Two Friends who tried to empty the sea

Two Friends who tried to empty the sea

Once upon a time, there were two good friends. They promised to help each other if they were-in trouble. Soon, one of them married a very good woman but the other married a bad one.

One night, the man with the good wife said, 'How shall we make a living?'

'What would you like to do’ his wife asked. 'You can order me to do anything and I'll obey you.'

A few nights later, the husband said, 'Wife, I've thought of a plan which will make us rich. We'll have silver and gold and golden plates and trays.'

'What is your plan’

'A long time ago,' her husband said, 'there were many rich ships on the sea. Some were lucky and crossed the sea safely. Others sank to the bottom with all their gold and silver. Now, let's go to the shore and take all the water from the sea. When the sea is empty, we'll find all kinds of gold and silver and fish on the bottom. Tomorrow morning, boil some rice and we'll start off early for the shore.'

The next day they went down to the shore together. The man took a basket and his wife took another. They began to lift water out of the sea onto the beach. They worked hard, carrying up the water, 'Sloosh, sloosh, sloosh,' until it was time to eat. When they had finished eating, they started to work again. In the afternoon, they went home and the next morning they came back. They worked hard for five days. Then the husband looked out across the sea. 'Look,' he said, 'the sea is lower al­ready.'

'Good,' said his wife. 'Let's keep on working and in two weeks the sea will be quite dry. Then we'll have fish to eat and fish to sell and all the gold and silver from the ships at the bot­tom.'

In the evening they went home, and returned to the shore the next morning. While they worked, they said again, 'In two weeks the sea will be quite dry. Then we can take all the fish and gold and silver.'

The fish in the sea heard them and became frightened. They said to each other, 'If that is true, we'll all be dead very soon. We must go and speak to the king of the fish. Perhaps lie can save us.'

They swam off to see the king of the fish. They told him what had happened. The king listened to them and then said, "Take five jars of gold and five of silver and some golden trays. Tell the man and woman that if they stop taking the water out of the sea, you will give theta gold and the silver.'

The fish did what the king said.

When the man and his wife received the gold and silver, they were very happy. From then on, they never took any water out of the sea.

A few months later, the man with the bad wife remembered his friend. He decided to visit him. When he arrived, he found his friend was as polite and friendly as before. But he was richer now.

'My friend was very poor before,' he thought. 'I wonder what he's done to become so rich.' He said to his friend, 'I've become very poor but you are rich now. How did you do it’

'Well,' said his friend, 'I got rich by taking water out of the sea. My wife and I did it alone. She boiled some rice before day­light and we went to the shore at sunrise. In the afternoon we came home. The king of fish became frightened. He told the fish to give us jars of gold and silver to stop us from emptying the sea.'

The man with the bad wife said goodbye to his friend and went home. That night, he said to his wife, 'Boil some rice be­fore daylight and we'll start off early for the shore. We're going to empty the sea.'

But, in the morning,his wife got up late. She boiled the rice so carelessly that half of it was spilt. They left home when the sun was already high in the sky.

Day after day, they lifted the water out of the sea with their baskets. But the work was hard and they soon became angry. The fish were frightened again. They waited near the shore. They watched the man and woman_ and listened to what they said.

On the fifth day, the wife threw down her basket and said, ' We've worked here for five days and I haven't seen any gold or silver. I'm not a fool. I'm going to stop.'

When he heard this, her husband was angry. They began to quarrel. They shouted at each other. Then they started fight­ing. They fought so hard that the woman tore off her husband's sarong and he tore off hers. There they stood, naked on the beach, tired and ashamed.

'We've always been slaves,' they said, 'and we always will be. We won't become rich like this. Let's stop.'

When the fish saw them naked and ashamed on the shore, they jumped out of the water and laughed. They were veryhappy because they did not have to give away their gold and silver.

One fish laughed so hard that it stretched its mouth and that is why some fish now have big mouths.

The Jackal and the fish

The Jackal and the pond full of fish

the jackal and the pond full of fish

Long ago, a big jackal wanted some fish to eat. He went to look for a dried-up pond so that he could catch the fish easily.

One day, he found a pond which had only a little water, a lot of mud and many kinds of fish in it.

“I’m hungry today,” the jackal thought, “I’m very hungry.”

A shrimp in the pond knew what the jackal was thinking. “Brother Jackal,” he said in a kind voice, “You can eat us all up. But look, we’re covered in mud. If you eat us like this, we’ll taste horrible.”

“What can I do to make you taste nice?” asked the jackal.

“Take us away and wash us,” said the shrimp.

“But there are thousands of fish in the pond. Where can I take you all? And how can I wash you all?”

“Don’t worry,” said the shrimp. “Just stretch out in the mud. Let some of us hang on to your fur. Then you can get up and take us to pond with a lot of water in it,”

The jackal was greedy and stupid. So he did what the shrimp said. He stretched out in the mud. Some of the fish hung on to his fur. Then the jackal got up and went to look for another into it. The fish in his fur jumped off into the water.

“Go back,” said the shrimp to the jackal, “and pick up the other fish.” So the jackal went back and got some more of the fish. Again and again, he walked back to the old pond. At last, all the fish were in the pond full of water.

When the fish saw they were all together again, they swam away into deep water. When jackal saw they had tricked him, he was very angry.

