THE ORIGIN OF THE DOLPHIN

Once upon a time, there was a huge 8ayan tree. Villagers built two images of a man and a woman sitting beside each other and placed them in the shrine under the 8ayan tree. People always went there to offer their offerings and pray for happiness. And those prayers' wishes were really satisfied. People called the images "Old Guardian Spirits." There was also a divine plant which had been growing on the 8ayan tree for many years, and villagers respected the plant so much.

Later, a woman was reborn as the daughter of a village family, and she adored the divine plant. When she grew up and when the worship time for the old guardian spirits came, she carried a tray of rice and cakes to conduct offering ritual for her parents. As soon as the plant divinity saw her, he felt pity on and loved her as if they both had lived apart for so long ad now just met each other again.

The plant divinity wondered so much that he decided to fly to see and tell Indra all story.

Indra forecast with his magic mind and learn that in the previous incarnation, she was the plant divinity's wife and the spouse prayed to be able to live with each other as a couple· in any incarnation or world.

When they turned old, the husband asked his wife for permission to be ordained as a hermit. When they both passed away, the hermit was reborn as the plant divinity, and his wife was reborn as a divinity. Then, female divinity was born again as a human to be able to live near the plant divinity, her former husband and to continue their love.

After Indra told him the entire story, the plant divinity asked to leave the Indra for his home. Along his way home, the plant divinity thought, "It would not be good if I asked Indra for permission to be reborn as a human, for now she is an adult. If I told her that I had been her husband who was reborn as a plant divinity, she would not get married for her whole life.”

Keeping thinking about the problem over unquiet night, he finally decided to transform himself to a huge python, and then crawled into her house to hug her while she was asleep. At that time, she was awakened, and struggled strongly to free herself. So the python explained to her that it was her former husband. However, she did not believe it; therefore, the python added that, "if you don't believe me, I will transform back to my actual body to show you now."

Suddenly, the python transformed itself to a divinity before her. At the time she saw the beauty of the divinity, she fell in love, and believed that the divinity was her previous-incarnation husband the plant divinity told her, "If didn't transform to this animal, couldn’t come to see you."

After they understood each other, the plant divinity transformed himself back to the python and told her, “During daytime, I can’t stay with you; I can stay with only at night.” When it was nearly dawn, her parents heard talking voice, so they walked into her room. Suddenly, they saw the python whose coil took up almost all the room space, so they were extremely shocked and cried out so loud in the house. The plant divinity panicked and escaped.

The daughter explained the entire story to her parents, and added, "Parents! My husband forbade me not to tell the truth villagers. That’s I just tell the villagers he is a simple python. Moreover, every day, my husband-comes to see me only at night." After hearing that, her parents just stayed quiet they did not what to do.

When a quiet night came, the plant divinity came to meet her in this divinity figure as promised. She lit a candle to see him, and then rushed to embrace her husband passionately. Hearing her talking, her parents entered her room furtively to see what was happening and saw a good-looking divinity. Then, they were fond of and content with the divinity very much. At nearly dawn, the divinity husband told his wife to bring her parents to dig up the treasure buried in the mound.

Early in the morning, she brought her parents to dig up the treasure buried in the mound. They found a lot of gold and diamonds, and brought the precious things back home. Since then her family had a lot of wealth, a huge house, and many servants. As time passed, the news was learn by far-and-near villagers.

About a couple having an adult daughter and living another village, this family knew that the family with the python son-in-law had a great deal of wealth, so the family was extremely fascinated and wished to have a python as their son-in-law too. The husband saw his wife felt sad, so he decided to go out finding a python by himself. The man explored one wood after another to seek a python.

Not long, he came across a huge python coiling on the top of a mound under thorny vines. The python had stayed on the mound for many days and hcr2 not crawl off the mound yet. It was starving, became skinny, could hardly move itself. Even though the man touched it with a stick, it still kept still.

The man thought happily, “The python must be able to bring me big luck because it is so docile." Then, he cut some vines to tie the python and stuffed it into a sack. While carrying the sack containing the python, he occasionally stopped to rest, and it was until dusk that he arrived home. Upon arriving home, he called his wife and daughter from outside the fence to come out and help him.

When seeing the python, the mother and her daughter were delighted. The husband bragged that, "This Python was so docile; I'm so contented with it." Then his wife pet the python's head gently and praised it that, "You have very good complexion; this is our luck." The python was exhausted and tied, so it just kept its eyes open and stuck its tongue out often. It was so ravenous that it wished to swallow a whole human.

On next morning day, the family slaughtered pigs and chickens to prepare wedding courses and make some wedding cakes. They invited many villagers to participate the wedding ceremony. To conduct the ceremony, the family laid the python on a piece of white cloth and untied it, and then the bride sat beside the python to salute the parents. Some villagers exclaimed, the family is so foolish. And some exclaimed, “My God!” and the rest who got drunk were happy.

When the night came, they carried the python into the bride and groom's bedroom. At that time she was afraid of the python so much that she wished to run out of the room, but she was afraid of her parents who were guarding outside the room. As a result, she just kept lying in the bed quietly.

At midnight, the starving python started to swallow her alive. She cried out, "Parents! Please help me because the python was me." Her mothers replied, "You fool! You husband was Just playing with you." No long, the python Swallowed her completely.

After a moment of quietness, her mother felt doubtful, so she lit a candle and went into the room. She did not see her daughter, but saw the python's abdomen was so big. Her mother wailed so loud during the midnight. The father cut open along the python's abdomen and dragged out her daughter who was unconscious. The whole body of his daughter stained with slippery liquid which smelled so bad.

Her mother washed her with warm water, and then she gained consciousness again. She saw all villagers watching her body staining the python's bad smell slippery liquid, so she was so disappointed that she rushed to stand up and snatched a water bowl to put on her head. Then, she ran towards the river bank with deep embarrassment.

She drew water with the water bowl to wash her whole body; however, she could not get rid of the bad smell of the python's slippery liquid. Thus, she thought that, "Oh! Poor II I can't stand such situation; I can't live to suffer this shame, so I had better died than live." She wore the water bowl on her head and jumped into the water to drown herself with extremely disappointed feeling.

Suddenly, she became a female dolphin swimming around to catch fish happily. Her parents ran to seek her, but they could not find her, so they sat wailing in despair at the river bank.

After arriving home, her parents dragged the python to abandon in the woods because they thought it was already dead. However, if a pythons gallbladder was still alive and if the python’s abdomen was just cut open, the python could not be killed. It could be killed only when its body was cut into several pieces. Many days later, the python healed completely and was determined not to eat humans until nowadays.

Thus, this woman, who had got married to the python, became the first dolphin in the world; she lived in the water happily. And then, she gave birth to a lot of offspring whose bodies look like those of humans; however, those dolphins do not have arms or legs. The dolphin's head has no hair, which looks as if it wore a water bowl on its head.

THE END -

THE ORIGIN OF PHNOM PENH CITY

The mountain whose name the Cambodian capital city , namely the present-day city of Phnom Penh, was named after, originated before the construction of the royal palace with a story which tells that in 1372 AD there existed an old lady named Penh who was very wealthy and lived close to the banks of the four-fronted river. Her house was built on a small hill to the east of a small mountain.

One day, there was a heavy rain causing a vast flood. Grandma Penh went down to the dock and saw a big Korki tree (Hopea Odorata) floating towards the riverbank. Because of the confronting tides, the tree was staying afloat close to the bank.

Seeing this, Grandma Penh ran to call the neighbors to help pull the tree out. The neighbors tied the tree with a rope and pulled it in gradually until it reached the top of the riverbank. When Grandma Penh cleaned the mud from the tree with a wood bar, she saw four bronze statues of Buddha in the hole in the tree, while another, made of stone, was in a standing posture with hair made in a band, and one hand holding a stick and the other holding a snail shell. Grandma Penh and the neighbors were so happy to have found these sacred objects. They then paraded those statues to Grandma Penh's home. Grandma Penh managed to have a small hut to store the statues in temporarily.

Later on, Grandma Penh called for help from the neighbors to mound the hill to the west of her house to make it a real mountain. Then she had the Korki tree (Hopea Odorata) sawn so it could be used as pillars of the shrine she planned to build on that mountain.

When the shrine construction was completed, she invited monks to stay at the mountain foot to the west in what was called "Wat Phnom Daun Penh (Daun Penh Mountain Pagoda)" which has been shortened to "Wat Phnom" up to the present. The four Buddha statues and Neakta.Preah Chao are of great sacred power, so anyone who prayed there could realize their wishes (based on the villagers' beliefs).

This is the origin of Phnom Penh city. And about 60 years later it became the prosperous city of the Cambodian King.

