Myth of the Week · Cambodia
Neang Neak for kids: the naga princess who started Cambodia
· P.Sean Tales
Cambodians have an old story about how their country began. It starts with a prince, a lonely island, and a princess who came up out of the sea.
Long ago a prince named Preah Thong was sent away from his kingdom in India. He sailed across the sea and came to a small island where nothing grew except one tree on the sand. He had nowhere else to go, so he stayed and slept under the tree.
One night a beautiful woman came up out of the water. Her name was Neang Neak, and she was the daughter of the naga king. Nagas are great serpents that live under the water. She could look like a young woman in a long silk sampot, but the hood of a big cobra still rose up behind her head.
The prince and the princess fell in love. She told him that before they could marry he had to meet her father under the sea. So she held one end of her long scarf and gave him the other end, and she led him down into the waves. The water opened up for them the whole way down to the naga kingdom.
The naga king was huge. He had seven cobra heads and he ruled all the water. He wanted to give the couple a kingdom, but where the prince had landed there was only sea. So he opened his seven mouths and drank the sea. As the water went down, land came up. Rivers, plains and forests appeared, and that new land was Cambodia.
Did you know? Cambodian weddings still have a moment where the groom holds the bride's scarf, to remember this story. Neang Neak means Lady Naga, and she is honored as the mother of the Khmer people.
Color the legend yourself
Neang Neak, Preah Thong and the seven-headed naga king are all in Myths & Legends of Cambodia, along with Judge Rabbit, the kinnari and Angkor Wat.
Or start free: grab the free coloring pages.
You can find her in our book: Myths & Legends of Cambodia.