Hmong Folklore – The Switching of Kings

The Switching of Kings

A long, long time ago, there was a story that was known to the Hmong people. It’s never been written into the books, but it has been told from generation to generation. You never know what will happen and  if this will ever happen. Listen carefully to this legend told by the Hmong people. | www.wipps.org

Everything  was there on Earth, and it was very peaceful, except for a king – the Great King. This king was Lord of the Universe and had four sons. The four sons’ names from oldest to youngest are Toua, Lou, Xang, and Vue. The Great King decided to send one of his sons to Earth to become the King of Earth. The King said that Toua should go down and rule over Earth since he’s  the oldest and the most ready for the job. Everything was okay, except for the jealousy of Lou. Lou wanted to become the King of the Earth. The day for Toua to become King of the Earth drew near. The Great King wanted all his four sons to explore Earth for a while before he let Toua go off to rule over the Earth. Everything went fine. The tour of the Earth was great until they returned home. Toua had the fastest unicorn, so his brothers could not keep up with him. With this in mind, Lou had an idea how to get rid of Toua, so that he could rule over the Earth.

Lou said to Toua, “Brother,  your unicorn is too fast for us to keep up. Let’s  cut your unicorn’s  wings and tail so we can all fly home together.” Not thinking about cruelness from his brother, and knowing his unicorn was a bit faster than their unicorns,  he agreed  with Lou’s  idea. So they cut the wings and tail off of Toua’s unicorn. Toua had no idea of what could happen. The other brothers all hopped on their unicorns and flew off. When Toua hopped on his unicorn and tried to keep up he could not. It even got worse. The unicorn could not fly anymore and Toua and his unicorn fell to the moon. There was too much blood from the unicorn that they became stuck on the moon and could not fly back home. Loua, Xang, and Vue returned home. The King was waiting for them – all four of them. But several minutes went by and there was no sign of Toua. The King wondered and asked the three of them, “Where is Toua?” No one said a word except for Xang.

“Father, Lou said Toua’s unicorn was going too fast and we should cut off its wings and tail so we all could fly home at the same speed together. So after the wings and tails were cut off, Toua was behind us and later he was gone.” Hearing this, the King sent people to look for Toua and the unicorn immediately. When Toua and his unicorn were found, they returned back home with the help of his father’s people. The King left Toua to rest and the unicorn was put back into the stable. The King said to everyone, “Lou is mean and cruel. I’ll  have to punish him for what he has  done.  His  arms  and legs  will  be nailed  to this piece  of  wood  until Toua’s  unicorn has regrown its wings and tail. Then Toua will be able to go down to Earth and rule over it. But for now, Lou can rule over Earth while he is nailed to this piece of wood. When the unicorn has regrown its parts, the two of them will switch places. Lou was then nailed to the piece of wood as his punishment.

He then prepared to leave for the earth to rule over it with his people. The Great King also said that Lou can rule over the Earth, but he and his people may not eat any raw blood, or meat that contains raw blood. That blood will flow through the veins of the unicorn so that the unicorn can regrow it’s wings and tail.