Reading Notes: Week 7, Part A (Folklore of Laos)

The Mountain Spirits and the Stone Mortars: This was a story about evil spirits that lived up in the mountains by a small town who one day decided to take down to the town a series of very heavy stone mortars that they thought the town could use, and they demanded a price for them. The people of the town told the evil spirits that the price they wanted for the stones was way too much, plus they did not even need the stone mortars for anything in their town. The spirits then became angry, and because the people did not want the stones, the spirits demanded they carry them back up the mountain from their town. The people were too weak to complete that task, and without wanting the evil wrath of the spirits among them, they decided to pay the price for the stone mortars. To this day, the story is still told about how the stones are on the town, for they are scattered around the streets only in a way possible for spirits to have done. 

The Origin of Lightning: This was a story about a great chief who had 10 wives who loved to make merit by throwing feasts for the priests and the poor people, doing everything he could to make sure he would be happy in his next life. Out of his 10 wives, nine of them participated in his merit-making, except for the 10th wife, who was actually his favorite. One day, after the chief and the nine metit-making wives had been sent up into the sky, the chief longed for his favorite wife, and looked down on earth at her with a glass. After many days of searching for her, he found her on a lake as a crane. As a test to see if she had repented, the chief turned himself into a fish and swam up to her at the lake. When the woman, as a crane, saw they the fish was alive, she decided not to eat it, but instead let it be. By this, the chief saw her heart had changed, and her merit was good enough for her to be changed into a woman again. After the crane died, the woman was born unto a gardener, and when she grew up, she was the fairest female in the land. When it came time for her to be married, her mother and father threw her a feast as a way for her to find who she would marry. The high chief saw this and made himself into the form of an older man to attend the feast. The young girl was to throw a wreath into the air and who it landed on would be her husband. When it came time for this, the wreath landed on the old man's head. After, they both floated up into the sky together where they would live. The people protested, and the gardener even shot at them. Now, when the people see the chain lightning in the sky, they say it is the wreath of the beautiful maiden; when the lightning strikes, they say it is the gardener shooting at the old man; and, when the heat lightning flashes, they say it is the great chief flashing his glass over the earth in search of his favorite and beautiful wife.

Picture of lightning

(Taken by Michelle McEwen on Unsplash)

"The Origin of Lightning," Laos Folk-Lore, by Katherine Neville Fleeson

"The Mountain Spirits and the Stone Mortars,"Laos Folk-Lore, by Katherine Neville Fleeson