Chuchok fits into this genre of “Thai trickster figures.” When you think about the story not from the perspective of Vessantara but from the perspective of the peasantry, think about how amazing it is that a peasant would even think to ask a member of the royal family for their two children to be his wife’s servants! It’s absurd!

The humor and political themes found in the Northern Thai retellings of the Vessantara (Jujaka?) Jātaka.