One day, K'Sung fell asleep. When he woke up, the sun was already high in the sky. He quickly went to the klong (a place where water gathers and stagnates) to see the fish traps. When he got there, he saw that all the fish had been taken from the traps. He put the traps back and went home.
The next day, K'Sung woke up early and went out to the klong to look at the fish, but he didn't see any fish in the basket. The next day, K'Sung woke up even earlier to go out to the klong. K'Sung hid in the bushes for a while and saw two beautiful young girls emerging from the klong and going to take the fish from his basket. He quickly ran to hug and catch them. He grabbed their hands, but their hands were very slippery, so they slipped away. K'Sung grabbed their legs, but their feet were also very slippery, so they escaped and jumped into the klong. After the two girls left, K'Sung carefully put the basket back and went home. When he got home, K'Sung said to his grandmother:
- Tomorrow morning, wake up early and cook sticky rice for me.
The next morning, K'Sung woke up very early, he smeared sticky rice all over his hands and went out to the klong. The two girls from yesterday surfaced again. K'Sung waited for the two girls to empty the fish in the net before running out from the bushes and grabbing their hair. The two girls were caught and said:
- We took your fish, we will pay whatever compensation you want.
- You stole my fish, now give me back your Ding Kriet (a fish basket made of bamboo, worn on the side).
- We don't have Ding Kriet, we only have a sacred talisman. If you blow this talisman on anything like gongs, jars, buffaloes, cows... you will get them.
- I agree.
The two girls gave him the talisman and said:
- If you don't believe this amulet is sacred, then blow on the flock of birds eating corn.
K'Sung blew a magic charm at the flock of birds, the flock of birds eating corn suddenly stood still like statues and fell to the ground. K'Sung was very happy, he let the two girls go and went home. On the way back, he saw an elephant eating grass, so he blew a magic charm, the elephant suddenly stood still, not moving. K'Sung happily sat and waited for the elephant's owner to come find the elephant. That evening, the elephant's owner went to look for the elephant and saw the elephant standing still like a statue, he was scared. No matter what he tried, he couldn't make the elephant move, so he went home. The whole group discussed, wondering why it was like that. K'Sung saw that and said to the elephant's owner:
- If I can lead the elephant home, you must give me the elephant.
The elephant owner replied:
- I accept that, as long as the elephant comes back to life normally.
K'Sung went to the elephant, took out a magic charm and blew on it, the elephant returned to normal and continued eating grass. K'Sung led the elephant home. When K'Sung led the elephant to the elephant owner, the owner gave K'Sung the hook and the elephant saddle. News of K'Sung's strange ability spread throughout the village.
Some time later, a rich man brought out a Rlung jar to dry. K'Sung passed by and saw ten precious jars. K'Sung took out a charm and blew on them, then left. When the afternoon came and the weather was cool, the owner of the house went out to take the Rlung jar and put it away, but no matter how hard he tried, the jar would not move, because it was stuck to the ground. They did not know what to do, so they called K'Sung and said:
- Hey! K'Sung! Go pick up the Rlung jar! We can't get it, if you can get it, I'll give it to you.
K'Sung came and blew the charm and took all the jars home. Some time later, the village held a festival. Everyone displayed many precious gongs and jars. K'Sung came again and blew on the gongs and jars, making it impossible for everyone to move the jars or play the gongs. They called K'Sung again and said:
- Hey! K'Sung! Go pick up the Rlung jar and gong and play the gong! We can't pick up the jar or play the gong. If you can get it, I'll give it to you.
Sung blew the spell and took all the gongs, jars and many other precious things home. K'Sung became rich, had the most precious gongs and jars in the village.
One day, the whole group went to the krao together. When they reached the stream, K'Sung noticed that H'Klong was very beautiful. H'Klong was married, but K'Sung liked her very much, so he tried to get close to her and blew a magic charm on her. H'Klong became stiff like a statue. Her husband and family did not know what to do, so they just stood by her. K'Sung went up and said:
- If everyone lets me get H'Klong, I will find a way to make her return to normal.
