Then she took a mango from the tree and began to eat it. Again, the stranger ran out of the jungle and he shouted at her: You cannot take my mangoes. Suddenly she screamed out loud and fell to the ground. At that moment, the headman came by and asked: This must be the tenth year for this tree. You must not eat the mangoes on it this year. The next morning, the village headman took the children into the jungle to the mango tree.
The stranger had gone, and he had taken his fence and his huge dogs with him. Once again, the children picked up the fruit, and carried them back to the village, laughing and singing because the tree was everybody's tree once more. A farmer went fishing one day. He had a long fishing net. Like other farmers, he wore a piece of cloth around his head. He cast his net, but he got nothing. He did it again and again, but he got nothing. There was not a single fish. He cast his net once, twice, thrice, but he got nothing. He cast his net for the last time and pulled up the net.
He pulled and he pulled. It was the most beautiful pebble that he had ever seen. So, he took the pebble home and placed it on the altar above his head. After dinner, he went to sleep. The next day, the white pebble had turned into a white swan. The swan approached the farmer and said, "I will take you to a place, a beautiful place, full of flowers. You can take whatever you like. So the swan began flapping its wings and flew off to the garden with the farmer sitting on its back.
Once there the farmer enjoyed the garden. He picked one flower and felt that it was heavy. He picked the second one and it got heavier. He picked the third one and it was even heavier. It will be too heavy for the swan to fly and take me home. The flowers were turned into gold! So, the farmer became a rich man. The news of his wealth reached the ears of his friend, who came to ask the farmer right away about how he had acquired his wealth. The farmer told his friend everything. The next day, his friend went to fish in the river with his long net.
Then, he found a white pebble in his net. He took the pebble home and placed it in his room. The pebble became the beautiful white swan who said to the second farmer: Once there the man picked the flowers, one, two, three. So he picked two arms' full of flowers and went to the swan. I will put these away and I will come back for more.
It was so heavy. The swan almost could not fly. He flew, swaying left and right with weight. But he was able to take the man to his house with difficulty. The man jumped off the swan's back and said, "Now, wait here. I will go back to the garden to pick more flowers. When he came back, the swan disappeared. He returned to his room, but he found. King Phrommathat of Pharanasi was once known for his greatness. His kingdom became the most prosperous and his people the most contented.
The king could give his people everything. The people of Pharanasi then went to have audience with their king daily, to recount their dreams from the previous night whereby the king fulfilled their every dream.
Big Brother Mouse
One day, an old man walked into the palace to have an audience with the king. The rich man's daughter is so young and beautiful. On his way home, he walked by the rich man's house to see the rich man's daughter. Once there, he said to the rich man, "I dreamed that I married your daughter last night and I have informed the king about it. He will arrange the wedding for me tomorrow. She said to the old man, "Oh, dear Grandfather, if the king orders us, we must follow his command. But we must wait for his order. Today, you must return to wait at your house first. When I receive the order from the king, I will be your wife.
The rich man asked his daughter, "Do you think you can really follow the king's command, my daughter? I cannot marry him, but we have to think of how to get out of this situation," she answered. They continued discussing the matter until late that night. Finally, the girl came up with a brilliant plan. They asked their gardener to help to execute the plan.
He was the first one on that day. So, he asked, "Your Majesty, is it true, as I was told, that you would grant your people their dreams? This is not right. You are just a gardener; how can you marry a queen? Now off with your arrogant head. Before the guards arrived, the gardener said, "Please have mercy on me. You already gave me your word that you would give me my dream. I am following your command. You cannot talk about right or wrong now. Even the old man who was old enough to be the girl's grandfather was allowed to be married to a young woman of fourteen. After awhile, he said, "All right, then, I will stop this command from now on.
You are not going to marry my wife.
The old man is not going to marry the rich man's daughter. Once long ago, a man lived alone in a village not far from a city. He was not yet married. He often spent his time dreaming. He owned a beautiful pot, very old, which he kept locked away in a big box near his bed. Every morning and every night he would open the box and took the pot out. He touched it with his hands, stroking it again and again, saying quietly to himself, "Oh my beautiful pot! You are my heart and I love you.
