen and laywomen at the pagoda knew this, the three monks had 110 food to cat for nearly three days.

NEAKTA KHLAING MOEUNG STORY

During the reign of Preah Chan Raja, whose royal palace is situated at Banteay Longvek (1502 A.D.), Cambodia was still a dependency of Siam and regularly paid tributes to the superior kingdom. The Siamese king assigned one of his princes, whose name could not be identified, to Cambodia to take charge of collection of all taxes, which was driven from the concern that the Khmer king was not honest in paying tributes and might betray his government in any form. The prince had a large vulture which was as wise as human being compared to other animals. The vulture loved its master and was used for delivering any secret message between Cambodia and Siam.

One day, King Chan Raja was worried as he thought that the Emperor must have lacked his trust in him that's why he sent his son to take direct control of the affairs. Irritated further by the attitude of the prince who was abusive and demanded excessive tributes paid to his kingdom, King Chan Raja ordered his men to arrest and kill the prince in the forest during a nighttime.

As the venture did not see its master in the next morning, it flew back and forth until it came across the prince's body in the jungle. He could identify the prince easily upon spotting his ring and used its beak to get it back to the king of Siam. When given the ring, the king assumed at once that his prince was assassinated by the Kluner king. Taking revenge for such an act, the king immediately summoned his military commanders and ordered that King Chan Raja, as well as his relatives and military commanders, be killed, while all of his properties and people be expatriated to Siam.

The soldiers set off and besieged Banteay Lovek, and King Chan Raja and his relatives were all massacred then. During the episode, one of the king's concubines, known as Pen, and Commander Moeung, along with his wife and their 4 sons, managed to evade the massacre. The Siamese soldiers brought with them all people, including the concubine, and all of the king's properties both with lives and without lives to their country. The items brought by the Siamese soldiers also included a large white pregnant elephant named Chumteav Pal Pai, which was used as the king's main medium of traveling.

The Siamese soldiers treated Khmer people so aggressively, arresting them, piercing their ears and treating them like beasts. Women who have newborns were forcibly put into sacks and tramped by elephants, except for pregnant women. They reported to their king in detail upon their arrival in their kingdom. Having successfully taken the retaliation, the king ordered the Khmers to live in a community in proximity to his city, where they were called "Khmer Neak Kruor”.

Even though Pen was exiled to Siam, her condition appeared to be much better compared to other women. With the power of her mighty fetus, she won affection and support in al l aspects from her neighbors. After having been pregnant for ten months, she gave a birth to a son safely with the help of her neighbors - bringing her warm and cool water. Thanked to the superpower of her son, she was visited by every villager there. 3 days after her children, the child was named "Uten".

The elephant, which was once used as a traveling means for the king, also gave birth to a baby on the same date, but it broke out the fetters, running into a distant forest where her baby was born on the sly. It was not until 3 days later that the elephant returned to her home with her newborn. The baby elephant's color and body were uniquely gorgeous compared to others of same kind. The elephant keeper then reported the news to the king who was very delighted upon hearing so.

Once Uten reached the age of 5, he started to learn something about the world and asked his mother for his father, "Where is my father? Other children have both mother and father, so why don't I have a father?" When so asked, her heart was so painful, trying to divert the question to other topics to save their lives if the news is leaked. Despite of how many times her son asked for the truth, she managed to convince him successfully until he was 12 years old.

One day she decided to tell him the whole story in a quiet place as she thought she would never hide it from him. Being aware of the story in detail, he consoled his mum by saying that he would try every means to enable him to enter their kingdom. After learning all the facts described by his mother, Uten started to learn every subject of knowledge, including literature. Unlike others, he was a very wise and brave boy.

One day, Uten started to build a relationship with elephant mahouts, asking them to give him a position as a cleaner of the elephant stable to enable him to learn the effective way to deal with this species of animals. One day, the Siamese king visited the stable where he saw the boy doing the cleaning work cautiously and energetically. He asked the elephant keeper about where the boy came from. The keeper told the king every detail about the boy and the king began to have good feeling for him, and asked the keeper to help take care of him.