He hurried away to look for big animals, snakes, and birds. He found elephants, tiger, buffaloes, and pigs. He found python and cobras. He found crows, sparrows, and vultures. He said to them, “Please help me to empty all the water out of the pond.”

He said to the python, “the animals and birds will take the water out of the pond. Then you can Swallow it.”

When the fish in the pond heard this, they were frightened. They said to each other, “What can we do to stop these animals?”

A cat-fish said, “People say the hare is very clever animal. He knows how to help animals in trouble. Shall I go and ask him to help us?”

The other fish agreed. So the cat-fish left the pond to look for the hare. All day he moved slowly and heavily along the ground—flip flop, flip flop. In the evening, the hare came out to look for some food. When he saw the catfish he asked, “Where are you going?”

The cat-fish was happy to see the hare and said, “Oh brother hare, have pity on me. The fish in the pond have asked me to find you. People say you are very clever. You can help animals in trouble. Please help us. All kinds of animals and snakes and birds have come to our pond. They are going to take the water out of the pond. Then the python will swallow the water and the jackal will eat up all the fish! Come and help us.”

“all right” said the hare, “Go back and tell the other fish not to be afraid.” The cat –fish then went back to the pond.

The next morning, the hare come along. He saw the animals taking out the water. He found a long leaf which some worms had eaten. It was full of little holes. He shouted to the animals, “Brothers! I have a letter to you from the great God Indra,” he looked at the left and pretended to read it. “He says he will come and break the ducks’ leg and crush the eagles.  He will cut off the jackal’s head and pull out the elephant’s tusks!”

The animals were frightened when they heard this. They climbed on top of each other. Then they climbed on top of the pythons. The pythons burst. All the pond water rushed out of their bodies. The water came out so fast that all the animals drowned.

And instead of the animals eating the fish, the fish ate the animals.

Si-the-liar story

Si-the-liar

(Favourite stories from Cambodia)

Long ago, there was a boy name Si-the-Liar. He lived with his mother and took care of a pig. When the pig was big and fat, Si-the-Liar said to his mother, “Mother, I want some pork. Please let me kill the pig so that we can have a party.

“No,” said his mother. “Don’t be so greedy. We’ll keep the pig and sell it for silver coins.”

But Si-the-Liar wanted the pork even more.

One morning, he woke up and called out “Mother, I dreamt about a place where there are lost of silver and gold. Come on, let’s go and find it.”

“but where is this silver and gold?” his mother asked.

“Come on, mother, just do what I ask you.”

Si-the-Liar took a big rice-basket and led his mother far into a forest. He stopped in the middle of the forest and suddenly put down the basket. He looked very hard at the ground under the basket.

“Mother,” he said, “the silver and gold are here under the basket. Wait here. I’ll run home and find a spade. Don’t move or the silver and gold will disappear.”

 So his mother sat on the basket while Si-the-Liar ran home. He killed the pig and cooked it. Then he invited all his friends and relatives to a party.

His mother waited and waited. She became very hungry and then she became quite weak. Finally she got up and looked under the basket. She could not see anything. “My son has tricked me,” she thought. When she returned home, she found him eating pork and drinking wine.

She was so angry that she called her brother to the house, “My boy is too much trouble for me,” she said to him, “I can’t look after him any longer. Catch him, put him in a sack and throw him into a lake.”

“Why are you so angry?” her brother asked. And he listened to her story.

“He always lies to me,” she said.

“Don’t worry,” her brother said, “I’ll take your son away.”

So he caught Si-the-Liar, put him in a sack and tied it up. He carried him on stick to the edge of a lake. He was going to throw him in when Si-the-Liar called out. “Oh, uncle!” he said, “have pity on me! Since I’m going to die, please do something for me. Run home and bring back my book called How to Tell lies. I’m going to the land of the dead. If I don’t have that book, I won’t be able to trick people. And if I can’t trick people, I won’t have anything to eat.”

“Where did you put the book?” his uncle asked.

“Under the roof of our house,” he replied.

His uncle ran off to find the book. He left Si-the-Liar tied up in the sack beside the lake.

Soon a man with leprosy came along. Si-the-Liar began to talk to himself, “this sack has cured my leprosy, now I want to get out so that I can see if I am really well.”

When the man with leprosy heard Si-the-Liar, he said, “Is it true? Is it true?

“Oh yes,” said Si-the-Liar. “I’ve been inside this sack for a long time but I’m not sure if I’m really well. Please untie the sack so that I can get out.”

The man with leprosy agreed. He untied the sack and Si-the-Liar climbed out. Then he dusted himself carefully and said, the leprosy has certainly gone.”

The man with leprosy said, “What is the cure in that sack?”

Si-the-Liar thought to himself, “I’m not going to die. This man will go in the sack instead of me.” so he said to the man with leprosy, “You have to follow the rules. Don’t speak to anyone. If they ask you questions, scold you or beat you, keep quite. Remember, don’t speak a word!

So the man with leprosy climbed into the sack.

The boy’s uncle soon came back. He had looked everywhere for Si-the-Liar’s book How to Tell Lies. “I’ve been tricked,” he said and ran back to the lake. He pick up the sack and threw it into the water. The man with leprosy remembered the rules. He did not speak a word and so he died.

After some time, Si-the-Liar met a man who was as good as a liar as he was. They decided to be brothers and went around tricking people from that time on.