Folktale

Kh’me Ethnicity

One day an aged beggar, emaciated and ragged, shuffled along with a walking stick and begged for food. He cried out: “I’m so hungry! Somebody please take pity and give me some food!” But his body odor was so putrid that no human being would stand next to him. He continued on, shuffling into the deep jungle. At first, the animals didn’t help him either. Seeing him approach, they all slipped away. Luckily, he met a monkey picking fruit for her children. The monkey handed him her juiciest piece of fruit and said: “That’s all I have. Please take it and eat.”

The beggar took the fruit from the mokey, thanked her, and then went on until he saw a stream. At the stream he met an otter. Sympathizing with the beggar, the otter gave him the stash of fish he had hidden behind a tree. The beggar was very grateful to the otter. After taking the fish, the beggar continued on.

He soon met a wild dog. Just like the monkey and the otter, the wild dog felt sorry for the old beggar. The wild dog decided to give the beggar a piece of deer. The beggar continued on after giving his thanks.

After a long road, the beggar met a rabbit. The rabbit was sitting at the front door of his burrow, watching the moon. “Hey Rabbit,” said the old man, his voice pitiful. “I’m nearly starving. Please give me something to eat. God bless you!”. Looking at the skinny and pale beggar, the rabbit wondered what she could do for him. After some contemplation, she realized she could not do much: there was a little stored food in here hole because when ever she was hungry, she just ventured out to pick roughage for her meal. While the rabbit was thinking, the old man persisted to implore. He was so doleful that the rabbit could not ignore him. Finally she said, “Please wait for a moment. I’ll make you a delicious meal right now.” The rabbit collected some dry wood and built a fire. She then turned around to the beggar. “Please eat me for the meal,” the rabbit cried, jumping into the flames.

Suddenly, a freezing gust of wind blew the fire out. Righ before the rabbit’s eyes, the ragged beggar transformed into a fairy wearing a gold-winged hat with a shining halo. His eyes were bright, he was holding a holy stick, and his voice resounded like thunder: “Rabbit, I’m Genie Poracinh. I disguised myself like a ragged and scabbed beggar to test all creatures and find out how they treat a beggar. How admirable you are to sacrifice your whole life for another. You are a worthy example to all beings. I will imprint your figure into tonight’s full moon to commemorate your kind heart, so that everyone can see you.”

Poracinh used his holy stick to draw a rabbit in the moon and then he disappeared. From that moment on, whenever the skies are clear and the moon is full, people always can see a little rabbit sitting in the moon.

On the fifteenth day of the lunnar calendar in October, the Kh’me ethnicity in Southern Vietnam make cốm dẹp from raw sticky rice as part of the lunar festival. It is believed that this dish is the rabbit’s favorite food, so cốm dẹp is prepared to honor the self-sacrificing animal. This festival is called Óc-om-bóc or Thơ-vay pơ rắc, which means Genie Moon Festival.

H2T ( from magazine).