Her husband H'Klong replied:
- I had to accept you marrying my wife so that my wife could return to normal.
K'Sung took out a talisman and blew it on H'Klong and she turned back into a normal person. K'Sung took H'Klong home. After K'Sung left, H'Klong's family discussed:
- If we break up, we must have a small chicken and a jar to bring back.
Then they and everyone in the village went to K'Sung's house. K'Sung and his wife welcomed everyone kindly. When he learned of their request, K'Sung took out a charm and blew it, making them all numb, then went to work. That night, when K'Sung came home from work, he took out a charm and blew it on everyone, making them return to normal, and said:
- Everyone go home!
H'Klong's ex-husband's family and everyone else left angrily. After a while, they discussed again:
- This won't do, K'Sung has married H'Klong, we have to go and ask for a chicken and a jar.
They went to K'Sung's house and said:
- Can we come in?
- Yes, I can. K'Sung replied.
But before they could even step foot in the door, K'Sung blew a spell that froze them. K'Sung left them like that all night until the next morning, then blew a spell to restore them to normal and sent them home.
The group was still feeling resentful for losing their wives and children without getting anything. Some time later, they went to K'Sung's house again but were again cursed and sent back like the last time. At this time, H'Klong felt sorry for his parents, his ex-husband and the village. One day, K'Sung went to a neighbor's house, so H'Klong took out a magic charm from the tube and hid it on his person. When K'Sung came back from playing, when K'Sung sat down, H'Klong took out a charm and blew it, K'Sung was frozen and couldn't move, just sitting in one place. H'Klong went to inform everyone in her ex-husband's family and everyone came to get their belongings that K'Sung had taken. H'Klong's husband's family also chopped off K'Sung's legs and arms and threw them into the swamp. Now, K'Sung's family only had a weak old grandmother. One day, everyone in the village invited K'Sung's grandmother to go to the swamp to catch fish at night:
- Grandma! Go catch fish! Don't be sad about your grandson! Go catch fish.
Grandma and everyone else went fishing. Everyone else caught a lot of fish, but she couldn't catch any. She fished and fished and fished and fished and fished and fished and fished and fished. After a while, she caught a human collarbone, threw it away, and fished again. The second time, she still caught the collarbone, and threw it far away. The third time, she fished and still saw the bone, so she picked it up and put it in the basket. From then on, she caught a lot of fish. She fished until noon, filled her basket, and then went home. When she got home, she cooked fish and ate her fill, and then went to sleep. While she was sleeping, she dreamed that K'Sung said:
- Here is K'Sung, Grandma! Please take my collarbone and put it in the Kring Kriet (a bamboo basket, not worn on the hip) on the shelf in the kitchen.
She woke up and did as K'Sung had said in her dream. She took the Kring Kriet containing K'Sung's bones and placed it on the shelf in the kitchen. That night, at midnight, the Kring Kriet broke open and there was a baby lying there crying "...oe...oe...oe...". She was sleeping upstairs and heard the crying so she ran down to the kitchen and saw a baby boy without arms or legs. She picked up the baby and wrapped him carefully in a blanket. She named the boy K'Tar Lút (meaning without arms or legs).
One month, then two months, one year, then two years, three years... the boy K'Tar Lút had grown up. One day, a young man in the village came to invite K'Tar Lút:
- Hey K'Tar Lút! Go cut trees to make beams.
K'Tar Lút said to her:
- My friends asked me to go chop trees to make rafters. Will you let me go?
- Poor grandchild! He has no legs or arms, how can he walk? People climb the newly cut tree, how can he climb? Grandmother said.
- I can do it, grandma. K'Tar Lút affirmed.
- If you like, you can go. She agreed.
K'Tar Lút followed the young men into the forest. Everyone helped him cut down trees and then at noon they had lunch together. After finishing their meal, they saw two sisters, H'Vinh and H'Klong, fishing downstream. The two sisters were fishing and laughing "ha...ha...ha...ha". A young man said:
- I'm so annoyed with those two sisters H'Vinh and H'Klong. They keep catching fish all day long and laughing "ha...ha...ha...ha". I wonder which guy will marry them in the future.
