Sang Thong

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Sang Thong (Thai: สังข์ทอง, 'golden conch') or The Golden Prince of the Conch Shell[1] is a folktale from Thailand. It tells the story of a prince who acquires a golden countenance, dons a disguise, marries a princess and saves the kingdom of his father-in-law.[2]

Summary[]

King Yotsawimon has two wives, the first named Chantathevi, the second Suwanchampa. She gives birth to a snail shell. His second wife conspires to banish her rival and her son from the palace.

Mother and son are expelled from the kingdom and take refuge with an old couple. His mother breaks his snail shell. He departs and is taken in by a giantess. One day, he jumps into a golden well and his body acquires a gilded appearance. He takes the treasures of giantess: a mask, a pair of flying shoes and a double-edged knife. He disguises himself with "an ugly mask" and calls himself Chao Ngo. (in other accounts, the mask is said to be of the Ngor people or a Negrito, and he is described as having black skin).[3]

(In another Thai version, the prince escapes with the treasures from his adoptive mother, named Panturat, who dies of a broken heart).[4]

His next stop is the Samon Kingdom, ruled by Thao Samon. He marries the seventh daughter of King Samon, named Rodjana (Nang Rochana), who sees his through the disguise, but everyone else sees him as an ugly person. The king banishes his daughter after their marriage to a house in the rice fields.

In order to test the his seven sons-in-law's mettle, he asks them to hunt a stag in the forest. Sang Thong takes off his disguise, shows his golden skin and attracts every stag to him. Next, the king orders them to bring him a hundred fishes.

At the end, Indra challenges the Samon Kingdom. Prince Sangthong takes off his disguise, assumes his true form and defeats Indra at a game. The king of Samon acknowledges him as his son-in-law and gives him the kingdom.[5][6][7]

In an epilogue to the story, his real mother goes to the Samon Kingdom, now ruled by Sang Thong, and works as a cook. She inscribes their joint history in a gourd and the king recognizes his mother.[8]

Development[]

The earliest written version of the folktale appears as the Suvarna-Sangkha Jataka story in the Paññāsa Jātaka, a non-canonical collection of stories of the Buddha's past lives (jataka tales) written in Pali and compiled around the 15th–16th centuries in Chiang Mai, now in northern Thailand. Prior to then, the story was probably part of the oral tradition in the areas of present-day Thailand and its neighbouring countries.[9][10] The tale was adapted into the lakhon nok play format, and extant fragments dating to the late Ayutthaya period (late 17th century – 1767) are known. The best known written version is that of the lakhon nok attributed to King Rama II.[11][12]

The tale continues to enjoy popularity in Thailand, being one of the best known folktales and a prime example of the genre of stories.[13] It appears in a wide range of media forms, is depicted in murals of Wat Phra Singh in Chiang Mai,[14][15] and has been adapted for various modern literature and popular media.[16]

Spread[]

Variants of the tale are found across Thailand's neighbouring countries in Southeast Asia.[17][18] According to James R. Brandon, Fern Ingersoll finds many literary treatments of the tale of Sang Thong across this region.[19]

Burma[]

In another version of tale, in Burma, the queen gives birth to a snail, to her husband's horror. He orders the queen to be demoted to a lowly station and to throw the snail in the river. The snail is saved by an ogress (or ogress queen) and becomes a human boy. When he becomes a youth, the ogress gives him a cloak that turns him into a hunchback, to disguise his appearance; a magic cane and sends him to a human kingdom. He works as a cowherd in the city. When the youngest daughter of this city's king wants to marry, she throws a garland of flowers that falls on the now human snail prince. They marry. His father-in-law sets a task for his sons-in-law, and the hunchbacked youth accomplishes it. He reveals his true appearance as a golden prince and succeeds his father-in-law.[20][21]

In a Burmese tale from the Palaung people, "Принц-улитка" ("Prince-Snail"), a king has seven queens. One night, the first queen has a strange dream she interprets as a sign she will soon become pregnant. Nine months later, she gives birth to a snail shell. The king casts the shell into the water, and the river washes it away to distant margins. A childless old couple finds the shell and takes it home. A youth comes out of the shell, does the chores and returns to it, after the couple goes to work. The old man discovers the youth and adopts him. One day, the snail youth finds human remains under the couple's house, and escapes by using a pair of magical shoes the couple owned. He flies to a distant kingdom. He dons a disguise as a poor man and goes to a celebration, where the princess is throwing flower garlands at her prospective husband. A garland falls on his neck and he marries the princess.[22]

Cambodia[]

The tale also appears in theatrical form in Cambodia, with the name Sang Selachey ("Conch Shell Prince").[23]

Malaysia[]

The tale is performed in Malaysia as a type of mak yong, by the name of Anak Raj Gondang ("The Prince of the Golden Conch Shell").[9]

Mubin Sheppard provided the summary of a second version of the tale, which was performed in Kelantan. In this version, Sang Thong is the actual son of an ogress, born with black skin and a tiny black wand with magical powers he carries in his hand. The ogress dies and he goes to live in the forest. When six young princesses come to bathe in the lake, he falls in love with the youngest, and the spirit of his mother appears in his dreams to help him win the princess as his wife. She returns to life in the shape of a tiger to menace the kingdom. Sang Thong uses his magical wand to kill the tiger and resurrect the people the animal killed. He marries the princess and lives as a black-skinned man by day, and as a man with a glistening skin like gold at night.[24]

