In a quiet Buddhist monastery in Cambodia, there once lived two brothers as alike as two lotus seeds in a pod. When they grew up and were ready to leave the monastery, they went to their abbot for advice. To the older brother, Kem, the abbot said, "Go to China and be a merchant there." But to the younger, Sem, he only said, "When in love, look at the girl's mother. When in pain, don't sleep. When in bed, don't talk." How Sem first ignored, then heeded this unusual advice makes up this richly textured traditional Cambodian tale. From the dust jacket