Travels in the Central Parts of Indo-China (Siam), Cambodia, and Laos (Vol. 2 of 2): During the Years 1858, 1859, and 1860Mouhot, Henri
History
Travels in the Central Parts of Indo-China (Siam), Cambodia, and Laos (Vol. 2 of 2): During the Years 1858, 1859, and 1860
Mouhot, Henri
Cambodia -- Description and travel; Khmer language; Natural history -- Indochina; Thailand -- Description and travel
Some apes, who were marauding in a neighbouring field, witnessed this
spectacle, and said to each other, “That must be a god, since the fire
does not hurt him.” They accordingly drew near him, took him by the
feet and arms, and carried him to the top of a mountain, where they
laid him down, plunged in a deep sleep. The monkeys then piled up rice
and delicious fruits, and bowls of gold and silver of extraordinary
beauty and value, and then left him to return to the fields.
At last he awoke, and thought no more of his misfortune, seeing around
him so many treasures: he gathered them all up, and returned to his
hut, full of joy.
Moû, seeing him so happy, followed him, and, at the sight of the gold,
“Heavens!” cried he; “my cousin as rich as a prince: give me something.”
“No,” replied A-lo-Sine, “I will not; for you are wicked, and you set
fire to my field.”
Moû then went to his own field, and set fire to that also, and imitated
all that his cousin had done: he wept, cried, and, like him, threw
himself into the flames. Five monkeys, one of them a young one, who
were feasting close by, drew near him, curious to see what he was
about. “He is a god,” said they, also; “the flames have spared him. Let
us carry him away.” No sooner said than done. Each monkey seized one an
arm, the other a leg, and they set off.
They reached a neighbouring wood; but there the little monkey began to
cry out, “I want to help to carry him also.” “But there is nothing of
him to hold by,” said the mother. The little monkey, however, continued
to cry, and at last seized Moû’s long tress of hair, and put himself at
the head of the procession.
But this hurt Moû, and he tried to disengage his hair. The young monkey
began to cry again. “Ah, you are angry; stay there, then,” said all the
others, and they threw him into a prickly bush.
Moû had great trouble in extricating himself from his disagreeable
position; and it was nearly evening when he reached home, all covered
with blood.
“Well, cousin, have you also some gold and silver?” said A-lo-Sine,
on seeing him. “Ah! I am thoroughly punished for the harm I did you,”
replied Moû. “I bring back nothing but needles: call the women to take
them out of me.”
TALE.
TRANSLATED FROM THE CHINESE BY M. HENRI MOUHOT.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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