Week 6 Story: Laos Unit

War

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There once were three sorceress born from king and queen. Their names were Dokmai, Kodon, and Saksuan. Each daughter had a signature that they chose to master. Dokmai was in love with plants and nature. She grew plant trees and harvested crops for the village. Kodon loved being around water, she could make the Earth move if she wanted. Saksuan was very charismatic and charming. She could enchant her way into anything.

The sisters were inseparable and very powerful when they were all together. Even though they got along, everything was a competition. They had a private wizard teach them everything about magic and they were always trying to outshine the other. One time Dokmai infested the island with miniature crocodiles when she tried to transform a tree log into one giant crocodile. Kodon flooded the entire village that took weeks to restore. Saksuan always used her powers to steal her sisters’ dates by charming the boys into changing their minds.

When the girls reached the age of 15 they were considered adults. As a gift for becoming women, the king and queen gave the daughters their own portion of land. Dokmai, was granted a coastal region in the Southeast corner of a large continent where the weather was perfect. She could pant as many flowers and trees as she wanted. Since Kodon loved the ocean so much, her parents granted her a cluster of islands. Saksuan was given a a tropical island where anyone that lived their was happy and handsome.

The sisters wanted to throw extravagant “house warming” parties and sent out invitations. But they each received each other’s invitations and realized they all set up their party on the same day. The sisters met up to convince the others to change their party dates but none of them wanted to budge.

Dokmai had already set the exact time for the Echinopsis cactus to bloom and its life span is only a day so she can’t reschedule. Kodon felt she shouldn’t have to change because she was the eldest. Saksuan said a prince was coming to hers and she couldn’t cancel on a prince. The sisters left the meeting furious. They all still planned to have their parties on the same day.

The night of the party was a disaster. Kodon sent floods right through Dokmai’s party, destroying her cactus. She also flooded Saksuan’s party and injured the prince who promised to ruin Saksuan’s reputation. In retaliation, Dokmai sent poison ivy to inhabit Kodon’s islands. Saksuan used her powers and sent hurricanes towards her sisters.

The fighting between the sisters only got worse and started a war. They spaced out their attacks to ensure a surprise attack. Anyone that tried to travel between the three sisters land were never heard from again. They destroyed anyone that traveled through in fear of spies and because of jealousy. The war would go on for centuries, even until this day. Modern people now recognize the war ground as the “Bermuda Triangle.” The Bermuda Triangle is occupied by the sister’s land: Florida, Bermuda, and Puerto Rico.

Author's note: The Laos Unit is a collection of folktales, not just one story. I chose this unit because my family is from Laos so I thought it would be an interesting read. One thing I noticed about the stories is that most of them explain how something came to be, for example, why rice is now small, how the "plain of jars" were formed, or how lighting came to be. The stories varied so much that I chose to stick with this "theme" since it was the most reoccurring. I googled world wonders and I thought a story on how the infamous Bermuda Triangle came to be would be fun. Also, I named the sisters, after the places they represent. Florida, which origins came from "land of flowers," and "dokmai" means plant or flower in Laotian. Bermuda is a cluster of islands and "kodon" means island in Laotian and Puerto Rico's origin came from the term "land of enchantment" and in Laotian "saksuan" is the closest I could translate the word to. I hope you enjoyed it!

Bibliography. "Laos Folk-lore." Katherine Neville Fleeson. Source.