The Dead Fish Trap: A Scary Southeast Asian Tale
An early Halloween treat from Chongchen Saelee

Deep in the jungles of Southeast Asia where it constantly rains and the dark brown earth is covered by darker shadows from the thick canopy above, the people struggle to survive day-to-day despite living in an environment that seems to be fertile with life and serene.

One day, along a stretch of man-made trail, which was no wider than 2 feet and was basically bare dirt surrounded by thick grass from all the years of people trekking the same path, a gang of young dirty starving but happy children none older than about 10 years of age were walking and chattering carrying a small worn-out wooden bucket filled with a couple small fish from a fishing outing by the creek earlier.

From the opposite end of the trail approached an old bald fisherman with spots on his bald scalp and he had a long unkempt white beard. The old man was really thin, his eyes were baggy and tired, and he was always smiling and humming old songs but his teeth were yellow and crooked and many had fallen out. The old man was carrying a crude fishing rod made from bamboo and had a fancy bamboo weaved basket, a decent size, which might hint for locals that he may be quite proficient at what he did. The old man had a pipe dangling in his mouth, although it wasn’t stuffed or lit. He enjoyed smoking opium while he fished.

When the old fisherman and the gang of youths eventually meet in the middle of the trail, the old man couldn’t resist the youths’ potent young energy. The old man asked to see what kind of fish the children had caught and they were more than happy to brag about their measly two tiny fish. The old man laughed loudly and insulted the children, calling them stupid and smelly and dispensed his tips and tricks on how to catch the biggest fish in the village, fish so big you could eat for an entire week. (more…)