#056 The Legend Of Princess Manorah

A story told and passed on through generations since the Ayutthaya period and which inspired a poem by King Rama V of Thailand. 

Kinnaree Manorah was a princess of Thai legend and was the youngest of the seven Kinnaree, daughters of King Prathum and Queen Jantakinnaree. She lived in the mythical Mount Grairat kingdom. The Seven Kinnaree appeared as half woman half swan. They could fly or shed their wings to change to human form as they pleased.

Within the Grairat kingdom there was the great Himmapan Forest in which lived strange creatures, unknown to human realms. In the middle of the forest was a beautiful lake which the seven Kinnaree loved to visit regularly on the auspicious day of Panarasi (Full moon day). Nearby, the lake, an old hermit practiced his meditations.

One day, a young man named Prahnbun, was strolling in the Himmapan forest, saw the seven princesses at play at the great pond. Prahnbun, stunned by the beauty of Manorah.

He thought, "If I can catch her and present her to Prince Suton, son of King Artityawong and Queen Jantaivee of Udon Panjah the Prince would surely fall in love with her. But how will I be able to catch her?"

He knew of the old hermit who meditated nearby in the forest and he decided to seek advice from the wise old man about his plans. The hermit told the young man that to catch the Kinnaree would be very difficult, as they would fly away if anyone frightened them, but that there was a great dragon living deep in the forest that might be able to help him. Prahnbun thanked him for his advice and raced off to see the dragon.

The great dragon was not happy to hear Prahnbun's plan but was, eventually persuaded by Prahnbun to give him a magical rope with which he would be able to catch Manorah. Prahnbun thanked the dragon, hurried away to the pond with the magical dragon rope.

He crept up to the pond's edge where the Kinnaree were playing. While the Kinnaree were all happily occupied with their play at the water's edge, he struck; throwing the magic rope around the neck of Manorah and caught her so tight, she could not escape. Her sisters fearful of being caught themselves; all took flight and flew away to safety.

Prahnbun then secured Manorah's wings to stop her from flying away and lead her away through the forest heading back to Udon Panjah to present her to the Prince Suton. 

The Prince happened to be riding through the forest when he came across Prahnbun with his prize. The beauty of Manorah instantly charmed the Prince and when Prahnbun told him that he had captured Manorah for him, the Prince was delighted with Prahnbun's good intentions and rewarded him handsomely.

The Prince returned to his Summer Palace in the forest with Manorah where their love for each other blossomed. When the Prince told his mother and father the whole story, they were very happy and immediately arranged the wedding between the Prince and Princess Manorah who returned to the Udon Panjah palace where they were married and lived happy ever after.

-FIN-

Read the Indonesian translation HERE

Author: Unknown

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#050 The Blind Elephant Story

There were two brothers, Daeng and Jomroon, who lived in a village on the banks of the Chao Phya near Bangkok. They had both studied under the same teacher. After leaving school, they decided to go to Bangkok to earn a living. On their way, they passed through a thick forest. Daeng saw the footprints of an elephant on the path they were travelling.

“These are footprint of a male elephant, blind in its left eye,” he told his brother.

“How do you know that?” asked Jomroon. “All I can see is that the elephant was traveling from south to north.”

Daeng however, did not want to hurt his brother’s feeling so he said nothing more.

After some time, they saw a large male elephant eating some bananas. When it saw them, it lifted its trunk and made a loud noise. It then ran away into the forest. before it did so, Jomroon noticed that it was blind in its left eye.

Jomroon said to himself, “How can Daeng be so clever? We went to the same school, and passed the same examinations.”

After working for about two years in Bangkok, Daeng and Jomroon went home for a holiday. As soon as they arrived back at their village, they visited their old teacher to give him two pots of cooking oil which they had brought from Bangkok. While they were sitting down talking together, Jomroon told his teacher about the blind elephant.

“How did Daeng know that the elephant was male and blind one eye?” He asked.

“Jomroon, did you know that the pot of oil which you gave me is only half full?”

“Yes,” said Jomroon. “I was surprised to see that because it was full when I bought it in Bangkok.”

“Do you see that the pot of oil which Daeng brought me is full? This is because he bought a thicker pot, so that the oil wouldn’t leak from it so easily.”

The old teacher looked at Daeng, “Can you please tell Jomroon how you knew about the elephant?”

“I saw that trees on both sides of the path had been scratched by its tusk. Only male elephant have tusk. Also is footprint were deeper on the left than on the right. I knew this was because it was blind in its left eye.”

“You see,” the teacher smiled at Jomroon, “What we learn at school isn’t enough. We have to learn more from life after we leave school.”

-FIN-

Read the Indonesian translation HERE

Author: Unknown

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#038 Mekla And Ramasura

In Thailand, there was once a beautiful goddess called Mekla. She was the wife of a god named Siva, who lived in a palace in the clouds. She had a glass ball, which was her wedding present from her father.

As Siva had many servants, Mekla had nothing to do and she passed her time playing with the glass ball.

One day, she decided to go out and play. She flew through the sky straight towards a dark cloud in which a giant named Ramasura was hiding. When she came close, Ramasura tried to catch her but she flashed the glass ball in his eyes so that he could not see. Ramasura threw an axe at her. Because he was blinded by the light, it missed her and fell down through the clouds to the earth below and made a very loud noise. Every time Ramasura had prepared an axe, Mekla would flash his glass ball to his eyes.

Then it began to rain heavily.  Ramasura was no longer able to follow her. She flew back to the palace as fast as she could and dried her wet clothes and hair. Her husband did not know where she had been.

Whenever Mekla became tired of doing nothing, she used to go out and play with her glass ball with Ramasura. Ramasura tried many times to catch her but he never succeeded.

Mekla (left) Ramasura (right)

It is believed that thunder is caused by Ramasura throwing his axe at Mekla and lightning by Mekla flashing her glass ball in the eyes of Ramasura. That is why lightning happens before thunder. Nowadays, Mekla is also known as the goddess of lightening and Ramasura is also known as the god of thunder.

-FIN-

Read the Indonesian translation HERE

Author: Unknown

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