រឿងអ្នកតាឃ្លាំងមឿង - NEAKTA KHLAING MOEUNG STORY - [Cambo Page - ខេមបូ ផេក]

NEAKTA KHLAING MOEUNG STORY

During the reign of Preah Chan Raja, whose royal palace is situated at Banteay Longvek (1502 A.D.), Cambodia was still a dependency of Siam and regularly paid tributes to the superior kingdom. The Siamese king assigned one of his princes, whose name could not be identified, to Cambodia to take charge of collection of all taxes, which was driven from the concern that the Khmer king was not honest in paying tributes and might betray his government in any form. The prince had a large vulture which was as wise as human being compared to other animals. The vulture loved its master and was used for delivering any secret message between Cambodia and Siam.

One day, King Chan Raja was worried as he thought that the Emperor must have lacked his trust in him that's why he sent his son to take direct control of the affairs. Irritated further by the attitude of the prince who was abusive and demanded excessive tributes paid to his kingdom, King Chan Raja ordered his men to arrest and kill the prince in the forest during a nighttime.

As the venture did not see its master in the next morning, it flew back and forth until it came across the prince's body in the jungle. He could identify the prince easily upon spotting his ring and used its beak to get it back to the king of Siam. When given the ring, the king assumed at once that his prince was assassinated by the Kluner king. Taking revenge for such an act, the king immediately summoned his military commanders and ordered that King Chan Raja, as well as his relatives and military commanders, be killed, while all of his properties and people be expatriated to Siam.

The soldiers set off and besieged Banteay Lovek, and King Chan Raja and his relatives were all massacred then. During the episode, one of the king's concubines, known as Pen, and Commander Moeung, along with his wife and their 4 sons, managed to evade the massacre. The Siamese soldiers brought with them all people, including the concubine, and all of the king's properties both with lives and without lives to their country. The items brought by the Siamese soldiers also included a large white pregnant elephant named Chumteav Pal Pai, which was used as the king's main medium of traveling.

The Siamese soldiers treated Khmer people so aggressively, arresting them, piercing their ears and treating them like beasts. Women who have newborns were forcibly put into sacks and tramped by elephants, except for pregnant women. They reported to their king in detail upon their arrival in their kingdom. Having successfully taken the retaliation, the king ordered the Khmers to live in a community in proximity to his city, where they were called "Khmer Neak Kruor”.

Even though Pen was exiled to Siam, her condition appeared to be much better compared to other women. With the power of her mighty fetus, she won affection and support in al l aspects from her neighbors. After having been pregnant for ten months, she gave a birth to a son safely with the help of her neighbors - bringing her warm and cool water. Thanked to the superpower of her son, she was visited by every villager there. 3 days after her children, the child was named "Uten".

The elephant, which was once used as a traveling means for the king, also gave birth to a baby on the same date, but it broke out the fetters, running into a distant forest where her baby was born on the sly. It was not until 3 days later that the elephant returned to her home with her newborn. The baby elephant's color and body were uniquely gorgeous compared to others of same kind. The elephant keeper then reported the news to the king who was very delighted upon hearing so.

Once Uten reached the age of 5, he started to learn something about the world and asked his mother for his father, "Where is my father? Other children have both mother and father, so why don't I have a father?" When so asked, her heart was so painful, trying to divert the question to other topics to save their lives if the news is leaked. Despite of how many times her son asked for the truth, she managed to convince him successfully until he was 12 years old.

One day she decided to tell him the whole story in a quiet place as she thought she would never hide it from him. Being aware of the story in detail, he consoled his mum by saying that he would try every means to enable him to enter their kingdom. After learning all the facts described by his mother, Uten started to learn every subject of knowledge, including literature. Unlike others, he was a very wise and brave boy.

One day, Uten started to build a relationship with elephant mahouts, asking them to give him a position as a cleaner of the elephant stable to enable him to learn the effective way to deal with this species of animals. One day, the Siamese king visited the stable where he saw the boy doing the cleaning work cautiously and energetically. He asked the elephant keeper about where the boy came from. The keeper told the king every detail about the boy and the king began to have good feeling for him, and asked the keeper to help take care of him.

Ever since, the boy worked more carefully, cleaning up, amassing and burning feces of the elephants for use as fertilizers in growing cabbages that produce largest clumps if compared to others planted by local people. When the cabbages grew large enough, Uten harvested and gave them away to the king. "Hey! Where did you get the cabbages from, they look strange?" asked the king. The boy then told the king in detail. The king rewarded and named him as an official in charge of the elephant mahouts.

A baby elephant of the cow elephant, Chum Teav Pal Pai, which was the king's excellent means for traveling, yet going berserk, behaving unusually wild, not obedient, even injuring mahouts to death and undefeated by anyone. Besides, it even frightened and forced villagers to leave their community to a further place. Elephant mahouts informed the king of the issue, and he ordered to find any brave men who are capable to defeat and get back the elephant.

As Ulen said he could bring back the elephant and agreed to take the responsibility, the king tasked him to chase his animal by any possible means. Uten however suggested that 500 elephants be gathered so that he could select one of them as a beguiling elephant. He then decided to choose a white cow elephant Pal Pai. Before his journey to get back the elephant, he demanded that a large traditional rite be organized. Villagers flocked to the event. Upon the end of the rite, the boy set off with 3 hands of bananas and 3 bunches of sugarcanes. Approaching there, he was almost gored by the elephant. Because of the boy's power, the elephant knelt down as a way of respect before him instead. Uten commended that, "You from now on should give up your bad behavior and be polite as you were previously." He then handed over bananas and sugarcanes to the elephant, saying, "You come with me. Just with this short expression, the elephant followed him easily without any tie, as if he was the elephant's mahout for long."

