We are members of Japanese volunteer group which is researching and translating folklores of Laos, a land locked country in the South-East Asia. (more detail)
This time, we completed English translation of the story, named “Smart Wagtail”, famous story in Luang Prabanag.
This story was researched by Dr. Taizo Yokoyama (National University of Laos) with Ms.Vanh in Luang Prabang province with a voluntary support of translation from Yoshimi, Shiratama. And illustration was created by Shiratama, Japanese high school student. We appreciate your kind dedication.
There was a wagtail bird family with one son. The parents always taught the son useful lessons about living, such as which plants and insects are edible, and how to find food. They explained in which season a particular plant blooms, how to catch a particular prey, where to look for food, how to avoid confrontations when coming upon big and dangerous ani-mals, and how to defend himself when attacked. They always cautioned him against looking for food in an open area where he might be visible from afar, or in the territories of dangerous animals.
The son was intelligent but he was also a rascal. He was eager to see and learn new things. He paid little attention to his parents’ teachings and warnings; occasionally he disobeyed their instructions. His behavior greatly upset his parents.
One day he was searching for food in a rice field that farmers had just finished plowing. An eagle that was gliding overhead spotted him. The eagle swooped down and grabbed him with his strong, steel-like claws.
The young wagtail was scared but immediately got control of himself and thought of a way out of the situation. He pretended he was not afraid of the eagle and, instead, tried to provoke the giant bird.
“Making a surprise attack from behind is not the act of a brave hunter. You would uphold your dignity, and I would respect you more, if you fought me face-to-face.”
“You’re arrogant and boastful,”said the eagle angrily. “But I’ll give you a chance to prove whether or not you can run away from my claws.”
So the eagle released the wagtail. As soon as the little bird was free, he glided down to earth where he perched on top of a furrow.
He flapped his wings and challenged the eagle:
“I dare you to attack me now; I am ready for you.”
The eagle furiously dove down to attack the wagtail. The wagtail jumped into the bottom of the furrow and, instead of catching the wagtail, the eagle struck his breast against a hard clod of dirt. Vomiting blood, he died.
Commentary
This story is based on the Buddhist temple, Wat Xiengthong, which was established in 1560 by the king of Lan Sang Kingdom (now called Luan Prabang) and is also said to be the symbol of the world heritage site. If you visit there, you can finda mosaic made of bright colored glass is decorated on one side of the wall.
This mosaic depicts scenes from many ancient Laotian folk tales, of which this story “Wagtail” is one of them.
Many Laotian folk tales feature animals, but there is a marked difference in how these stories unfold before and after the introduction of Buddhism. Before the influence of Buddhism, many stories depicted a simple world of the survival of the fittest, with stronger animals eating weaker ones. This is a simple plot that seems to follow the laws of nature (Thammasat).
However, in Buddhist tales — the Jatakas (Tales of the Original Life before Buddha became Buddha) — the Buddha is reincarnated as various creatures before being reborn as a human. Each time, he uses his wisdom to overturn this natural law of the survival of the fittest. In other words, weaker animals, who were eaten in the natural world, use their wisdom to outwit the animals that eat them. The stories that bring about the opposite results to the laws of nature had spreaded.
This is consistent with the Buddhist character of the Buddha, who rebelled against the laws of nature of birth, aging, sickness, and death, denying “desire,” which was considered the “law of nature,” and training in search of “wisdom.”
Thus, after the introduction of Buddhism, Buddhist values that respect spiritual wisdom spread partially. Meanwhile, in Laos, the pre-Buddhist animistic values that respects the natural sincerity (ຊື່ສັດ — susat) of “being straight and pure as a living being” over such Buddhist “wisdom” still remain strong.
It seems that the philosophy of the Laotian people need to be understood as a complex layer of Buddhism based on this kind of animism.
Taizo Yokoyama (Laos-Japan Institute, National University of Laos)
