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submitted by: Julie Ouk via email

Love the glitter! :) <3 very creative. haha and congratulations on your graduation, love! best wishes to you in the upcoming future! :D

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I forgot to mention chairs used for parties and stuff and any other thing they can possibly show possession on… lol

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Cambodian New Year Parade by Thomas Wasper on Flickr.

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Cambodian Beach by gus’s on Flickr.

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Cambodian New Year’s Celebration At El Dorado Park by Thomas Wasper on Flickr.

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“The golden fish” — A Cambodian folktale

Once there were an old man and an old woman who were very poor. Their cottage was on the seashore and they were fishermen by profession. One day, the old man with his fishing-net on his shoulder went down to the sea, threw his net, but caught no fish.

Again he threw the net but no difference. The third time, when he dragged out the net, he found a fish of a golden color and because of this he called it “The golden-fish.” “Have pity on me, good old man.” said the golden fish, ”put me into the sea. I’ll offer you something valuable.”

The old man was surprised at the fish’s words. He never seen anything like this. He saw this strange fish that could speak the human language. So he lifted it up carefully and said “Oh golden fish, I want to have nothing from you.”

On saying this, he threw the golden fish back into the water with the words, “Swim away with joy!” On that day, the old man had nothing for his wife. He went back to his cottage and told his wife of all that had happened.

“How foolish!” exclaimed the old woman, “Why didn’t you beg something from it? Our two water pots are very old, why didn’t you ask it to give us new ones?” The old man said nothing. He just went back to the sea and called out very loudly, “Oh golden fish! I come to meet you.” He called out and at last the golden fish came to him ”What do you want from me, good old man?” asked the fish. “My wife is very angry with me, now she asks me to come here for a pair of new water pots from you.” said the old man. “Do not get worried, good old man.” said the golden fish, “God will give you a new pair of water posts, go back to your house, please.”

After saying this, the fish was out of sight and the old man returned to his cottage. He saw a new pair of water pots in his house, but the old woman was still unhappy. She was a bad-tempered woman. She therefore said to him angrily “What a stupid man you are! What’s the use of these wooden pots?” And she went on, “Go to the fish again and ask for a house, because our house is too old to live in.”

The old man had nothing to reply. He went wearily back to the sea. This time the water of the sea became rather dirty. As before, he called out again and again until at last the fish came to him and said “What’s the matter with you, good old man?”

“My wife is still angry with me and now she forces me to ask for a house.” said the old man. “Don’t trouble yourself!” said the golden fish “Return to your house, God will give you what you want.” The old man was very happy. He went back to his house. There he saw no cottage but a large building instead. In it, there were many rooms. It was a building made with bricks, surrounded by tall tree and a lawn and a park. The old woman was sitting near a window.

From that window, she looked at the old man who was wearily approaching the building “You, the dirty beast,” she said to the old man when he came near, “why did you ask for such a bad building? Go back to the fish again and ask it to change me into a charming young rich lady!”

Again the poor old man could not refuse. He moved back to the fish. This time the water turned dirtier. The fish came to him and asked “what is the matter with you, good old man?” “Pardon me please,” the old man said, “my wife wants to be a charming young rich lady.” “Never mind, good old man.” said the golden fish, “God will make her a charming and rich young lady, just go back to your house with joy.” As the old man arrived at his house, he saw that a palace arose at the site of the building. In the inner room, he could see his wife who was now young and fine with costly clothes sitting in the middle of servants. On her fingers she wore rings adorned with diamonds, and her shoes were shining.

The old man approaching her said, “Good morning lady, are you now satisfied with these things?” But the young rich lady frowned and shouted at him, “Go to work in the stable, do not come here!” and the old man went to the stable.

Two weeks later, the young rich lady had a new desire, she again said to the old man “My dear” she began, “go to the golden fish again and ask it to change me into a powerful queen.” Being afraid, the old man said to her respectfully, “Please, you are from a humble family, why do you want to get such a high position? Are you not ashamed of villagers? Limit your desire, my lady!” But the cruel young lady became more angry. She thundered ”WHO ARE YOU!? Don’t you know that I am now a rich woman?!” And she ordered him, “Go at once to the fish, otherwise I shall use my power!”

The poor old man fearing his wife returned to the sea, this time the water turned dark and the golden fish said, “God will help her.” On that very moment, the rude young lady became a queen with a splendid palace with all kinds of pomp and amusement in her possession.

“Are you now happy with your high position?” asked the old man. But the young cruel queen did not give him even a look. Ten minutes later, he was driven away by servants. Some of them said unkindly to him “You deserve this for your behavior, you have to know that you and our queen are not equal in position!”

The old man ran away. But after two weeks, the queen had another new desire. She asked one of her servants to look for the old man. Then the old man was brought in front of the queen who said to him “My dear, go to the golden fish again and ask it to change me into the queen of the sea so that I can be a mistress of the golden fish itself…”

The old man did not deny her command, he went to the sea and called the fish. This time the sea was in great waves. The storm was going on. The water became very dark. After some time, the golden fish approached him. And the old man told it what his wife had asked him to say. On hearing that, the golden fish uttered no word. It turned away with its head down into the sea.

The old man waited for it. He waited and waited, but he saw no fish coming back to him. Finally he returned to his wife. But alas! There he saw no palace, no queen, and no servant, all he saw was his old cottage with a pair of broken water pots under it, and saw his own poor old wife sitting near them.

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“The Ghost that entered the jar” — Cambodian Folk Stories

Many years ago, there lived a ghost in a certain village. He always wandered and withered in search of food. One day, while he was in his way looking for food, he saw a farmer’s wife, the ghost then came to like her very greatly and when night came, he transformed himself into the farmer so that no one could say that he was not the same man. He then went to live with her. When the farmer returned home from his farm work, he saw the ghost reposing in his bed. He then became very angry and at once dashed to drive him out. But the ghost pretending to be the woman’s husband said, “Where are you from? This house is mine, this woman is my wife and I am her married husband; I do not know why you come here and show such a temper. Tell me what you want?” The farmer strongly opposed this and said, “No, it is I who is her true husband!” He uttered exactly the word which the ghost did. Thus the quarrel about possessing the woman ran high between the farmer and the ghost. As for the woman, she was awfully perplexed. She did not know for certain who her real husband was, for they two were exactly alike. Unable to settle this unhappy matter, the two decided to go to the court.

But as the lower court could not find any way to settle the matter for them, they went to the Supreme Court. In the second court, there were many expert judges. After hearing the case, they took notice of their appearances. As they observed them from head to foot, they found out the difference. Man’s eyes and the ghost’s are not alike. The ghost’s had no iris while man’s had. From these different features, the judges know long who of the two, was the woman’s true husband. But how could they separate the two from each other? And how could other find out the ghost? Here was the skillful way of the judges: they then had a small jar brought in and put it in front of them. When this was done, one of the judges declared, “One of you who can get into this jar, is the real husband of this woman, and we shall at once offer her to that man who can do this” On hearing this, the man was very sad. He knew that he could not enter the jar at all. He therefore stood speechless. As to the ghost, he became very glad. He thought that the woman would be his wife forever. Without delay, he made his body very small and went up to the jar, bowing his head to touch the open mouth of the jar and straightening his feet in the air, the ghost entered the jar very easily. As soon as the ghost entered the jar, it was firmly closed with a lid. The judges then lifted it up and showed it to the public, saying, “Here is a ghost and not a man; man cannot get into a jar while the ghost can; now we have found out the truth, this man is the true husband of this woman.” The judges then sent the man and his wife to their home. As for the ghost? The ghost in the jar was thrown into the deep water of a lake and no one saw him since that day.