Tum Teav - Plot

Plot

The tale relates the encounters of a talented novice Buddhist monk named Tum and a beautiful adolescent girl named Teav. During his travels from Bar Phnum, Prey Veng province to the province of Tbaung Khmum (where he has gone to sell bamboo rice containers for his pagoda), Tum falls in love with Teav, a very beautiful young lady who is drawn to his beautiful singing voice. She reciprocates his feelings and offers Tum some betel and a blanket as evidence of her affections; she prays to Buddha that the young monk will be with her for eternity. Upon returning to his home province, Tum is consumed with longing for Teav and soon returns to Tbaung Khmum. He initially spends some time in Teav's home despite her being 'in the shade' (a period of a few weeks when the daughter is supposedly secluded from males and taught how to behave virtuously). After professing their love for one another, Tum and Teav sleep together. Soon afterward, he is recruited by King Rama to sing at the royal palace, and he leaves Teav once again.

Teav's mother is unaware of her daughter's love for the young monk, and in the meantime she has agreed to marry her daughter off to the son of Archoun, the powerful governor of the province. Her plans are interrupted, however, when emissaries of Rama—equally impressed by Teav's beauty—insist that she marry the Cambodian king instead. Archoun agrees to cancel his son's wedding arrangement, and Teav is brought to the palace. When Tum sees that Teav is to marry the king, be boldly sings a song that professes his love for her. Rama overcomes his initial anger and agrees to allow the young couple to marry.

When Teav's mother learns of her daughter's marriage, she feigns illness as a ruse to lure Teav back to her village, whereupon she once again tries to coerce her into marrying Archon's son. Teav sends word to Tum of the impending wedding, and Tum arrives with an edict from the king to stop the ceremony. Tum gets drunk, announces he is Teav's husband and kisses her in public. Enraged, Archoun commands his guards to kill Tum, who is beaten to death under a Bo tree. Grief-stricken, Teav slits her own throat and collapses on Tum's body. When Rama hears of the murder, he descends upon Archoun's palace, ignores the governor's pleas for mercy, and orders Archoun's entire family—including seven generations worth of relatives—be taken to a field and buried to their necks. An iron plow and harrow are then used to decapitate them all.