The Mountain of Golden Earth
A folktale from Kampong Chhnang Province
A story handed down in Kampong Chhnang about how the region's pottery began.
Long ago, at the foot of a mountain, there was a poor village that had water only in the rainy season. The land was no good for farming, so when the dry season came, the people dug deep wells and drew up water with bamboo tubes. That is why, it is said, the village came to be called by a name meaning "well" and "bamboo."
Seeing how hard the villagers lived, a certain god decided to lend them a hand in secret.
Taking the form of an old man, the god appeared in the village. With his mysterious power he made pots, plates and water jars one after another and handed them out to the villagers. Thanks to him, life in the village quickly became richer.
But as life grew easier, the villagers stopped working. At every festival they received dishes from the old man, used them carelessly and soon broke them.
Realizing this would do the villagers no good, the god one day shut the door of the storehouse where the tools were kept, tight.
Then the god gathered the villagers and told them: "Gold, silver and treasure that once spilled from the heavens lie sleeping in this mountain. If you want them, dig them out with your own hands."
Half in doubt, the villagers went into the mountain and dug the earth. They kneaded the clay into whatever shapes they liked, formed it into pots and water jars, and fired them. The finished vessels shone as beautifully as gold.
Word spread, people came from far away to buy the pottery, and the village grew prosperous through its craft. The people named the mountain "the Mountain of Golden Earth," built a shrine as a sign of their gratitude, and they still visit it with care to this day.
The end.
About this story
Kampong Chhnang Province is still known as one of Cambodia's leading pottery regions. This folktale tells the origin of the pottery-making that local people hold dear, and we turned it into a picture book together with NyoNyum, an information magazine based in Phnom Penh.
Its lesson, that people cannot truly prosper by relying on what is handed to them without working, is one we find thought-provoking when thinking about how aid should be given.