Lao Folk Tales

Prologue

I was going to link an awesome site I found many years ago as a source, called seasite.niu.edu, but unfortunately while finding the link, it turns out that after 20 years they finally decided to close down, or they moved idk.

It was a few courses on Lao culture by an old lady, who from what I can tell, spent her life compiling stories so that they don't get lost. From what I can gather, she worked with the Northern Illinois University for a bit and wrote a "course", when I went to look for her contact details and ask why it was unfinished, I found her obituary.

RIP Dr. Wajuppa Tossa

From what I can tell, most of it was saved on web.archive.org, and I also saved the entire website on my computer, so I won't bother hosting the whole thing here. Besides, I'm sure no one would be interested enough for it. This page is going to be mostly stories I got from that site, which I rewrote in a text file years ago, and from what I heard when I lived in Laos.

Enjoy the stories. I like how some of them read like they actually happened and survived through strings of grandmas.

The Monkey and the Crocodile

The monkeys lived on the trees by the river bank, and in the river bank lived a mother crocodile and her son. She watched the monkeys everday. One day, she called her son to come over

"Son, what do you want for lunch today?"

"I want to eat shrimps for lunch, mama"

"Aren't you tired of shrimps, son?"

"Then what do you want to eat, mama?"

"Look at the monkeys on those trees, their hearts must be so delicious!" the mama crocodile said with delight

"But, how do you catch a monkey? We can't climb trees"

"You'll think of something, now come along and get a juicy heart"

The baby monkey thought and thought, and then thought of a plan to get a juicy heart. He swam near the river bank, close to the trees, and saw a baby monkey eating ripe fruit.

"Hey Baby Monkey, how are you?"

"I'm fine, what about you?"

"Splendid, what are you eating?"

"Some fruit, want some?"

"No thanks. But you know, I saw lots on the other side of the river! They look more delicious than on that tree"

"Oh really?" The monkey always loved good ripe fruit.

"Sure, but how can I get to the other side? I can't swim"

"Jump on my back, and I will take you there"

So the baby monkey jumped on the crocodiles back. As they were swimming, the crocodile sove under water, and the monkey was choking.

"What are you doing? Why are you going down? You're killing me!"

"Killing you? That's the idea. Mama wants to eat a monkey's heart for lunch, and that heart is going to be hers"

The monkey then laughed, "You could have told me, you are a fool, I left my heart at the top of the tree back there"

"You have no heart?"

"I didn't bring it today"

"Oh ok, let's go back"

A bit annoyed, the crocodile turned around and swam to the tree where monkeys lived. Once he got there, the money jumped and climbed to the highest branch of the tree

"Come and get my heart"

"I can't climb trees, can you help?"

The monkey grabbed a sturdy vine and had some of his friends help, they tied one end to the crocodile's waist and then pulled. The crocodile grabbe onto the branch

"Wait I forgot, I'm afraid of heights, I don't want your heart anymore"

"Promise you won't eat any more hears?"

"I promise, please just let me down"

The crocodile was let down and he left to get his mama and told her he never wanted to go near the monkeys and to eat something else. Mama Crocodile wondered why, but agreed.

If it Belongs to Us, it will come to us

Once upon a time, there lived an old couple, who lived in a hut by their rice field. They were very hardworking, but even thought they worked all day, they were still very poor.

One day, while clearing a termite mound in a rice field, the old man struck something hard with his hoe. He dug it up and inside was a huge jar, and inside was a large amount of gold.

"Come quick, old woman! Look what I found!"

"Oh, how fortunate! Let's find something to bring all this gold home!"

"Dear Old Woman, I do not think it is a good idea. The gold does not belong to us. We should leave it right here"

"But it's in our field! Please?"

"If it belongs to us, it will come to us. We cannot take what is clearly not ours."

The old woman agreed, but she told all her neighbours, who did not believe her.

One buffalo trader wanted to check if the rumours were true, and dug in the termite mound and found the jar, and upon opening it, threw it down in shock. A ginormous snake was coiled inside it. The trader decided to teach the couple a lesson on lying, and left the jar in front of their house.

The couple found it in the morning, and opened it to find a jar of gold.

"Is this the same jar, old man? Can we keep it?"

"Yes, if it belongs to us, it will come to us."

The Magic White Swan

One day, a farmer went fishing with his fishing net, wearing a cloth around his head. He cast his net and got nothing, another time he cast his net and up came nothing. Once, twice, thrice again and not a single fish dared to come. One last time, and he pulls a beautiful white pebble.

