Saturday, June 03, 2006

Six-year-old boy and his best friend "Chamreun"




Six-year-old Cambodian boy Oeun Sambat plays with his best friend, 5-metre-long and six-year-old female python named Chamreun or 'Lucky' in the village of Sit Tbow in Kandal province, some 50km (31 miles) east of Phnom Penh June 3, 2006. Superstitious villagers in the impoverished southeast Asian nation are flocking to see the boy, who they believe has supernatural powers and was proudly the son of a dragon in a former life. The female python came to live with Sambat in year 2000. REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh My! Just the size of that snake, I am shaking in my boots already. I always have a natural inherent fear of snake. I get goosebump just looking at how closely bonded the human boy and the animal snake are. According to the bible, the snake is a symbol of treachery and deceitfulness. I just wish that the snake does not have the intention to have the boy for her meal in the future. Hahhaha. That would be so awful. Someone told me that to kill its prey, a python would first contrict its victim to death, then it will swallow the victim whole, then it will regurgitate and then swallow it prey back up again. That is disgustingly scary. Prrrrrrrrrr.

Anonymous said...

the buy has to play in the spectacle to earn money ,hasn't-it

Anonymous said...

I think Anon 5:19 is very smart as the person can actually see what is going on. When I see the pictures I am like under the spell or something, unable to think in depth. Now I see that the boy and the snake are putting on a show to attract superstitious people to come watch and pay money. However, people should note that the both the boy and the snake are of the same age, 6 years old. What an interesting pair. I have heard of a Khmer legend called "Poos Keng Kong". I am not sure if the Khmer society allow beastiality? Perhaps, I should go to Cambodia and play with my black withcy-looking cat, then the superstitious people might think that I have supernatural powers and a son of a lion in my past life. Hahhah.

Anonymous said...

Every living beings from the size of an ant to that of whale do communicate and understand .They need food which could be another being and in this case, the boy could be food if the python were not properly fed and left to be hungry. I saw a Thai buddhist priest with a family of tigers as his own family living in the open. No steel cage. And we should also take for granted that animal emits waverlenghts and if the boy's waverlenghts attune with the python's a crossed communication take place. The animal feels the friendly attitude of the boy. That makes the boy a wonder boy, a miracle boy or a holy boy. He or his intermediary can exploy his special ability for financial gain from the gullible and supersticious souls everywhere just like the miraculous cow,
the miraculous turtle,
the white crocodile.
etc......

Anonymous said...

The Python is protection his food.

Anonymous said...

Hi everyone,

I saw this boy when he was a newborn. I don't know what people are saying about the boy. But, everyone is entitle to his/her opinion. Both the python and the boy grew up together. Why for the past 6 years, he is still alive -- not becoming a meal for the python one never knew. Perhaps, we can call this a miracle, not a con to get a few Riels from the visitors.

And on the the Buddhist Holy day, the python would not eat his meal. Is this a coincidence or not being hungry? Whatever your thought is appropriate for one opinion.

Anonymous said...

I must say that your observation is very interesting.

"Why for the past 6 years, he is still alive -- not becoming a meal for the python one never knew."

"And on the the Buddhist Holy day, the python would not eat its meal."

It has been noted that wild animals can be trained to live in a human houshold as pets. I am sure the parents of the boy will always monitor the boy and the snake all the time, in case the snake decides to do something crazy to the boy. It is easy to kill the snake. Just chop off its head and the snake will do no harm to the boy. It is not a strange phenomenon at all to see a wild animal living with a human. In Japan, a polar bear pet lives and play with its human family. We see tigers play with their owners. We see animals work with their trainers at the animal show, etc, etc. So there is nothing miracle about that.

Regarding the snake not eating its meal on Buddhist holy day, one must not be too simple to conclude about the high spiritual status of the animal. One must find out why didn't the snake eat its given meal. What were the facts or circumstances? A graph must be charted to keep track how consistently the snake chose to fast on holy days.