- THE END -

THE NOVICE’S CROCODILE (SOPOR KALEY MOUNTAIN)

If we travel from Phnom Penh by boat or ship along the Tonle Thorn (Mekong River) to Phnom Dei Chral (Dei Chral Mountain) and then turn to Krauch Chhmar port in Krauch Chhmar commune, Kampong Cham province, and glance northeastwards from Prek Prasap District of Kratie province at the north bank in Chambak commune, we will see a very high mountain lying by the river bank. This mountain is called "Phnom Sopor Kaley (Sopor Kaley Mountain)," which is a sacred mountain. The tale of this mountain has been narrated as follows:

Once upon a time, there was a crocodile named Sopor Kaley with a huge build and was magically the most powerful of all among which no crocodile could challenge. This crocodile lived in a pit called Anlung Samlei (Samlei Pit), which is now called Anlung Samlei village in Stung Trang district, Kampong Cham province; it's about 20 kilometers from Sopor Kaley Mountain.

At the same time, in Moha Leap commune, Koh Sotin District, Kampong Cham Province, there was also a crocodile named Neang Orai living in Tonle Toch (Small Mekong River) nearby Moha freap Pagoda. This crocodile was brought up by a novice. The crocodile always ferried his master across the river to anywhere the master wanted to.

This crocodile was extremely huge; the length of her head was 7 Hats (In Khmer measurement: 1 Hat = the distance from finger tips to elbow), and she could metamorphose into a human being. One day, when she metamorphosed into a human being, she heard people talking, "Neang Orai is not as huge as Sopor Kaley living in Anlung Samlei.”

After hearing this information, Neang Orai metamorphosed into a crocodile as usual and swam for many kilometers along the Tonle Touch to challenge a magic power with Sopor Kaley. When she reached Pky Moreach harbor, Neang Orai met an old couple rowing a boat across the Tonle Thom. Suddenly, Neang Orai came up with an idea, "If I'm still a crocodile like this, this old couple will not allow me to ride a boat with them since they are really afraid of crocodile, so I must metamorphose into a novice in order that I'm given a ride". After a moment of thought, Neang Orai immediately metamorphosed into a novice and took a ride on a boat with that old couple. Neang Orai, who metamorphosed into a novice, did not allow the old man to row the boat, but she asked the old couple to sit at the front part of the boat and hold the post of oar in order to protect themselves from falling off.

This novice started rowing the boat as hard as she could. With help from Neang Orai's tail flapping the water, the speed of the boat was becoming faster and faster. They took a haft day to reach the place where Sopor Kaley lived.

The novice, who had metamorphosed from Neang Orai, asked the old couple, "Which bank do you want to dock the boat?" They replied, "We want to dock our boat at the right bank". When the boat reached the river bank, Neang Orai helped drag the boat up to the bank. The old man said, "It's better to keep it here." The novice replied, "No, we should not keep it here". Then, they continued to drag the boat up to the cliff and moored it with a chain to a past set on the bank because the novice thought that during the competition the river waves would aggressively hit the bank; therefore, the boat would possibly move away.

After that, the novice (Neang Orai) showed her magic power to metamorphose herself from the novice into a crocodile and quickly crept into the water and swam towards her challenger, Sopor Kaley. When both crocodiles faced each other, an aggressive bite with wonderful magic power of both challengers took place. While biting, both challengers apparently stood up from the water, creating huge waves hitting the river bank so noisily. At that moment, a big crowd of people came to see the competition.

After a long bite, Neang Orai, who had stronger power, pierced the Sopor 's stomach with her teeth and Sopor Kaley died immediately. The remains of Sopor Kaley had become a mountain called "Sopor Kaley Mountain". It was named after Sopor Kaley. After that, this mountain became very sacred. All the time when people came to learn the magic knowledge at that place, there would be evils or ghosts came to haunt them by metamorphosing themselves into a ball of gold as big as a coconut or into beautiful ladies sitting next to and embracing those learners while they were meditating. If any learner desired to take this thing, these ladies would fatally break the neck of that person.

After swimming the competition, Neang Orai returned to her permanent residence. For a long time later, while ferrying the novice, her master, across the river, Neang Orai encountered a rival that came to harm her. A moment, Neang Orai thought of means to safeguard her master. As she could not find a safe place for her master, Neang Orai decided to swallow his master into his stomach and started biting with the rival.

The rival escaped right away while losing the bite with Neang Orai. After the fight, Neang Orai belched her master out. Unfortunately, the master had died and Neang Orai was really sad about that.

While the public was cremating a corpse of the novice, Neang Orai came from the water and crept into the burning fire and died there with the novice, her master.

- THE END –

YOUNG GENERATION

At the end of a village lived a grandma and a grandpa. They both, while sleeping, did not like noise or any creature to disturb them. Their house had a big yard, a pond and a garden surrounded by small and big trees with fresh sweet flowers and dark shadows, which were beautiful and comfortable.
 

With grandma and grandpa were not at home, kids, as well as many birds, liked to visit around their yard. They were very happy because they could come to play together. Some kids chased and caught the birds some played hide-and-seek game, and the others played with a ball.

When grandma and grandpa came back home seeing the kids playing in their yard, they were so furious, so they made the kids run away from their yard.

When the autumn came, they built a fence surrounding their yard preventing the kids from entering the yard. After shedding their leaves, the trees stopped growing the new leaves and began to fade away as if they were dried and the soil was unfertilized, or not rich.

One morning, grandma and grandpa sat next to the window looking outside. They were very surprised to see a wonderful view of the trees outside their yard with new green leaves appearing seasonally.

They were wondering and deeply worried. "What shall we do to change our trees into what they were before?" they asked themselves.

One day there were a group of kids creeping into their yard through small hole of the fence to visit there again? Suddenly, the trees in their garden also began to grow in full leaves.

Seeing this change, they were very happy that these trees turned into what they had been before. And, they came out of the house with enthusiasm and played with those kids. "Welcome, kids, for your return!" said grandma and grandpa.

Since then, grandma and grandma began to love those kids like their own kids.

The grandma and grandpa often told the morality and some legendary tales about backgrounds of places to the kids. And the kids listened to their telling carefully and happily.

The End
The Child.is father of the Man

YEAK LORM LAKE

Whenever we arrive at Yeak Lorm Lake, we are always curious to know the cause of this strange name at once. Such curiosity is leading to the inquiries for the origin of the lake's name related to the legend of the villagers. It is a strange legend which goes as follows:

The word "Yeak Lorm" is easily understood that the giants besiege. There are legends which have been told from one generation to another generation that:

Once upon a time, there lived the King of Giants with great magic power. The giant king had a beautiful daughter. She was more beautiful than other girls both her hair and physical body. Furthermore, her body always had good smell every day. Therefore, the King father named his daughter as “Neang Sork Kra ob" (A good- smelled- hair girl).

When she grew up, there was a powerful man going to console her for love. They both were afraid that the King father might be aware of their love, so they deserted to live far in a forest.

Later, the Giant King had been aware of his daughter's story. He was panicked and yelled very loudly. He collected his giant troops to fly and seek for his daughter.

When arrival at a jungle, he suspected that his daughter might have hidden herself there. Then he ordered his giant troops to besiege the jungle very firmly and ordered some giants to pull out the trees away, and they dug up and sought for her very where. Although the Giant King had tried his best to look for his daughter, he could not find out her. Then the Giant King ordered his troops to come back to this Kingdom.

AS the result of digging up by the giant troops to find Neang Sork Kraob, a lake had been found there in Ratanakiri Province. That was why this lake has been called "Yeak Lorm Lake until today. Yeak Lorm i a lake that has transparent water which is 70 meteps (leep in dry season. This lake is look like the bottom of a pan with the size of one-kilometer circle. Around the bank of the lake, there are many fruit trees such Mak Preng and Mak Prang trees (Marian plum tree), Rambutan trees, Semorn trees, Phniev trees, particularly Raing trees with flowers hanging down the water which are attracted for visiting.

Surrounding the lake, a very beautiful road has just been built by the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces. Thus we can go there by cars easily. There are Royal residence and small restaurants for guests as well. At present, the Royal Cambodian Arm Forces have arranged to build a new royal residence made of brick and concrete. There are many fish both small and big swimming in shoals. Visitors can travel round the lake because there is the road surrounding.

There is another legend which has similar meaning, too. The story was said that there were the giant troops who tracked the daughter of the giant King as the above story but there was different ending - as the giant troops besieged the mountain where she had hidden herself, she though that there would not be any means she could escape at all. Then she wished to be disappeared into the ground. At that time, the earth collapsed and also took her in. The place where the land had collapsed became a lake which had been called "Yeak Lorm Lake".

Another legend is far different from the two stories above. It is very likely to be the real story of villagers as well. It is said that the word "Yeak Lorm" was differently written and meant that the word "Yeak" derived from the word "Yak" in the traditional local language. It means chief or boss while the word "Lorm" is the name of a person.

Thus the words mean that there was a leader called "Lorm" who had controlled the mountain region. That is why the villagers assumed to call that place taking the name after that person and his position.

While researchers at the site found that this lake was a former whole of volcano in the ancient time and the volcano had been disappeared remaining the trace. That is why this lake is 70 - 80 meters deep and its shape is like an oval tray surrounding by mountains. Nowadays, this lake becomes one of the best attractive destinations for the tourists.

