Wedding between Mango and Heavenly Cloud
Buay Tut Bidit
Salim Kasamba

Long ago, Heaven and Earth were separated. Heaven was up and Earth was down.

Heaven was wet and Earth was dry. The Earth was so dry that it was very hard for anything to survive. Three brothers were living there.

1

Mango was the oldest brother, Lemon the middle brother, and Papaya the little brother.

Up in the sky lived another family, Sun the father, Moon the mother, and their children Star and Heavenly Cloud.

2

The three brothers had a meeting about how to get water. Papaya said, "Let us drink water from the river."

Lemon rejected that, "No! We can't all use the water from the river. Not all of us have long roots that can reach it."

3

Mango said, "One of us should propose to Heavenly Cloud. She is beautiful and she can cook water."

He continued, "If one of us marries her, she will cook water for all of us."

4

The three brothers agreed that one of them should propose to Heavenly Cloud.

Papaya said to Mango, "Your idea is great! Since you are the eldest son, you are the right one to marry her."

5

Mango asked, "What are we going to pay as a dowry to the family of Heavenly Cloud?"

Papaya replied, "We will gather our old and fallen branches and burn them. We will pay their smoke as a dowry."

6

The brothers went and stood on a high mountain to propose to Heavenly Cloud.

Lemon started to talk and said, "We have come to make a proposal to Heavenly Cloud. We want Heaven and Earth to have a relationship."

7

Father Sun asked the trees, "Now that you have come, what will you pay as a dowry?"

"We will pay you our smoke as a dowry," replied Papaya.

8

Heavenly Cloud said she accepted the proposal. Heaven also agreed to the marriage.

"But I will only cook the rain during two seasons in the year, summer and autumn," said Heavenly Cloud.

9

The three brothers paid their dowry as promised. They burned their fallen branches on the mountain.

The smoke went up and Heaven rejoiced when they received the dowry for Heavenly Cloud.

10

The wedding was arranged between Heavenly Cloud and Mango. Everyone was happy, Heaven and Earth were united with joy.

Because of the joy, thunder was heard everywhere. "Bum-bum-bum, bum-bum-bum!"

11

The first rain was cooked by Heavenly Cloud and Earth began to be wet.

From then until now, Heavenly Cloud kept her vow to cook only during two seasons, summer and autumn.

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You are free to download, copy, translate or adapt this story and use the illustrations as long as you attribute in the following way:
Wedding between Mango and Heavenly Cloud
Author - Buay Tut Bidit
Translation - Buay Tut Bidit
Illustration - Salim Kasamba
Language - English
Level - First paragraphs