Version 2 (related by Phau Champi, village elder and leader)
There was a ruler of a city called Myang Naung Haan and his name was
Phraya Korm.[5]
He had a daughter called Nang Ai and she was exceedingly
beautiful.
Phraya Korm decided to hold a rocket-firing competition in the sixth
lunar month (dyan hog peng), and ordered his subjects to make the necessary
preparations. Phadaeng, who lived in Myang Pong (and who was in love
with Nang Ai and she with him), made a rocket in order to participate;
so did Phraya Siang Hian, the ruler of the city of Siang Hian Fa Daed.
Phraya Korm also decided to be a competitor, and offered the wager
that the person whose rocket went up highest would be the winner and
would be awarded his daughter, Nang Ai; if his own went highest, Nang Ai
would not be awarded to anyone.
On the day of the competition, Thao Pangkee, the son of the Naga
ruler, came up (from his subterranean residence) to witness the competition
and he saw Princess Nang Ai and fell in love with her. Pangkee and Nang
Ai were in a previous life husband and wife, but Pangkee had not been
attentive to her (mai liow lae) and so they had separated. In this life in
turn Nang Ai did not pay any attention to Pangkee.
The results of the rocket-firing were as follows: Phraya Korm's rocket
exploded and did not go up; neither did Phadaeng's. Siang Hian was the
winner but since he was already married he did not take Nang Ai. Both
Phraya Korm and Phadaeng were depressed by the failure of their rockets, for
this was a bad omen and they feared that their subjects would not enjoy
prosperity and good health.
Pangkee, the Naga prince, still in love with Nang Ai, took the disguise
of a white squirrel (gahog daun), wearing a collar with a bell attached.
He was most beautiful to behold. He climbed up to the top of a tree.
Birds crowded round him because of his beauty. Princess Nang Ai saw
the squirrel and wanted very much to have it. A hunter was called to
shoot the squirrel, and he shot it. The squirrel fell down from the tree
and as it lay dying said in its last gasp to Nang Ai: `Why do you want to
eat the white squirrel's meat? Are you not afraid that the kingdom will
sink into the ground?'[6]
Phraya Korm and Phadaeng, and all the people, also heard the squirrel's
last words. When the people cut up the squirrel, its meat filled 8,000 carts.
All came to take away the meat except an old widow (mae mai) who was
late in coming. Phadaeng was surprised and apprehensive about the
squirrel's words, so he ordered Nang Ai to go away with him on a horse,
whose name was Bak Saam. He told her to bring with her the `good things'
(khong dee dee)[7]
of the city, namely ring (waen), gong (kong), and drum
(glong). They sped on horseback towards Phadaeng's town of Pha Pong.
Soon after they set out, the earth behind them cracked and sank down.
Phraya Korm's town was submerged and became the swamp Naung
Haan. The island in the middle of the swamp was the house of the old
widow who did not eat the meat. The hill is called noon mae mai. The
citizens who lived where the swamp Byng Chuan now stands, when they
heard about the squirrel meat, tried to persuade (chuan) one another to
go and take a share. While they were doing so, their town sank and became
the swamp Byng Chuan. The people of another town doubted (sang)[8]
as
to whether they should or should not go to take some meat: their town
sank and became the swamp Byng Sang.
Things happened to Phadaeng and Nang Ai as they were fleeing. After
some distance the horse, Bak Saam, became very tired and fell down and
died. This place was called Huay (tributary) Saam Paad. Phadaeng and
Nang Ai then started to walk, carrying the regalia with them. Because they
were heavy, Phadaeng asked Nang Ai to throw away the ring (waen), the
gong (
kong) and the drum (
glong): the place where the ring fell was called
swamp Naung Waen, and where the gong and drum fell Huay (tributary)
Nam Kong Glong Si. All these geographical features are in Kumpawapi
District, Udorn province.
