Remote, primitive and stunningly beautiful, Ratanakiri Province, its roots in the distant past and much of its daily life virtually unchanged for centuries, is emerging into modern times and emerging, according to a legend of the ethnic tribes people who make up most of the population, from a long period of hard times. According to the story, jealous villagers spread the word that the beautiful wife of the head of the tribe had been unfaithful. Distraught, the tribal leader called a village meeting to pass the traditional sentence-death by fire or beheading. The wife protested her innocence to no avail. Just before dying, she