Reading Notes: Laos Folk-Lore Readings A & B

A Child of the Woods:

• This story is told in present tense, as an answer from an old women to a stranger as to why she is famous among her people
• She had mankind and felt more akin to animals
• She was protected by the wild beasts
• Although I don't know what they were protecting her from... because they're what is dangerous in a forest

The Enchanted Mountain

• This a place equivalent to the Garden of Eden in beauty, but man is not in dominion over it. The animals, waters, and fields are nourished and protected by spirits

The Spirit Guarded Cave

• A group of people are terrorized and 'molested' by their enemies
• They run away because they decide it is better to be slaves than to be dead
• They hd their possessions in a cave guarded by spirits
• These people could not escape slavery, but tales of their treasure spread
• no one could capture the treasure due to the spirits

The Mountain Spirits and the Stone Mortars

• Spirits forced men to buy giant mortars

Why the Lip of the Elephant Droops

• A man and his wife lived with 12 daughters they didn't love or desire 
• This is like the Asian version of Hansel and Gretel
• The 12 sisters hide from the cannibal woman in the mouth of a cow
• This must be a huge cow
• They then hide in the mouth of an elephant, but the skirt of one of the maidens hangs loose

The Man in the Moon

• I've read this in the Story Anthology at the beginning of the semester

The Origin of Lightning 

• A great chief loves his 10th wife more than the other nine but she is not holy so she is reincarnated into a crane rather than into a sky-being like he is
• He goes to her and helps her join him in the sky

The Parrot and the Minor Bird

• This story is very similar to another one I have read
• Instead of the bird being killed, it is banned
• This is a happier ending than in the other story
• Not the parrot and the Sao bird only echo man

The Lover's Leap

• A young maiden was in love with a boy that her father did not approve of
• The father tried to distract her from her forbidden lover
• She could not forget him and when he appeared to her she consented to be his wife
• She joined her lover on his horse and rode off. However, her father's servant saw them and sounded the alarm
• The father angrily chased after his daughter
• They were chased to the edge of a ravine, but chose to die together rather than to live apart

The Faithful Husband 

• A man falls in love with winged nymph and the nymph falls in love with him. They are then married
• This story has a David/Bathsheba thing going on and the head chief grows jealous of the man's wife and sends him off to battle
• The nymph senses the motive behind this action and reclaims her wings and flies away
• The man comes home and has not been injured, he decides to find his wife
• The man must complete two challenges before he can redeem his wife

The Faithful Wife

• This story has a lesson about haughtiness and pride

The Giant's Mountain and the Temple

• The people ask for help from giants but do not do their share so the giants stop helping them

The Wizard and the Beggar

• A poor man promises never to forget the help of a man who helps him, but many times he is told that men are selfish and always forget 
• The poor man argues that he is not like selfish men and convinces a wizard to give him a jewel that grans any wish
• The poor man is quick plot the wizard's murder so that he can gain a second jewel
• The wizard escapes with both jewels

The Legend of the Rice

• A woman slaps rice and this angers the grain

One Woman

• A woman deceives many men into thinking she will marry them
• All of the men find out and vow to kill her
• The woman tricks the lovers and sells them as slaves
• The woman then kills all seven of them by poisoning them
• She's resourceful, I'll give her that

A Boy of the City Streets

• A young boy tricks three wise men

To Aid a Beast

• A hunter helps a tiger and a snake but is betrayed by a man

The Justice of In Ta Pome

• This is kind of an Abraham and Isaac- esque story... but 2/3 men try to trick the god and are punished

The Words of Untold Value

• This story is like the garage sale episode of the Office
• A man starts out with two hairs from his mother, trades them for a hen, the hen for an elephant, the elephant for words of wisdom, and the words of wisdom for gold

A Wise Philosopher

• A man is wise although he appears as a fool
• A wise woman becomes his wife
• He becomes the leader of the village

The Boys Who Were Not Appreciated

• Two boys fill bamboo with gold and give them as gifts to their parents, the parents are not grateful and set the bamboo aside
• When they realize the true value of the gifts, their sons are too far away to reconcile with so they die of shame and sadness

The Magic Well

• There is a healing lake

The Fortunes of Ai Powlo

• This is kind of an interesting story
• An evil son tricks both his parents into thinking that the other one is dead 
• He then sets them up with each other
• I dont know what the point of this is except for like an "Lol dad" moment
• He tricks an old man and his wife into giving him all of their money. 

The Fortunes of a Lazy Beggar

• A lazy beggar is given the wife of a chief

The Blind Man

• A blind man convinces his wife he is not blind
• The wife and her father begin to suspect his deception
• They trick him and drive him out of their home
• A venomous snake spit venom in his eyes and caused him to go blind

Laos Folk-Lore by Katherine Neville Fleeson

Khoun Kong Leng Lake