Extra Reading Diary: Folktales of Laos

Folktales of Laos

A Child of the Woods: A woman went out to the forest when she was tired of mankind. When she was sleeping, she awoke to a tiger who was watching her sleep. She wasn't scared though. She continued on her journey and became one with the creatures. She ate the wild fruit and was watched over the creatures of the forest. She found a village of people who were curious about her coming from the forest and when she told them her story, they gave her riches. She lived there for a year and the village cattle were no longer being eaten. The people led her back to her people where they worshipped her.

The Spirit Guarded Cave: The people of the far north were tired of losing to their enemies so they decided that it would be better to go south and be slaves than to die. So they packed up all of their belongings and traveled south. They ate all of their food before they reached their destination and were scared that they would be killed for their valuables. One man suggested to leave all of their valuables in a cave and to come back and retrieve them when they were settled. They all agreed and had the spirits watch over their treasures. The people continued their journey to the south and became slaves, but weren't able to reclaim their possessions. Word spread of the unclaimed treasures and many people traveled from all over to try and claim it for themselves. The spirits always kept the treasure safe though.

(Forest in Laos, Source: UnTextbook)

Why The Lip of The Elephant Droops: A poor man and his wife wanted to rid of their twelve daughters, so one day he took his daughters out hunting with him. He filled a basket with ashes and covered the top in rice and set off with his daughters. He asked them to fetch water with bamboo joints and when they went, he returned home. The bamboo joints wouldn't hold the water and when they went back to their father, he was nowhere to be found. They had no idea how to get out of the forest, so they went to sleep. When they awoke, there was a woman standing over them who offered them a place to stay if they kept her daughter company. They went home with her but were told not to enter the small garden. When the woman went out for the day, the twelve girl went into the garden and saw that their were human bones. They fled and ran into a cow whom they asked to protect them. They all jumped into the cow's mouth and when the woman asked the cow if he saw the maidens he lied. The maidens went on their way and ran into an elephant who also protected them. The last maiden's clothes hung out of the elephant's mouth and when the woman caught up and questioned the elephant, she saw the garment. She then cursed the elephant's lip to forever hang down like the garment. To this day, the elephants lip hangs down.