The history of Kampong Khsach Sar [Cambo Time - Fairy Tale]
In Rakchey commune of Ba Phnom district, Prey Veng province, ther is a village lying about three kilometers to the west of Kok Sandaek village. It is called “Kampong Khsach Sar (white san jetty)”. In the previous time, Kampong Khsach Sar was the downtown for the office of Ba Phnom district. As this place had frequently flooded, the office was moved to Sangkat Chheu Kach. Kampong Khsach Saris adjacent to the edge of a huge lake which has water in all seasons and has lots of fish. In rainy season, Khsach Sar Lake is filled with wate ans it looks like Tonle Sap Lake in dry season. But in dry season, the lake becomes smaller. Before 1950, Kampong Khsach Sar was quite a big market where people lived in happiness and prosperity. However, because of insecurity in that time, some market dwellers moved to live in Kok Sandaek village and some others to Peam Ror village. Today Kampong Khsach Sar is an ordinary village as others. The name of Kampong Khsach Sar comes from the folktale narrated as following: A long time ago, it was said that there was a male crocodile at Cheung Midaeng Mount in Kosansin district who could do powerful magix. He could transform himself into a man and a monk. One day this crocodile went for fighting against another one in Hoh Hiev River. That place had been called Peam Ror (Peam= confluence, Ror= looking for, at the confluence, we look for the way) up to now. At that tie, crocodile came across an old man and his wife who were rowing thir boat on the way to Kampong Phnom. The crocodile transformed itself into a novice monk and asked the old couple for _its journey by the boat.
While the old couple was rowing their boat, the crocodile novice asked, ‘Can you tell me where Hoh Hiev River is, Grandpa?’ ‘We’ll be there in a sort while,’ the grandpa replied. ‘When we get there, please tell me,’ the novice monk continued. ‘Ok, I will,’ the old lady added.
When arriving at Hoh Hiev River, grandpa and grandma told the novice monk, “Here is Hoh Hiev River, my novice monk!” As long as he learnt that he got Hoh Hiev River, the novice monk suddenly transformed himself to be a crocodile and dove into the river. Soon, he met another crocodile in the river. A fierce fighting between the two crocodiles broke out. At the final round, the crocodile from Cheung Midaeng Mount was bitten off his tail and other parts very seriously by his rival in Hoh Hiev River.
And the refined crocodile oil was dumped into a lake in Peam Ror commune, Peam Ror district, and that place was called “Boeng Chak Klanh (oil dump lake)” (Boeng= lake, Chak=dump, Klanh= oil); even the nearby village and monastery were also called “Phum Chak Klanh (oil dump village)” (Phum= village),” or “Wat Chak Klanh (oil dump monastery)” (Wat= monastery) until the preset time.
Back to the female crocodile, because she didn’t see her husband for a long time, she left her children to look for her husband. Getting halfway, she heard that her husband had already died. Then she was so grief-sicken that she lied dead there. The female crocodile body became a stone by the powerful magic. There was called by villagers “Thmar Krapeu Troum (Facing-Down Crocodile Stone) (Thmar= stone, Krapeu= crocodile, Troum= facing down) until the present time. And the young crocodiles didn’t see their parents for a long time not coming back like this; they went to look for them. When they were on their half way, they found that their parents had passed away already. They buried themselves into the mud and died there, so their bodies became hard rock. The young crocodiles became the stones by the powerful magic. People called there “Phurn Thmar Krang (hard stone village) (Krang= becoming hard) and later became Phum Thmar Treang until the present time.
And the young crocodiles didn’t see their parents for a long time not coming back like this; they found that their parents had passed away already. They buried themselves into the mud and died there, so their bodies became hard rock. The young crocodiles became the stones by the powerful magic. People called there “Phum Thmar Krang (hard stone village) (Krang= becoming hard) and later became Phurn Thmar Treang until the present time. The distance between Thmar Krapeu Troum village to Phurn Thmar Treang is about 1 kilometer in the south east part of Kouk Sandaek market in Reakchey commune, Ba Phnom district, Prey Veng province.
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....
The novel Sophat was written by Rim Kin in 1938 but not published until 1942 due to a lack of publishing facilities in Cambodia at that time. The book depicts both the repression endured by Cambodian women at that time and the ripple effects that this treatment could have on all of society. Girls and young women who became pregnant outside of marriage were made to feel ashamed. Like the mother of this story’s title character, they and their children were often abandoned, their existence denied. This tale begins with the abandonment of a pregnant young woman by the well-to-do, high-ranking father of her unborn child, who goes to Phnom Penh for work. She is left to deliver her baby alone, without any support from relatives. Unable to care for the child, she leaves it with an orphanage. Before she leaves her son, she gives him a name: “Sophat.” When she learns that her former sweetheart has left her for another woman, she is so utterly devastated by the betrayal that she soon falls ill an...
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