Reading Part A "Folklore of Laos"

An idyllic landscape in Laos (Source)

The first story is a little bit different, it tells the story of a woman who becomes so enraged that she leaves her Laotian village and dwells among the beasts of the forest. She lives there until she is no longer angry, and returns to her village as a hero, having protected the villagers from wild beasts. This left me with so many questions, like: Why did she become so angry? What happened to her? Why did the animals love her specifically? How often were they attacking the village and why? What was the point of this story? I am very confused.
Since these stories are folklore, I a suppose that there does not have to be an exact point to each story. The next one tells the tale of a kind of "garden of eden" that exists for hunters who faithfully chase game up and down mountains. That is it, the entire story. There is nothing else to it. The author does try to throw in an element of faith in the story, but overall there is not a real moral lesson to be gained.
The next story tells the myth of a people who left their jewels in an enchanted cave while fleeing persecution from warring neighbors. It was interesting that this story did have more of a point, but what I most liked about this story was the fact that it mentioned even the white man could not enter the cave. I think I will write this week's story as a journal entry from the perspective of a colonial explorer who is trying to enter the caves.
Several of the following stories deal with animals, and an explanation for why they behave or look the way that they do. This includes elephants and parrots, with a particularly clever explanation for the repetitive nature of a parrot's speech. Another story is a "Romeo and Juliet"-esque tale of two young lovers who choose to die together rather than live apart. It was at once sad and funny, because they tried to jump across a cliff to escape her angry father, but simply missed instead. Oops.

Story Source: Laos Folk-lore by Katherine Neville Fleeson with photographs by W.A. Briggs (1899)

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Introduction Post

Hi! My name is Blake Allred and I am majoring in International Relations with a minor in Spanish. I chose this major because I love travelling and meeting new people and learning about their cultures and traditions. One of my favorite things about the classes I take is the chance that I have to meet other people from a very diverse range of backgrounds. If all goes well, I will be graduating this semester, so this part of my college journey is coming to an end. I’m still not sure how I feel about this, it is kind of a mixture between excitement and dread, but overall, I am glad I could have such a wonderful experience here at OU and that I am now able to graduate. This summer we went on a family vacation to visit my grandparents who live in rural Colorado. My grandpa is a retired pilot and owns his own plane and built his retirement home right next to a remote airstrip. When we went there this summer, I was able to go out flying with him and even f...

Storytelling "Hans the Hedgehog"

Hans riding his rooster (Source) This is the story of how Hans the Hedgehog became engaged to a princess. Hans was a very special little creature. His parents had tried for so long to have a child, but when Hans was born, they were horrified to see that their little baby had the head and torso of a hedgehog but the legs of a boy. Although they did their best to love him, from an early age Hans could tell that they were horrified and ashamed of their child. He grew very depressed and spent most of his time in the barn with the other animals, like the pigs, donkeys, and his best friend of all, the rooster. Since he was half hedgehog, Hans stopped growing very quickly and remained quite small. Although this surely disappointed his father, it was perfect, for Hans was able to ride around on top of the rooster as if it were a colorful horse. He rode the rooster everywhere, even flying up around the trees that lined his father’s fields. From th...

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