The Influence of the Thai Tale “Kaeo Na Ma” on the Chinese Annals Imitation Novel “Cheng Hong Hao”

Abstract

This research study aimed to compare the plot of “Kaeo Na Ma” and that of “Cheng Hong Hao” which included the physical appearances and characteristics of the female protagonists, the male protagonists, the female antagonists and the male antagonists in order to demonstrate that the contents of the Thai tale “Kaeo Na Ma” influenced the composition of the Chinese literature “Cheng Hong Hao” written by a Thai author.  The research results show that there were 3 similarities: 1) The plot in which the main plot concerned the conflicts between cities; 2) The subplot concerned the conflicts between the female protagonist and the male protagonist as well as those between the female protagonist and the female and male antagonists; and 3) The main features and characteristics of the characters were as follows: regarding the female and male protagonists and the female and male antagonists, there was one difference; that is, there is only one female antagonist who is the wife of the male protagonist in “Kaeo Na Ma” whereas there are four in “Cheng Hong Hao”.  The male antagonist who is the enemy of the female protagonist in “Kaeo Na Ma” is a demon whereas his counterpart in “Cheng Hong Hao” is Tao Yin.  It could, therefore, be assumed that the author of the Chinese Novel “Cheng Hong Hao” could have been influenced by the Thai tale of “Kaeo Na Ma”.  The differences in some of the plots and contents of the two stories could be attributed to the influence of the Thai translations of the Chinese literary works “Liad Kok” and “Hong Sin”.