Love And Death A Legend From Laos

I heard this story from the elders that told me.

A long time ago way back in Laos, there were two lovers (forgot their real names). One day the guy wants to go to school far away in a city for a year. The guy told her that he'll be back in a year, if he doesn't come back, then that means that someone has killed him on his way home or on his way there. The guy left her and she cried as she watched him go.

A year passed by and the guy had not returned. So she thought that someone killed him. She soon enough, killed herself to be with him. When the guy's parents and the girl's parents were going to bury her, her spirit wouldn't let them. So, they left her body in her house. Her parents got scared of her body in the house, so they moved and left her body in the house. After the girl killed herself the guy came home and didn't know that the girl has killed herself.

He came home and told his parents that he's going to go to his girlfriend's house and see her and they're going to get married. His parents told him that his girlfriend killed herself. He did not believe them. His parents told him that her body is in the house alone. They both stopped him before he goes there and visit her. He said to them that he won't go see the girl anymore. So his parents believed him.

At night he sneaked out and left to see his girlfriend. It was dark and quiet. There he is, the house that his girlfriend's body is inside. He knocked on the door and his girlfriend opened it (She is just a ghost now). He told himself that his parents are lying to him. He went in the house and they talked.

The girl asked her boyfriend why he was gone so long. He said that he did not complete some things and just hadn't come home. The guy said that it's getting late and they both should go to bed. The girl agreed with him and they both went to bed. Him, laying in bed, smelling something like a dead person (it was really dark). He doesn't know what it is and also it was cold. He told his girlfriend that the house is cold and he couldn't sleep. So, he told his girlfriend that he is going to put on a fire to keep the house warm (back in Laos we don't have ovens so we use a fire place as an oven to cook our food). He lit the fire but his girlfriend blew it out. He lit the fire and she blew it out again. This was repeated three times. He couldn't see his girlfriend's face because it was so dark. So the fourth time he tried it worked. His girlfriend wouldn't turn her face to the fire. So, he got an idea. He blew the fire towards his girlfriend. There it was, the face of an ugly dead person. He got scared. His girlfriend didn't know that he knew. He lied to his girlfriend saying that he needs to go pee. His girlfriend told him that if he is going to go pee he needs to tie a string or something to her so he wouldn't run away. So he did. He went out side and pretended that he was peeing. He saw a bucket of water and hung it on the tree to sound like he is peeing. He tied the string to the bucket and left.

He ran and ran as hard as he could. His girlfriend back at the house waiting for him to be done peeing. She called out to him saying "What's taking you so long? If you're taking so long, then I'm going to come over there." No reply. She went over to the place where her boyfriend was and saw that he was gone. She got really mad and ran after him. She was faster than him.

The guy heard the girl's voice calling for him saying "Come back and stay with me. Don't you love me anymore? Why are you so mean? You told me that you'll come back and stay with me!" He knew that she was getting closer to him. So, he found a big tree and climbed up there. As he was there, he saw a koala (a long time ago, we Hmong believed that animals knew how to talk), he asked the koala if he could borrow his fur to cover him so she wouldn't know him and he would give the koala his clothes. The koala was nice and gave him his fur coat.

The girl came running by and stopped at the tree and saw him which was just the koala. She said, "Come down. I won't eat you. If you don't come down then I will come and get you and eat you." The koala refused. She jumped and grabbed the koala and ate him. When she was done, she said, "This is not my boyfriend. He does not smell like this," so she left the tree. The guy slept in the tree until morning. He came down and ran home as fast as he could.

He came home crying and frightened. His parents asked him what happened and he told them that he was sorry for not listening to them. So they called in a shaman to come and cure him from the fright and the spirit of his girlfriend from following him. The Shaman told the guy's parents that they have to change his name so she wouldn't find him.

A couple of years passed: One pretty morning, the guy's friends and him went picking apples. One of his friends forgot and called him by his old name that he used to have. After that day, he got really sick and died. His girlfriend came back for him because she found him finally.
This true story is about not to promise or say anything that is really serious to your girlfriend/boyfriend because you never know when you're going to die. And the promises that you two make will keep going until you both die.

Written by Hena Thao, Copyright 2009