Week 9 Reading Notes: Folklore of Laos, Part A

 

"The Moon" Source

The Man in the Moon:

    A blacksmith was sick of his work and wanted to be a stone on a mountain where it was cool. So a wise man said "then be a stone" and he became one.

       One day a stone cutter came and chose his stone to cut. When he was cutting the stone cried out that he no longer wanted to be a stone and that he wanted to be a stone cutter and that is what he became. 

    As a stone cutter, he became tired and miserable that he had to find stones so he no longer wanted to be a stonecutter. He instead wanted to be the sun, so he became the sun. 

    As the sun he was warmer than any of the other things he had been previously and he no longer wanted to be the sun, instead, he wanted to be the moon. So the moon is what he became. 

     As the moon, he was warmer than the sun because the sun's rays were very warm so he wanted to become a blacksmith again because that is when he was happiest. The wise man did not grant this request and the man remains the moon to this day.

Bibliography: "Laos Folk-Lore" by Katherine Neville Fleeson