The boy told him all that the king had said.  Then Phra In pronounced some secret words, and suddenly the rice turned yellow and became ripe.  The rice then fell off its stalks and into thousands of baskets, which were carried by invisible hands to a large gudang (shed).

The orphan boy informed the king that all had been done as he had commanded.  Once again, however, the king would not believe the news, so he went in person to inspect the fields.  To his amazement, he found not a grain of rice left in the fields or even lying on the ground.  All the rice had been neatly stacked in baskets and placed in the shed.  The king, curiously, was angry over the orphan boy’s success and told him harshly: “Now I demand that you build a palace for me, made entirely from glass, out on an island in the middle of the great ocean.  If it is not ready by tomorrow night, you will die.”

The king strode back to his palace, leaving the boy alone in the fields.  He began to cry, for where could he find so much glass and how could he possibly build a palace all on his own?  Phra In heard his cries.  He descended from heaven and listened to this new task that the king had set for his brother.  He spoke some secret words, and a glass palace rose out of the sea.

The orphan boy then told the king his new palace was ready and invited him to inspect it.  The king entered the palace, but the very moment he set foot within its glass walls, the palace broke into a million fragments and sank into the sea, king and all.  The people were so grateful that they acclaimed the orphan boy their new king.

Jan Knappert has published six books and has taught at the School of Oriental Studies, University of London, and the Oriental Institute,University of Louvain, Belgium.