In the warm Kampong Saom Bay, off the coast of Kampuchea, there are flying fish. How did fish begin to fly? This is what the old Khmer people say about it.
Once upon a time, two poor fisherman brothers lived on the shore of a bay. And they had wives: the older one was smart and hardworking, and the younger one was stupid and lazy. His wife once said to her elder brother:
“You and I work from morning to night, but we live poorly.” They say the bottom of the sea is full of pearls. Let's scoop up all the water from the sea and pick up some pearls. We'll get rich in no time!
The husband thought about it and agreed. The next morning they got up at dawn, took with them two large coconut ladles and went to the sea. They began to bail out water from Kampong Saom Bay. They worked from sunrise to sunset. Suddenly an old crab came out of the water and asked:
- Why are you bailing out water in our bay?
The husband and wife answer:
- Yes, we want to drain the sea and collect all the pearls from the bottom.
They breathed back and got back to work.
And the old crab dived into the water, quickly sank to the bottom and told the sea dragon king about everything. The dragon swam to the surface, saw how people were working, and got scared. If a husband and wife draw out all the water in the bay, they will reach the ocean. And without water his kingdom will perish, and all its inhabitants will die! Then the dragon ordered his subjects:
- Quickly go down to the bottom and bring up a pearl!
Sea inhabitants began to scurry about - fish, jellyfish, snails, crabs. Each sank to the bottom and returned to the shore with a large pearl. The husband and wife filled coconut ladles with pearls and went home.
The wife of the younger brother heard that the relatives had become rich, and said to her husband:
- Let’s scare the sea dragon, maybe he’ll give us a mountain of pearls too!
The younger brother and his wife went to the sea and began to draw water with cups from a gourd. Once they scooped it up, then another... I got tired of it. The lazy wife threw away the cup and said to her husband:
- Work alone, and I’ll take a break! The husband got angry:
- Here’s another one, I’ll draw one! Start it yourself - finish it yourself!
An argument arose between them. And then it came to a fight. The wife grabbed her husband’s hair, and he started pouring water on her. There is noise and commotion. The sea inhabitants heard this, leaned out of the water, and some crawled onto the shore. They look and laugh. Large fish laugh and beat the water with their tails. And it’s hard for small fish to see. They began to jump out of the water to look at the husband and wife.
Then the dragon himself emerged from the sea. He sees his wife pulling her husband’s hair, and he hits her on the head with a cup. The sea lord laughed. His laughter caused the sea to ripple and the shore to shake.
The husband and wife were frightened by a big wave, rushed to the shore, and from there home. The legs barely carried away. But they didn’t get any pearls. So the lazy brawlers were left with nothing.
And curious fish from Kampong Saom Bay jumped out for a long time and looked to see if the husband and wife were fighting. And they often sailed here from the southern seas: they all wanted to find out what was happening on the shore.
That is why these fish fly out of the sea wave. And they are called flying ones.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru