CAMBODIAN Short Stories
choosing his son-in-law
Once there were an old man and woman who had a pretty daughter. They would
never accept a boy to marry their daughter if the boy called someone
names. One day, a smart, handsome boy went to ask for their daughter in marriage.
They said " Yes! we accept you but must abstain from calling anyone
names and serve us as we order you. If you can't abstain I won't give my
daughter to you. I have to tell you first because I do not want you to
think later on that I am very severe and wicked. "
The boy said " Yes! I can abstain from calling anyone names and do
everything for you as you order. " The father told him " If you
can abstain from calling anyone names, you had better go home, but you
must come back in the morning early. " The boy said good bye to him
and came back home. In the morning, the boy came to serve his future parents-in-law. The
father told his daughter to give him some food to eat, then he told him
" Son! you go plowing in the field and plow until a stone near the
field cries. When you hear the sound of the stone crying you take the yoke
off the oxen. "
The boy yoked the oxen and went plowing from dawn until afternoon. But the
stone did not cry. The oxen could not pull the plow and the stone was
still quiet. The boy was very hungry. He could not work without eating
anything, so he called the stone names " Mother stone! why don't you
cry? " The boy called the stone names and the father appeared from
the bush near the stone. He told the boy " I break your betrothal
with my daughter, because you can't abstain from calling the stone names.
" The boy took off the yoke from the oxen and went home sorrowfully.
Later there was another boy who came to ask for the hand of daughter and
the father ordered him as he did the first boy. But this boy was not
handsome. He was very clever. When his father-in-law asked him to plow the
field, he brought some food with him to eat. He worked until he was
hungry, then he stopped for a while to eat and kept working until
afternoon. The oxen could no longer walk. When he directed the plow near
the stone, he talked to the oxen " Oh, stone! Please cry! The oxen
can not pull the plow! Take pity on the oxen! For myself, I do not care! I
have some food to eat, and I can plow until night! If you do not have pity
on me, please have pity on the oxen because they are animals"
That boy begged the stone, but the stone still did not cry. He did not
call the stone names because he knew that his father-in-law was hiding
behind the stone. He begged many times for the stone to cry until the
father saw his oxen so tired. The father had pity on his oxen, then he
cried behind the stone to mimic the sound of the stone. The boy let the
oxen to pasture in the field and came back to his future father-in-law.
The father asked his daughter to prepare food for him. That night the
father told him to go to his house and come back in the morning. The boy
said " Good bye " to the family and went home.
At night, when the future parents-in-law went to bed, the boy came
stealthily and hid under their house to listen to what plan they made. The
father went to bed with his wife and made plans
"
Hi dear! That boy can abstain from calling the stone names, but he is not
handsome, so we had better make plans to make him angry, then he won't
abstain from calling someone names " His wife said "
It is very easy to find out his mistakes. Tomorrow you hid in one sack and
I will put some rice in the other sack, In the morning when that boy
comes, I will tell him to carry them on his shoulder for you, who will
have gone to cut wood at the top of the mountain.
He will not able to
carry them because they are so heavy. So he will be angry and then he will
call them names. As you are in the sack you will hear very well. When you
come back we will break him with our daughter. " The husband and wife
made this plan and slept. The boy who was hiding under their house already
knew their plans and went back home. In the morning, the boy came to serve his future parents. His future
mother-in-law showed him two sacks and told him " Son! Your father
has gone to cut some wood at the top of the mountain. He wanted me to tell
you to carry these two sacks for him and to cook for him. Do not be late.
"
The boy carried the two sacks near the foot of the mountain, but they were
too heavy for him to go up the mountain. Some distance from home, he
dropped them on the ground and said "
Oh, father! I am hungry, I can not carry these sacks up the mountain. They
are so heavy. Who can carry them up the mountain? If father has no pity on
me, he will hit me, but I will submit to this punishment. " Then he
carried them down and put them on the dry grass. He left them for a while.
