Week 15 Extra Credit Reading Notes: Laos Part A

For my final reading assignment, I decided to look into the Laos subunit, which caught my eye when I was looking for more readings to do. I quite liked the stories that were told as they had to do with a lot of animals that are in those parts of the world – I also liked it because of the spirits that were constantly present throughout the story. An example of a kind spirit was when a Hunter came to the enchanted mountain, his arrows could not pierce the breast of any fowl that were nearby. This was because they were protected by the spirits that roamed there. My personal favorite story out of the unit was, “The Enchanted Mountain” which described and detailed a mystical place on top of a mountain that only those who are completely exhausted from the hard labor that was hunting can discover. People attempted to find it naturally, after hearing of the renewing water, the plentiful fruit, and the amazing amount of animals that can be found there. I could definitely write a great story about something like this. People have consistently bee interested in stories that deal with hidden places in jungles – usually they have some sort of mysticism surrounding them, which makes it all the more appealing to readers. Stories that deal with animals and the nature surrounding the villages is also a great concept that is explored constantly throughout these stories. Sleeping in the jungle is not taken lightly, people are terrified of the tigers that roam throughout, with good reason.

There was one more story that stuck out to me, “The Lovers”. With the cliché ending of having the two lovers not wanting to be apart from each other, so they choose death instead. For me, this is just a ridiculous idea to do – of course you don’t want to be away from each other, but there are better fates than death!

"Laos Mountains Annam Range"

"Laos Folk-Lore" by Katherine Neville Fleeson (1889).