THE END

TUM TEAV

At Vi hear Thom Pagoda in Ba Phnom province, there were two novice monks, one of whom was called Tum, while the other was called Pich. They loved each other like brothers. And they usually made taok (containers) for sale. Tum was handsome and eloquent, as well as [possessing] skillful knowledge of magic, while Pich was good at playing a reed wind instrument.

The windy season came, they both became bored. They said goodbye to their master in order to take taok (containers) for sale in a distant place. They walked until they arrived in Tbaung Khmum province. Everywhere they went; people were attracted to the appearance and voice of Tum. In the meantime, Nor, who was the maid of Teav, passed by that place holding a water jar. She heard Tum chanting. She stayed still and listened to him. Then, she rushed to fill the jar with water and went back to tell Teav about it. When Teav was told about what Nor had admired about Tum she begged her mother to invite him to do the chanting at home.

When Teav's mother heard this, she felt sympathetic and walked out covering herself with a scarf. When she arrived there, she asked the monk, "I would like to invite you to eat betel nut at my house." Then, Tum responded, "You can go and arrange the place first, I will be pleased to go there later." After the invitation was made, Teav's mother rushed back home in order to arrange the mat, pillow, and materials for offerings to the monk. Having discussed this with Pich, Tum immediately started the journey to the house of Teav's mother. Once they arrived, Teav’s mother greeted them and offered the prepared betel nuts and betel leaves. A while later, Tum started chanting. Hearing the chanting, Teav became restless, and moved in and out of the room. Once Tum saw Teav, he fell in love with her. He decided to chant any parts that used "courting words". Teav prepared the blanket, ointment containers, betel nuts and cigarettes and put them on the tray on the pedestal. Then, she asked Nor to bring them to Tum, and she prayed to have Tum as her life partner. Tum received the offerings, and spelled the charm to Teav so that she would fall in love with him. From that moment on, they thought anxiously about each other.

The morning came when the sun was shining, and the two novice monks said goodbye to all their friends nearby and drove the carriage back [to where they had come from]. They both worked very hard without rest till late evening when they arrived. They both went up to bow to their master, the patriarch, and told him all about the story. Then, they left him to have a rest. Tum covered himself with the blanket Teave had given him and thought about her. He felt he could no longer stay in the monkshood. He asked his master to leave monkshood. The master calculated his identity numbers and prophesied that he would lose his life. He suggested that he delay it [leaving the monk hood] until Pisak (the sixth month of the lunar calendar), while he allowed Pich to leave the monkshood at that time. Tum was depressed because he was not allowed to do this. He then took candles and incense sticks, and made a declaration to leave the monkshood close to a mound. After that, he went to apologize to his master. And he said goodbye to his mother in order to go to Tbaung Khmum immediately in Pich's company.

Pich and Tum traveled during the hot day without rest. When the night came, they both slept in the crotches of a tree, worrying about fierce animals. And Tum also questioned the efforts he was making for a woman, which seemed inappropriate. When Tum and Pich arrived in Tbaung Khmum, they went to stay at their foster mother's house.

Oknha Orchoun, a District Governor in Tbaung Khmum province, had agreed with his wife to ask for Teav's hand for his son, Meun Nguon. Teav's mother was so happy, and she told Teav that-she had decided to match her with Meun Nguon. Hearing this, Teav strongly objected to her decision. However, she [her mother] forced her to accept it by quoting the proverb: "The cake shall not be larger than its mold."

THUN CHEY KOMA

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

THE WHITE ELEPHANT KING

A long time ago, there was a narration of a poor farmer in the remote area. He had a daughter called Neang Kolyan Ney who was sixteen years old that year. She was it beautiful girl with clear skin that attracted not only the fellows in the village but also the millionaire to be in love.

One day when Neang Kolyan Ney and her friends got together and left for digging up tubers for her family’s living, Mrs. Sem, matchmaker, came to her house and asked her to get married with a millionaire from her parents. However, her parents said, “We don’t mind, but my daughter still says that she does not want husband. Therefore, you should be back and wait for my information later as long as I could convince her about this.”

As for Neang Kolyan Ney went to dig up tubers in the forest, she could not find a lot; therefore, she walked far from her friends. Suddenly, the sky darkened and seemed to rain. As tiredness and heaviness, she decided to empty the water in her bamboo flask away; however, no longer time later the sky was cleared and sun came out with shining extremely brightly that caused her extremely thirsty.

She tried to find more tubers in the forest; moreover, her thirstiness as more and more dehydrated to make her throat too dry to be patient. She dug up a half basket of tubers then she decided to find water to drink. A little time later, she found a hole of water. She was really glad, so she walked toward and guzzled the water up. She was really glad that it was salty with bitter taste and smelt stink. However, because of thirstiness, she decided to drink.

One month later, Neang Kolya Ney had felt strange in her body; she often vomited as a pregnancy. Her parents asked her about the causes and effects whether she was in love with any men. However, she denied to these; instead she told about drinking of salty with stink water from a hole. The parents completely wondered; therefore, they got together and went to see the hole. When they arrived, they saw a white elephant pissing in the hole. And then they understood that her daughter was pregnant because of elephant’s urine.

A few months later, Neang Kolyan Ney gave birth to a daughter and named Kon Ton Satra. When she was at the age of seven or eight she could not play with any children because they insulted her that the girl was born without a father. This insult made her feel absolutely ashamed. One day, she kept asking her mother about this father. By not being able to hide any more, her mother told the story in detail without any lies.

Neang Kon Ton Satra pointed to the elephant and said, “Look! That elephant is my father!” Then she knelt down to perform Sampeah (by placing her palm hands together to salute) the elephant. The elephant realized the whole causes and effects, and he carried her up to his back. After that he used incantation to cause a basket of gold magically for Neang Kon Ton Satra’s mother to support her living.

The elephant king used incantation to make a temple for Neang Kon Ton Satra. Since then, she lived in the forest and elephant king found fruit for her. Moreover, he advised her, “If I say: well, Kon Ton Satra opens the door; father perfumes your hair with flowers, perfumes the front hair (fringe), and perfumes the back hair-my daughter Kon Ton Satra.” “If you hear like this, you can hold the door open for me – your father. I do not allow you to go outside of this temple in case of preventing from any dangers,” said the white elephant king.

Talking about King Samalak Reach, he was completely gloomy because his father was assassinated by king Antry and also forced him to marry his daughter; however, King Samalak Reach did not agree. Because of too much boring, he got together with all his servants to go sightseeing in the forest.

While the king was walking in the forest, he met Neang Kon Ton Satra. Therefore, he coaxed her to be his lover.

After they had chatted about love, both of them were pleasure to make love with each other. When the white elephant king had known about this matter, he did not mind. On the contrary, he blessed and arranged marriage them as a husband and wife since then. And then he say good bye to them in order to further his making meditation at Dang Rek Mountain.

Pausing this, talking about the cruel King Antry, everyday he ordered his favorite official (Kin’s confidant) to arrest all pretty verging girls to serve for his passion, and then they all were killed. As for the princess Moha – King Antry’s daughter, who was arranged marriage with King Samalak Reach by King Antry, was unfaithful by being in a secret love with the prince Botun Vong.

As King Samalak Reach took Neang Kon Ton Satra to his kingdom and planned to arrange a wedding, but it was spread to King Antry and Neang Moha. King Antry and his daughter were completely furious; therefore, they mobilized the military forces in order to attack King Samalak Reach's kingdom without warning. Therefore, King Samalak Reach was detained in the jail.

Princess Moha ordered her soldiers to pack princess Kon Ton Satra in a bag and beat vigorously till she was unconscious. By seeing this, King Samalak Reach took out his knife and attempted to stab princess Moha to death.

Suddenly, the white elephant king appeared and prevented him by saying, “Stop! Let her back to her empire.” "Vindictiveness is always disappeared by not committing vindictiveness," said the white elephant king. Therefore, all soldiers and princess Moha ran away back to the kingdom. And then the white king elephant revived Neang Kon Ton Satra.

The white king elephant told King Samalak Reach and Neang Kon Ton Satra, “My dears, please live in our temple; it is safer because the human was too much greedy to compete for the power. “That is right father; I think so and I do not want to come to the throne too,” said King Samalak Reach.


Princess Moha went back to the temple and told her father, “King Samalak Reach betrays you as he will marry ethic minority wonman as his wife because a shite elephant helps him.” While mbrracing with pretty virgin grils, King Antry shouted loudly, “Don’t worry my daughter! I will use the magic spear to kill that elephant.” “My dear quickly mobilize the military forces in order to knock down King Samalak Reach’s empire timely,” said King Antry.

He led the army forces to surround the king Samalak Reach's Royal palace; in the mean time, the spokesman told him that king Samalak Reach was not in the royal palace, but he was in the forest. Therefore, the parade troop returned to the temple in the forest.

The royal advisers and commanders' Samalak Reach knew about the movement of king Antry's parade troop that were moving to Samalak Reach's temple; therefore, they mobilized a great amount of military forces in order to fight with King Antry's army.

