Once upon a time, there was a boy named “Kam”. It means dark. He was very ugly and has very rough and dark skin. His appearance looked like a monkey. No one wanted to be near him because of his ugliness. His father and mother were very unhappy. They thought they should take him away.
“I don’t know why our son was too ugly. No one liked him”, asked a wife. “I don’t know either. I think we should leave our son on the raft and let him float away along the river. He might be lucky when someone finds him and wants to take care of him”, replied the husband.
Indra who was up on the heaven felt something wrong and he talked to himself. “What happened to the human world. “Why my throne was so hot?”
When Indra saw the ugly boy was floating away along the river, he felt very sorry for him. “Oh, how bad was that! The parents were very unkind leaving their son floating along the river. I have to help him’, said Indra.
Then Indra went down to the human world. He disguised himself as a blackbird and took the baby boy back to his parents. Seeing the ugly boy was saved by a blackbird, the villagers called him ‘Tao Kam Ka Dam (Kam means Dark, and Ka means Black).
When the son was taken back, the parents had to take care of him. When he grew up, they sent him to live with his grandmother. He helped her working in her garden. One day, Princess Lun, the daughter of King Intapat came to the garden where Tao Kam Ka Dam was working. Tao Kam Ka Dam saw her and felt in love with her. It was love at first sight. He talked to himself, “So beautiful you are! What can I do to have a chance to talk to you?”
One night, Tao Kam Ka Dam went to the town and playing his Kaen, a local music instrument. When the King heard his Kaen, he was very happy. He asked his servant to ask Thao Kam Ka Dam to go to play Kaen in the palace. Tao Kam Ka Dam decided to go there because he thought that this would be a good chance for him to get close to the Princess.
A few days later, Tao Kam Ka Dam couldn’t stop thinking about the princess. He asked his grandmother to go to talk to the King about his desire to marry the Princess. “Grandma, please help me. I want to marry Princess Lun. Can you please ask the King for his permission?”, he begged.
His grandmother wanted to make Tao Kam Ka Dam happy. She went to the palace and talked to the King about the marriage between Tao Kam Ka Dam and the Princess. However, the dowry the king asked for was too much. The grandmother went back home sadly.
Again, Indra saw what happened to Kam Ka Dam. He disguised Kam Ka Dam to be a very handsome man with clear and white complexion. “I will make him the most handsome man in this world”, said Indra while casting his spell.
After, turning to be a very handsome man, the dowry was no more a problem for Thao Kam Ka Dam. Tao Kam Ka Dam was accepted to the palace to get married to the princess. They lived happily since then.