Myth-Folklore Unit: Folklore of Laos

Overview. Laos is located in southeast Asia, bordered by China, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Myanmar (Burma). It is a tiny country, not much bigger than Kansas in size, but it has a marvelous storytelling tradition as you will discover in this selection of stories from Fleeson's Laos Folk-Lore. There are Buddhist stories here, along with legends of native Laotian spirit-beings. You will find love stories and other tales of human drama (some that end happily, while others end sadly), plus legends of gods and giants, wizards and wise men, and delightful origin stories that explain why rice grains are so small, where lightning comes from, how the elephant got its funny-looking lips, and why parrots just repeat what they hear, not daring to say what they are really thinking!

Language. The book is written in contemporary English, so the language used should not pose any problems.

Story Length. These are all single-page stories.

Navigation. You will find the table of contents below, and you can also use this link to see the story posts displayed on two pages total: Folklore of Laos. Click "Older Posts" at the bottom of that page to see the second page.

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READING A:

1. A Child of The Woods
2. The Enchanted Mountain
3. The Spirit-Guarded Cave
4. The Mountain Spirits and the Stone Mortars
5. Why the Lip of the Elephant Droops
6. The Man in the Moon
7. The Origin of Lightning
8. The Parrot and the Minor Bird
9. The Lovers’ Leap
10. The Faithful Husband
11. The Faithful Wife
12. The Giants’ Mountain and the Temple

READING B:

1. The Wizard and the Beggar
2. The Legend of the Rice
3. One Woman
4. A Boy of the City Streets
5. To Aid a Beast
6. The Justice of In Ta Pome
7. The Words of Untold Value
8. A Wise Philosopher
9. The Boys Who Were Not Appreciated
10. The Magic Well
11. The Fortunes of Ai Powlo
12. The Fortunes of a Lazy Beggar
13. The Blind Man

(rice fields in Laos)