King Antry receognized that King Samalak Rechs’s army was strong because of the white elephant king, thus he threw his magic spear made of his former magicians’s bone toward the white elephant king. Because of the magic spear’s power, it poked the elephant’s throat and then he fell down to the ground.

By seeing this, King Samalak Reach and Kon Ton Satra ran toward the elephant, father. “You both look after each other; I am not alive. But the king Antry and his daughter are not alive too. Now I say goodbye.” Said the white elephant king. Then he stood up with his last energy, put his trunk into his mouth and shouted loadly in the forest. After shouting, he fell down and passed away.

Meanwhile, thousands of elephants came out and ran toward the fighting field. The elephants stepped on the king Antry’s troop to death in messy piles; moreover, the king Antry and his daughter-Moha also died at that time.

After the fighting was finished, King Samalak Reach and his wife matched the body of the white elephant king to the royal palace and held ceremony. He married his wife-Kon Ton Satra; furthermore, he controlled his nation and people with peace and happiness since then.

THE END

THE SON’s HEART

Uncle Sok was a farmer, and his wife was a home-based dress maker. They had two sons. Many years later, his wife fell seriously ill. Losing hope of recovery, Mother talked to her children painfully, "My two beloved children, I have nothing to give you except these two needles," and as soon as she finished the words, she passed on.

One year later, since there was no one taking care of his children and house, Uncle Sok married another woman; and they had a daughter. However, the stepmother did not like her two stepsons at all.

One day, after Uncle Sok went to work on his paddy field, his wife made Num Korm desserts (a kind of Khmer pyramidal desserts usually filled with sweeten coconut). After the desserts were cooked, the stepmother talked to her two stepsons that, "You two should not eat the desserts now; you should wait for your father until he arrived home"; and then she turned around to simply feed her daughter with the desserts.

The two brothers were waiting for their father until the evening. As soon as they saw their father reaching home, they went to get and eat the Num Korm desserts hungrily. At that time, Uncle Sok's wife talked to him that, "You see! Your sons don't behave well as my daughter."

Because of impoverished and inharmonious life of the family, the couple decided to abandon their two sons in the woods. Next day, Uncle Sok's wife prepared a pack of cooked rice and a big packed bag for her husband, and then the father drove his ox-cart to carry his sons away.

At the middle of their way, the father turned around to ask his sons that, "Do you know the place?", and his sons responded, "Yes! We know the place because we have taken our cows here." Hearing that, the father continued his trip forwards.

When they reached the depth of the wood, Uncle Sok asked his sons again that, "Do you know the place?", and his sons responded, "No! We don't." Then the father told his sons that, "Rest at this place, you two. I will drive the ox-cart farther to cut firewood, and I will come back soon."

The two brothers just waited and waited for their father until the afternoon when they knew that father carried them there in order to desert them. Therefore, they opened the pack of cooked rice to eat. As soon as they ate a small amount of cooked rice, they spat it out because the rice was mixed with lots of sand.

The two brothers sat embracing each other and crying, and thought that, "Today, if we couldn't find anything to eat, we will die." In wake of this thought, they thought of their mother and took out the needles to look at.

At that time, the older brother saw a dove sitting on a tree branch near him. After pondering a moment, he took a piece of bamboo pipe, picked up a feather, tied the feather at the needle-eye part, and then blew the feather-attached needle through the bamboo pipe aiming at the dove. The feather-attached needle hit the dove, causing the bird fell from the tree branch suddenly.

They prepared the dove for their meal. While they were cleaning the dove, there appeared seeds of rice, corn, bean and pumpkin from the dove's crop. The older brother collected the seeds and dried them in the sun and the younger brother took the dove to grill.

The two brothers chopped down trees and cut off tree leaves to make a shack there. As night came, their surrounding was so quiet and the two brothers had to face dangers from wild animals.

Next day, the two poor brothers sowed the seeds to grow crops for food. They fished, searched for crabs and snails, and picked fruit for food. Several months went by, their crops bore their fruit. The two brothers endeavored to take care of their crops until the crop fruit became ripe, and the two brothers simply tried to sow more seeds.

The two poor brothers struggled to clear land and raise crop beds until they had a very large farm. Owing to their endurance and endeavor for many months, they both could grow a great amount of crops covering hectares of land.

Afterwards their crops bore a great amount and merchants came all the time to buy their produce. Since then, they had high living conditions since they had a lot of money, silver, gold, poultry and cattle. Their wealth accumulation transformed them from the poor men to the wealthy men.

Day after day, their crop in the field kept expanding until the stems of their pumpkins growing all over the field grew into their father's banana farm. At that time, Uncle Sok so wondered and thought, "Who let their pumpkin stems grow into my farm?", so he tried to follow the pumpkin stems to look for the new farm's owners.

Uncle Sok had walked for a very long time before he arrived at the house of the farm's owners, and, out of a sudden, he met two men. Uncle Sok didn't recognize the two men. However, the two sons recognized their father clearly, so they rushed to hug their father. The father asked his sons to forgive him for all his faults done towards them.

As he had come across his sons, he felt a very great happiness. The father told his sons that, "My beloved sons! Since living without you, I have lived so poorly and terrible life. I shouldn't have abandoned you to live lonely in the middle of the woods."

The two sons took some money, silver and gold to offer to their father out of their gratitude. Uncle Sok started his trip back home happily because he had met his sons and got some money, silver and gold to support his family.

Upon arriving home, Uncle Sok smiled happily and recounted to his wife and child about everything. Since his wife saw that he could get money from his sons so easily, she often asked him to go and ask for money from his sons again and again many times without any consideration of the two sons' feeling at all.

Even though Uncle Sok's sons gave him a lot of money, the living conditions of Uncle Sok's family still faced shortage because his wife did not try to save by spending extravagantly and recklessly. One day, she ran out of money, so she asked her husband to see and ask his sons for more money.

After arriving at his sons' house, Uncle Sok told his sons about his family's troubles. The sons understood their father's feeling, so they prepared gifts of many items and valuable things for presenting to their father.

When Uncle Sok was about to start his trip back home, he saw a buffalo; so he talked to his sons that, "My packed bag is so much heavy that I can't carry it. So can you give me a buffalo in order that I can ride it to the house as I am so old now?"

Without rejecting the idea, the sons went to take the buffalo and gave it to their father immediately; and then, Uncle Sok carried his bag and rode the buffalo far away. When he arrived in a village, lots of dogs, once seeing the buffalo, rushed to bark at or bite the buffalo, causing the buffalo to fright and to run away out of sight.

About Uncle Sok, he could not hold on to the buffalo, fell off, and was seriously hurt. The villagers who saw that felt pity on him, so they helped to lift him up and carry him to his house.

At that time, Uncle Sok realized that because of his greed, he got injured, unable to walk and work. He felt ashamed of himself and did not want to ask for money from his two sons any more.

About Uncle Sok's wife, she now tried to correct herself by working so hard with out regard to being tired. Regarding the two sons, since they thought that their parents were trying to correct themselves, the two sons sent their parents more money often. Since then, Uncle Sok's family lived in harmony and happily.

The End

"Industriousness always pays off."

THE POWERFUL GHOST HEAD

Long, long ago, there was a dreadfully quiet stream near which the local people lived with fear. Day after day, many more people were haunted to death one after another as a result.

One day, when a woman who was back from her rice paddy at a rather dark night reached the stream, she saw a beautiful girl who while walking toward her said, "Hold on, Auntie!, would you mind if crossed the stream with you?"

“Why don’t you go across it by yourself?” replied the woman. “No! I’m afraid I would be drowned, she answered, and imploring that please help carry me across the stream with you. The woman at her plear put her on her back right away.

Reaching the middle section of the stream, the girl started her action by transforming herself into a dreadful appearance with long neck and long messy hair, while her eyes swelled up so largely as those of red crabs. She kept sticking her tongue in and out. On sight of it, the woman was so extremely frightened that she almost got heart attack right then.

The Auntie ran away with difficulty to her house. She could hardly breathe out of panic, lost consciousness, felt seriously ill in a delirious state, felt like having no appetite for food or drink, had her hair lost gradually and continued to losing her weight until she was finally made to death.

When the sun almost set, the situation near the stream was so quite because no one dared to come near the stream since it had ghosts waiting to seize souls of persons crossing the stream.

One afternoon, a group of men gathered to drink liquor from noon to d k. Brother Chheut! Please go back home soon sin e there are many ghosts coming out at nighttime." One of the men warned Uncle Chheut. He just ignored it and said "Don't talk about ghosts! I can't even find one to be used as medicinal herbs."

When it was getting dark at night, Chheut returned home. The dew was falling. The breeze was blowing gently through us, making us feel as cold as immortal water. Dogs were howling sharply through the quiet night. When he got at the stream bank, he saw a gorgeous woman who was as beautiful as an angel.

Seeing the woman, he said to her, "Hey, you girl! Why are you sitting right here?” The woman replied with sad face, "I want to cross to the other bank, but I just don't dare to cross because I'm afraid that my new dress would get wet".

