#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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#055 What's Needed In : Love - Relationship Is Number 1

When you are in a serious relationship, you have to put relationship above your personalities. It should be at the top of your priority pyramid, not others.

 ~~

Theresa and Tim had been in a relationship for a year. Maybe love had blinded them, they always had quarrel over petty matters, but they did not break up.  Actually they were sweet when things were just fine.

                                                               

Girls, as usual, were more emotional about everything. One day after work, Theresa quarreled with Tim because Tim had a different opinion about something. It was just a simple problem. Theresa insisted that if Tim loved her, he would agree and support all her opinions and her doings.

That day too, Tim was also having problems with his job as the business was not doing well. He was afraid of getting fired, but he did not talk about this as the quarrel had started before he could share with Theresa.

The quarrel got worse. They did not talk to each other all the way to Theresa’s home. Theresa walked in front of Tim as if they were strangers, but Tim would not leave her alone to make sure she got home safely. After Tim had seen Theresa entered her home, then he walked home.

At each other home, the quarrel still continued. It got out of control.

“You don’t love me, you even argued about the way I do my things. Other people who love me will do anything for me; they even would die for me!”

Suddenly the phone was disconnected. Until the next day, Theresa did not even call Tim as she thought she was not wrong at all. In the midday, she got a call from police saying that Tim had passed away. She was really sad and regretted everything she had done, but it was too late, Tim will never come back to life.

~~

When you are serious in your relationship, you have to lower down your ego, emotion, and everything that are harmful to your relationship.

-FIN-

Read the Indonesian translation HERE

Author: Anfransen Wijaya

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#054 The King's Judgement

Once upon a time, there was a poor man named Juan. He led a very hard life and often had no food to eat.

One day, when he was feeling very tired and hungry, he passed by the house of a rich merchant called Pedro. Pedro was cooking some food which smelled very good.

“Ah!” thought Juan. “The smell of that food makes me feel better.”

He went to thank Pedro for allowing him for the smell of the food.

“You have smelled my food,” said Pedro. “So you must pay me for it.”

“I’m sorry,” replied Juan. “But I don’t have any money.”

“I don’t care. You must pay me something.”

“All right,” Said Juan. “Let’s go to see the king. We can ask him to settle the matter for us.”

They set out together for the king’s palace. On the way they met a young man named Manuel. He was trying to pull his horse out of a ditch.

“Please help me pull my horse out of the ditch,” he begged them.

Pedro did not want to help. But Juan helped Manuel by pulling the horse by its tail. He pulled so hard that the tail came off in his hand.

“Look what you’ve done!” cried Manuel. “You’ll have to pay me for my horse’s tail or find a new tail.”

“I’m only a poor man,” said Juan. “How can I pay you any money or find a new tail for your horse? I was only trying to help you”

“Please come with us to see the king. We can ask him to settle the matter,” added Pedro.

When Juan, Pedro and Manuel arrived at the Palace, Juan explained to the king what had happened.  The king kept quiet for some time. He then ordered one of his servants to bring in some silver coins. He placed them on the table in front of Pedro.

“Smell them,” he ordered Pedro. “Juan was happy to smell your food. So you will have to be happy to smell the money.”

Pedro did as he was told. He afterwards left the palace without saying another word.

The king then turned to Manuel. “Is it correct that you want Juan either to pay you some money or to find a new tail for your horse?” he asked.

“Yes Your Majesty.”

“In that case,” said the King. “You must lend your horse to Juan until it grows a new tail.”

Juan was very pleased with the King’s decision. He left the palace riding the horse. Manuel walked home in silence.

-FIN-

Read the Indonesian translation HERE

Author: Unknown

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#053 The Broom Story

There was once a simple good villager, who was the father of four boys. He took good care of his children, and worked hard so that they could all live well and happily, with enough to eat every day, and a comfortable home in which to live. The sons had a good life because their kind father.

