Laotian myth: the legend of Phou Thao and Phou Nang
Updated: Sep 23
Every civilization has its stories and legends handed down from generation to generation. Laotian culture is no exception. Steeped in the Buddhist tradition, its tales tell of love, divine spirits, battles and nature. At ORLA Tours, we believe that these little stories are of great importance to Laotian culture. That's why we're devoting a series of articles to them.
We've chosen to start with the Thao Phoutthasaen legend
Why this one among so many others? Firstly, out of nostalgia, as it bears many similarities to Charles Perrault's tale of Tom Thumb in the late 17th century. And then, because we can contemplate the mountains from this story every day in Luang Prabang. Phou Thao and Phou Nang evoke the silhouettes of a girl and a boy respectively.
This is their laotian legend...
Once upon a time, long ago, a lumberjack and his wife lived in the land of Inthapatha. The end of the month was difficult, as cutting wood didn't pay much. What's more, the meal budget was substantial, with 12 young girls to feed.
The whole family was losing weight for lack of food. How to solve this problem? A radical but effective solution: the girls were abandoned in the forest.
In the course of their wanderings, they entered the lands of Sunthara La Nyakhini, a terrible ogress. Her favorite food? Maiden meat. Needless to say, the outcome of this passage did not bode well. Luckily, the ogress had a daughter who was dying of boredom for lack of friends. So, she decided to spare the 12 girls to entertain her offspring. The human stew with court bouillon will come later.
Well-fed, they became plumper and plumper, and the ogress began to find it hard to curb her cravings for fresh flesh. It was time to run away. As they grew, the girls had become beautiful damsels. And when they arrived on King Paluthasaen's land, he decided to marry them all. The result was a marriage of 12 new wives!
Who do you think had it a bit bad? Yes, the ogress. She had fed 12 young girls with a view to eating them, but they had run away and were now married to a king. The good life! So, she hatched an evil plan for revenge. Here are the main stages. She transformed herself into a creature of incredible beauty, married the same king and made sure she was crowned first queen. Then she pretended to be ill. The cure for this incurable disease? The eyes of the 12 other wives. Pretty radical revenge. The king complied, ordered their eyes gouged out and sent them into exile.
So, the young women resumed their wandering. Except now they couldn't see, and they all happened to be pregnant. Murphy's Law! Arriving at a cave, they had no choice but to eat the newborns. Yes, it's hard to go foraging when you're blind, isn't it?
The story could have ended there. Except.... Nang La, the youngest of the sisters, was "lucky" enough to have only one eye gouged out. She took advantage of the situation to shelter her child and raise him as discreetly as possible, otherwise he would have ended up as a sandwich.
One day, a wild rooster passed by the cave and took pity on them. From then on, he began to feed them every day. Thanks to the rooster's offerings, Nang La's son grew into a strong, healthy young man. But, let's not forget, he wasn't supposed to be alive! That's why his mother ordered him to spend most of his time outside the cave.
So, he spent his days in the next village, where he assiduously practiced the local chess game. So much so, that his talent made the rounds of the kingdom and reached the ears of Paluthasaen. Remember him? He's the king and husband of the 12 maidens. He met the child, who told him his story and his years spent in the cave. He soon realized he was none other than his own son. So, the boy moved to the palace.
And who don't you think liked that? Yes, the ogress, her again... Once again, she faked an incurable disease. Lack of imagination, eh? In short, the plan to get rid of the Prince was to send him to fetch the so-called cure from his daughter in the forest. The Prince was to deliver a letter to her, the message of which was fatal to him. Fortunately, he came across a hermit in the forest who magically altered the contents of the letter.
Of course, once we got there, it was love at first sight. The girl was full of good advice and taught the princes a few tricks. These included how to make thorny forests appear, how to make rivers boil, and how to create a wall of fire with a magic lemon. She also revealed where her aunts' eyes and the ogress' heart were stored. Yes, curious as it may seem, she could live with her heart outside her body.
The prince left his new wife to return to his mother and aunts the eyes that had been stolen from them. Once this was done, he returned to the palace to settle accounts with the ogress. He cut out her heart, which logically led to the death of the stepmother.
And the king? He had made a few mistakes. Marrying an ogress, gouging out the eyes of his 12 wives, exiling them to a cave, sending his son to be killed, in short.... To make up for it all, he invited the whole family back to live at the palace. All's well that ends well.
Except... let's not forget that Prince Phoutthasaen had to leave his beloved to restore his aunts' sight. So, he got back on his winged horse to return to her. His wife, Vainya Lapati, had died of grief at his departure. Shattered by the news, he in turn died of grief. In the name of their love, they were transformed into mountains in the shape of elongated bodies, face to face.
And that's the end of the story...
We hope you enjoyed it as much as we did. What we really like is that, even today in Luang Prabang, you can still admire Phou Thao (the boy's mountain) and Phou Nang (the girl's mountain). Symbols of this eternal love, these hills are a fine mark of the timelessness of these tales.
So, what do you think is the moral of this story? We'll leave you to ponder. We'll be telling you about another legend soon, so stay tuned!
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