(Extra) Reading Notes: Folklore of Laos, Reading A

A Child of the Woods by Katherine Fleeson: A woman tells of how she became revered by all. She once lived in a village but became overwhelmed with anger so she had to leave. She lived in the forest and was respected by the animals and her heart grew less angry. She went to a village and told the people how the animals respected her and she was not afraid of them. They were in awe of her and were amazed. This story kind of reminded me of the Jungle Book so I really enjoyed it. I think it would be neat to retell it from the point of view of one of the animals

The Mountain Spirits and the Stone Mortars by Katherine Fleeson: Stone mortars are brought to the city and the people are told to buy them, but the people complain that they have no use for them and that they are far too expensive. The spirits told the people that they needed to carry them back up the mountain if they don't want them. The people know this is impossible so they just pay for them. An interesting aspect of this story is that they emphasize that obviously this is the true story of what happened because you can still see that the mortars are scattered about the city. I think it would be interesting to retell the story and have someone or something else move the stones into the city and since the people don't know who it was they just assumed it was the spirits.

Stone Mortar