Exhausted by her step-mother’s greedy demands, Phikul got a soar throat and became voiceless. She could not speak for a while. The situation upset her step-mother so much so that she started beating Phikul, trying to force her to speak but Phikul could not utter even a single word.
To satisfy her greed, the step-mother decided to send her own daughter, Mali, to do the same thing as Phikul did. Mali was sent to the same place as told by Phikul, but instead of meeting an old woman, she met a beautiful woman wearing an impressive dress standing under the shade of a big tree. The woman then asked for water from Mali to drink. Out of jealousy, Mali got angry and thought that the woman was not an angel so she refused to give any and used rude words to curse the angel in disguise.