Chheut thought, "This woman must be a ghost because she dares to sit here alone." Therefore, he replied, "No problem! If so, I will help you across for this time."

Hearing so, she was delighted since she thought that she got another good opportunity. She then put her arms around Chheut's neck gently, while he took out his Krama, a type of Khmer cotton scarf, and tied her with him.

This tying seems to have been prepared in advance. "Brother, why did you tie me like this way?" she doubted and asked. "Well, it is to make sure you won't fall off me into the water," answered Uncle Chheut. Reaching the middle of the stream, the beautiful woman started her action toward Uncle Chheut.

She stuck out her tongue out, made her hair become unruly, bled her eyes and cried out piercingly. Whatever she did, Chheut was still not scared. The more she scared him, the more he just laughed.

Uncle Chheut carried her across the stream back and forth many times. She panicked, so she begged the man that, "Please let me go of me; never again will I haunt others." However she begged him, uncle Chheut couldn’t be deceived.

She tried using all means including screaming which sounded piercingly arid fearfully. The man had stone heart and just kept walking until nearly dawn and then he was still walking. When seeing the sky becoming light red, she was so frightened, and turned herself into log.

When he arrived home, Uncle Chheut stripped the log into thin slices, and immediately at that time, blood started bleeding from the log.Then, Uncle Chheut took those thin wood chips to soak in his liquor.

Whenever he went out, ghosts cried out that, "Let's run away. Ghost-eating man is approaching." Those ghosts ran away through different ways and found no other place else to live. All ghosts named Uncle Chheut "The Ghost Head" ever since.

At that time, villagers living along both stream banks were grateful to Uncle Chheut, a brave man who dispersed the ghosts. The villagers also held a religious ceremony to make offerings to monks so that the merit from this act would help the ghosts' souls be able to get incarnated or live in peaceful world.

Since then, local villagers crossed the stream day and night safely at no sight of any haunting ghosts.

THE END

"No Bravery and Commitment, No Advancement!"

THE MAGIC OF PREAH KOR (BULL)

Long time ago, there lived a king called Reamea Thireach. He possessed tenfold qualifications of the king and reigned over Taka Seila kingdom. In that kingdom, there lived a poor couple. They could not afford even enough clothes and food. Poor as they were, they had never done any evils. One night there was a heavy downpour. While falling into a deep sleep, the wife dreamed that a hermit brought her three brilliant diamond rings and had them on her fingers.

Rousing from sleep, she woke up her husband and told him about the dream. Her husband suddenly went to a monk to tell him about this. The monk pulled out his slate and cast horoscope. Having thoroughly read and understood the writing on the slate, the monk said, "Don't worry about this; it's a good dream. Based on the horoscope, fortunate persons with great power are going to form their lives in your wife's womb." He added, "It also tells us that your wife has to avoid eating green mango." At home he told his wife about the horoscope and the abstention.

Talking about the fortune people who were forming their lives in their mother's womb, on the due date to be born, somehow an unfortunate thing caused the mother to have such a strong desire to eat green mango that she could not bear. Looking for a green mango, she found one and therefore climbed up the mango tree. At the fork in the tree, she fell off, her womb breaking. She suddenly passed away. Her broken bones were apart and there came a calf out of her perfect offspring called Preah Kor. After being born, Preah Kor ran here and there anxiously as if he was worried about something. Preah Kor was born with script books of formulas, some jewelry, and good meal - all of which were for the fortune people. The small bull galloped away from his mother's corpse running toward his father's house for fear that his younger brother, who could not be born yet, might be dead in his mother's womb.

At dusk, coming back from the wood, the man, his father, saw a good-looking small bull galloping toward the mango tree. Following the small bull, he found that his wife was lying dead on the ground. He carried his wife in his arm, cryinhg desperately. The small bull said, “Father! I could be born from mother, but my younger brother couldn’t.” His father pulled out the unborn baby Preah Keo from his wife’s stomach and bathed him. Seeing his plump, cute and lovely baby, the father was crying and simultaneously saying that, “Oh my son! Your mother was dead, so now you don’t have her breast milk to be fed. Your older brother can eat green grass and what about you? I don’t know who you can take the breast milk from?”

Next morning, his father carried Preah Keo and walked Preah Kor, roaming everywhere in search of a woman for breastfeeding. A villager asked, "Where is his mother?" The man clasped his both hands in respect and answered, "Oh my god! When I was away, my wife climbed up the mango tree because she wanted to eat mango.

Unfortunately, she fell off the tree and dies leaving a twin - one was a human and the other, a bull." The villager replied, "Oh! They must be very evil children; so don't try getting him breastfed? Go away! If you remain here, I'll break your head." With the threatening words, the poor man walked away with his children hopeless. He roamed from one home to another all day, but found no help. When he got back home, he laid his baby and dropped some water into Preah Keo's mouth and rushed to bury his wife's corpse. The fact that the man had one child as a human and the other as a bull surprised everyone in the village. They said that the man's family was an evil, so they sacked him from the village.

The villagers thought that the bull calf had soft bones and tender flesh - tasty. So some people were ready with rattan to tie up Preah Kor, others with long bar to carry, and the others with club to hit. When they got together, they shouted very loudly three times and surrounded Preah Kor closely like a fence. Preah Kor told his father that "Father! The villagers want to catch me; hold tightly to me. I will fly over this surrounding." Preah Kor tried his best to fly over it and fled away. Later, they were all safe and sound. Their father took them into the forest. They wouldn't dare return home. Preah Kor could have green grass to eat, while Preah Keo could get only drops of water rather than breast milk to survive. The man got Preah Kor to take care of his bother so that he could go to pick the ripen fruits to squeeze their juice for Preah Keo. However, he was not brave to go far. Such a living in the forest was very hard.

They wouldn’t dare build even a cottage. The man spent three years wandering in the forest. There were such big and bad tears in his clothes that he could no longer wear them. He used leaves as clothes to cover his body. One day, he reached a place where there was a big banyan tree growing near the forest and mountain. And lots of young cowboys were playing there. They shouted and chased one another happily in a nature of children. Preah Keo, seeing the boys playing happily, asked his brother to join them, but he was not allowed to do so, since his brother was afraid of the fact that the boys would hurt his brother.

One night, the young man lay thinking about the previous horoscope, the monk's prediction. He was wondering about the fact that he was predicted to have three children. What about the other child? Actually, he had the other child - that's Vedic Trai script book in the belly of Preah Kor. The man did not realize about this. In the morning, he brrought ripen fruits for his children and told them that, "If you want to play with other boys, you can, but you have to come back before dusk." In order not to make people suspicious of them, Preah Kor, like an ordinary bull , got his brother to tie him up with a vine, but warned his brother not to throw the vine over his back because so doing would make Preah Kor lose his power." The two brothers walked toward the tree where the boys were playing.Preah Keo tied his brother and came back to play with other young cowboys.

“Hey! Where are you from?” those boy asked when they saw Preah Keo. “I am motherless,” Preah Keo replied, “I have only father; I am homeless; I only live in the forest. Hearing that Preah Keo was motherless, all of the boys leaped to kick him mercilessly, making Preah Keo cery loudly, and Preah Kor, seing this, felt immense pity for his brother.

THE MAGIC NOSE BOY

Long time ago, there were spouses with a beloved son. They were very proud of their son since he was the only son in the family. The son was very intelligent, obedient and outstanding in study. The villagers admired his intelligence and unique no sense and called him a "Magic Nose Boy".

This information on his intelligence and special nose was passed from one person to another and finally reached the Royal Palace. One day, the king heard the information and anxiously wished to try the boy's intelligence. The king asked a royal servant to take the jar of vinegar and leave at the backyard of the palace.

Later on, the king asked two royal servants to carry the magic nose boy on a carrying bed to Royal Palace. Soon after the two royal servants arrived at the magic nose boy's house, it heavily rained.

The two royal servants informed the magic nose boy's parents of the king's wishes and invited the magic nose boy to sit on the prepared carrying bed and went to the Royal Palace.

While they were on their way to the Royal Palace, widespread howling was made by many Rings (type of burrowing toad, Callula pulchra) in the nearby paddy fields and bushes. The magic nose boy incidentally said, "Today you-ING will die and so will DONG ".

The two royal servants who were siblings, heard felt so scared, stopped and laid down carrying bed and begged the boy, "Please help us, we don't want to be killed". The magic nose boy thought to himself of why these two men begged him for help or their names were ING and OUNG, then he said firmly, "Well, tell me why the king invited me to the Royal Palace". The two royal servants said, "If we are free from any punishments, we'll tell you". They two royal servants added, "The king called you to smell vinegar in ajar in the backyard of the Royal Palace".

In the royal palace, the king said, "Well, the magic nose younger, I heard that you are very talented in nosing. OK, try to think what smell is around here" The boy answered, "Your High Majesty, I smell vinegar at the backyard of your Royal Palace". The king was surprised and admired, "wonderful! You are just a kid. How wonderful your nose is!" He added, "Honor the magic boy with an award". The magic nose boy was very happy to be awarded and went home.

