Long time ago there was a famous hermit. She had two students that were equally good. They were goddess Moni Mekhala and the giant Ream Eyso.

After teaching them for several years, the hermit wanted to gift her magic ball to one of them. She thought of a contest to find out which of her pupil were better than the other. So she told them both to bring her a glass full of dew drops the next morning. The one who reached her first will win the prize.

Moni and Ream both got up early for the contest.

They went outside, and Ream started plucking the leaves and started collecting the dew drops. Since he was bigger and stronger, he was able to do it really fast. After some time pleased with himself he thought that he was surely going to win. He said, “Surely my idea of collecting dew drops is exceptional.”

Moni smiled, and lifted the scarf from the wet grass and wrung it in the glass. She smiled, “Wonderful, isn’t it?”

She has left the scarf the previous night on the grass.

No prizes for guessing that Moni won the prize which was a magic ball of fire and the giant was given a magic axe as the second prize.

Ream turned green with jealousy and threw his axe at Moni. There was a loud noise as the axe moved towards the goddess. Moni looked up startled and threw her magic ball of fire. This cause sparks of fire and light fly through the sky to Ream. All this fire made Ream so hot that he could not stop sweating.

The sweat drenched everyone on earth.

This story explains a natural occurrence. Can you guess what it is?

This is a very famous Cambodian myth. In fact, it has been converted into a sacred drama which is performed as a dance recital.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zfz8Kgay98Q