Ever since, the boy worked more carefully, cleaning up, amassing and burning feces of the elephants for use as fertilizers in growing cabbages that produce largest clumps if compared to others planted by local people. When the cabbages grew large enough, Uten harvested and gave them away to the king. "Hey! Where did you get the cabbages from, they look strange?" asked the king. The boy then told the king in detail. The king rewarded and named him as an official in charge of the elephant mahouts.

A baby elephant of the cow elephant, Chum Teav Pal Pai, which was the king's excellent means for traveling, yet going berserk, behaving unusually wild, not obedient, even injuring mahouts to death and undefeated by anyone. Besides, it even frightened and forced villagers to leave their community to a further place. Elephant mahouts informed the king of the issue, and he ordered to find any brave men who are capable to defeat and get back the elephant.

As Ulen said he could bring back the elephant and agreed to take the responsibility, the king tasked him to chase his animal by any possible means. Uten however suggested that 500 elephants be gathered so that he could select one of them as a beguiling elephant. He then decided to choose a white cow elephant Pal Pai. Before his journey to get back the elephant, he demanded that a large traditional rite be organized. Villagers flocked to the event. Upon the end of the rite, the boy set off with 3 hands of bananas and 3 bunches of sugarcanes. Approaching there, he was almost gored by the elephant. Because of the boy's power, the elephant knelt down as a way of respect before him instead. Uten commended that, "You from now on should give up your bad behavior and be polite as you were previously." He then handed over bananas and sugarcanes to the elephant, saying, "You come with me. Just with this short expression, the elephant followed him easily without any tie, as if he was the elephant's mahout for long."

Since that day, the king rewarded Uten and gave him a title called "Chey the Great", taking charge of elephant soldiers and elephants hunting. Royal servants acknowledged and appreciated Uten for his bravery and skill in dealing with elephants, as in every mission to hunt wild elephants, he used only a few men to accompany him, and, the elephants just followed him with a few words he said to them. With affection and trust upon him, the king treated Chey the Great like he were one of his sons.

The age of 16, Chey the Great started to focus on his initial goal. He tried to devise a plot to liberate his country out of the control of Siam and to take reign in Cambodia, bring back with him the Khmer people and all properties both with lives and without lives. He then ordered 15 of his most reliable men to make small flat baskets and wooden soil compacting tools, to fill in the baskets with feces of elephants and leave them dry before spreading them along riverside or roads. They used the compacting tools to stamp on the ground in similar shapes as those of the footprints of elephants, so that villagers reported it to the king when they spotted the signs and the king ordered him to hunt the elephants, while winning confidence from soldiers commanded by the king to join him in the hunting mission that they were the elephants' footprints was another objective.

Witnessing such large footprints and feces of elephants flowing on river, the villagers reported the incidence to the king who then assigned Chey the Great to hunt the wild elephants. Chey the Great requested that hunting such large elephants could be succeeded only with large number of hunters and beguiling elephants, while those who joined him in the mission needed to listen to his command and a rite was held in prayer for success. The king agreed with all of Chey the Great's requests and authorized him to decide on the matter without prior approval. In the aftermaths of the event, the king gave him a royal sword, authoring him to kill whoever refused to obey his command.

15 days later, Chey the Great was on half way to Cambodia. He sent a message to the king, saying that "My Majesty, I have been on the nearest track of the elephants, but we have now run out of food. So, please Your Majesty sends us more food supplies as soon as possible so that we could attain our mission." Because of his strong desire to get the elephants, the king without further ado sent him food supplies without consideration of property loss or any doubt.

Chey the Great, upon receiving additional supplies of food from the king, continued his trip until he reached Battambang district, which was Khmer territory, 5days later. Many people from neighboring and distant districts offered to join the troops, including a former commander named Moeung and his 4 sons with an adequate number to fight against the Siamese king. Chey the Great wrote a letter and tied it to the neck of Chum Teav Pal Pai, the elephant messenger, in an attempt to invite his mother back to Cambodia. The cow elephant arrived at his mother's house in the midnight. The elephant dropped container up and down for 3 times; the mother was awaken as she thought that her son were back. She illuminated the light but did not see her son, except a letter. After she read the letter, she arranged for a trip, riding on the cow elephant hastily to see her son in Battambang district. Then Chey the Great announced that he was the son the King Chan Raja at Banteay Longvek and was returning to reign in succession of his father.

