Why the owl always looks so gloomy (From: Stimulating stories from Northern Thailand; nr 52)
This is a story about the 'Flame of the Forest' tree (*). This tree belonged to the ruler and bore many legumes. One day a monkey came and shook the tree. All the pods fell out. Plop!
Three very simple souls… (From: Stimulating stories from Northern Thailand; no. 51)
He was a smart man, and he had a goat. He set fire to a pile of rubbish and the next morning he spread the warm ashes and embers on the ground and then threw them into the river. He lived close to the Ping River. Then he swept the ground clean.
The Karen who pooped on the mattress (From: Stimulating stories from Northern Thailand; no. 50)
This story is about a young woman. One day a Karen man passed by selling water buffaloes. Karen often have a buffalo, you know. He asked if he could sleep in her house but she wouldn't let him in.
That's what you do to a bald cracker! (From: Stimulating stories from Northern Thailand; no. 49)
Long ago, there was a man who could cure baldness. Now I don't talk negatively about bald people, you know, because I'm bald myself. Anyway, he could cure bald people of baldness but you had to pay for it. Goods and fifteen rupees. Rupees were then in use. So bald people came to him to get their hair back.
Because you look like my mother… (From: Stimulating stories from Northern Thailand; nr 48)
The man had been walking all day and was hungry. He knocked at a house and asked to eat some steamed glutinous rice. The old woman in the house went into the garden to pick a banana leaf to wrap the rice. She had already taken the rice cooker off the heat.
The Kathin ceremony at the end of the Pansa, Buddhist Lent, Lent. The public provides new robes and offerings to the monks. A very important event.
A Buddha statue with balls (From: Tantalizing stories from Northern Thailand; nr 46)
A monk had his eyes on the mother of one of the novices. He was in love. Whenever the novice brought his mother's offerings to the temple, he would say, "All these gifts are from my mother," and the monk would repeat it loudly each time. "Offering from this novice's mother."
How a cat catches a mouse (From: Tantalizing stories from Northern Thailand; no. 45)
Was that a mouse that bit the cat or….. Titillating tales from Northern Thailand. White Lotus Books, Thailand. English title 'The cat has caught a mouse.'
Sweet nothings in Nan
The province of Nan in the far north of Thailand, slightly tucked away against the border of Laos, is one of rural beauty with rustic Thai charms.
The Khamu who listens to the Vessantara Jataka (From: Tantalizing stories from Northern Thailand; nr 44)
A Khamu listened to the reading of the Vessantara Jataka for the first time. (*) The monk came to the Maddi chapter, in which Prince Vessantara gives up his two children to a Brahmin priest who binds their hands and pushes them before him. The monk read: "Sorrow trumped, and the children had tears in their eyes."
This is again about a monk. No, not a monk in our temple again, remember! Another temple – very far away. This monk closely guarded a breadfruit tree on the temple grounds. And should the tree bear ripe fruit, he would not let anyone near that tree.
The monk with a woman's sarong around his head (From: Stimulating stories from Northern Thailand; nr 42)
This is about a monk. No, not the monk in our temple, good heavens no! Another temple – very far away. And that monk had sex with a woman. He was her lover.
The village is now called Nong Kheng but it used to be called Nong Khuaj Deng or 'Red Dick Pond'. It was a city then, too, with a king and everything. You can still see a kind of mound where the city used to be.
Another story about someone who wanted to sleep with his older brother's wife. She was pregnant, and her husband was on a business trip. But how could he bring that neatly?
When the world was still peaceful… (From: Stimulating stories from Northern Thailand; nr 39)
This happened a very long time ago. Then all animals, trees and grasses could still speak. They lived together according to Indra's (*) law: if an animal dreams that it is eating something delicious, then the next day that dream may come true. And the animals acted accordingly.
Why doesn't your big toe have a nail? (From: Stimulating stories from Northern Thailand; nr 38)
This is about a monk who lived in the temple for a very long time. He was strict with his novice Chan. At that time, the sacred scriptures were written on dried palm leaves. When the monk got up in the morning, he took a metal engraving needle and sat down at a desk with a palm leaf on it.
You don't give a worm to a caught fish, do you? (From: Stimulating stories from Northern Thailand; nr 37)
This is a story about a member of the Khamu tribe. They are Laotians and live in Vientiane (*). Laos used to be less developed and it was difficult to get around there. Their income was only three rupees a year. Yes, in those days rupees were used. (**)