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ Brandon, James R. Review of Asian Theatre: A Review of Current Scholarship, by Leonard C. Pronko, Lois Wheeler Snow, Colin Mackerras, Chung-wen Shih, Roger B. Bailey, Wu Han, C. C. Huang, et al. In: Educational Theatre Journal 28, no. 3 (1976): 428. https://doi.org/10.2307/3206443.
  2. ^ Thanapol (Lamduan) Chadchaidee. Fascinating Folktales of Thailand. BangkokBooks, 2011. pp. 165-177.
  3. ^ Brandon, James R. Theatre in Southeast Asia. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press, 1974 [1967]. p. 100. ISBN 0-674-87587-7.
  4. ^ Brandon, James R. Theatre in Southeast Asia. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press, 1974 [1967]. p. 100. ISBN 0-674-87587-7.
  5. ^ Thitathan, Siraporn. “Different Family Roles, Different Interpretations of Thai Folktales”. In: Asian Folklore Studies 48, no. 1 (1989): 11-12. https://doi.org/10.2307/1178531.
  6. ^ Bhirasri, Silpa; Thailand. Krom Sinlapākō̜n. The Origin and Evolution of Thai Murals: Edifices containing murals. Catalogue of murals in the Silpakorn Gallery. Fine Arts Department, 1959. pp. 22, 36.
  7. ^ Leksukhum, Santi. Temples of Gold: Seven Centuries of Thai Buddhist Paintings. George Braziller, 2000. p. 249. ISBN 9780807614761.
  8. ^ Boisselier, Jean. Thai Painting. Translated by Janet Seligman. Kodansha International, 1976. p. 170. ISBN 9780870112805.
  9. ^ a b Yousof, Ghulam Sarwar. Traditional Malay Theatre. PTS Publications & Distributors Sdn Bhd, 2016. p. 16. ISBN 9789670685717.
  10. ^ Foley, Kathy, and Sabzali Musa Kahn. “Staging ‘Raja Tangkai Hati’ at Istana Budaya: Modernizing Malaysian ‘Mak Yong.’” Asian Theatre Journal 29, no. 2 (2012): 432. http://www.jstor.org/stable/23359522.
  11. ^ Reynolds, C. J. (2003). "Review article: Tai-land and its others [Review of Civility and Savagery: Social Identity in Tai States, by A. Turton]". In: South East Asia Research, 11(1): 119. http://www.jstor.org/stable/23750097
  12. ^ Prapatthong, Songsri. Heritage of Thai Culture. Fine Arts Department, 1993. p. 253. ISBN 9789744250049.
  13. ^ Thitathan, Siraporn. “Different Family Roles, Different Interpretations of Thai Folktales”. In: Asian Folklore Studies 48, no. 1 (1989): 11. https://doi.org/10.2307/1178531.
  14. ^ Bhirasri, Silpa; Thailand. Krom Sinlapākō̜n. The Origin and Evolution of Thai Murals: Edifices containing murals. Catalogue of murals in the Silpakorn Gallery. Fine Arts Department, 1959. pp. 19, 22, 36.
  15. ^ Ringis, Rita. Thai Temples and Temple Murals. Oxford University Press, 1990. pp. 117-118. ISBN 9780195889338.
  16. ^ "The tale of Sang Thong". Intangible Cultural Heritage. Ministry of Culture. 2010. Retrieved 1 October 2021.
  17. ^ Foley, Kathy, and Sabzali Musa Kahn. “Staging ‘Raja Tangkai Hati’ at Istana Budaya: Modernizing Malaysian ‘Mak Yong’.” In: Asian Theatre Journal 29, no. 2 (2012): 432. http://www.jstor.org/stable/23359522.
  18. ^ Brandon, James R. Theatre in Southeast Asia. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press, 1974 [1967]. p. 23. ISBN 0-674-87587-7.
  19. ^ Brandon, James R. Review of Asian Theatre: A Review of Current Scholarship, by Leonard C. Pronko, Lois Wheeler Snow, Colin Mackerras, Chung-wen Shih, Roger B. Bailey, Wu Han, C. C. Huang, et al. Educational Theatre Journal 28, no. 3 (1976): 428. https://doi.org/10.2307/3206443.
  20. ^ Swahn, Jan-Öjvind. Lindell, Kristina. Folk Tales from Kammu. Vol. 4. Curzon Press, 1989. p. 25. ISBN 9780700702145.
  21. ^ Lwin, Soe Marlar. Narrative Structures in Burmese Folk Tales. Amherst, New York: Cambria Press. 2010. pp. 157-158. ISBN 9781621968658.
  22. ^ Сказки народов Бирмы. Перевод с бирманского. Составление В. Б. Касевича и Ю. М. Осипова. Примечания В. Б. Касевича. Предисловие Д. В. Деопика. М., Главная редакция восточной литературы издательства «Наука», 1976. pp. 312-316, 577 (tale nr. 137).
  23. ^ Routledge Handbook of Asian Theatre. Edited by Siyuan Liu. Routledge, 2016. p. 194. ISBN 9781317278863.
  24. ^ Sheppard, Mubin. “MANORA in KELANTAN.” Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society 46, no. 1 (223) (1973): 163, 167. http://www.jstor.org/stable/41492072.

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