№ 02 Cambodia
Every Jungle Has a Snake
ព្រៃណាមានពស់
prey na mean pos
Why Cambodians warn each other that every jungle has a snake — and how Russian, English, and Spanish circle the same truth from very different directions.
Parallel & Proverbs
A weekly literary miscellany
Read by the tongue
Khmer
2 Khmer proverbs read closely — filed under Caution, Hardship, Time and Humility; set beside cousins in English, Russian, Spanish, Mandarin and Latin.
№ 01 Cambodia
When the Water Rises
ទឹកឡើងត្រីស៊ីស្រមោច ទឹកស្រកស្រមោចស៊ីត្រី។
tɨk laəng trəy sii srɑmaoch, tɨk srɑk srɑmaoch sii trəy
A Khmer proverb watches the flood reverse the food chain — fish over ants, then ants over fish. Chinese, Latin, and English also know that power is borrowed, but only Cambodia times it to the monsoon.
Khmer proverbs, at a glance
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ព្រៃណាមានពស់
Prey na mean pos
Literally: Forest which has snake
Khmer · Cambodia
Set beside
- Russian — surface calm, hidden devils
- English — beauty and its cost, in a romantic register
- Spanish — universality of trouble, with a shrug
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Power is on loan from circumstance — when the tide turns, the eaten become the eaters.
ទឹកឡើងត្រីស៊ីស្រមោច ទឹកស្រកស្រមោចស៊ីត្រី។
Tɨk laəng trəy sii srɑmaoch, tɨk srɑk srɑmaoch sii trəy
Literally: Water rises, fish eat ants; water recedes, ants eat fish.
Khmer · Cambodia
Set beside
- Mandarin (三十年河东，三十年河西) — the same reversal, slowed to the pace of a river changing course over decades
- Latin (Boethius) — reversal as the turning of a goddess's wheel, tragic rather than seasonal
- English — the consolation version: even the lowest gets one turn on top