In the warm bays off the coast of Kampuchea there are flying fish. How did fish begin to fly? Listen to the old fairy tale.
A long time ago, two poor fishermen brothers and their wives lived on the shore of the bay. The older one had a smart and hardworking wife, while the younger one was stupid and lazy. His wife once said to her elder brother:
“We work hard, but live poorly.” They say the sea is full of pearls. Let's scoop up all the water from the sea and collect pearls. We'll get rich in no time!
The husband agreed. The next morning they took two large coconut ladles, went to the sea and began to bail out water from the 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?
“Yes, we want to drain the sea and collect all the pearls from the bottom,” answered the husband and wife and went back to work.
And the crab dived into the water, sank to the bottom and told everything to the king of the sea - the dragon. A dragon swam up from the depths, 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 the dragon said to 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 found out about the luck of his relatives and said to her husband:
“Let’s scare the sea dragon and he’ll give us a mountain of pearls too!”
They went to the sea and began to draw water with gourd cups. Once they scooped it up, then another... I got tired of it. Lazy
the wife threw the cup away and said:
- Work, hubby, and I’ll rest!
The husband got angry:
- Here's another! Start it yourself - finish it yourself!
They argued and screamed, and then the wife grabbed her husband’s hair, and he began to pour water on her. The noise, the 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 little ones 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 dragon laughed here. His laughter caused the sea to ripple and the shore to shake.
The husband and wife got scared and rushed home from the shore. They didn’t get the pearls, so they were left with nothing.
And for a long time the curious little fish jumped out of the water and looked to see if the husband and wife were fighting. And often they even 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