A pilgrim's farewell gift leads newlyweds out of poverty.

Unfortunately, when the monk left so did the luck of the household.  The rich man soon became poor and died.  The son went to see the merchant, to ask for the hand of the daughter betrothed to him.  The merchant refused to give his daughter to a pauper, but the girl escaped and ran off.  After many difficulties she arrived at the house of her betrothed.  They married, then began to repair the old house, which by then was in ruins.  Reaching under the floorboards, the son found the bag of pebbles.  Together, they discovered that the stones had turned into diamonds.

A literary people

Thailand’s beautiful and extensive literary tradition began to take root in the thirteenth century, under the auspices of the first independent Thai kingdom.  By the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, this heritage had reached full bloom.  Poetry, dance dramas, and narratives flourished, usually influenced by some aspect of the country’s Hindu religious beliefs and supported by royal patronage. 

This golden age of Thai literature came to an end with successive invasions of the country by the Burmese, French, and Japanese.  Nevertheless, the Thai have remained a religious, peaceful people, and these characteristics are reflected in their folktales.

Fortunately, just as Thailand is again beginning to flourish economically, so is its literary tradition.  As freedom has bloomed in Thailand so have the elaborate, intricate tales the Thai people have a natural talent for telling.  Today, Thailand’s young and elderly are rediscovering these amusing and enlightening tales.

The story of Phan.  Thailand’s King Kong of Si Wi Chai had a very lovely queen who one day gave birth to a healthy son.  Wise men, however, predicted that the boy would one day murder his father.  So King Kong ordered his most trusted officer to take the child into the forest and kill him.  The officer took the baby into the jungle and left him there, convinced that this way the child would perish.  Thus, he would not have to shed innocent blood.

Unbeknownst to him, in the jungle at that time lived an old woman called Phrom.  She heard the baby crying, found him, and took him home.  Her childless younger sister, Hom, adopted the baby and named him Phan.