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| Khmer
Tales, Volume 6, Buddhism Institute, Ministry of Cults and Religions,
Retold by : Moul Jetr. |
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Before King
Monivong renamed the beautiful national park area
in Kompong Speu Province Kirirom (Happy Mountain)
during the 1930's, the place had a different, older
name, Phnom Vorvong Sorvong, and the legend of that
ancient name is still told by local people to this
day.
Once upon a time, a king named Preah Bat Sorya ruled
a kingdom called Krasonn. He had two wives. His
first wife, Vong Thyea, had two sons, Vorvong and
Sorvong. His second wife, Montea, had only one son,
called Vey Vongsa.
As the years passed and the three princes grew up
together, Princess Montea became more and more jealous
of Princess Vongs Thyea and plotted to win the throne
for her own son.
One day, she hit upon a plan. |
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View from Kirirom Mountains
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"Vorvong
and Sovong, will you take a walk with me in the royal
garden?" she asked.
The unsuspecting boys agreed, but within minutes the scheming
second wife had grabbed them, and, while screaming loudly
for help, held both boys between her thighs.
"They dare to treat me so improperly!" she screamed,
and the king was so convinced by her performance he fell
into a rage and ordered the boys executed.
The boys' mother begged that the place of execution be
somewhere away from the royal palace where she would have
to live. After her request was granted, she followed the
executioners and persuaded them not to kill the princes
if they left the kingdom immediately.
Princess Vong Thyea gave a ring to each boy.
"Promise you will return to me here in 10 years,"
she told them.
The two boys took their mother's message and left the
country.
They wandered in the forest for many days, sleeping only
when they were too exhausted to walk any further. From
heaven, the Brahman god Indra looked down on the boys
and felt pity.
He incarnated himself into a white rooster and a black
rooster and emerged from the forest pecking at wild grains
near the boys. The two birds exchanged conversation.
"I am a black rooster. If someone eats me, he will
become a king in seven years," said the first rooster.
"As for me, I am a white rooster," the other
said. "He who eats me will be king in seven months."
Then the two birds fought furiously and fell dead in front
of Sovong and Vorvong. Famished, Sovong picked up the
white rooster and Vorvong took the black one.
Seven months later the boys were still traveling, and
when they reached a rest hall in the forest in the kingdom
of Kunthop Borei, they decided to stop for the night.
The ruler of this kingdom had just died, and his mandarins
were scouring the country in search of a new king. Their
procession stopped in front of the rest hall just as Sovong
awoke. The royal elephant bearing the ornate royal throne
on its back stopped still in a manner of respect in front
of where the two boys lay.
"You must hold our throne," the mandarins told
Sovong. But when he asked if he could bring his brother,
they refused. He tried to resist their offer, but they
would not hear of it, and he was forced to leave Vorvong
without saying goodbye and was taken straight to the palace
to marry Princess Sar Bopha, the daughter of the previous
king.
When Vorvong woke, he cried and called out hoping his
brother would answer, but there was no reply. Following
the elephant's prints, he tracked Sovong to the capital,
but the royal guards would not let him see him. So Vorvong
resumed his trek. He walked for five days and nights before
arriving at the home of an old woman near the royal palace
of another ruler called King Thoranith.
"Grandmother, may I rest here for just one night?"
he asked.
"Of course," she smiled, but she had seen the
royal ring from his mother that he still wore, and wished
to trap him so she could inform the palace she had found
a thief.
King Thoranith was furious and had his soldiers arrest
the boy.
"This is my mother's heritage. I am no robber,"
the brave boy protested, but he was ignored and thrown
into a jail cell. It looked as if his adventures were
at an end and he prepared to wait out the rest of his
life behind bars. One day, a cruel giant came to eat the
innocent people of a neighboring kingdom whose ruler was
a close ally of King Thoranith. The giant chased the palace
guards away and hunted the king and his relatives as prey.
The king and his family were forced to seek refuge in
a cave. When he heard this, King Thoranith vowed to assist
his friend. He tried to launch his fleet of warships,
but they were too high on the dry season bank and would
not enter the water. Desperate, King Thoranith looked
for anyone mighty enough to help him.
The boy seized his chance, and sent word to the king that
he could manage.
"If you succeed, I will not only release you unconditionally,
but shower you with rewards," the king promised.
Vorvong was a boy who had earned much merit in previous
lives, and he launched the war boats effortlessly. The
king and his daughter, Princess Kes - kesey, joined their
soldiers in the boat and sailed off to help their friends.
That night, Princess Kes-kesy dreamed that an old man
came to her and told her that the royal boy was her husband
from a previous life.
When she awoke, she began thinking of Vorvong in a way
she never had before. A seed of love for him had been
planted. The two kings discussed tactics they could use
against the giant, but all seemed hopeless. King Thoranith
thought for a moment, then had Vorvong brought before
him again.
"Can you kill the giant?" he asked.
"I can, but I will need camouflage," the boy
said. "Give me your sacred sword and battle dress
and I will do what you ask." Fooled into thinking
it was the king coming to fight him, the giant rushed
to eat Vorvong and died at the point of his sword.
"You have proved to me that you are a very powerful
man," King Thoranith said. "I name you successor
to my crown and offer you my daughter, Princess Kes -
kesey, as your queen."
The other king, grateful to Vorvong for saving his family,
also offered his daughter and his crown to the boy, who
now found himself ruler of two countries with two queens.
But Preah Vorvong had not forgotten his mother's request
to return, nor his brother. One day, he set off to find
his brother and return to his homeland to visit. After
a long and difficult journey, the two were reunited and
their combined armies marched on their former homeland,
surrounding the country. They learned that their father,
Preah Bat Sorya, kept their mother locked in an iron cage,
accusing her of being evil, and had given the throne to
their young half-brother.
When their half-brother, King Vey Vongsa, saw the might
of their armies he retaliated with his own elephant troops
and was killed in the battle. Their father quickly surrendered
but when he met the two invading kings he did not recognize
them, convinced his sons had been killed on his own orders
years before. But when he saw their rings, he finally
acknowledged they were his sons and listened to their
story. Realizing how wrong he had been, he ordered the
executioners to take Princess Montea, the second wife
who had caused the boys and their mother so much suffering,
and behead her. He released their mother and offered the
two sons the throne, and a long era of peace and stability
for all people in the region followed.
To this day, travelers to Chambok commune, in the Phnom
Sruoch district of Kompong Speu province, can see a stone
statue of a headless woman. This is Neang Montea, a jealous
and greedy person. Everyone who passes her statue today
remembers her for this and locals say they should stop
and reflect on what happens to people who take this path
in life. |
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Source: Khmer Tales, Volume 6, Buddhism
Institute, Ministry of Religions and Cults
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