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Hmong Stories / Re: Hmong ghost stories
« on: September 01, 2010, 04:30:19 PM »
Back in the old days, suitors would often walk across jungled hills and valleys to other villages just to whisper with their lovers at the bedroom walls. The activity was so addicting, many had chosen to go alone. Many took their silvery, manually-sewn blankets with them so that they could cuddle outside the walls in the chilly nights, dreaming away with the sweet whispers (and they were always sweet, never bitter, by the way). But all must try to brave the night home before the roosters started crowing and before the elders got up to find them. Everyone was too timid to be seen while courting.
The road back home was always in the dark and not always friendly. Stones had been thrown onto the pathways by unknown apparitions. Tall white figures stood on the road but within an unreachable distance. Babies had cried on the sides of the roads. And others skillful moves resulting in many suitors having to slaughter chickens to call their souls back via traditional ceremonies.
Well, this one suitor had his old rugged blanket with him one evening on his way back to his village after the whispering romance with his girl. Somewhat dark into the earlier morning, he could not see much. But while on the road in the deep jungle far in between the two villages, the suitor began growing goosebumps. What he was hearing was the most unusual of all of the ghost pranks he had ever heard of. This one didn't stand up as a white figure. It did not throw stones. It did not scream like a baby or a helpless ill or hungry person. Rather, it just came down from the higher elevation and stormed down the jungle, cracking twigs and branches and rustling leaves like a burning tornado.
The suitor stood quiet on the dirt road with his blanket over his shoulders as the rustling came closer and grew louder from the north side--the higher side--of the road! Then the branches on the trees right by his side shook and swang like a wavering coconut tree! The earth trembled as the rustlings halted in silence right on the edge of the road within just a few feet from where the suitor was standing.
The suitor could feel his feet shaking and weakening. Many in this tense situation would have dropped their pants and lost their souls.
But he managed to raise up his blanket over his head, holding the blanket high in his hands as he faced the rustling spot in the dark!
Just then the turbulent rustlings toned down, whiffing right pass the suitor to the south side of the road. The rustlings slowly tapered off down the valley; a few branches vibrated near their tips. It never returned.
The road back home was always in the dark and not always friendly. Stones had been thrown onto the pathways by unknown apparitions. Tall white figures stood on the road but within an unreachable distance. Babies had cried on the sides of the roads. And others skillful moves resulting in many suitors having to slaughter chickens to call their souls back via traditional ceremonies.
Well, this one suitor had his old rugged blanket with him one evening on his way back to his village after the whispering romance with his girl. Somewhat dark into the earlier morning, he could not see much. But while on the road in the deep jungle far in between the two villages, the suitor began growing goosebumps. What he was hearing was the most unusual of all of the ghost pranks he had ever heard of. This one didn't stand up as a white figure. It did not throw stones. It did not scream like a baby or a helpless ill or hungry person. Rather, it just came down from the higher elevation and stormed down the jungle, cracking twigs and branches and rustling leaves like a burning tornado.
The suitor stood quiet on the dirt road with his blanket over his shoulders as the rustling came closer and grew louder from the north side--the higher side--of the road! Then the branches on the trees right by his side shook and swang like a wavering coconut tree! The earth trembled as the rustlings halted in silence right on the edge of the road within just a few feet from where the suitor was standing.
The suitor could feel his feet shaking and weakening. Many in this tense situation would have dropped their pants and lost their souls.
But he managed to raise up his blanket over his head, holding the blanket high in his hands as he faced the rustling spot in the dark!
Just then the turbulent rustlings toned down, whiffing right pass the suitor to the south side of the road. The rustlings slowly tapered off down the valley; a few branches vibrated near their tips. It never returned.
