In this tragic tale, a fisherman named Lau had two wives, one with a daughter and the other with two daughters. Lau favored the younger wife and her children, causing the older wife and her daughter to become jealous and bully them. During a fishing trip, Lau's wife drowns in the river, and he lies to his daughter that her mother will return in three days. The daughter is beaten for crying and forced to do housework while her stepsisters play. Lau's late wife is reincarnated as a golden goby (fish), and her daughter talks to her while she waits at the pier. However, when the stepdaughters find out, they kill the golden goby, and the daughter mourns her mother's death. She buries the golden goby scales, and with the gods' blessing, a fragile eggplant tree grows, which is later uprooted by the stepfamily. The daughter saves the seeds and plants them, resulting in a Bodhi tree that catches the eye of King Brahmadatta. He marries Lau's daughter and makes her queen, leading to jealousy and a plot by the stepfamily.