He liked the pebble so much, that he placed it on the altar above his bed. The next day, he woke up and found a beautiful, white swan in his room.

"I will take you to a place with many flowers, please take what you like"

The swan carried the farmer and went into a magical place with flowers. The farmer took a flower, and it seemed heavy, and he took another one, and it was even heavier. The third one was the heaviest, and he thought to himself

"I shouldn't carry much more, it would be too heavy for the swan to come home"

The swan took the farmer home, and the next day the flowers turned into gold!

The farmer then became a very rich man.

His friend had heard about how he did it, and one day went out to fish. He cast a net and returned nothing, another time and still nothing. Once, twice, thrice, again and not a single fish dared to come again. One last time, and again a white pebble is cast.

He placed it upon the altar on his bed, and again a white swan came and took him to a magical place with flowers. He took a flower, it was heavy, and he took another which was heavier, and a third which was even heavier.

But he wanted as many flowers as he could, and took as many as he could carry. The swan almost could not fly, and when they reached home, he told the swan to wait so he could go pick more flowers. But when he came, the swan was nowhere to be found, and the flowers had turned into snakes.

Mango Tree

Once upon a time, there was a mango tree that grew near the village. All the children would come every day and pick the fruit.

One day, the children came to the tree being surrounded by a fence, and a stranger with two guard dogs surrounding it. "Back off! This is my tree now!"

"No it isn't!" The children cried, but it was of no use, the stranger put out the guard dogs and the children ran.

The village headman had heard what had happened, and he was very wise and thought of a plan.

The next day, a girl from the village threw two pieces of meat for the dogs, and went to the tree and picked a mango.

"HEY! You can't pick a mango from my tree!"

The girl took another bite, and then she screamed and fell down.

Just then, the village headmaster walked by, and asked what happened.

"She took a bite of MY tree and fell down!

"I see, she has mango sickness. Once every 10 years, this tree produces fruit that provides illness. I suggest you do not eat any this year."

The next day, the stranger was nowhere to be found, and the children could eat mango again.

Thao Mon Kew

Once upon a time, there lived a boy who was lazy, and did nothing but eat and sleep until his youth.

He slept so much that there was a dent in his pillow, and his parents nicknamed him Thao Mon Kew (Quite literally Mr. Pillow Dented)

When Thao Mon Kew became a young man, all his brothers and sisters got married. He wanted to get married to, and asked his parents.

His mother smiled "To get a wife, you must go to the village to find and court a girl first, then let me know and I can help you."

After dinner, Thao Mon Kew stepped outside his house for the first time. He wondered where he could court a girl. He thought very hard, as he had never been outside of his house before.

When walking past a house, he hurt a man and woman talking to each other. "This must be a boy courting a girl", and he memorized the lines.

It was a full moon that night, and so many were courting. Thao Mon Kew spotted a girl sitting in her veranda alone, and she was delighted to let him in.

Thao Mon Kew then began to say what he had memorized.

"You idiot girl, shut up!"

The girl was quite taken aback, but politely said "Why would you say that to me?"

Thao Mon Kew had to think of another line he memorized

"Curses upon you! Get off!"

The girl angrily left, leaving Thao Mon Kew confused. He waited for her return, and then went home.

His mother asked "Did you find a girl to marry?"

"I did, but I don't think she liked me"

"Why? What did you say to her"

After hearing the story, she cried and said "Oh I have not raised my son well, he's 20 and doesn't even know anything"

When the other villagers heard the story, they laughed and remember to tell the story to their children so it wouldn't happen again.

The Abbot and the Chicken Droppings

Back in the day, parents used to send their children to temples so they could learn to read and write. Some were ordained novices, helping older monks or temple abbots.

Early in the morning, the novices would walk with a monk or abbot, helping go around the village and collecting alms. If they could not go, they could clean the kuti (home of a monk/abbot)

One day, the abbot was going out and the novice was not ready

"If you can not come, you must clean the kuti very well. Let no chickens come near it, if any chicken droppings are in the kuti you shall lick them"

After cleaning the kuti, the novice decided to play a trick. He boiled brown sugar until it was very thick and dropped it around the kuti, it hardened and looked exactly like chicken droppings.

The abbot then arrived and saw them all over, and told the novice to come and lick the droppings off.