Therefore, I dont see any special miracle about the snake at all. It is just a pet snake.

Anonymous said...

Hi 4:30 PM,

I suggest you to read more about the animals and the life on planet earth.

All the animals, ranking from the small to the big brand, it has differences nature and charateristic, some animal are smart some are not. But remember snack is defferent, i agree with you, human being can train the animal, but don't forget, sometime they use the special chameical material to monitor the animal, but only the big brand animal, meaning, the smart animal. I have never seen someone used Snack to the show.
I know eveyone has the own idea and percept, but sometime we need to think before giving a judgement. Life is mistry, life is unexplanable, however the technology can not explain some phenominon which is happpened on use related to superstitous.

Anonymous said...

9:59AM DON'T READ TO MUCH BOOK LISTEN TO PEOPLE TOO! PEOPLE AT TONLESAP USED TO HAVE PET SNAKE AROUND THEIR NECK IN 1960 AN D 1970'S, ALSO PEOLE IN PHNOM PENH!
EVER SEE PICTURE OF GIRLD AND GIENT PITONE AROUND HER NAKED BODY? COME TO 42nd STREET ( TIME SQUARE TO SEE ONE)

Anonymous said...

Lol. Thank you 10:34 P.M. for the support. Lol.

Anonymous said...

Snakes as Pets

From Lianne McLeod,

…Ball pythons are the best choice for pet snakes. [They] tend to be gentle, and meeting their diet and environmental needs is not as difficult as for some other species. Ball pythons represent a commitment to long term care -- 40 or more years (record is 48 years).

Ball pythons have a reputation as being difficult to feed due to their tendency to sometimes stop eating for months at a time. If choosing a ball python, make sure it is captive bred and used to being fed pre-killed prey.

http://exoticpets.about.com/cs/snakes/a/snakesaspets.htm

From the link above, please find the pictures of people with their large pet snakes. I am out of here. I am fearful of sanke. Lol.

Anonymous said...

If I may interject... I am Cambodian myself. Though this is story of Sambat and his snake is old, I just recently discovered it. I asked my mother and she said that when the snake first came to the house, the father had thrown the snake away. But in later days the snake hid under the bed of the house. Prior that night, Sambat's mother had a dream that a snake would come and protect the family. After "Lucky's" discovery, Sambat's mother asked a monk, who meditated and found out that the snake was Sambat's wife in a past life. Thus the family decided to keep the snake. Sambat is also noted in saying he loved the snake like a husband loves his wife (You can find statement in an interview on Youtube).

I want to say that many people have presented good speculations, both scientific, metaphysical and subjective intuition of all sorts. But I have to defend my culture in that I don't think it's fair that some of you assume what Sambat and his family believes is hocus pocus and is a con for money. This is not a fair assumption as you do not know these people, nor know how the "operation" may be working. Those of you who make this assumption probably follow the logic: boy with snake (been done before)...superstitious and primitive culture...money give...money grab. You look at the causality and not the culture.

I am not a mythical follower as my mother and her people are, but I am open to the possibility of whatever the case may be, scientific of metaphysical. We can sit in our western pedestal and create explanations on why the snake hasn't eaten the boy, but try not to be so condescending that you degrade the belief of an ancient society as lore, magic or superstition, let alone for money. Giving money in Bhuddist tradition to a seemingly supernatural thing is not the same as here in the West. People don't give money because some psychic said that it will heal you, the mother is noted in saying that some people want this, they don't advertise this. It is your choice if you want to or not. My family grew up in a a temple and I can tell you sometimes money is symbolically burned or redistributed to the community or simply used to take care of whatever is being honoured.

Most Cambodian coverage of the story is not concerned about why the snake hasn't eaten the boy, but instead why the snake has come to the family and the fact that the boy is not in school.

Anonymous said...

In addition, many people don't give money to this family, they bring food to feed the snake. One British journalist brought three raw chickens.