Muriel Paskin Carrison - Cambodian Folk Stories from the Gatiloke

I am grateful to the many people who have helped me in the preparation of this book. I wish to thank them.

Dr. Franklin E. Huffman, professor of linguistics and Asian studies, Cornell University, and author of the English-Khmer Dictionary, graciously sent me a duplicate of his rare copy of the ten-volume original Gatiloke. These Khmer volumes have made it possible for Dr. Kong and me to prepare this book for English readers.

Dr. Dan Ben-Amos, professor and chairman, Department of Folklore and Folklife, University of Pennsylvania, understood my wish to reach a wide audience of school-age children and lay adults in order to further the appreciation of Cambodian culture by the English-speaking public. His approval of my goals and encouragement of my work have meant a great deal to me.

In approaching this work, I often became discouraged not only by my own limitations, but also with the limited availability of materials on Cambodian history and culture. I am deeply grateful to Dr. Philip N. Jenner, professor of Cambodian and Southeast Asian literatures, University of Hawaii, for being my constant mentor during the past four years. He was attentive to my needs and generous in sharing his personal materials on Cambodian life and culture. Dr. Jenner also shared with me his empathetic. understanding of the Cambodian people and the plight of the refugees.

I would also like to thank the Venerable Kong Chhean, who always found time to help me. He carefully guided my understanding of Theravada Buddhism and skillfully instructed me on the finer points of Cambodian life.

The members of the Cambodian community of Southern California were most helpful in supplying me with needed books, illustrations, and photographs. I am grateful to them for graciously inviting me to their community festivals and to their private celebrations.

My sons, Michael Lombrozo and Peter Lombrozo gave me their expert help in the preparation of illustrative materials for this volume. The illustrations on pages 2, 24, 28, 33, 48, 75, 88, and 125 are based on drawings by Paul E. Smythe. The maps on page 108 are based on the work of Jason Edward Berri. Some of the other illustrative material has been adapted from Geography, First Level, and Cambodian Reading, Grade Two, Cambodian elementary-school textbooks printed by UNESCO and found in the library collection of the Asian Cultural Centre for UNESCO, Tokyo, Japan.

Finally, I wish to thank my "volunteer" proofreaders my aunt Ruth Ganeles and my friends Annetta Moore and Katherine Berry.

Huntington Beach, California

Cambodia is a small countryabout the size of the state of Washington, or a little smaller than Great Britainthat is situated toward the southern tip of Southeast Asia. The country is bordered on the north by Thailand and Laos, and on the east by Vietnam, which curves around Cambodia in a sort of crescent-moon shape. To the southwest, the land edges of Cambodia tip into the Gulf of Siam, sprinkling the coastline with small islands. The borders and coastline of the land are lined with mountain ranges and plateaus.

Cambodia is in the tropics, between ten and fifteen degrees north of the equator. Its climate is rather even; the year-round temperature is about eighty degrees Fahrenheit (twenty-seven degrees centigrade) throughout the country. Cambodia has three seasons: a cool season from the end of October to the beginning of March, a hot season from March to the beginning of July, and a rainy season from the middle of July through October. In July, monsoons from the southwestern seas blow across the land, pouring torrents of rain into the rivers and streams, swelling and flooding them. The smaller rivers running together form one of the largest rivers in the world, the Mekong.

The Mekong River has its source in Tibet and flows south for twenty-six hundred miles through the forest gorges of China and Laos, across the borders of Burma and Thailand, and onto the central Cambodian plains. Into the Mekong River also flow the waters from Cambodia's central great lake, the Tonle Sap.

During the dry season, the Tonle Sap is only seventy miles long, two miles wide, and ten feet deep. Its waters flow southward through the Tonle Sap River into the Mekong. In the rainy season, the monsoon rains and melting Tibetan snows swell the Mekong so that its waters back up into the Tonle Sap River, forcing the flow of this river to change its direction. The waters now flow northward into the Tonle Sap, which rises to a depth of forty feet. The area of the lake triples, and its waters pour over onto miles and miles of surrounding marshes, forests, and lowlands. In this manner, the land is made rich with soil and water good for all living things.

There are four types of land in Cambodia: forested mountains, grasslands, lowlands, and seacoast.

About half of the land is tropical mountain forests covered by dense foliage. In the southwest, two ranges, the Elephant Mountains and the Cardamom Mountains, rise like steep cliffs behind the seacoast. To the north, the Dangrek Mountains stretch for about two hundred miles along the Thai border. To the east, forming the border with Vietnam, are the Moi Plateau highlands with their dense jungles. Gold and silver, blue sapphires and red rubies are buried in these mountains. Colorful parrots, cockatoos, and mynah birds sit on the branches of slender silk-cotton trees and stout banyans. Leopards, tigers, sun bears, elephants, monkeys, and tiny deer live in the forests.

The western and northern mountains of Cambodia slope gently down to the grassy foothills and rolling plains of the central part of the country. Orioles, partridges, and quail feed on the nuts of the trees and on the wild cereal grasses of the plains. Rhinoceroses, mongooses, and cobras inhabit these areas.

In the central parts of Cambodia, near the rivers, are lush lowlands. Feathery pepper trees and thick glossy rubber trees grow in the rich soil of the rivers, marshes, and ponds. Cranes, kingfishers, and egrets fly along the rivers' edges where herds of water buffalo roam about. Throughout the' lowlands and marshes of Cambodia, there is plenty of food for all the animals. Tree branches drip with clusters of sweet fruitmango, litchi, durian, banana, and breadfruit.

In the southwestern part of Cambodia, the wooded mountains dip down to the white shores of the Gulf of Siam. Standing stiffly against the sky are palm trees tall palmyras, shorter coconut palms, and slender betel palms. Plovers and pelicans live along the sandy beaches. Many varieties of fishmullet, loach, bassswim in the waters of the Gulf.

Cambodia is a good land with good living things. It is a good land for people. The land has been like this for thousands of years, long before there were any human beings there.

Cambodia was the first great civilization and powerful empire of Southeast Asia whose people created beautiful works of art, literature, and music. About one thousand years ago, this ancient empirethe Khmer Empire controlled and influenced almost all of Southeast Asia from the Gulf of Siam to the South China Sea. This territory included much of the present-day nations of Burma, Thailand, Malaysia, and the southern part of Vietnam.