The story was widespread to the Siamese king who was consequently made angered and disappointed. He summoned meeting of military commanders and told them that Chey the Great had used the tricks to take possession of the royal sword and other properties both with lives and without lives to Cambodia. He commanded that his soldiers move to reclaim the properties and kill all relatives of King Chan Raja as well as his civil servants.

Being informed of the advancement of the Siamese troops, Chey the Great discussed with his commanders, asking them to discuss plots to defeat the Siamese as his soldiers and weapons were limited. No one dared to assure him, except Commander Moeung, who declared war with the Siamese with a bizarre strategy - sacrificing his life to mobilize ghost soldiers in waging a war against the Siamese soldiers.

Ordered his soldiers to dig up a square grave of 4-meter size by 4 meter depth and put in some weapons for the commander to jump into death. Before jumping to sacrifice his life, Moeung asked the people to listen to his last message, saying that "Please try all your best in this war to liberate Khmer territory from the hands of our enemy, and I guarantee to help you with ghost soldiers. Upon 7 days of my death, if you hear such a sound as that of thunder, it means our success."

After leaving the message, he jumped into the grave. Seeing her husband’s jumping, Moeung’s wife also jumped with their two sons, and they all died. Upon 7 days of the death, such strong sounds were also heard like what he said.

The Siamese soldiers arrived in Battambang, passing a canal currently known as Svay Daun Keo canal, where they were confronted by the powerful Chey the Great's soldiers and ghost soldiers. The Siamese soldiers were dizzy, stomachache, vomited and fell conscious. The soldiers of Chey the Great went to kill the Siamese soldiers, and some of them retreated to Battambang. They sent a message to report the incidence to their king who ordered a retreat to Siam.

The soldiers of Chey the Great returned to their fort, presently called Banteay Chey (Successful Fort). Ever since, Chey the Great was crowned and renamed Preah Chey Chesda, King of the Kingdom of Cambodia, reigning in Banteay Chey. While his reign was peaceful, he showed his gratitude to Commander Moeung, who sacrificed his life for him and Khmer territory by ordering that a significant memorial services be held in honor of Commander Moeung, a celebration which has become a traditional practice until today and called "Memorial Service in honor of Neak Ta Khlaing Moeung."

- The END -

NEAKTA DAMBANG KRANHOUNG STORY

The king of olden time ordered all his officials and men to mobilize the residents in every part of the kingdom to engage in the effort to cut down trees for the construction of his royal palace as well as to restore and clear up the water bodies in the capital.

The royal order instigated outrage among the people. Fearing that they would have been punished under his rule, they had to hold back their anger and obeyed it instead.

In the group of the recruited residents, there was a dark-skinned and heavily-built young man named Kranhoung. One day, it was his tum to work at the camp and cook for the recruits, while they were working. When the rice was cooked, Nhoung found nothing on his both sides to stir up the rice, but he then saw a black thorny kapok tree (Rakar), he stretched out and broke a branch of it to use as a stirring stick. Suddenly, the white rice became blackened as it was stirred by the black branch of the tree. Out of tiredness and hunger, Nhoung ate up all cooked grains of rice. Then he cooked new rice for the workers. This time, he wanted to stir up the rice again, but the branch was gone. Note that he was 21 years old at that time.

Soon after finishing his meal, his strength grew gradually out of the blue. His power was as strong as that of 7 elephants, which it was only known to him when he bent the branch of hard-wood (Chhoeuteal) tree to use as a carrying frame for rice grains.

Nhoung could bend, break up, and uproot the whole hard wood tree easily and with less effort. The mobilized workers, after witnessing his superpower, became fearful, respected, and praised him as a demigod. They, together, came to join and serve him and asked him to be their king.

While his strength was growing gradually as strong as the strength of 7 elephants, immediately there surprisingly rose a stick. Nhoung picked it up and used it as his weapon which was approximately 5 hath I cham-am (roughly 2 meters long or so). He brandished it very fast like a turning wheel and he jumped up 5 hath (over 6 meters) high. The people, who saw his supernatural ability, named him "Dambangkranhoung" ever since. Strongly confident on his ability, he came up with a new idea of becoming a king as suggested by his followers.