Another young man said:
- Now let's challenge each other to see who will marry the two cousins. If anyone throws two star fruit that fall from the tree, that person will marry the two cousins. One person threw, two people threw, three people threw... twenty people threw but no one threw two star fruit. Only K'Tar Lút has not thrown yet. Everyone said:
- Everyone threw it all without hitting, now it's K'Tar Lút's turn to see if he hits it?
- I'm like this, how can I throw it away? Even if I could, my cousins still wouldn't want to marry me.
- Just throw it away!
K'Tar Lút threw two plums down.
Seeing that K'Tar Lút, who had no arms or legs, was able to throw down two plums, the young men became jealous. They told each other to take a stick and hit K'Tar Lút. K'Tar Lút fainted, and everyone left. The next morning, K'Tar Lút woke up, feeling angry and said:
- Because of two toads that people almost killed.
K'Tar Lút used all his strength to kick the two star fruit into the stream and then rolled back. The star fruit drifted to where the two sisters H'Vinh and H'Klong were catching fish. Seeing the star fruit, the two sisters picked it up, ate it, and then went home. After a while, the bellies of the two sisters H'Vinh and H'Klong grew bigger. The father of the two sisters, K'Sieng, asked:
- Are you two pregnant? Who did you sleep with to get pregnant? Now go find the father of your unborn child.
H'Vinh, H'Klong replied:
- We are not familiar, we have not slept with anyone. I don't understand how we got pregnant, dad. H'Vinh, H'Klong replied.
Mr. K'Sieng asked again and again but the two girls still said:
- We didn't sleep with anyone.
Mr. K'Sieng had to give up. After a while, H'Vinh and Klong gave birth to sons and named them K'Sai and K'Gioong. One month, two months... then the two children could hold on to the stick and walk. At this time, K'Sieng thought of a way to find the father of his two grandchildren. He told all the boys in the village to make a knife and stick it into a long bamboo stick. K'Tar Lút also made a knife but it was very ugly. When the knives were stuck into the bamboo stick, he let K'Sai and K'Gioong hold on to the bamboo stick and walk. They kept walking past the beautiful knives without taking any to play with. When they came to the place where K'Tar Lút's ugly knife was stuck, they fought over it. Mr. K'Sieng was very sad and did not want to believe it. He told the young men to put their combs into the bamboo stick and let the two children hold on to the tree and walk. The two children kept walking past the beautiful combs without stopping to play. When they came to K'Tar Lút's comb, they fought over it. Mr. K'Sieng still wanted to try. He told the young men to put the hairpin on the bamboo stick and let the two children walk past the beautiful hairpins without stopping to play. When they came to K'Tar Lút's hairpin, they stopped and fought over it. Mr. K'Sieng said to his two daughters:
- Surely K'Tar Lút is the father of the two children. But in the past, when I asked you, you kept denying it. You married K'Tar Lút who has no arms or legs, how can you make a living, how can you raise your children? Now, after finding your husband, finding your father, then leave this village and make a living for yourself. Take this featherless chicken with you! Go far away from home, don't stay near here.
At this time, K'Tar Lút's grandmother had passed away. K'Tar Lút and his wife and children went into the forest. In the forest, K'Tar Lút asked his two wives:
- Is this ok?
- No. H'Vinh, H'Klong replied.
They continued on, stopping at the lower reaches of the river to build a hut. They cleared the forest to make fields. Every day, K'Tar Lút's two wives went to work in the fields, while K'Tar Lút stayed home to sharpen knives and axes for his wife and look after the children.
One day, two sisters H'Vinh and H'Klong were weeding the fields when a monkey came and said:
- Hey H'Vinh, H'Klong! Are you clearing land here?
- Yes! We clear the fields here. H'Vinh, H'Klong replied.
- Have you two sharpened your knives yet? The monkey asked again.