This good villager, whose name was Astina, enjoyed reading the holy stories of Bali. Every night after his work was finished and all his children had been fed and put to bed, Astina took out his book of holy stories and read them till he felt too tired and went to sleep himself. He believed in the teachings of these holy stories, and tried both to understand and to follow them, in order that he might lead an even better life.

However, Astina’s four sons were not like him. They did not follow their father’s kindly ways. Every day his sons fought among themselves or with their neighbour, and caused much trouble within their village. This distressed Astina very much, and he spent many nights wondering how to change his boys. During these nights Astina also read more holy books of Bali, hoping to learn some way to solve his problem and to stop his children from quarrelling from them.

One evening his four sons had been especially naughty, and Astina had had to listen to complaints from several neighbours on his way home after a hard day in the field.

Astina decided that the time had come to call his children together and to talk seriously to them. Astina asked his sons to sit down. Then he went to the kitchen and brought out the kitchen broom (In Indonesian it is called sapu lidi: a broom that is made of many wooden sticks from the veins of the coconut leaves), which was made from the strong veins of the leaves of the coconut.

Astina said to his sons, “Please take this broom and try to break it.”

The youngest tried first, but he could not break the strong broom, because the straws were tightly bound together. Then the third son tried, and also failed. Then the second, and finally the eldest, but none could break the broom.

“Now,” their father said. “I want to show you something. “

He untied the broom and the straws fell to the floor. He picked them up one by one and broke them easily.

“The straws of this broom are easily broken when they are not tied together in one bunch,” the kind father told to his sons.

“We are the same, my sons. One by one, we can be broken, but when we stay together we are strong. If we do live as one family, we will be happy. Let us live as one and be like this broom – close together, strong and happy.”

-FIN-

Read the Indonesian translation HERE

Author: Unknown

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#052 The Magic Stick

There was a very clear lake in Yunnan and some farmers living nearby, who kept cows. Every morning, they brought ninety-nine cows to the lake to drink. But, in some strange way, by midday there would be one hundred. A beautiful girl always appeared at the same time. Nobody knew where she came from. The farmers liked her very much. She knew many things and could tell them wonderful stories.

 “There is a magic cow among your cattle,” she told them. “Water will part and make a road when it walks towards it. It can also walk on top of water. A single hair from its body can carry a very heavy weight.”

The farmers asked her which one has the magic cow. She refused to tell them.

“Anyway,” she added, “only an honest man can find out.”

One day, the cows were looking for some corn to eat. The old man looking after them chased them away with a stick. The stick was old and cracked as he had been using it for many years. He did not notice that some cow’s hair had become caught in the cracks.

At the end of the day, when he got ready to return home, he hung two baskets of fire wood on the stick. He was surprised to find it was so light to lift.

“Eh!” he cried. “What has happened?”

He added another basket at each end. It was just as light. He added more and more baskets. Still it was not difficult to lift. He ran all the way home.

From then on, the old man cut woods and took them to the city to sell every day. He got more money than he needed for the first time in his life.

One morning, when he was going to the city to sell his wood, he met a rich man. The rich man was surprised to see him carrying such a heavy load.

“How can you carry such a heavy weight?” he asked.

“This is a magic stick.”

The rich man did not believe him. He asked the old man to let him try. It was true! It was very light.

“I’ll give you five hundred pieces of gold for the stick,” he said.

The old man took the money. It was enough for him for the rest of his life. He gave the rich man the magic stick. The rich man was very happy. He noticed that the stick was cracked. He took it to a carpenter and asked him to repair it. The carpenter used an axe to cut off the part which was cracked. He cut again away the magic cow hairs at the same time.

The rich man told his wife that evening about the magic stick. He asked her to try it. He put a weight at each end of the stick. His wife tried to lift it but she could not.

“What kind of magic stick is this?” she cried. “You’re dreaming. It’s just like any other stick.”

“Women! You know nothing,” said the rich man.

He tried to lift it but he was unable to do so. The magic had left the stick forever.

-FIN-

Read the Indonesian translation HERE

Author: Unknown

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