One week later, the king asked a royal servant to take a message to the magic nose boy. The message read, "In three days, the magic nose boy has to be nicely dressed and come in the Royal Palace again". After having read the message, the royal servant left the magic nose boy.

The magic nose boy was so worried that he could not sleep nor eat normally. He sat lonely with sad face and could not think of what. would happen. He whispered to himself, "There is only one day left, if I cannot answer the puzzle correctly, I might be killed".

The magic nose boy thought and thought. He came up an idea. He went to a barbershop and asked the barber to have his hair nicely cut before going to the Royal Palace the following day. The barber cut his hair with greatest care, but after the hair was cut and while the barber was doing the shaving, the magic boy intentionally tum his head away to have his nose slashed and it was immediately bleeding.

In the next day, the boy got dressed well and left his house for the Royal Palace on his own. Reaching the Royal Palace, he went to greet the king who was seated nearby the royal servants and royal security guards. The king said, "Well, the magic nose boy! Is there any strange smell around here?” The magic nose boy said, "Your High Majesty, now my nose was injured and it is, therefore, no longer effective".

The king not only gave the pardon to the magic nose boy but also gave him some jewelry to be used for treatment of his nose and supporting his family. The king added, "From now on, I will no longer interrupt you anymore, but bear in mind you have to study hard to make sure that when you get older, you will be well serving the nation".

The magic nose boy was so pleased that he could come home. He bears in mind the king's words of studying hard. As a result, with guidance and advice from both parents and teachers, the magic nose boy became an outstanding student and a good example for others students.

Thanks to his intelligence and hard working, the magic boy never stepped back or gave up his study from the childhood to adolescence. He, eventually, he was a top educated man, a good citizen and serving nation with braveness and serving as good example for younger generations.

- THE END -

THE LITTLE MERMAID

Long long time ago, there was a coral place under the sea. The sea kind had Severn beautiful daughters. Every day they all liked to go swimming. But the youngest and the prettiest daughter were always sitting lonely. That was the little mermaid who exactly reached the age of 16 years old. Today was the special event because it was her birthday so everyone in the underwater kingdom hurried up to bless her.

On the occasion of this glorious ceremony, a sea horse that had a voice as good as trumpet started giving a long speech to welcome all honorable guests, while the most famous harpists also played beautiful songs to accompany it.

The sea kind with white mustache we the sun-like crown stood up holding a three-edged sacred sword. When the speech was finished, the ceremony started. 'Please open up the big shell,' ordered the king. Then, the elder sisters opened up this huge shell. But the little mermaid was not in it, so it made the king absolutely furious.

The little mermaid was a naughty young princess who always liked doing what she wanted. Whenever there was a party or ceremony, she was usually bored. Whenever she could escape, she always went to sit imaginatively on a big rock with a funny fish. She was interested in seeing the wrecked junk under the sea because there she could see all kinds of objects from the on-land world which she had never seen in her kingdom. She was so extremely excited that she was nearly mad on them. Today she found a sunken junk. She looked at the wine bottle, glasses, shoes all of which she did not know how to use. She was so interested in these objects that she could get rid of all sadness. In the old sunken junk, when she came closer to watch it, she found a silver fork.

Because the sea creatures had never had glasses, plates and spoons, the little mermaid asked herself what these things were used for. Luckily, she had a friend who was a bird living on an island. The bird knew clearly every thing on land, as it was familiar with these things before. As soon as it saw the fork it shouted, 'It is the comb, little girl!' Then, it got the fork and combed its feathers. 'Oh, my god,' she suddenly exclaimed, 'the sun is nearly setting; what about my birthday party? What shall I do?' She thought of it. Then she hurriedly dived into the sea.

When she arrived at the palace, her father was furious. “Enter your castle right now,” her father said, “I don’t want to see you here this evening; I will celebrate the party without you.”

When the little mermaid arrived in the castle, she was very sad. But as soon as she looked at everything around, she felt very happy because it was there she kept strange objects she got from the wrecked junk. There were small boxes and vases, records, nice paintings and many other antiques. Whenever she looked at those objects, she could quite understand about the on-land world.

Suddenly, there was a happening. There was an enormous junk floating above her. Though she knew that she would be punished by her father, she swam after the junk. Only a few minutes she could come up to the surface of the sea. It was an out-of-the-blue view. The junk was strange, having golden prow, several floors at the stern and three huge sailings. It is the floating royal palace. The little mermaid heard the noises of laughing with the sound of a beautiful song. She swam gently to the junk and saw the crews were celebrating a great party inside. "Who is this ceremony for?" She wondered. In fact, this party was celebrated in the honor of a lovely young prince. The little mermaid fell in love with him at the first sight and her heart was agitated. He was only 16 years old. The beautiful statue was the present that his father had just given.

At that moment, the sky was getting dark, and strong wind came. Not longer than 15 minutes the ocean become trembling as if it was filled with anger. The little mermaid had experienced this many times, but the prince had never seen, so he was very worried. The huge wave pushed all the people out of the junk. The little mermaid could only rescue one person that was her prince. But when she took him to the shore, the prince had fainted.

THE LATE TA CHENG (GRANDFATHER CHENG)

Ta Cheng was a kind of person who had never felt charitable and generous to anyone. When he was young, he made his living by slaughtering cow. When he got older, he liked drinking wine and gambling. He cursed his wife and children and kicked them out of home.

Hence, his wife and children left him to live far away with his relatives. When he got elderly, he fell seriously sick and none of his relatives visited him or took care of him. During his sickness, he often gave a shout of pain like a lowing cow. The scream could be heard throughout the day and night, making his neighbors unable to sleep.

Near his house lived a couple. Hearing the scream of Ta Cheng with pain, they always brought food for him everyday. Somehow, although he had eaten food, he still let out a scream of pain, insisting on drinking wine. Seeing his situation, another neighbor brought some wine for him and therefore, he stopped screaming. Since then, he needed to drink wine every time after meal.

Ta Cheng was very fond of his neighboring spouses. "Grandchildren, I am very grateful to you for taking care of me. With your food offered to me, may you be saved from starvation in every life!" blessed Ta Cheng with tears. The spouses received the blessing and then returned home.

Several days later, Ta Cheng passed away. The two spouses held his funeral in accordance with the tradition. The corpse was cremated at a rice field dike near the village.

Later, there was heavy rain filling puddles with water. The husband carried his cage to hunt frogs for food. As usual, many frogs were found while it was raining, but on that day he caught up only two frogs. He moved on until he reached the dike where the corpse of Ta Cheng was cremated. Suddenly, he saw a big frog jumping toward him. Cheerfully, the man caught the frog, put it in his cage and returned home.

Next morning, his wife killed the frogs for food. As soon as the big frog saw the woman, it jumped up and down without stopping. However, the woman cooked the three frogs for food, taking no notice.

That night, she dreamed that Ta Cheng stood crying in front of her house. In that dream, she asked Ta Cheng, "Grandpa! Why are you crying so loudly?" Ta Cheng then cried even more loudly and told her, "Granddaughter! I love both of you as much as I do to my eyes. When I found the grandson at my place, I tried to leap toward him with yearning because I hoped to see you and live by your side, but you've already slaughtered me."

The woman was awoken from the dream and briskly woke up her husband. “Where did you find the biggest frog, my dear?” she asked. Her husband said, “I caught it where the corpse of Ta Cheng was cremated.” “You know, my dear!” his wife said. “The frog is the soul of Ta Cheng; he’s just told me in my dream.”

Hearing what his wife told, the husband startled to discover that Ta Cheng had been born as a frog. He was greatly shocked and felt pity for Ta Cheng. His wife got so nervous for eating the frog. She could neither vomit nor cry though she wanted to. Her chest was tightened with fear, causing her health to get worse.

Later, the husband took his wife to consult with the monk for the late Ta Cheng. "Make a ritual to dedicate to his soul," advised the monk.

The couple returned home and started to celebrate the ritual by inviting relatives and friends from far and near to attend. Also, they invited the monks to dedicate the food to the soul of Ta Cheng who had passed away so that his soul might go to the peaceful heaven.

- THE END –

THE GRANDDAUGHTER OF KENG KANG SNAKE

Months went past, Soriya delivered a daughter. She bore living and taking care of her daughter in the forest alone until she grew up. Unluckily, her daughter was born different from other children; her head was full of snakes. She looked horrible. Since she grew up, her mother had never let her go anywhere because she might frighten the villagers when seeing her head. When it was necessary to go somewhere, she would cover her daughter's head with headdress.

One day, a couple who did not have any children came to pray to a spiritual guardian for children by giving a lot of offerings. When Soriya's daughter saw such food, she was very hungry for it since she lived in the cave; she had never eaten such good food. She hid herself behind the guardian and took food to eat. The couple at first supposed that they were haunted by ghost, but when they looked for a long time they could see that it was a hand of a child. Then they went to look at the back of it; they saw a child as they had thought. They cursed her, pulled her hair and were about to hit her; then her headdress dropped down exposing the snakes on her head. Seeing like this, they ran to call other people to hit her. Fearing too much, the girl ran into the forest.

