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Compiled
by the Buddhist Intitute, Picture by : Sem Vannjohn.
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Trapaing Boeung Te
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| Trapaing
Boeung Te (Te Teuk Phoh) is located in the Sangkersartorb
commune of Thporng district in Kampong Speu province.
To get there from Kampong Speu town, Chba district,
as you head away from Phnom Penh, turn to the right.
At the second intersection turn right again onto
the road to Mount Aoral. Follow this road for about
60 kilometers and continue going straight at a three-way
intersection in a large village and you will reach
Teuk Phoh (which means - water emerging) Once upon
a time, there was a tycoon and his family who lived
in the area. The tycoon and his wife were very mean.
They had two lovely children, a boy and a girl.
The family were attended to and followed by, a gaggle
of servants. The businessman and his family used
to feed a big crocodile in the pond where the family
always sat and got fresh air. There was a shrine
near the pond where villagers always worshiped. |
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One day the tycoon
talked with his wife: "Our children are growing up
and they need to get married. If we marry them to others,
our property will be divided so we should marry our son
to our daughter in order that they can look after our
property". His mean wife agreed. They soon started
inviting many guests.
The wedding day approached and the mean wife regretted
the fact that she had to spend money on food for the ceremony.
Then she talked with her husband: "I resent having
to spend our money on food for this wedding. If we kill
the buffalo or the bull, it is very disadvantageous because
they helped us in our work. So we must kill the crocodile
in our pond for food because it did nothing for us".
The tycoon agreed happily and asked his people to kill
the crocodile.
A woman named Tei: one of the family's servants, who always
gave food to the crocodile, dreamt that the Neak Ta (God):
who takes care of the crocodile, said to her " Tei!
Please do not eat the food of this ceremony because they
killed my crocodile and if anyone eats the food there
will be accidental problems." Miss. Tei woke up with
sorrow in her heart.
On the ceremony day, Miss Tei left the tycoon's house
while many people arrived. While the guests ate and drank
happily, the tycoon's house disappeared into the ground
and all the people went in with it too. Seeing this Miss
Tei was very sorrowful and pitied the tycoon's children
who had always been very kind to her.
After that she went to the shrine and shaved her head,
to thank the Neak Ta, but before shaving she went into
the pond that a crocodile used to live, to wash her hair.
The people called the pond "Trapaing Korkk"
(Trapaing means "pond" and Korkk means "to
wash.")
Tei approached an area of high ground and shaved off her
hair there. That high ground is called " Tuol Kor
Sorkk Neang Tei" ( Tuol means "high ground,"
Kor translates as "shave," Sorkk is the word
for "hair" and Neang Tei means "Miss Tei.")
Now it has become shorten to: "Tuol Kor Neang Tei".
Tei missed her young masters, the children and so she
went to live near where the tycoon's house had disappeared
into the ground. The place where the tycoon's house had
once stood was now a large pond.
Staying there for a while, Tei met a young man who asked
for her hand in marriage. She accepted and they became
a couple who farmed for living. Later, the husband was
so bored with his life that he left his wife secretly
and went to Mount Khchoul to be a Neak Sachang, a person
who stays in the forest and prays. By this time his wife
was pregnant with their child.
After she gave a birth, the villagers called her son Bott
Koma. When Bott Koma was 13 years old he asked his mother
about his father. Tei told him that his father was a Neak
Sachang who prayed in Mount Khchoul and she told all her
stories about his father.
The boy went to find his father. He spent a long time
in the forest until he found a Neak Sachang, who sat and
prayed under big trees and on big rocks. Bott saluted
and repeated what his mother told him. The father prayed
that if this boy were his son, he would float onto his
shoulder when he hits the boy with his hand. He hit and
the boy floated on his shoulder.
The father taught his son magic every day. After he had
stayed and learned there for a long time, he came back
to take care his mother. The father gave him three seeds
of cucumber and told him: "These three seeds will
make you become a famous person and the first fruit you
must present to the king. You have to grow them near the
big pond next to your mother's house and name this big
pond "Boeung Tei" after the name of your mother"
He arrived home and related what his father had told him
and from then, the villagers called this big pond "Boeung
Tei". Nowadays they call the pond: "Boeung Te".
The area is now a holy place. Hot springs issue forth
from the bosom of the earth and several shrines are dedicated
to their mystical properties. Local hill tribes believe
in the curative properties. Phnom Penhers on a dahleng
are also finding it a nice place to picnic. |
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