Nhoung called on all the workers to stop felling the trees for building of the royal court anymore. And all the workforces had to make sticks from the wood instead, equipped themselves with other weapons such as knives, swords, spears, axes, arrows and bows, and were trained as soldiers to surround the palace and attack King Chakrapoat. All mobilized workers were willing to follow him. Therefore, they were freed from cutting down the trees and transporting rocks to build the king's palace.

Dambangkranhoung set off with 10,000 soldiers to encircle the capital during the battle, seriously-ill King Chakrapoat assigned his two military forces. The first group had to battle against the enemies directly, while the other stood still to protect the capital. The battle camp was covered with the deadliest combat. The soldiers of both sides died and suffered injuries in a great number.

No longer after which, Dambangkranhoung’s army was a little over the first military force of the king and defeated the combat. The solider continued their mission, reaching the capital, and surrounding it.

On the king side, only the guard army was remained. However, Dambangkranhoung’s army had not controlled the capital yet, so he ordered all his army to take torches and wood oil with them.

As soon as the darkness fell at midnight, his army started fierce attack on the capital, by leaning the ladders against the capital's wall, vaulting over, and throwing the torch of fire and wood oil over the houses in the capital. Shortly, the gate of the capital was successfully destroyed, and Dambangkranhouug's army stormed into the capital and killed the royal forces and the innocent residents mercilessly.

At that time, King Chakrapoat who was seriously sick and laying down on his royal bed, while he heard the strike among the weapons, fire burning his palace, and loud cry of cheering and suffering, with his full effort, got up to hardly stand and took out his divine sword about to fight, but he fell down from his bed and died instantly.

Dambangkranhoung, a son born into a very simple farming family, was coroneted as a king of Cambodia. Dambangkranhoung became the 17th king in range after King Chak Krapoat with his new title, Preahbat Kodom Amradevaraja.

Just shortly after defeat, holding power, and coronation as a king, Dambangkranhoung, without further ado, ordered all his men to be in pursuit of the living royal family members in all parts of the kingdom and killed them by burning them alive.

- THE END -

MY WIVES ARE GHOSTS

Long time ago, there lived a newly-wed couple in a far-flung village. Hearing that vacancies were announced in the capital, the wife wished that her husband got a job there. She gave her husband all the money they saved up, yet it could not cover his travel and food expenses. So, she pawned her rice field for a loan she pledged to repay within a year.

With adequate money, the husband left the village to seek employment. After traveling for a few days, he arrived in a province. There a restaurant with disco club and beautiful girls opened to heat people from distant villages. As darkness covered the evening, the man entered the restaurant for dinner and 1 night accommodation. A group of people there was announcing that "Is here anybody else who could make this girl laugh?"

Astonishingly, the man walked toward the girl sitting with naughty face. The man approached and said, "I could make her laugh." The man tried to tell a variety of jokes, yet she kept unhappy. Then he put out a clasp of coins before her, she kept not smiling, however. The an kept offering a clasp after clasp of coins, and the girl laugh only when nothing had left in his pocket. Witnessing her laugh, the group of men shouted, "Excellent! You are a great man."

All men walked out of the scene, as the man was sitting painfully since he was cheated out of his money for a blink of an eye. Not knowing what to do while feeling terribly hurt, he ran out to jump into a river in an attempt to make a suicide.

A female ghost was then sitting on the riverside, spending her free time there on fishing. Her fishing line caught the man. The ghost swiftly pulled the man to land. She felt extremely pity for the man and sought solutions to revive him.

She chant incantations to build a grand palace and took him there. Reviving after unconsciousness, he was in a room with a beautiful girl taking care of him, and then said, "Hmm! Where am I? Who are you?" she replied, "I saw you was drowning, so I took you' to rest in my house here for the fear that you would encounter vicious animal."

The man fell in love with the female ghost and lived with her, forgetting his poor wife living in their remote village. Three months later, she got pregnant. The female ghost loved him dearly, satisfying all of his desires, and even disclosed him of where she kept silver and gold. A year later on, she gave birth to a lovely son. Afterwards, the man had a treacherous mind, wishing to return to his homeland, as he thought that it was a good opportunity to get both the son and properties.