- It's sharpened, our husband K'Tar Lút sharpened it. H'Vinh, H'Klong replied.
- No legs, no arms, how can you sharpen a knife? Let me sharpen it for you. The monkey said again.
H'Vinh and H'Klong gave the knife to the monkey. The monkey took the knife and made it duller, then gave it back to H'Vinh and H'Klong. The two sisters tried to cut the grass but it did not cut. They angrily said to the monkey:
- Why are you sharpening the knife like this?
The monkey gave the knife to H'Vinh and H'Klong, then went back to K'Tar Lút's family hut and said to K'Tar Lút:
- Hey K'Tar Lút! H'Vinh, H'Klong told me to cook sticky rice and boil eggs for them to eat.
K'Tar Lút heard that and immediately went to cook sticky rice, boiled chicken eggs and gave them to the monkey to take to his wife. The monkey took them and ate them all along the way.
The next morning, K'Tar Lút sharpened the knife for his wife to use in the field. While she was weeding the field, the monkey came to ask to sharpen the knife for H'Vinh and H'Klong again, but this time H'Vinh and H'Klong did not allow it and said:
- Yesterday, you brought our knife to be sharpened and it became very dull, we won't let you sharpen it anymore.
- This time I will definitely sharpen it. The monkey said again.
H'Vinh and H'Klong gave the knife to the monkey, but the monkey took it and made it even duller. The monkey gave the knife back to them and went back to the hut to see K'Tar Lút and said:
- Hey K'Tar Lút! Please cook sticky rice and boil eggs for me to eat because I sharpened the knife for your wife.
From then on, every day the monkey came to eat sticky rice and boiled eggs. One day, H'Vinh and H'Klong came home from work and looked at the chicken coop and said:
- Where did all the eggs in the nest go?
K'Tar Lút said:
- Oh, every day the monkey comes and asks me to cook sticky rice and boil eggs for them to eat because it sharpened knives for the two of them.
The next day, while H'Vinh and H'Klong were clearing the fields, the monkey came to ask to sharpen the knife again. The two sisters gave the knife to the monkey again, the monkey took it to sharpen it and gave it back to them. After that, the monkey went back to the hut to meet K'Tar Lút and asked for sticky rice and boiled eggs. K'Sai and K'Gioong were older now, they were so angry with the monkey that they tied him up. K'Tar Lút was angry that the monkey had tricked him so he wanted to kill him. The monkey said:
- Don't kill me, I have a way to make you handsome.
- So what do you do? K'Tar Lút asked,
- Just untie me and I will do it for you. The monkey said again.
K'Tar Lút told the two to untie the monkey. The monkey took water to bathe K'Tar Lút, and immediately K'Tar Lút became strong and handsome with arms and legs. At this time, the monkey said:
- I love your family so I came here.
Then the monkey used magic to turn the forest into a crowded, wealthy village with many buffaloes and cows. The monkey gave K'Tar Lut a beautiful, wealthy house with the most buffaloes and cows. Then the monkey used magic to make it rain so that the two sisters H'Vinh and H'Klong could return home. When H'Vinh and H'Klong saw that it was about to rain, they stopped working and went home. They followed the old road but when they arrived, they did not see the hut, only saw strange people so they went back to the field. Klong said to his sister:
- We are on the right track, sister.
They went back together but when they got there they didn't see the hut, only a strange group of people. H'Vinh said:
- Not.
They returned to the field. When it was dark and his wife had not returned, K'Tar Lút told his two children:
- You kids go find your mother, she must be lost and doesn't know where she lives.
K'Sai and K'Gioong welcomed their mother home and said:
- This is my house, Mom. The monkey that always comes to sharpen knives for you.
From then on, the K'Tar Lút family was no longer poor. One day, the two sisters H'Vinh and H'Klong said to their husbands:
- It's been a long time since we've seen our parents. Now our family is no longer hungry, so let's go and welcome our parents to live with us.