Since that day, the king rewarded Uten and gave him a title called "Chey the Great", taking charge of elephant soldiers and elephants hunting. Royal servants acknowledged and appreciated Uten for his bravery and skill in dealing with elephants, as in every mission to hunt wild elephants, he used only a few men to accompany him, and, the elephants just followed him with a few words he said to them. With affection and trust upon him, the king treated Chey the Great like he were one of his sons.

The age of 16, Chey the Great started to focus on his initial goal. He tried to devise a plot to liberate his country out of the control of Siam and to take reign in Cambodia, bring back with him the Khmer people and all properties both with lives and without lives. He then ordered 15 of his most reliable men to make small flat baskets and wooden soil compacting tools, to fill in the baskets with feces of elephants and leave them dry before spreading them along riverside or roads. They used the compacting tools to stamp on the ground in similar shapes as those of the footprints of elephants, so that villagers reported it to the king when they spotted the signs and the king ordered him to hunt the elephants, while winning confidence from soldiers commanded by the king to join him in the hunting mission that they were the elephants' footprints was another objective.

Witnessing such large footprints and feces of elephants flowing on river, the villagers reported the incidence to the king who then assigned Chey the Great to hunt the wild elephants. Chey the Great requested that hunting such large elephants could be succeeded only with large number of hunters and beguiling elephants, while those who joined him in the mission needed to listen to his command and a rite was held in prayer for success. The king agreed with all of Chey the Great's requests and authorized him to decide on the matter without prior approval. In the aftermaths of the event, the king gave him a royal sword, authoring him to kill whoever refused to obey his command.

15 days later, Chey the Great was on half way to Cambodia. He sent a message to the king, saying that "My Majesty, I have been on the nearest track of the elephants, but we have now run out of food. So, please Your Majesty sends us more food supplies as soon as possible so that we could attain our mission." Because of his strong desire to get the elephants, the king without further ado sent him food supplies without consideration of property loss or any doubt.

Chey the Great, upon receiving additional supplies of food from the king, continued his trip until he reached Battambang district, which was Khmer territory, 5days later. Many people from neighboring and distant districts offered to join the troops, including a former commander named Moeung and his 4 sons with an adequate number to fight against the Siamese king. Chey the Great wrote a letter and tied it to the neck of Chum Teav Pal Pai, the elephant messenger, in an attempt to invite his mother back to Cambodia. The cow elephant arrived at his mother's house in the midnight. The elephant dropped container up and down for 3 times; the mother was awaken as she thought that her son were back. She illuminated the light but did not see her son, except a letter. After she read the letter, she arranged for a trip, riding on the cow elephant hastily to see her son in Battambang district. Then Chey the Great announced that he was the son the King Chan Raja at Banteay Longvek and was returning to reign in succession of his father.

The story was widespread to the Siamese king who was consequently made angered and disappointed. He summoned meeting of military commanders and told them that Chey the Great had used the tricks to take possession of the royal sword and other properties both with lives and without lives to Cambodia. He commanded that his soldiers move to reclaim the properties and kill all relatives of King Chan Raja as well as his civil servants.

Being informed of the advancement of the Siamese troops, Chey the Great discussed with his commanders, asking them to discuss plots to defeat the Siamese as his soldiers and weapons were limited. No one dared to assure him, except Commander Moeung, who declared war with the Siamese with a bizarre strategy - sacrificing his life to mobilize ghost soldiers in waging a war against the Siamese soldiers.

Ordered his soldiers to dig up a square grave of 4-meter size by 4 meter depth and put in some weapons for the commander to jump into death. Before jumping to sacrifice his life, Moeung asked the people to listen to his last message, saying that "Please try all your best in this war to liberate Khmer territory from the hands of our enemy, and I guarantee to help you with ghost soldiers. Upon 7 days of my death, if you hear such a sound as that of thunder, it means our success."

After leaving the message, he jumped into the grave. Seeing her husband’s jumping, Moeung’s wife also jumped with their two sons, and they all died. Upon 7 days of the death, such strong sounds were also heard like what he said.

The Siamese soldiers arrived in Battambang, passing a canal currently known as Svay Daun Keo canal, where they were confronted by the powerful Chey the Great's soldiers and ghost soldiers. The Siamese soldiers were dizzy, stomachache, vomited and fell conscious. The soldiers of Chey the Great went to kill the Siamese soldiers, and some of them retreated to Battambang. They sent a message to report the incidence to their king who ordered a retreat to Siam.

The soldiers of Chey the Great returned to their fort, presently called Banteay Chey (Successful Fort). Ever since, Chey the Great was crowned and renamed Preah Chey Chesda, King of the Kingdom of Cambodia, reigning in Banteay Chey. While his reign was peaceful, he showed his gratitude to Commander Moeung, who sacrificed his life for him and Khmer territory by ordering that a significant memorial services be held in honor of Commander Moeung, a celebration which has become a traditional practice until today and called "Memorial Service in honor of Neak Ta Khlaing Moeung."

- The END -