One night when her wife slept like a log, he left the house, bringing along with him all properties and leaving her living in the forest alone; he hoped that he would meet his beloved wife and had money to pay off his outstanding debts. He had planned for a better life in the future.

Narrating of his wife, on the other hand, she lived alone in their native village since he left her a year ago without sending any information. She lived in almost extreme poverty state since her land and house were confiscated. She felt hurt both mentally and physically, and passed away eventually.

As he arrived home, he saw his wife greeting him warmly. He gave money to and apologized to her for his leaving for such a long time. His wife did not scold him for anything, and paid attention to him by arranging delicious food and comfortable sleeping bed for him. During the night, she felt happiest ever and wished that the night would not pass; she slept well. But, he did not sleep as he felt pity for his ghost wife in the forest after meeting his first wife.

During the midnight, he started to smell badly and felt uncomfortably, so he turned to ask his wife about the causes. Then he saw his wife’s flesh was decomposing with full of thousands of worms. He took his son and ran away out of the house till early morning when he met an elderly couple was on their ox cart on their way to collect firewood.

He consequently asked the couple about his wife. The old man told the man that, "Don't you know that your wife died for a long time ago and, since then, no body dared to approach your house." Hearing that his wife had passed away, the man felt extremely sorry for having not built a happy life with her together. He decided to take his son back to the forest to seek his ghost wife.

Talking about the female ghost, after she knew that her husband had taken her son and properties away, she kept crying continually as she lost her beloved husband and son. She shouted across the mountains and forest, but her dreams remained not be achieved. So, she finally decided to leave the house forever. As for her husband, when he arrived at where once being his home, he saw only grass field and a message written on a banana leave that "You will never see me for this life even if you wished."

Then he took his son walking across the forest to fetch his wife, and met a hermit. The hermit asked, "Where are you going, man?" The man replied with tears that "Hermit, I also don't know where I'm going, and I knew only that I am seeking wife. Please help me!" The hermit closed his eyes for a while before told him that "Hmm! Poor man! Your wife's not a human being; she's a ghost head in this forest. Now she had no any karma with you." Hearing that his wife was a ghost, he felt unbelievable and had nothing to say. He then proposed to live and serve the hermit in a bid to do good deeds for next life.

"Money Does Not Completely Guarantee Happiness"

- THE END -

HISTORY OF KAN BEN AND PHCHUM BEN

The precept treatise stipulated that the Buddhist followers believe that there are evil spirits2, for there is a legend which is told as follows: In the era of the Buddha named Phossa (Bossa), Pimpisa, who reincarnated as a chief clerk of a King, and many relatives managed the food offerings for the disciples, when in holy faith the Buddha named "Phossa" was the head of his monastery for three months.

When going to prepare the offerings, some relatives had small children go with them, and those children asked for food in the offerings. The relatives were scornful, for the food for the Buddha and the disciples was taken for their children and themselves, while only the remains were offered to the Buddha and the disciples. 

When they died, they became a group of evil creatures that were always hungry. They were all crying with hunger, with tears covering their skinny bodies. Some evil creatures could not stand the hunger. They wanted to end their lives, but they could not have it ended. They tore their own flesh and suffered while getting blood for food. And some other evil creatures ate carrion, and held pus in their mouths, and scabs.

Since they were overwhelmed with hunger, they went into the dwelling place of the Buddha under the name of Kakosunthoa and begged him for food. The Buddha said, "Folk, in our religion, you will not have any food." Hearing this, they burst into tears and asked, "My Buddha, when can we eat some delicious food?" The Buddha responded, "From now till the earth grows for one yoach (approximately 16km)3, there will be another reincarnation of Buddha under the name Koanea Keakmono who will be enlightened in the world. You will have to wait and ask that Buddha."