Poorly, the girl ran over to the sorceress’s cave. When the villagers saw such situation, they feared to follow her. When the girl got into the sorceress’s cave, she walked and looked at every mysterious place in the cave. While she was concentrating on the mystery, the sorceress jumped up from behind to strangle her throat in an attempt to make her tongues stick out; then she could put poisonous medicine into her mouth so that she became a genie of her.however, her intention was not successful because while she was strangling her throat, the girl cleansed her teeth tight; she did not open her mouth, and the snakes on her head bit the hand of the sorceress to convulse at once. Then the little girl ran out of the sorceress’s cave and returned home safely.

When the little girl arrived at her cave, her mother, Soriya, also came out and saw her daughter's head without headdress. She blamed her and asked her everything. The little girl told her mother what had happened from the beginning till she could run from the sorceress's cave. As soon as her daughter recalled the sorceress, Soriya asked her while the sorceress lived. Then she told her daughter not to leave their cave. Soriya went to the sorceress's cave to look for the diamond ring for her husband.

The title girl slept very well for a while. Suddenly, she seemed to dream of her mother in danger. Because she adored her mother very much, she shouted so loudly that she was awakened. She was very worried about her mother. She came out the cave and waited for her mother under a tree.

Suddenly, a baby parrot fell from its nest on the ground. The little girl helped this small parrot; she put it in its nest. The mother parrot thanked the little girl and asked why she was crying. The little girl told her, "Now I may not have mother any more because she has gone for long time to get the diamond ring back from the sorceress. Yet, she has not come back while my father has turned to be rock because of the sorceress. As long as we are able to get the diamond ring back from the sorceress, he will not become human again." The mother parrot, hearing what the little girl said, felt pity for her very much and she helped the little girl to look for her mother. The 15th night of seventh month of lunar calendar was a time when the sorceress was away from her cave. She had to prey for food like mud and insects, and the ring had to be with her; so they could get the ring back.

How poor Soriya was! No matter how hard she tried to overcome all the obstacles to save her husband, she finally was poisoned by the sorceress and became a cruel vampire. Tonight the sorceress went out to eat mud. Before she left, she ordered Soriya to keep an eye on the cave and gave her a bell to ring if there was something wrong in the cave so that she could come back quickly. She detached her neck from her body and flew away. After the sorceress left, the little girl and the parrot arrived; she opened the door and entered the cave. At that moment the little girl saw her mother being detained in a cage. She ran toward her mother, but Soriya caught her and wanted to bite her. The little girl pulled her hand quickly because she thought that her mother must be under the spell of the sorceress. The parrot reminded her to find the ring quickly because it feared that the sorceress might come back and saw them.

The little girl climbed up on a place. There she saw the sorceress's body without the head. Seeing this, the girl hastened to hook the ring from the sorceress's neck and told the parrot, "I get the ring in my hand. What should I do next?" The parrot replied, "Push the body of the sorceress to the ground!" whereas Soriya rang the bell as ordered. The sorceress heard the bell and flew back very fast to the cave. As soon as the sorceress was about to come into her body, the little girl pushed her body to the ground very timely; hence, the sorceress could not go into her body. Suddenly, her body was flamed.

Now things used to be dark became good. Soriya became a beautiful woman again while her husband also returned to a human. The little girl had a normal hair as other children. All the snakes that had lived on her hair ran to live in other places. After freeing from the curse, the couple, Soriya and her husband, put the diamond ring into the pond and told the public,

"If anyone does good deed and jump into the pond, if they are old, they will become young." In that time, many good doers dived into the pond and when they got up from water, they were young and good-looking as Soriya's husband told. Everybody thanked the couple a lot.

Talking about Lvea Chek, when she and her mother saw the people diving into the pond and coming back with a beautiful look like this, they wanted to dive too. But Soriya's husband told them not to dive into the pond since he had learnt that they both had done many evil things. Though the man tried to forbid them, they paid no attention to him; they were stubborn to dive into the pond. As doing bad deed, when they emerged from the water, they got leprosy. Their bodies were full of wounds. It was then they realized that they really had done so many evil things. That was the result of their deed. Villagers abhorred them and expelled them to live far away; even the millionaire was scared to live with them. So they had to live as the tramps with the leprosy until they passed away.

Soriya, her husband and her daughter became the millionaire in the village. Her family was very famous and respectful in the village. Since then, Soriya's family lived very happily until the end of their lives.

- THE END -

ELEPHANTS' TUSKS

Uncle Sam was a woodcutter. The spouses did not have even a child. Every day, Uncle Sam went out to cut firewood at mountain bases and sold it to get little income to support their living. Their income was just enough for their living.

One day, he went far away to cut firewood alone. Reaching a field near a hill, he saw a group of elephants seeking food. At that time, he saw an old elephant crying wildly alone far from the others.

He wondered, so he went closer to see the event. A pangolin was squeezing the elephant's tusks so tightly. The more the elephant struggled, the more tightly the pangolin squeezed; so the elephant cried so painfully

Note able to stand that anymore, Uncle Sam carried his knife and approached them. As soon as the pangolin saw the human, it rushed to escape away. The elephant was so pleased, so it told the man that "Thank you very much. If you hadn't helped me on time, I would indeed have been in trouble."

The elephant lowered its body down gently so that Uncle Sam could climb up to ride on its back, and then they went away happily. Many elephants acknowledged this good deed of Uncle Sam. It took them quite long time to arrive at the place where elephants lived.

The elephant used its trunk to excavate the ground quickly. Soon later, there appeared a lot of tusks in the ground. Uncle Sam asked the elephant that, "Why are there a lot of tusks like this?" "When we get old, our tusks are dislocated and then fall out. So we bury all the tusks here," replied the elephant.

After a while of conversation, the elephant picked up a pair of tusks, gave them to Uncle Sam, and said, "These are just little reward that I have~r you; please, take it for your any use." Then, Uncle Sam

returned home.

When arriving home, Uncle Sam showed the elephant tusks to his wife. When a passer-by saw and got interested in the tusks, he asked to buy the tusks from them. Because of their poor life, the spouses agreed to sell to the passer-by. Since then, they had some money to support their livir1g so they stopped going out to cut firewood, and instead changed their jobs as firewood cutters to farmers. In addition the spouses planted a lot of seedlings.

THE SON OF KENG KANG SNAKE

When Neang Ny's belly was slit, There were a lot of baby snakes crawling out of her belly. Some crawled into the water; some into holes of earth; and some others were mercilessly sliced by her husband. But, one of the baby snakes was luckiest because it had slithered into and hid itself under a rocky outcrop safe and sound. Let's pause for a moment about the story of these baby snakes and get to a miserable life of a woman, Soriya. How miserable her life was as she was living with her wicked stepmother, Lvea Chek, who always envied Soriya. She cursed Soriya everyday. Soriya's father was also aware of such a problem that he felt much pity for his daughter, but did not know what to do.

One day, somehow, the millionaire (Soriya's father) desired to know about his daughter's destiny. He invited a soothsayer to predict her life. He asked the soothsayer, "How will my daughter's life be, since she was always mistreated by lvea Chek?" The soothsayer answered, "Soriya will have a good fortune and more wealth than you has now. But, surprisingly, she will marry a snake." The millionaire felt amazed, but also asked him to predict his wife's fate to see what her life would be in the future. "She will finally be infected with leprosy," said the soothsayer. At that time, lvea Chek, who had eavesdropped, entered with fierce anger. She picked up the stick to hit him. Lvea Chek came up with an idea to make Soriya leave the house so that she would find it easier to manage all of her husband's wealth. She complained to her husband about Soriya's misbehavior toward her. Though he felt pity for his daughter, the millionaire had to evict her to live in the forest, since he wanted to please his young wife and did not want to have any trouble anymore.

Talking about the baby snake hiding in the cave, it was living happily. The longer it lived there, the bigger it was; it could transform itself to a handsome man without any peer. This young man had a diamond ring from a melted pearl in his body. Today he went out in a rowboat to get some fresh air. As for Soriya who had been evicted by her father, she lived calmly and quietly in the forest with the servants sent by her millionaire father. While the man was rowing the boat, he heard beautiful song of a lady. He felt amazed. 'How come in such a quiet forest there was human living?' he asked himself. The song finally disappeared, except for a loud voice - help! This voice was from the servants when their lady was drowning.

Hurriedly, the man rowed his boat towards the place where the voice was. Seeing the bubble of water, the man dived into the river to rescue her life and put her into his boat.

