Yien Sio Saechao
Once upon a time there was a girl who was sent from her village to the other side of the river to participate in a family ceremony. But she got lost and ended up at a witch’s house where she played with the witch’s daughter and spent the night with them.
The witch told the girl to sleep in the bed with her daughter. Before the girl went to bed she exchanged outfits with the witch’s daughter. In the middle of that night the mother witch got up and went outside to sharen her finger nails. The girl was very clever and quickly traded places with the witch’s daughter by pushing her to the other side of the bed. At midnight the mother witch came in the room and killed her own daughter by mistake.
However, she did not realize what she had done, and in the morning she called her daughter to get up and eat some blood rie. The girl was afraid of being eaten by the witch, so she pretended she was the witch’s daughter and said, “I’m not feeling well. I want to stay in bed.” When the mother witch went out to work, the girl rushed to find her way out of the house.
She grabbed her clothes and hurried out of the house taking the whole pot of rice and some chopsticks along with her. On the path she put some rice and a pair of chopsticks every few steps until she reached the river. There her people were waiting for her in a boat, and they took her home.
The witch returned home to cook the girl and discovered that she had killed her own daughter and that the other girl had run away. She was very angry, so she called her dog and ordered him to chase the girl. But each time the dog came upon some rice and chopsticks, he took those home instead of the girl. This made the witch mother very mad, so she went to find the girl by herself. But when she reached the river the girl had already left in the boat.
Then the witch returned home and was very sad for the rest of her life.