"Oh that multi-coloured rooster did it again! Wow this is very sweet, almost like sugar"

The abbot was curious, and stopped the novice by the last drop. "Is it really so sweet? Let me try the last drop."

He tried the last drop, and found it was sweet just as the novice said.

"Indeed, they are very sweet. Get that rooster here tomorrow, I want to eat them for desert"

The next day, the abbot came back from his alms, and after the meal he came to the kuti and began licking the droppings.

"Ugh, this is disgusting, not like yesterday"

"That must be another chicken, try this one" the novice said

The other dropping was as disgusting as before, and again the novice suggested other ones

It was only till the very last drop till the abbot realise he was fooled.

Phi ya wom (grandma wom, the ghost)

Once upon a time, when the earth and sky were so close that one could reach the sky by extending their hands, and mountains were only as tall as rice plants, lived a ghost called Phi Ya Wom.

She lived in a forest near a town called MuangtaiMuangtang. She ate any foods and animals that came into her forest.

One day, two orphan sisters wandered into Grandma Wom's territory. Grandma Wom haunted them in various ways, then asked "Who sent you to my forest" and recited:

Yuu tam yuu sim

Laen maa haa

Paa laen maa suu

Yuu Taam Tuu Bun

Paak haak mii

Khong kin dii maen

Song oey nong

"I live here by and by

My meat speeds to me and hurredly comes my fish

I live here by and by

My mouth will be blessed by tasty food

And my tasty food is this good pair of sisters"

The older sister kept very calm, holding her little sister and politely said: "We are orphans, everyday we wander into the forests to dig up roots for our food as we have no good rice to eat. Please have mercy."

Grandma Wom pretended to be kind, as she could use them to get more people.

"Oh dear children, I didn't know you were orphans. I will give you some food, here is some sugarcane. And remember:

Mue laan yaang kap baan

Hen thaang piik hai cao mai

Yam khii oy khaai pa

Yam thaang pen hoi wai

Yam laan com lue ceb khai

Yaa ca pai yaam wae

Mii yang dae yaak dai

Yaam nan haak si ao mue ton de

When you walk home, if you see a merging road, you must make a mark

When you chew on the sugarcane, spit out the residue

Step on the path repeatedly to leave a trace

When you are down or sick, Grandma Wom will visit you

Whatever you wish to have, Grandma will collect and give it to you

They did as they were told, and Grandma Wom followed. She attacked the people until no one was left, except for the two sisters who ran into their house and pulled up their ladder.

"Dear sisters, how can I get to the house if there is no ladder?"

"We never had a ladder"

"How did you get up without a ladder?"

"We climbed up backwards, if you want to come up, climb backwards"

Grandma Wom did, and the sisters did whatever they could to push her back

"Please let me come in, I have to go to the toilet"

"We have no toilet, go to the outhouse"

While Grandma was gone, the sisters ran to the tallest bael (Aegle marmelos) fruit tree and climbed up.

Grandma Wom found them there, and the same thing happened.

"How did you get up there?"

"We climbed up backwards"

The sisters pushed her down with whatever they could

"Please help, I have to go badly"

"There is no toilet, you must go to the forest near the mountains"

While she was gone, the sisters ran to another bael fruit tree

This exchange happened for many days, but one day the little sister saw their parents washing dishes in heaven.

"Mama, Papa, please drop a rope for us and let us climb up"

"We are preparing our tools to clear our fields" they said the first time

"We are busy clearing our fields" the second time

"We are busy burning weeds in our field"

"We are busy planting our cotton plants now"

Then the older sister cried "Please drop a rope for us, she will tear us quickly"

"We plant our cotton plants, we harvest the cotton, we spin the cotton, braid the thread, and drop the rope"

A long, long time later, the rope was dropped. The little sister went up first, then it was dropped down again for the older sister, but Grandma Wom came and jumped to grasp it, but all she could do was get the soles of the girls feet.

Then the older sister came up, and Grandma Wom transformed into a human, crying and moaning. The father pulled her up, not listening to his daughters, and so the older sister cut the rope.

Grandma Wom fell hard, and made a crater known as Wang Ya Wom (Grandma Wom's Whirlpool) (0.05% of your mom's Whirlpool)

And from her body came all sorts of horrible things, mosquitos and bugs, hornets and centipedes, snakes and those with sharp claws and teeth. Grandma Wom grasping the feet is why we have arches on our feet today.