K'Tar Lút agreed and went with his wife. When they arrived home, Mr. K'Sieng and everyone was surprised because K'Tar Lút was very beautiful. Mr. and Mrs. K'Sieng agreed to follow their children to the new village. One day, the village held a festival, K'Tar Lút's mother-in-law saw that her son-in-law was handsome and wanted to marry him. One day, when she knew that K'Tar Lút was going to the stream, she told her two daughters:
- Mom goes to the stream to get water.
- There's still water in the house, why do you have to go get more? H'Vinh, Klong said.
She still insisted on going to get water. H'Vinh and H'Klong had to let their mother go. When they got near the stream, she pretended to be in pain, lay down on the ground and cried:
- Oh! I'm in so much pain, I can't walk, I can't stand.
Seeing that their mother was taking a long time to get water, H'Vinh and H'Klong went out to welcome her but she refused to go home. When K'Tar Lút arrived, she said:
- Mom is sick.
- Where does it hurt, Mom? K'Tar Lút asked:
- Pain in the stomach, pain in the butt. Massage it to relieve the pain, she said.
- I am your son-in-law, I cannot massage you. K'Tar Lút replied.
Having said that, K'Tar Lút left. When he got home, he saw his two children sleeping. K'Tar Lút told his wife everything and said:
- There! That's your mother! I don't like it! I don't like it here! I want to go.
K'Tar Lút and his two wives H'Vinh and H'Klong flew up to the sky. H'Vinh and H'Klong's mother returned but did not see her children, only her two grandchildren sleeping. A while later, K'Sai and K'Gioong woke up and did not see their parents so they cried. H'Vinh and H'Klong felt very sorry for their children crying but did not know what to do. K'Tar Lút told his wife:
- You two milk down for the children to drink.
The two sisters milked the milk that flowed down to the earth to form a pond. Every day, the two children went to the pond to drink the milk. One day, K'Tar Lút released a chicken into the pond and it turned into a tadpole. The two children saw the tadpole, caught it, brought it home, put it in a tube, and played with it all day. A person saw the two children playing with the tadpoles all day long and said:
- Oh Sai! Oh Giong! Give it to me! Give it to me! Give me the tadpole and I'll exchange it for a chicken.
The two children said:
- Let me ask grandma.
They ran to their grandmother and asked:
- Grandma! Can the man ask for our tadpole in exchange for a chicken?
- Yes, she replied.
After listening to her, the two children walked away talking:
- I give! I give!
Suddenly, they stumbled over a rock and fell, and said:
- I won't let you! I won't let you!
Coming to the tadpoles, they said:
- She doesn't give.
The next day, someone came to ask to exchange a pig and then a buffalo. They all went to ask their grandmother, but after tripping over a rock and falling, they said, "Grandma won't let me." One day, someone brought a spinning top and showed it to them. They were very excited. The other person said:
- Oh Sai! Oh Giong! Give it to me! Give it to me! Give me the tadpole and I'll exchange it for this top.
The two children said again:
- Let me ask grandma.
They ran to their grandmother and asked:
- Grandma! Can the man ask for our tadpole in exchange for a chicken?
She replied:
- Chicken, dog, pig, buffalo will not be exchanged, what will you get for that thing? No give.
After listening to her, the two children walked away talking:
- I won't let you! I won't let you!
As they were walking, they stumbled over a rock and fell, and said:
- I give! I give!
Coming to the tadpoles, they said:
- I give it to you.
The two brothers took the top home. They played with it all day long without getting bored and refused to do anything. One day, the grandmother went into the forest to pick vegetables and accidentally saw a mound of earth with lots of mushrooms. She picked the mushrooms and brought them home to cook. She secretly took the top and hid it in the nest of a hen that was sitting on it. The two children asked:
- Do you cook any soup?
- There is nothing to eat. Cook some rice and eat it.
K'Gioong said to him:
- She must have cooked my toys. Let's go hide and die. We can't live without our toys.
They went to the river together and called:
- Water! Come here! Up to the white rocks, up to our feet, up to our knees. We died because you hid the ticks in the nest of the brooding hen.