You are very valuable and without you I couldn't be happy. One morning he had just come from outside, and so he was holding his walking stick in his hand as he went to the box and took the pot out as usual. He held it, looking at it. Finally he put it on a table, quietly saying to himself, "Oh, my beautiful pot!
You are the most beautiful pot in the world. You are very valuable and if I sold you I would have a lot of money. He cried out involuntarily, " Oh yes, now I know what to do! What a wonderful thought! One part shall be for my living expenses. What shall I do with the other part? I'll buy a cow, big and strong.
Highlights
I'll look after her very well and she'll have a calf for me every year. Let me think, if I have her for ten years, how many cows will I have then? And this is not counting their calves as well; their numbers will increase every year! That's too many for me. Who will help me to look after them? I'll have to get married. I can see my wife, beautiful, and helpful to me. I'm not any common man; I'm a rich man and we live a loving and happy life.
I love my son very much and he is very clever. I love my wife and child as much as I love myself. I look after them well, providing them with food and clothing. They love me in return and we are a happy family Next year he'll go to school. I've prepared everything for him, his books, pens and pencils all in a beautiful school bag. He is a very good boy, intelligent and quick to learn.
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He is never naughty and always obeys me. We are very pleased when I take him to the school, with his new school bag. He enjoys his time at school. One day I am so busy that I have no time to take him to school. But the school is not far from my home so I let him go to school alone. I feel restless while he is away to school. Suddenly there is a dog running after him. I am angry with the dog and cry out, "You, good for nothing dog, how dare you bite my son! There was only the beautiful pot in front of him and the walking stick in his hands.
Thinking about the dog, he hit the pot with all his might, and it broke into many pieces! Suddenly he woke up, frightened from the day dream. What could he do? His pot had been broken. He wept with sadness, whispering to himself, "Oh dear, I have lost all hope. My beautiful pot is broken. What shall I do? Oh God, look upon me now, and please help me. I have ruined everything in my life! His pot was broken because he spent his time day dreaming, "building castles in the air. In the old days, parents sent their sons to live in the temple so that they could learn to read and write.
Some of them were ordained novices; they would be serving the older monks or the abbot of a temple. Early in the morning, they would be walking with the abbot or the monk through the village carrying alms or offerings from villagers. If they could not go, they would be sweeping or cleaning the temple ground and the kuti or the living quarters of the monks or the abbot. One day the abbot was going out to receive alms from the villagers and the novice was not ready, so he said to the novice.
Make sure that you don't let any chicken come near my living quarter. Remember, if there is any chicken dropping near my kuti, you will have to lick it clear," the abbot said firmly. Once the abbot was gone, the novice swept the temple ground and the kuti clean. Then he thought of a trick to play on the nagging abbot. He boiled brown sugar until it was very thick and dropped it on various spots near the abbot's kuti. After awhile the brown sugar got hardened and looked exactly like chicken droppings.
Then he sat and waited for the abbot. Later that morning, when the abbot arrived at his kuti, he saw the little drops all over the place, he became so mad. Look at all these droppings. Remember what I told you? Come and lick all of the droppings clear now," commanded the abbot. The novice ran quickly to the abbot and pretended to be upset. I will lick these droppings clear now. While licking he kept saying "Oh, this is good. So sweet, so sweet. When the novice was about to lick the last dropping, the abbot could no longer control his curiosity.
He said, "stop, wait, novice. Is it really sweet? It's really sweet, like brown sugar. I must say," said the novice. The abbot was quite old and he always liked to eat sweet things after meals. That day, no one offered dessert in his alm bowl. So, he said, "well, if it is so sweet. Let me try that last drop. So the abbot stooped down and licked that drop until it was all gone.
Now, Novice, tomorrow, get that multi-colored rooster here and make him drop more deliciously sweet droppings here," commanded the abbot. So, the next day, the abbot went to take alm in the village as usual, but he could not wait to get back to his kuti and to have more of the delicious chicken droppings for dessert. The novice happily followed the abbot's command. When the abbot got back to his kuti, he said, "now don't you touch those droppings.
