User:PattarawadeeVithitheb

Ngu Kin Harng Ngu Kin Harng, some name it as Mae Ngu Aei or Snatching a baby from the mother snake literally translated, as tai1-eating snake is children's game. Thai children in many parts of Thailand play the game in more or less the same form.

Early History

There is no record on when the game was first known in Thailand.

Players

Players of Ngu Kin Harng may be all boys or all girls or mixed. The number of players is not limited but is normally kept to between seven to ten players. The games are a contest between one player and the rest. The one player who comprises one team is called Father Snake. A player to be known, as Mother Snake with each of remaining in this team is to act out the role of Baby Snake heads the other team.

Equipment

There is no special equipment for the game. The only item needed is an open-air ground free from holes or objects which might pose hazards to the players.

Game Procedures

To start the game, all Baby Snakes are lined up one behind the other to form a standing row, with Mother Snake standing are the head of the line. Except for Mother Snake, each one in the row uses both hands to hold the one in front by the waist. When this is completed, Father Snake takes up his position facing Mother Snake.

Mother Snake and Father Snake now proceed with a dialogue which is a crucial part of the game. The verbal exchange goes something like: Father Snake: “Ma Ngu Aei” (Dear Mother Snake)

Mother Snake: “Aei” (Yes. Father Snake?)

Father Snake: “Kin Nam Bor Nai” (From which well do you drink?)

Mother Snake “Kin Nam Bor Sai” (We drink from the well in the sandy ground)

Mother Snake and Baby Snakes in a chorus: “Yai Pai Yai Ma” (Round and round we go) The row of Mother Snake and Baby Snakes then moves from side to side to simulate the sidewinding action of a small. Then comes the second round of the dialogue. After the exchange of pleasantry:

Father Snake: “Kin Nam Bor Nai” (From which well do you drink?)

Mother Snake: “Kin Nam Bor Hin” (We drink from the well in stone)

Mother Snake and Baby Snakes in a chorus: “Bin Pai Bin Ma” (Hone and hone we do.)

Once again, the row of Mother Snake and Baby Snakes moves from side to side to simulate the side winding action of snake. The third round of the dialogue follows this.

Father Snake: “Kin Nam Bor Nai” (From which well do you drink?)

Mother Snake: “Kin Nam Bor Soak” (We drink from the well in grief)

Mother Snake and Baby Snakes in a chorus: "Yoak Pai Yoak Ma” (Lief and lief we do.) Again, the row of Mother Snake and Baby Snakes moves as it has done before. After three rounds of a similar dialogue comes fourth which somewhat departs from the previous three.

Father Snake: “Kin Hua Kin Harng” (Which is edible, head or tail?) Mother Snake: “Kin Klang Talod Tua” (The middle part and that avails) With this answer the climax of the game begins. Father Snake immediately rushes at the line of Baby Snakes to catch the last Baby Snake in the line as his first victim. While Mother Snake will do her best to fend off the attack and protect all her Baby Snakes in the line. Father Snake unhampered by the connected long row of Baby Snakes always succeeds in detaching and capturing the last Baby Snake in the line. The captive is- subjected to a cross-examination which goes as following.

Father Snake: "Yoo Kab Por Rue Yoo Kab Ma” (With whom do you want to stay. Mom...or. Dad?)

Baby Snake: “Yoo Kab Por” (I stay with Dad.)

Father Snake: “Hak Kor Jim Nam Prik” (Down in the hot chili sauce with your ripped off head. Young Cad) Alternative lines for the caught Baby Snake and Father Snake are as follows:

Baby Snake: "Yoo Kab Ma” (I stay with Mom)

Father Snake: “Loy Pae Pai" (Down the river to jungle in the cast-off raft. Old Chum)

The game terminates with the dialogue between Father Snake and its victim. It may begin again by immobilizing the caught and cross – examined Baby Snake and the players go through the same procedure.

Seemingly trivial and pointless to the modem mind, the game of Ngu Kin Harng is full of symbolic significance. The symbolic representation serves to remind us of many things that we may have long forgotten. The dialogue of the game hints that women in the distant past were the providers of water. It also suggests the traditional images of the father and the mother. The father represents authority and one to be feared appeased and propitiated while the mother is associated while solace gratification and protection.

Some see in the game a description of married life, which is bound to have many ups and downs. Whenever the family is broken, children are destined to their own fate.