Book
Moni Mekhala Board Picture Book
Moni Mekhala Board Picture Book is a bilingual Khmer and English board book by Vickie In that retells the story of Moni Mekhala and Ream Eyso.[1][2] The tale explains why lightning and thunder come with the rain.[1]
About the book
The book is a hard board book, about 18 by 18 centimeters (7 by 7 inches), with full-page color illustrations. Its text is in Khmer and English, with transliteration.[1] The pictures carry the main story, and common words and phrases run through the pages to support it, so that an adult can guide a young child through the reading.[1]
The story
Lok Da Moni Eysei, a wise hermit, lives in a forest with two students: Moni Mekhala, goddess of the ocean, and Ream Eyso, demon of fire. Lok Da challenges them to be the first to bring back a jar of morning dew. Moni Mekhala lays her scarf on a tree branch overnight to gather the dew, while Ream Eyso runs from leaf to leaf. She returns first with a full jar, and Lok Da gives her a magic crystal ball. He gives Ream Eyso a crystal axe as a consolation prize.[3]
Ream Eyso grows jealous and tries to take the crystal ball. The two fight in the sky as it rains. When he swings his axe, Moni Mekhala raises the crystal ball as a shield, and the clash makes lightning and thunder. The light blinds Ream Eyso, and he falls to Earth. After hearing words of wisdom from Lok Da, Moni Mekhala forgives him. But when Ream Eyso wakes, he is still jealous, and he goes on chasing her across the sky. Their endless battle is the lightning and thunder of the rain.[3]
Publication
Seilapak Khyom publishes and sells the book.[1] The Cambodian American Literary Arts Association included it, credited to Vickie In, on its 2023 Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month children's book list.[2]
Related works
The story of Moni Mekhala and Ream Eyso is also a sacred drama of Cambodian classical dance. Prumsodun Ok's book Moni Mekhala and Ream Eyso retells that drama of rival students of a powerful hermit who bring lightning, thunder and rain to life. Through interviews, essays, photographs and illustrations, it follows the growth of the classical dance tradition, the passing of leadership within an art nearly destroyed by genocide, and the lives of women. Its contributors include the choreographer Sophiline Cheam Shapiro, the cultural anthropologist Toni Shapiro-Phim and the visual artist Brian Mendez, and its proceeds go to Khmer Arts.[4]