============================================================== To reach ALL SJD members, please send to sjd@satjadham.net ... Do NOT include any other addresses when sending to the list... Include as LITTLE of the original messages as possible........ Message sent by: Amphephone Phettaphong *** Announcement: *** Please register for SatJaDham Fifth Annual conference at the website http://www.satjadham.org/sjd5sd/ ============================================================== Sabaidii thook qon, As young Laotian, we all have been taught with these six simple words - First and foremost, learn to be virtuous then learn to be literate. We are reminded of these words from time to time for they formed the basic foundation of the our rites, culture and values. These often depicted by old folk tales which have been passed on from generations to generations. These folk tales highlight the traditional good morals, honesty and virtue. I intend to bringing these wonderfully traditional Folk Tales to everyone, especially those Laotian who were born here. Hopefully, these stories will bring back a little nostalgia of the Homeland to all of us. I had translated (the best I could!) some of these to English to accommodate our American-born Laotian as well as other English speaking people. Anyway, below is my B-Day Bash posting. The Snake & The Turtle Once upon a time at the river lived a snake and a turtle who bitterly hated each other. Each wanted to rule the whole the river as his own territory. They had fought with each other many times for control of the river without any compromise. The snake who was very greedy and proud of his fast and cunning move, always sneaking behind and waiting for a chance to kill the turtle by biting his neck. The turtle, even though very slow, had a very thick and strong protective armor. Thus, every time Snake made his move, Turtle withdrew his head inside the safe, protective armor. As the results, Snake could not kill nor does any harm to the turtle. The snake was very angry every time he went home defeated. He could not understand why Turtle's skin is so thick and strong that he couldn't bite nor break it. Because he was so greedy for control over the river, Snake ran out of patience. So, one day he decided to find out why he could not bite Turtle's neck, and what did Turtle do to make his skin so thick and strong. Snake thought to himself that will pretend nothing had happened and ask Turtle directly. However, Turtle knew of Snake's ill-intention, and resorted to trick by saying: "It's useless. You will never be able to bite my neck nor my skin because we, Turtles had an old family secret method of making our skin strong as steel." He then walked away without explaining any further. Snake was bitterly angry as he watched Turtle walked away. He vowed to himself that he will find out about this "old family secret" of Turtle, and promised to destroy Turtle after that for sure. So every night, he secretly sneaked close to Turtle's house to see what "secret method" that Turtle had been practicing that would make him invincible. Since Turtle knew Snake's ill-intentioned, he continued to play his trick by pretending that he didn't know Snake was watching him. Every night, Turtle purposely stood in front of his house slashing his head off using the wooden knife. In reality, Turtle did not cut his head off. He just withdrew his head inside his shell and waited for Snake to leave, then came out again. After watching Turtle's act, Snake was very excited that he finally knew a way of making himself invincible just like Turtle. So one day, he met Turtle and said: "I had finally knew about your "old family secret" that would make you invincible. However, I'm still not quite sure what you were doing. Could you explain it to me?" "I'll be happy to explain it to you." Turtle said. "It's really quite simple. It is actually an old practice of chopping your head off to make your skin invincible." Because of his cruel, avaricious, and selfish nature, Snake also wanted to be invincible like Turtle. He pretended to be disappointed and said to Turtle: "You are so lucky to have both arms and legs. I don't have the luxury of having arms to chop off my head." Turtle pretending to be helpful and unselfish, said: "If you don’t mind, I am willing to help." Snake was so delighted when Turtle offered his help. He thought to himself that he had tricked Turtle to reveal his secrets. He was excited that the moment has come for him to get rid of Turtle, but did not know the real danger was awaiting for him. The next day, Snake called all of his relatives to come to the bank of the river so they all could learn to be invincible. Turtle also called all of his relatives out to the river. Each was carrying a wooden knife and one by one cut off the head of each and every snake. Greed, selfishness, and boastful of his cunning nature had blinded Snake. He could not see the real danger was awaited him. Deeply involved with the notion of getting rid of Turtle so he could rule the river by himself had cost his own life. Have a good day, Amp _____________________________________________________________ = You want FREE web-based email ? = You want your own @qon.lao.net address?? = Then you want LaoNet's WebMail ! = Get it at http://webmail.lao.net !! _ ***************************************************************** Visit SatJaDham Homepage at: http://www.satjadham.org (or .net) *****************************************************************