At home, Soriya's wet nurse was looking for her high and low, even at the jetty, but could not find her. The wet nurse only discovered her copper bowl so it made her even more worried about this missing. The old lady (wet nurse) and the servants went to tell the millionaire about this. The millionaire, then, was very concerned and extremely frightened; he ordered his retinues to look for her. In the boat, when Soriya was conscious, she saw a handsome gentleman sitting beside her. This situation made her blush. She sat up and asked, "Do you rescue my life?" The man replied, "Of course!" Soriya thanked him and told him that she wanted to go home. Because she had just been saved from drowning, her clothes were so wet that she shivered. Seeing this, the man took off his shirt and covered. After she had the shirt, she said good bye to the man and traveled straight home. When she arrived home, her wet nurse felt very happy without putting her feeling into words. No sooner had she narrated her story to her wet nurse than she went to her room for sleep.

Talking about the handsome guy, he missed her very much because she was so cute and reserved and her beauty was so perfect that he absolutely fell in love with her. He tried to seek ways to meet her. In the next morning, Soriya sent a dwarf who was a servant in her house to return the shirt to the guy. As told by his master, the dwarf went to the right place and gave it to him. When he arrived at the boat, he saw the boat owner was shivering because he had flu. He ran back to tell Soriya about his illness. As soon as she heard this, she hurriedly hastened to the boat. Soriya prepared tasty food and medicines to cure the handsome man who was sleeping on the boat. As soon as the young man saw her, he admitted his love to her. She also loved him so she went back to tell his father only without letting her stepmother realize about this. And they both lived very happily as a couple in their home in the forest. Later, Soriya was pregnant.

FLYING SWAN

Once upon a time, there lived a King named Atith Vongsa - the superior King to other 101 kings-and her Queen named Pimpea, along with his other 6 thousand concubines, ruling in the capital city of Tep Borey. All of his 6,000 concubines didn't even bear a child for him.

Fearing that the nation could disappear, the King's prominent servant commented the King that, "Your Majesty, you're the King of the Nation. I fear that our Nation might vanish when you pass away as we don't have any king to succeed." The King commanded Queen Pimpca to organize flowers in honor of gods and asked them for a male infant. The Queen followed his royal command. With her powerful rite, Indra's palace was shaken; he used his divine eyes to witness the event. He then in canted magical words so that Buddha could be reincarnated as a male baby of Queen Pimpea.

After the ten-month pregnancy passed, a golden-skinned prince was born. He was named "Prince Sovann Kumar" by the palace's Brahmans. When he was at the age of 16, his father ordered that daughters of the 101 kings be convened for Prince Kumar's selection as his princess. The prince was not contended with the girls and told his father that he would seek his life partner himself.

During the period of time, there were two craftsmen - one of whom specialized in constructing temples and decorations and the other in inventing such animals as Garuda and peacock that could be used as a vehicle. The King ordered the two craftsmen to build a flying swan as his vehicle. Upon completion of the assigned works by the craftsmen, the King traveled by the swan to various areas including Himalaya forest.

Prince Kumar was keen to learn science of magic. He then asked for permission from his father who agreed with and offered him the flying swan. He sat on the flying swat to take view of forests for 3 weeks before descending in the Kingdom of Banhchal. He parked the swan at a large tree and took rest at a house of the Kingdom's Brahman priest. It was not too long that he could proficiently master the science of magic. The priest offered the prince as his god son and always got him to meet the King of Banhchal every day.

The King of Banchal had a 16-year-old daughter named Botum Kesor, who was the Kingdom's most beautiful girL One day, she saw Prince Kumar walking near her palace-she fell in love with him immediately, She felt anxious and sad, failing to sleep as normally did, One of her female servants asked her, and she replied, "I love Prince Sovann Kumar very dearly," She suggested that the female servant tell Prince Sovann Kumar. The ' servant accordingly told Prince Sovann Kumar who promised that he would move to meet the princess during the night. During the nighttime, Prince Sovann Kumar rode his flying swan to Princess Botum Kesor's palace. He had visited the princess every night until she became pregnant.

Being informed that she was pregnant, the King of Banchal used a trick so as to get Sovann Kumar arrested and killed. Prince Kumar knew the trick and cheated his murderers to get him to the tree base where he parked his flying swan. He then managed to ride the means to Botum Kesor's palace and got her on it. They both rode the flying swan over the palace of the King, sending a message from the sky before their leaving to the capital city of Tep Borey.

THE KENG KANG SNAKE

Long time ago, there was a man with his wife named NEANG NY and a daughter named NEANG ETH. The name was a beads trader. At that time, there were no other snakes, except for KENG KANG SNAKE (a kind of black and white snake).

One day, the villagers gathered to dig bamboo shoots and NEANG NY did go with her daughter either.

Reach in a Jungle, NEANG NY came across a bamboo shoot III a bamboo bush. She immediately dug the bamboo shoot. Incidentally, while she was digging the bamboo shoot, her digging hoe slipped from its handle and fell into a hole with no appearance. NEANG NY tried to look into the hole for her digging hoe and saw KENG KANG SNAKE nearby. She then said to the snake, "Huh, KENG KANG SNAKE! May you pass me the digging hoe?" The KENG KANG SNAKE replied, "If you agree to be my wife, I will help to pass your digging hoe back".

Due to her fool, NEANG NY incidentally answered, "OK, I agree to be your wife and this evening I will order my daughter-ETH to call you in". Soon after promising, both NEANG NY and her daughter returned home.

At dusk, NEANG NY ordered her daughter to call KENG KANG SNAKE in due time. NEANG ETH reached to the top of hole and called loudly, "KENG KANG SNAKE NEANG NY calls you". The snake heard and crawled toward NEANG NY with great anxiety. After seeing the giant snake, NEANG ETH was quickly dying running away.

When the KENG KANG Snake arrived, Neang Ny told, “Presently, my husband is not here, he went to trade beads. He would come back once for every two or three year”. The KENG KANG snake slept with with Neang Ny until the dawn, before leaving, Neang Ny commanded, “You can come here unless my daughter goes to invite you. But when my husband is here, I will not order Neang Eth to call you”.

The KENG KANG SNAKE slept with NEANG NY until the dawn while NEANG ETH was very frightened and slept alone nearby the house.

Actually, NEANG NY always ordered her daughter to call the KENG KANG SNAIK every day. Although NEANG ETH was very scared of snake, she still committed with her mother order but she did feel angry with her mother having love affairs with the snake.

Every evening, NEANG ETH went to the hole and called, "KENG KANG SNAKE, NEANG NY calls you". The snake crawled up and replied, "ETH! Isn't your father there? Or, he will kill me". "My father went to trade the beads and came back home for every two or three years, he did not come yet", ETH added.

The KENG KANG SNAKE came again and again, NEANG NY got pregnant Everyday NEANG NY was worried because when he.!; husband came he would kill her.

Her husband came and saw her with pregnancy, he secretly asked the daughter, "ETH huh! Why is the matter with your mother's stomach?". The daughter responded, "Pa! Mother has fallen in love with The KENG KANG SNAKE and she orders me to call the snake in every day".

The father heard that and told the daughter, "This evening you have to call the snake normally and don't let your mother know this. OK?"

In dusk NEANG ETH walked forward the hole and called, "KENG KANG SNAKE, NEANG NY calls you." The snake replied, "ETH! IfI go, your father will cut my head." NEANG ETH responded, "My father went to trade the beads and came back home every two or three years, he did not come yet".

The KENG KANG SNAKE heard and crawled happily since it thought that NEANG NY's husband did not come yet.

For NEANG NY's husband, he was standing nearby the door and ready with a knife in his hand. Soon after the KENG KANG SNAKE was crawling into the house, the man did not hesitate to chop the KENG KANG SNAKE into three pieces.

Due to being in love affairs with other wife, the husband killed the KENG KANG SNAKE cruelly and the snake died bitterly.

After that, the NEAG NY's husband took the tail of the snake hung on a jujube tree and dried the head on shelve while the body was taken to make food without letting NEANG NY know.

NEANG NY's husband quickly cleaned the blood stained on the TlCTO and everywhere. At a meal time, NEANG NY asked her daughter loudly, "ETH, ha! What a nice smell of the meal is". ETH replied, "Yes, Mum pork soup."

With her hunger, NEANG NY ate with her family. At that time, there was a crow on jujube tree near tail of the snake said, "KALOV KALOV KHLEM KHLORM, eating your own lover's meat..."

Neang Ny heard that and turned and saw the tail of snake on the branch of jujube tree and the head of snake on the shelve. Since she felt pity to the KENG KANG SNAKE, her tear fell on her cheek and she just whimpered because her husband was next to her.

Then her husband ask her, "Why are you whimpering?". "The rice is hot, so is the soup thus, making me teat”, she stifled.

Neang NY’s husband realized that his wife did get pregnant with the KEN KANG SNAKE and he was very embarrassed. When the delivery wad due, he persuaded his wife to visit a jungle near the pond far from the village.

NEANG NY did not know the killing plan of her husband. She thought that her husband did love her. She therefore followed him. They stopped and relaxed under a tree. It was a good chance for NEANG NY's husband. He pushed NEANG NY a tree trunk with hanger.

NEANG NY slid and her stomach broke. Immediately, there were huge numbers of snake crawled from her stomach. Some crawled into the jungle; pond and several were cut cruelly by her husband. Therefore, there are many species of snake on our planet up to now.

- THE END -