They kept calling like that until the water rose up to cover the white rock, to cover their feet, to cover their knees, to cover their waists. When the water reached their necks, they called again:
- Grandma! Look, we're flooded!
Grandma heard her grandchild calling and ran over:
- Children! Children! Your cockroaches are hidden in the chicken coop, come on up.
Before she finished speaking, the water had already covered the two children's heads. They died and floated away. Seeing this, H'Vinh and H'Klong blamed their husbands:
- Our children are dead in the water. We told them to take us with us but they didn't.
K'Tar Lút said:
- Oh! I feel so sorry for you! We have to rely on pigeons.
K'Tar Lút calls the dove:
- Dove! Please bring this magic charm down and blow it to bring our two children back to life.
The bodies of the two children drifted a short distance before someone picked them up. A dove swooped down and blew a magic charm on them, bringing them back to life. They took each other back home with their grandmother. A year, two years, three years... passed, and the two brothers grew up. One day, the two brothers came to their grandmother and said:
- We are grown up and want to get married.
- Who do you want to marry?
K'Sai and K'Gioong said:
- I heard that there are two girls named H'Nghêr and H'Nghôr who are the most beautiful in the world. We want to marry them. Please give us a basket of rice to go find a wife.
The two brothers K'Sai and K'Gioong carried rice and walked and walked until they met Mr. Pang Jut. Mr. Pang Jut asked:
- Where are you two going?
- We are looking for the two most beautiful girls in the world, H'Nghêr and H'Nghôr, to be our wives.
- Misses H'Nghêr and H'Nghơr are working in the fields over there. They will pass by here when it gets dark. You guys stay here and wait.
The two brothers stopped to rest and wait for H'Nghêr and H'Nghơr to come home from work. It was almost dark when K'Sai and K'Gioong saw a beautiful girl passing by. Mr. Pang Jut said:
- That's the God of Corn!
Next, the two boys saw the girls, the god Bau, the god Pumpkin, the god Blue Pumpkin, and the god Lua. The two boys saw that Miss Ngo and Miss Bau were of average beauty; Miss Pumpkin was petite, Miss Blue Pumpkin was short and ugly, and Miss Lua was prettier than the others but had rough skin. After Miss Lua, the two boys saw two very beautiful girls passing by and said:
- It must be the two sisters H'Nghêr and H'Nghôr!
Mr. Pang Jut said:
- No. Those are two Cao Rang flowers from our world.
It was almost dark when the two men saw two girls more beautiful than all the girls who had just passed by. At that moment, Mr. Pang Jut said:
- There! Those are the two girls H'Nghêr and H'Nghor!
The two girls H'Nghêr and H'Nghôr were so beautiful that the two young men could only exclaim:
- Oh! So beautiful!
It was dark, the two brothers transformed into two fireflies and flew to the house of the two girls H'Nghêr and H'Nghôr. When they arrived at the house, the two fireflies transformed into K'Sai and K'Gioong, sleeping on the two girls' bed. The two girls H'Nghêr and H'Nghôr saw two handsome men sleeping in the house and guessed:
- Who is sleeping in my house? Maybe it's the two most famous brothers K'Sai and K'Gioong.
At that moment, Mr. Pang Jut arrived and said:
- That's right! These are the two brothers K'Sai and K'Gioong. They are looking for you two, wanting to marry you two.
Mr. Pang Jut woke up the two brothers K'Sai and K'Gioong. They got married and became husband and wife. Every day, the two brothers Sai and Gioong went hunting and farming while the two sisters H'Nghêr and H'Nghơr stayed home weaving and cooking. After a while, the two brothers K'Sai and K'Gioong told their wives:
- I want to go back to my parents, my parents are K'Tar Lút and H'Vinh, H'Klong in heaven.
H'Nghơr and H'Nghơr agreed. They flew up to the sky together. Seeing that their children had grown up and had beautiful wives, K'Tar Lút, H'Vinh and H'Klong were delighted and held a grand wedding for their children. From then on, they lived happily together forever.
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