The tale of Khun Chang Khun Phaen : abridged

302 Pages·2015·3.15 MB·English

by  Christopher John Baker

The Tale of
Khun Chang Khun Phaen
ABRIDGED
TRANSLATED AND EDITED BY
Chris Baker and Pasuk Phongpaichit
CONTENTS
Preface iv
Principal characters viii
Three births 1
The deaths of the fathers 9
Phlai Kaeo is ordained 25
Phlai Kaeo meets Phim in a cotton field 37
Khun Chang asks for Phim’s hand 53
Phlai Kaeo goes into Saithong’s room 62
Phlai Kaeo marries Phim 76
Phlai Kaeo goes to war 85
Laothong is given to Phlai Kaeo 100
Phim changes her name to Wanthong 109
Siprajan gives Wanthong to Khun Chang 120
Khun Phaen and Wanthong quarrel 129
Khun Phaen states his case 141
Khun Phaen is parted from Laothong 151
Khun Phaen forges a sword 158
Khun Phaen enters, Khun Chang’s house 163
Khun Phaen flees with Wanthong 177
Khun Chang follows Wanthong 185
Khun Chang accuses Khun Phaen 196
Khun Phaen gives himself up 207
Khun Phaen is jailed 215
The birth of Phlai Ngam 227
Phlai Ngam volunteers 242
Phlai Ngam romances Simala 259
Khun Phaen rescues Phra Thainam 278
The capture of the King of Chiang Mai 294
The army returns home 304
The princesses are presented 319
The marriage of Phra Wai 329
Khun Chang is found guilty 342
Khun Chang petitions the king 351
The death of Wanthong 361
Glossary 377
Silkworm Books e-Publication 380
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
“Rich man’s house”
“Central Siam”
“Sugar palms”
“Monks clowning”
“Building sand stupas”
“Bathing jetty”
“Monks’ quarters”
“Eye-level shrine”
“Dowry boats”
“Camp in the forest”
“Betel tray”
“Abbot examining horoscope”
“Dowry procession”
“Canopy boat”
“Nobles at court”
“Palace ladies embroidering”
“Swords”
“Basin with fish”
“Banyan tree”
“Yantra”
“Elephant and howdah”
“Lotus seedpod”
“The full five irons”
“Soul ceremony”
“Porter with panniers”
“Looking glass”
“Shirt with yantra”
“Musicians asleep”
“Royal barge”
“Palace governesses”
“Monks chanting”
“Ordeal by water”
“A lord in a masked play”
“Incense, candles, and flowers”
PREFACE
Khun Chang Khun Phaen is the great classic of Thai literature. The plot is a love
story set against a background of war and ending in high tragedy.
The tale is set in Siam, the old name for Thailand, in the era when Ayutthaya
was the capital, or prior to 1767. Exactly when the tale is set and when it was
created are unknown. We believe it emerged around 1600, but that is no more
than an informed guess, and others have different theories.
The tale was originally recited by storytellers for local entertainment and
passed on by word of mouth, becoming very popular. Starting probably in the
eighteenth century, the court took up the tale and started writing it down. In the
early nineteenth century, court poets, including two kings of Siam, revised many
chapters. The first printed edition appeared in 1872, and the standard edition was
edited and published in 1917–18 by Prince Damrong Rajanubhab, a half-brother
of King Chulalongkorn (Rama V).
In 2010 we published the first-ever English translation of the tale, based on
Prince Damrong’s edition with over a hundred passages restored from other
versions, and with over two thousand footnotes to explain many unfamiliar
things, from dress and weapons to flora and magic.
The aim in this abridged edition is to tell the full story and leave out no scene,
incident, or significant speech. We have reduced the length by shedding detail,
repetition, and poetical flourishes. The one exception is at the start of the Chiang
Mai campaign, where the original has two and a half chapters about regional
diplomacy in which none of the main characters of the tale appear. We have
summarized this passage into a couple of paragraphs.
We also present the text without the distraction of footnotes, and with the
number of unfamiliar words reduced to a minimum (and explained in a glossary
at the back). For background, look up the Wikipedia entry for Khun Chang Khun
Phaen.
Much of the action takes place in two towns to the west of Bangkok. Suphan
(now Suphanburi) is a very old town that was important as a strategic and
religious center. Kanburi (which has been shifted and renamed Kanchanaburi)
was a frontier outpost defending the route between Siam and Burma.
The storytellers of the original tale often used flowers and trees as metaphors.
To retain the flavor of the metaphors, we have invented several new names for
these flowers and trees, including hiddenlover, secretscent, and pupil tree.
“Khun” is one of the lowest titles in the old Siamese official nobility. Khun
Phaen is named Phlai Kaeo at birth and receives his title after winning a military
victory. Khun Chang probably had a birth name but it does not appear in the
text. “Chang” means elephant. His father was a local keeper of the king’s
elephants and the name Khun Chang was probably a local nickname passed on
to his son.
“Chaophraya” and “Phraya” were the two highest titles in the old Siamese
nobility, held by ministers and governors of major provinces. “Phra” and
“Luang” were slightly lower titles.
At the time of the story, Lanna, with its capital at Chiang Mai, was a separate
country. Today “Lao” is the term for the people of Laos and the speakers of its
language. At the time of the story, the Siamese court used the term “Lao” to
refer both to the people of Lanchang (the old name of Laos) and to those of
Lanna.
In Buddhist ethics, people acquire merit by doing good deeds and acquire
demerit by doing bad deeds. The balance, often called karma, determines what
happens to a person after dying and becoming a spirit, including how that spirit
may be reborn for a future life and what might befall him or her there.
The original Thai version of the tale is in a verse form called klon with a
complex scheme of linked rhymes that crosses chapter boundaries. The very last
paragraph of this abridged translation is rendered in an English approximation of
the rhyming scheme that is used throughout the story.
The illustrations are by Muangsing Janchai, who has also painted a series of
murals on the tale in Wat Palelai, Suphanburi.
Rich man’s house
PRINCIPAL CHARACTERS
Suphan
Khun Krai Phonlaphai, a soldier Thong Prasi, his wife Phlai Kaeo, son of Krai
and Thong Prasi; later Khun Phaen; later Phra Kanburi Phlai Ngam, son of
Khun Phaen and Wanthong, later Phra Wai Woranat Phlai Chumphon, son of
Khun Phaen and Kaeo Kiriya Khun Siwichai, a local official in charge of
elephants Thepthong, his wife Khun Chang, son of Siwichai and Thepthong
Phan Sonyotha, a trader Siprajan, his wife Phim Philalai, daughter of
Sonyotha and Siprajan; later Wanthong
Saithong, foster-sister of Phim Ayutthaya
King Phanwasa, ruler of Ayutthaya Chaophraya Jakri, minister of the north
Phraya Yommarat, minister of the capital Phra Thainam, a military chief
Phramuen Si, one of the four heads of the royal pages Chiang Mai
King of Chiang Mai Apson Sumali, his queen Soifa, their daughter Saentri
Phetkla, a military chief Chomthong
Laothong, daughter of the headman of Chomthong village; wife of Khun Phaen
Sukhothai
Kaeo Kiriya, daughter of the governor; wife of Khun Phaen Lanchang
King of Lanchang Keson, his queen Soithong, their daughter Phichit
Phra Phichit, governor Busaba, his wife Simala, their daughter Moei, Simala’s
servant Central Siam