When he came back to these sacks he put the dry grass on fire around them.
When the grass was burning the fire went to the sacks.
The father who was
in the sack felt hot and moved the sack, because he was afraid that the
fire would burn his sack, but he could not get out. That boy came running from somewhere and exclaimed "
Gee! who burn my sacks? How can I come thought because the fire is burning
around like this? " Then he stood outside of the fire and exclaimed
until the fire was burning the father's sack. The boy jumped into the fire
and dragged the sack from the fire. As the fire was burning the tie of the
sack, the father appeared from the sack. His body was plotted, his hair
was scorching.
The son coaxed him "
Hi ! Father! Why didn't you tell your son! If I hadn't saved you from the
fire maybe, the fire would have burnt you alive and mother would have been
a widow. " The man was so angry, he could not say anything, then he went home without
saying anything. He was weary, because his future son-in-law had dragged
him from the fire and as well, the fire had burned his body and scorched
his hairs. At home, he told the boy to go to his house and come again in
the morning. The boy went back and came at night to hide under the house
to listen to his parent's plans.
At night, his parents-in-law went to bed and made another plan. The
husband asked his wife " How can I find the trick to break him off
from our daughter? This boy is very clever, but we cannot give our
daughter to him, because he is not fit for our daughter. Yesterday, he
knew that I was in the sack, he swung that sack in which I was against the
stone and set a fire to burn me alive. Now how can we make another plan?
" The wife told him " Now I have a plan, tomorrow, you will pretend to
be a master and tell him to be a dog. Then you and he go hunting tortoise
in the bush. But you make him creep like a dog. If he cannot find the
tortoise or cannot crawl after you, we will break off his engagement with
our daughter. "
The husband agrees to her plan and said " It is
fine! Tomorrow, I will do as you say " They slept. The boy under their home knew their plans and went home and bought some
tortoise. He put all the tortoise in the bush everywhere, then he went
back home to sleep. At dawn, he went to serve his future parents-in-law.
They asked their daughter to give him some food to eat and said to him
" Son! Today I want to hunt tortoise, but we do have any dog.
Now you are a dog, I am your master and we will go hunting some tortoise
for dinner. " The boy said cheerfully " Yes! "
The father carried the food and water. The boy crawled after him. When
they arrived in the bush where the boy tied the tortoise, the dog boy ran
in front of him and barked for tortoise. The father ran towards the place
where his dog was barking. He saw his dog bring a tortoise in his mouth.
He caught seven tortoises. At the afternoon, the father was hungry, sat
down and ate lunch. His dog crawled looking at him. His master did not
give him
anything to eat, so the dog saw a herd of oxen near by and he ran and bit
them.
When the oxen came into the field and ate the vegetation, the father ran
towards the herd of oxen and called them off from the field. The dog
returned to eat all the food and ran away. The father did not have
anything to eat, so he was very hungry, because the dog had eaten up his
food. He was very angry with his dog. He beat his dog, but the dog ran so
fast, he could not beat him anymore. The father was very hungry, his home
was very far away, he was too weary to walk home. He did not punish his
dog because this was the way of the dog.
They arrived home together. After dinner, he told his future son-in-law to
go home and come again in the morning. At night the boy came and stayed
under the house to listen to their plans for the next day. At night, the
parents-in-law went to bed. The husband told his wife that his son had
maltreated him and asked for another plan from her. His wife answered
" Today, you are his master, now it is your turn to be a dog and make
him your master. Tomorrow, you and he go hunting tortoise again. "
They slept. The boy under their house knew everything and went back home.
In the morning, the boy came to serve them. His father asked his daughter
to give some food, then he told him " Yesterday you were my dog,
today I am your dog and you are my master to go hunting tortoises again.
" " Yes! " the boy answered and they left home together.
The dog, his father, crawled after him. Some distance from home, the boy
walked at full speed, because he did not want his dog father walking near
him. His father could not crawl well, because he was too old, and he stopped
after him.
