He muttered his magic words and clapped his hands. Suddenly the buffalo came to life. They ran toward and surrounded the tiger, then wounded the feline with their horns. Though the tiger escaped, the next day the monk was found lying in the temple, dead.

Natural storytellers

The majority of Thailand’s fifty-eight million people are Buddhists of the Theravada sect.  Their religious beliefs are outlined in the Pali canon, a series of sacred texts originally set down in Pali and since translated into the Thai language.  Religious and peaceful in character, the Thai have established numerous monasteries where monks recite the canon, containing the sayings and sermons of Buddha, for many hours.  Buddhist thinking is reflected in much of their literature, especially Thai folktales and poetry.

According to legend, a shape-shifting monk was the scourge of Thai cattle drivers.

The first great king of Thailand, Ramkhamhaeng or Rama the Brave, facilitated translation of the Thai language into writing by means of a syllabary ultimately derived from Sanskrit.  He also left the oldest known inscription in Thai, dated 1292.  Rama’s successors promulgated the Law of Buddha and founded abbeys and temples.

Today, Thailand has an extensive literature, written and printed in the elegant Siamese script.  Because Thai is a tone language, in which every word is pronounced with a particular melody, it is well suited for singing.  Consequently, a large part of Thai literature is poetry, some of it written by the kings themselves.  Among these poems are several long epics, often religious in content.

The Thai are natural storytellers, often weaving fantastic tales that are full of magic.  A few of these are presented in the following pages, though much abridged because Thai stories are often very elaborate and intricate.