Okay, more stories from the "old" country of Laos. This one is from a friend of when they were younger. He was an orphan and lived with an aunt and 7 other kids. Most of the kids were between 10 and 14 years old.
Their house was built on a taller hill in a valley with taller mountains surrounding the valley. The house was built at the end of the hill, with downward slopes on 3 sides of the house. The main entrance is towards the flat side of the hill itself. The family has farmlands all around the valley on all 3 sides of the hill. The downward slopes of the surrounding mountains were still forested with trails leading to their house from other villages. On the left mountainside, there is another family's house about 500 to 800 yards away. That family is a family of a young husband and wife with a young child.
Every day, the children would tend the farm, tend the livestock, and bring enough water and firewood to last the night and the next morning. But since it was closer to winter, the kids brought more than the usual amount of firewood and made a nice pile close to the house.
One moonlit night (qaim qaim hli), the children got ready for bed. The aunt was the last one to go to bed, so she went to close the window. The windows were the type where it is just like a door hinged at the top, propped up with a stick at the bottom. It lets air in, but not rain. By this time, it was maybe 9 or 10 PM at night.
While the aunt was closing the window, she noticed three bright glowing dots coming down the trail on the right-side mountain (the side furthest from the other family). It is said from the elders that when you see a lion at night, you can tell because of its three glowing dots, especially on moonlit nights. The friend telling the story presumes it is the eyes (two of the dots) and the tip of the tail (the third dot) reflecting the moonlight.
So, with that knowledge, the aunt knew what was coming, so she quickly closed all the windows and told all the kids to not fall asleep yet. That something was coming. The next thing they knew, they heard this emanating roar fill the entire valley. Immediately, they knew it's not the usual lion. From what the aunt saw, the lion was still at least 1000 yards away (you know, 10 football field lengths) but the roar was as it the lion was already outside the house.
She quickly ushered the kids to go outside and start four fires -- one close to each corner of the house. They were to throw chile peppers and faj (some sort of sulfur) into the fires. The kids scrambled and split into teams of two -- two to each bonfire.
They quickly started four fires and threw chile peppers and faj into the fires. The lion never came close, but it never stopped its roaring either. The family and the lion kept at what they were doing all night long, until it started getting light. The roaring stopped and they assumed the lion left.
By the time morning came, they had depleted their large pile of firewood and almost their entire stock of chile peppers they harvest from that year.
