Once upon a time, there were three men hitching a ride in a merchant's boat. One(s a man took a stick resembling a sadiev kind of Khmer stringed musical instrument handle to play a kind of music. Upon hearing the music, one man started clapping his hands to accompany the sadiev player. Hearing such a pretty music, one man stood up and began dancing about the boat thus capsizing it and damaging all the merchant's goods. The merchant then demanded that the three men compensate him for the loss of the goods damaged in the water. The three men blamed each other and urged each other to compensate the merchant for the losi goods. One man said: "The reason why the boat
capsized was because this man danced, so he has to compensate the merchant alone." The man who had their danced said: The reason stood up and danced was because this man clapped his hands well. so he has then to get money to pay compensation to the merchant. playe The man who had clapped hands said, blaming another man: "The reason I clapped my hands was pay tw because that man was playing sadiev prettily, so has to clapped my hands to accompany him. Thus, he has king's to get money to compensate the merchant." The homes man who had played sadiev said: "I really played sadiev, but the boat did not move. It was surely because of this man's clapping hands so prettily that that man stood up and danced, which capsized the boat, destroying all the goods on board, so both of local you have to pay the compensation." The three men kept blaming one another and Once no one was willing to get money to compensate the merchant for the losses. Eventually, the three men
went to complain to a judge who could not solve their problem, so he took them to seek an audience with the king and told him everything. The king then settled the case by saying: "The man who played sadiev has to pay a part of the total compensation; the man who clapped hands has to pay two parts and the man who stood up and danced has to pay three parts." The three men accepted the king's decision and went back to their respective homes. The king solved the case very fairly and impartially.
