Folktales say it's a truth that goblins turn into beautiful humans upon being drenched in cow dungs. Haven't you heard how humans have been taken by ghosts and tigers and the only way to bring them back is to dig a hole into the ground, put the humans there and fill the hole up with cow dungs and leave things there for 3 days? Then the ghostly skin would shed off and a newly-born adult human appears. Txiv Nraug Xyu's bride got him back doing that, after his sould got snatched by some goblins in this secluded hillbilly village.
And, oh, yeah, it would be a nice fairy tale to write.
I think most elders know this story, but because of the "Hmong gossip" network, the story has changed, parts are missing or added as the story goes from person to person, so nobody knows if it's true or anymore. But this is the version I have heard. Also, the original version I heard was supposed to be from Laos, but recently I heard someone else say that it happened to a person in Vinai, Thailand. So who knows. Anyway, onto the story:
Supposedly, there was this guy who went out (hunting, outhouse, whatever it was) and saw a ghost (
poj ntxoob) and he caught it. It is said that you need to hold onto the
poj ntxoog's arm tight and not look away, because if you looked away or blinked, the
poj ntxoog will replace its arm with a log or something and it will have run away. Anyway, so the idea is to not look away. I'm not sure how he got the
poj ntxoog home without blinking. Maybe he had friends with him, not sure.
So anyway, he got the
poj ntxoog home and rounded up his friends and family and fellow villagers. They dug a hole and filled it up with cow manure and put the
poj ntxoog in the pit. There were people around the whole time watching the
poj ntxoog so that it couldn't replace its arm with something else and take off too. It is said that if you put a
poj ntxoog in cow manure for 3 days and 3 nights, it will turn back into a person. I haven't heard of the shedding its skin, but from what I heard, the
poj ntxoog turns from the
poj ntxoog back into a person.
Well, after the friends, family, and villagers watched this
poj ntxoog for 3 days and 3 nights, the
poj ntxoog slowly turned into a young lady. The young lady was said to be really beautiful, with long dark hair, but pale and bluish skin. The lady's skin is pretty cold too to the touch.
Supposedly someone (don't know if it was the guy who found the
poj ntxoog in the first place) married the lady and later, they had a perfectly normal human baby. This lady was said to still be alive somewhere. This was about 20 years ago.