I will have them after my morning meal. It's not like the drop I had yesterday. Another chicken must have come round to drop without my knowledge. Please try the next one," suggested the novice. And so the abbot tried almost every dropping, before he realized that he was fooled. Xiangmiang is a notorious trickster who was so clever that the king had to hire him to work in court.
But the king did not really like Xiangmiang. So he tried to find occasions to outwit Xiangmiang. One day the king thought of a plan. He called a meeting and he made an annoucement. If anyone could make me jump in the pond,. I would give a reward to him. They did not dare to accept the king's challenge. So the king turned to Xiangmiang. You are so clever; don't you want to try? I would not dare to make you jump in the pond at all. But, then Xiangmiang's voice stopped him from laughing. But if you were already in the pond, I am sure I could make Your Majesty come out of it.
Once Xiangmiang walked to a swamp near his village. He saw a snail moving slowly along the edge of the pond. Where are you going? I figure it must take you one month to reach the other edge of the swamp," said Xiangmiang. With that Xiangmiang laughed at the Snail. The snail looked up, feeling quite insulted. When do you want to have a race? The snail became quite nervous, but maintained his cool.
I want you to have time to get in shape for the race," said the snail. The snail became a little worried about the race. So, he went to his snail relatives for help. Other snails were more than happy to help because they would like to see the day that Xiangmiang was outwitted. The next day came. The snail was waiting at the edge of the swamp for Xiangmiang. When Xiangmiang arrived, the snail said, "Xiangmiang, since I am so small, it might be difficult for you to see where I am in the race.
Why don't you call my name after you have run for awhile and I will answer your call? You can call, 'Snail! Then, the race began. The snail began to move slowly and Xiangmiang ran off as fast as he could. Then, he looked back and could not see the snail. So, he called, "Snail! He is ahead of me.
I have to run faster. I am sure I can catch up with him easily," said Xiangmiang confidently to himself. He ran and ran and ran as fast as he could. After awhile, he looked back and could not see the snail. Xiangmiang began to feel a little concerned. I think I can still catch up with him," said Xiangmiang with some confidence.
So, he ran and ran and ran as fast as he could. Then, he called, "Snail! Xiangmiang became so exhausted and worried. I have to run even faster now," said Xiangmiang. So, he ran and ran and ran until legs could no longer carry him. Group members pay monthly fees which are used to buy tools, seeds, other inputs, and to support the marketing of produce.
But this money is not enough to allow for the much-needed new investment in new shade houses, to dig boreholes for irrigation or to buy machinery for land preparation, cultivation and mixing organic fertilizers. These were to help them i obtain credit or investment, ii to produce vegetables and fruit in the rainy season, and iii to improve their ability to market their produce. The lacking capacities for each were detailed, and a list of activities were agreed that would reinforce or build upon them.
These were then combined into a plan of action in a fully participatory process. Khanthanou Lorsavanh, the national innovation facilitator who leads this niche, said the greatest need of these farmers is to increase their ability to grow vegetables in the rainy season. The monsoon conditions are so different that most vegetable farmers find it especially difficult during this period, and because of this, the price of vegetables is very high as compared with the dry season.
But Khanthanou explained that his support was not just as a provider of technical information, and that CDAIS had equipped him with many other skills that he was now passing on to the farmers.
Seasonal fruit salad Laos style - Stray Asia - Southeast Asia Adventure Travel
And each of the farmers was able to repay the one-year loans within seven months. This success has inspired others, and next year, 15 vegetable growers plan to increase their production by taking out loans from the same microfinance institute to build more shade houses. They met, and first agreed on what crops they were going to grow, but they also agreed on what they did not know , and what training they needed. This included how to make organic fertilizers, and the best pest and disease control methods. They also agreed to divide certain tasks.
Boys said that they would work on land preparation and watering, the girls said they would sow and weed, and they would work together on transplanting. They prepared daily working schedules for before and after school, and on weekends. Their markets are also growing thanks to social media, and help from the youth. Now the group sells four different vegetable baskets each month to make traditional recipes: