CAMBO Time

Once upon a time, there were two men living next door to each other. One day, they agreed to go to lay a trap. In the late afternoon, the two men set offfor the forest where they would lay the trap. One of them said, I will lay a trap at the foot of this tree as this tree has fruit and animals often come to eat the fruit." The other man said," I also wish to lay my trap here, but as you have decided to lay yours here, so I have to lay mine at the top and let's wait and see in the morning whose trap will catch an animal." Then, one of them laid his trap at the foot of the tree while the other was climbing the tree to lay his at the treetop. After having laid their traps, the two men came back home. At that night, the man who laid trap at the treetop talked to his wife. He said," Since my ancestral period, I have never heard of anyone laying a trap at the top of a tree and catching afourfooted animal that walks on the ground. Now, how can I catch an animal as I ha

  Long time ago, in Khmer kingdom there was a king named Preah Bat Bayong, who had a royal palace in Dangrek Mountain. The king had a wife named Neang Sak Kraob. She was the most beautiful woman with smiling face, and white complexion like an angel. The good fragrance of her body could be smelled around 16 kilometers. Then, this great fame was publicized to Siam king. This king sent a spy to find out and finally they knew that the queen was really a beautiful and faithful woman. The Siam king made a bad scheme to catch her to his kingdom for the great honor of his country. When Preah Bat Bayong knew this trick, he immediately took his wife, group of ladies- in- waiting, servants, officers and all soldiers to leave the palace by the junks toward the southeast in the nighttime. Before leaving, the king raised his both hands on the head and prayed to God, "May I achieve three wishes 1. Have a safe journey on the waterway, 2. Be not caught up by Siam soldiers 3. Find a good residence.

  In the west of Sangkae River in Sankae district about more than 10 kilometers in the south-east of Battambang town, there is a mountain called as "Phnom Banan". It is sacred place where the villagers always celebrate traditional ceremonies. The legend related to this mountain goes as follows: There was a millionaire who had a daughter called "Neang Rumsaysork". She always suffered from the menstrual disease for many years. Later there was a well-known hermit whose name was "Ta Kream”. He guaranteed to cure her health until she was healed. When she recovered from the disease, the millionaire married her to the hermit. The hermit instructed her to master various magic such as the magic to make tornado, etc ... The hermit and his wife lived in a cave known as Preah Teuk or Brateuk. This cave is located in the south of Phnom Banan nowadays. At that time Phnom Banan was called as "Phnom Prasat". Afterwards, there was a prince whose name was Chao Reachkul

  Once upon a time, there was a king, his wife and a son as well as a lot of women servants, knights and other high-ranking officers.  The king ordered the people to cut down the forest in order to build the royal palace and a temple there. It was named “ Brasat Village” .  After Brasat was already built, the Kind ordered the people to cut down another forest at the northwest of Brasat to build another place with stone wall for woman savants. That place was called royal palace village or “Phum Vaing” ever since. After the royal palace was already constructed; the King ordered the people to cut down another forest at the west of Brasat to build a warehouse to store his assets. It was called “ Phum Sangklaing”. At that time, the Majesty gave the royal order to have the forest cut down at the southwest of Taing Krasaing Vallage for the residence of his concubines. It was then called “ Phum Cahmbak” ever since.  At the southwest of Chambak Village, there was a big lake where the king alway

  Before talking about this story, we wish to introduce readers to know a little bit about Pailin region because it is very far away from the capital and the tradition is very different. In the previous times, villagers in Pailin were Burmese who came to settle down there and to dig up precious stones existing in the ground and along the valley of this region. According to its history, these Burmese had migrated to settle in this area since B.C1876. At the beginning, the Burmese did not pay tax to the Government. Even if the land belonged to Cambodia but this area was occupied by Siam and Siam government did not pay attention to those villagers. Later on in 1881, those villagers had the internal conflict, and it was spread out to Siam government in Chan Bun (Chanborak) province. Therefore, the Siam government assigned a taxation supervisor to levy tax on the villagers who came digging the precious stones. That taxation supervisor was named Mung Khunty. He was the group leader of those

  n the Buddhist era 600, in Seang Hai province lived a 50-year-old Chinese man named Lim Seng. He was a sadly poor man. He went for a loan of 5 Nen from a merchant and hence lived as a servant with his lender. The poor man was required to clear an area of forest near the river for growing crops. In spring, Lim Seng always harvested the crops he grew and took them to his master. One day five nymphs from the Lord Indra castle flew into Lim Seng's garden. Finding lots of lovely blossoms, the nymphs played happily together. At that time, one of the nymphs, whose name was Tip Sodachan, picked up six flowers from Lim Seng's garden because they were very fragrant. The other nymphs were also walking in the garden, but did not pick up any flowers. When they flew back to the world of devada, the honest angel told Lord Indra about Tip Sodachan's picking up the flowers without permission. Lord Indra asked her to prove it and blamed her with a punishment. "Go to the human world ag