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RABBIT AND THE FISH
When the farmer came to inspect his rice plants, he saw rows of destroyed saplings. He knew that a rabbit or some other animals ate his plants, so he set a trap to catch the culprit.
The next morning, Rabbit commited the same act of trespass and got caught by the man's trap. He did not know what to do, so he pretended to be dead.
When the farmer came and saw the dead rabbit caught in his trap, he was so happy, thinking that he would have rabbit meat to eat. The man hurriedly undid his trap, freed the dead rabbit and placed it beside him while he re-set the trap to the original position.
Rabbit was waiting for this opportunity. He sprang to his feet and escaped swiftly into the nearby woods. The farmer was very angry over Rabbit's trick and vowed to get even with Rabbit one day.
A few days later, Suphea Rabbit had such a strong craving for the tender saplings again that he forgot about the trap. This time when he got caught, there was no trick in the world that he could play to free himself from the farmer. The farmer made sure this time he took Rabbit home to his wife.
Once the farmer got home with the captive rabbit, his wife put Rabbit in an angrut so he could not escape. Angrut is a Khmer fishing basket made from closely-knitted bamboo slides with one end open wide so as to trap fish in shallow water. Soon after, the farmer's wife caught a live mud fish and kept the fish in a bucket close to where Rabbit was held captive. The husband and wife then went to the temple to pay their respects to the monks.
At the temple, the man thought of testing the monk's clairvoyance skill and he asked: "Dear reverend, could you look into our future and tell us what we will have for dinner today?"
The monk pulled a sheet of paper, asked some questions, scribbled a few figures on the paper, and then he responded without hesitation: "You will have nothing special, just your everyday meal."
Upon hearing this, the man said nothing to the monk. He just kept his thoughts to himself. He later uttered to his wife: "I thought he is good at clairvoyance. In fact, he is totally wrong."
Meanwhile, while the couple were away from home, Rabbit and Fish were talking to each other plotting an escape.
Fish said to Rabbit: "She will probably take me to the pond and start cleaning me."
Rabbit said: "Pretend to be stiff dead, so she will not be too careful handling you. When she places you onto the cutting board, quickly jump into the pond. By that time, she will absent-mindedly snatch the angrut to catch you and I will be freed from the angrut. Then we will both escape."
The fish thought that the plan was not only good but workable. So they both agreed to the scheme.
When the couple got home, the wife went to check the fish and saw it was totally dead and afloat in the water. So without much thought, she took a knife, cutting boad and the fish bucket to the pond by their house. She took the stiff dead fish out, placed it down on the cutting board, and started to clean the fish, when suddenly it slipped from her fingers and jumped into the pond. She panicked and screamed for her husband to bring the angrut to catch the fish.
The husband, upon hearing his wife's panicky scream, ran to snatch the angrut and forgot about Rabbit who was held captive beneath it. Once the angrut was lifted, Rabbit sprang to his feet and escaped into the hedges and back into the woods.
The couple then realized that the monk with whom they met was indeed very good at clairvoyance, as they lost both of their treats.
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