When the earth had grown for one yoach (approximately 16km) and the Buddha under the name Koanea Keakmono got enlightened, those evil creatures went in and asked him, "When can we have some food?" The Buddha responded, "You folk have to wait and ask the next reincarnation of Buddha under the name Kassaboa who will be enlightened in this world. The evil creatures then went to ask the enlightened Buddha in the next reincarnation, "Folk, you cannot have food in the religion of this reincarnation of the Buddha. However, you will have food in the religion of the following Buddha reincarnation under the name Koadom who will be enlightened. At that time, your relative, King Pimpisa, will dedicate the food to you folk."

Having heard that, the evil creatures were so happy, for they expected that they would have food soon." When the Buddha in the reincarnation as Samanak Koadom, our present teacher, became enlightened, the evil creatures went into the dwelling place of Buddha at dawn and asked for food. Buddha answered with a smile, "In the religion of the reincarnation as Koadom, you can have food." The evil creatures responded, "We have been waiting for many reincarnations of Buddha and we have never seen any food for us. Where's the food? Where is the scent of the white rice we want to smell?" The Buddha replied, "You cannot have food unless your relative, King Pimpisa, managed the food offerings for the monks in this religion." In the rainy season, there was a lot of rain. The tree leaves were weighed down by the rain. The evil creatures went to the residence of King Pimpisa at midnight and made cried dreadfully in suffering. Hearing that, the King was very frightened.

The following morning, the King rushed to meet the Buddha and tell him about the strange event. The Buddha responded, "That was the voice of your relatives who were reincarnated as evil creatures, and they have been living in hunger for many reincarnations of Buddha." The King continued, "What am I supposed to do to stop their dreadful crying?" The Buddha told him to arrange food offerings to the monks and to dedicate the food for them so that they would get it.

Later, the King, in good faith, had the food arranged for 500 monks with Buddha as the leader. When the Buddha and monks had the food, they expressed their joy over the offerings made by the King dedicating to them by performing Deroakoddasot (praying for the funeral). Then the King Pimpisa dedicated the offerings to his relatives as told by the Buddha. Those evil creatures expressed joy at receiving food dedicated by the King. It became magic food, and they ate it happily.

The following night, the evil creatures were all happy, they had food. They showed up through windows, pillars, doors and roof beams, to thank the King Pimpisa, but they were naked and smelled unpleasant. Some of them had big mouths, small noses, big stomachs and small mouths, which was terrifying. When King Pimpisa saw that, he became very frightened and pleaded with them to leave.

The following morning, the King told the Buddha about the matter. The Buddha responded, "They have received food, but you have not offered clothing to the monks; that's why they showed up naked like that." Having been told this, the King rushed to have clothing organized to be offered to the monks. And he dedicated the clothing to his relatives with pure good faith.

The third night came. They showed up again with nice clothes and a golden ray of light reflected from their bodies. They presented their wishes to King Pimpisa and then vanished.

Because of this, Buddhists in Cambodia go to pagodas to make offerings made up of food and clothing to monks, dedicated to their deceased relatives when the rainy season comes, from the 1st until the 15th day of the waning moon in the 10th lunar month. This is called Kan Ben (offering days) and Phchum Ben Festival.

- The END -

GHOST MISSES HIS WIFE AND CHILDREN

In 1954, Cambodian people believe in medicine. They believed in ghost, evil, guardian spirit, and witch. During the high tide season, Khos Samrong villagers always found woods along river to Kratie province. Mr. KHAY's father and his brother, VAN, were also finding the woods with them. One month later, they both floated the woods to the house.

When they arrived home, was getting high fever. His wife and children didn't pay hot attention to this, because they thought it was normal illness. But a few days later, he passed away. They fell very sorry and sorrowful because they didn't heatedly cure him; especially his wife was absolutely grief- stricken. He died without closing eyes. They thought that because he was still too much missing his wife and children .

In Chinese tradition, they often bury corpse in prosperity places. Therefore, they buried his body in the forest behind the house. It was about the midnight. Suddenly, his wife was screaming loudly, "Please don't harm me, you had already died." Because of this screaming, it made her children wake up and surrounded their mother. They saw mother shocking, sweating, becoming pale lip, and pale face. The oldest sister asked, "Why were you screaming loudly?"

Mother told that I had seen your father came and woke me up, but I did not get up. Then he tapped my back slightly, but his hand was as cold as ice. Just a short telling, she became shaking again. Her sons and daughter massaged her arms and legs.