The boy looked back at him " Dog! Do not waste the food!
Work for me! Why don't you run before me! Don't walk after the master! How
can you find the tortoise? " His father could not run in the bush and
could not find tortoises. The boy beat him almost to death. The father
crawled wearily, but he did not say anything, because he was ashamed
before his son. In the afternoon, the boy ate food and gave some fish bones to his father
to eat and said to his dog father " I never saw a dog like you run
after the master, how can the dog run after the master and catch tortoise?
I don't waste food on you! Eat the fish bones! "
His father could not
eat bones, because he was toothless. He was so hungry, that he crawled
looking at him eating food until he had finished. His son beat him with a
stick and told him to crawl home.
His father was very tired. He could not crawl, so he walked after his son.
His son told his mother-in-law " Mother! I did not catch any tortoise
because this is not a good dog. " His father was very hungry. He told
his son to go home and come back in the morning. He went home and came at
night to listen to their plans under the house.
At night when the old ones went to bed, the husband told his wife about
how his son had maltreated him and not given him any food to eat. His wife
said " So, give our daughter to him, we can't break him from her.
This boy is so clever, he know all our plans. He maltreated you almost to
death. Why are you not afraid of death? " The husband said " I
don't want to give our daughter to him because he is not handsome, and he
is not fit for our daughter. When we played tricks with him, he was never
angry, he did not call anyone names. So can you make another plan to break
him from our daughter? "
His wife told him " Yes! Now in the earliest morning you wash your
face eat and smoke, then you get in the sack again and I will put some
rice in another sack. In the morning he will come and I will tell him that
you are going to the town to buy something. " She added " I will
tell him to carry these sacks at lunch time. Perhaps, he cannot carry
them, because they are heavy and it is a long way. If he cannot get there
on time we will break him from our daughter. " After making the
plans, they went to bed. And the boy who was under their house, knew their
plans and went back home.
In the morning, the boy came to serve them again. His future mother-in-law
asked her daughter to give him some food. After breakfast, his mother gave
two sacks to the boy to carry to the town for her husband as they had
planned the night before. The boy carry the two sacks on the way to town, thinking "
This time, I will terribly maltreat my father-in-law until he cannot play
another trick and will have to give his daughter to me. " He carried
the two sacks on his shoulder, about half way from home to town, he
dropped them down and put them near the edge of the bridge, strongly tying
the sack in which his father was.
He said " Oh, it is too late. My father will call me names. I cannot
carry the sacks on my shoulder, because they are so heavy. I cannot not be
there on time. If my father will call me names, I will not care. I had
better put them here and go somewhere for rest, then I will carry them on.
" For a while he took a stick as long as an elephant's leg and stepped on
the bridge. The sound was like an elephant's walk. He went across the
bridge and said " Who put two sacks on this bridge? My elephant will
step on them. Please move them. " he warned and stepped toward the
sacks.
The father in the sack thought it was an elephant and afraid of death, he
moved the sack away from the "elephant" over the bridge and fell
down into the water. His father's nose was full of water. His son saw his
father's sack fall into the water, but pretended not to see, because he
wanted his father to drink some water in the sack and wanted him not to
make another plan. Then exclaimed fearfully " Who rides the elephant
to kick my sack into the water? oh, my rice will be spoiled! oh, my
father may call me names, the sun is high, my rice is spoiled. "
The boy saw his father struggling in the sack " Oh, there are some
fish come beating in my sack, I had better lift it. " Then the boy
lifted it to land and said " If it gets wet, I have to dry it, then I
will carry it back for my mother to make cake for my father. " When
he untied the sack, he exclaimed sorrowfully " Oh, father! Why didn't
you tell your son. If I had not lifted you, perhaps, you would have died.
Some one has ridden from somewhere and he let his elephant kick you into
the water. "
The father heard, stood up and went back home silently. He
arrived home, could not find another plan, so he prepared the wedding for
his daughter and the clever boy. |