THREE BIRTHS
Sugar palms
This is the story of Khun Phaen, Khun Chang, and the fair Wanthong. Their
parents were subjects of King Phanwasa of Ayutthaya. Let us begin with the
births of these three characters.
At night, a wicked spirit at the top of a tree fashions human bodies by molding
and remolding, adding this and that to make them complete, in fits of laughter.
When beings who have suffered in hell for their bad karma are released from
torment, the spirit catches them, shapes them as humans, and slips each into a
womb.
Khun Siwichai, a provincial official in charge of elephants, was a rich man with
masses of wealth and many servants. Together with his wife, Thepthong, he
lived at Ten Cowries Landing in Suphan.
In her sleep, Thepthong dreamed that a bull elephant died and rolled down a
steep bank where its head became swollen and putrefied. A baldheaded adjutant
stork flew over from the forest, picked up the elephant in its beak, and set it
down in the hall where she slept. She called to the bird, “Come over here, bald
lord” and cradled both stork and elephant to sleep.
Waking up, she retched at the foul smell lingering on her chest, roused her
husband, and begged him to massage her neck. When she had recovered and
related the dream, Khun Siwichai interpreted it. “Well, you’ll be pregnant!
Nothing to worry about. Our child will be a boy. Our blessings are complete, my
love, but this child will be bald from birth. He’ll bring shame on us, yet will be
rich with cartloads of money.”
Thepthong did not want this kind of blessing. “By mother’s clan! Why should
I raise a bald baby?”
When Thepthong’s belly grew huge, she was constantly fidgeting in
discomfort. She craved liquor and raw meat salad, dribbled spittle like a hungry
ghost, and complained to her husband. “I feel that a spirit has taken over my
body. The more I eat, the more I want to eat.”