Line drawing illustrating the Buddha and the novice

Folktales and other forms of folk wisdom are a rich resource of moral ideas of a particular community. They (Folktales) are not just mere stories. They encode standards of what is right and wrong. They teach, encourage, warn, and invite the readers or listeners to adopt a particular type of social behavior and attitudinal orientation.

If you have been to Bangkok, Thailand, you might have been told about Koh Kred, an island in the middle of the Chao Phraya River.

Koh means island in Thai. The Mon have been living on this island for sevceral hundread years.

I have talked to the Mon people on Koh Kred and alked them to tell me the stories that they have been told or the ones that they could still remember. This is a form of oral historical investigation.

This wikibook is bilingual (Thai and English).

Table of Contents

คำนำ (Introduction)

1. เณรปล่อยปลา (The Buddhist Novice and the Dying Fish)
2. อิสสะราย (Issarai)
3. ตำนานเรือสำเภา (Legend of the Junk)
4. พระบัวเข็ม (The Buddha with Needles)
5. ตำนานผีตาโบ๋ (Legend of the Ghost with Hollowed Eyes)
6. ขโมยหัวแหลม (The Cunning Burglar)
7. สะใภ้จอมโลภ (The Greedy Daughter-in-Law)

บรรณานุกรม (Bibliography)

กิตติกรรมประกาศ (Acknowledgements)

สุภาษิตคำพังเพยมอญ (Mon Proverbs)

เกี่ยวกับผู้รวบรวม (About the Compiler)