Tum Teav

Tum Teav is a classic tragic love story of the Literature of Cambodia that has been told throughout the country since at least the middle of the 19th century.

It is originally based on a poem and is considered the "Cambodian Romeo and Juliet" and has been a compulsory part of the Cambodian secondary national curriculum since the 1950s.

Although its first translation in French had been made by Étienne Aymonier already in 1880, Tum Teav was popularized abroad when writer George Chigas translated the 1915 literary version by the venerable Buddhist monk Preah Botumthera Som or Padumatthera Som, known also as Som, one of the best writers in the Khmer language.

The tale relates the encounters of a talented novice Buddhist monk named Tum and a beautiful adolescent girl named Teav. During his travels from Ba 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, he boldly sings a song that professes his love for her. Rama overcomes his initial anger and agrees to allow the young couple to marry.

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