Yutalao and the Golden Carp: a Tale of the Dai People

The Dais are a Tai people who now live in the very southern part of China, known as Xishuangbanna or, in Thai, Sip Song Pan Na, which means the twelve thousand rice fields, as well as the neighbouring regions. They are also known as the Tai Luë people and share many cultural traits with the Thais of Thailand while still having distinctive cultural traits and traditions of their own. There are about 800,000 Dais living in the region.

The legends of the Dais relate to such issues as the invention of cultural festivals and the reason for the Dais migrating to their current location from further north. Another series of tales covers social commentary of various sorts and Yutalao and the Golden Carp is one of these. It also includes fascinating details of Dai thought and life patterns.

In a Dai village, a man and a woman lived happily together with their 11 year old daughter, Yutalao. However, not far away, a horrible ogress also lived and she became jealous at the happiness of this family and resolved to end it. So, the ogress sneaked into the hen house one night and broke all the eggs, then smeared the sleeping wife's face with egg yolk. When the husband woke in the morning, he could not explain why his wife's face was covered in smelly egg yolk - until he went to the hen house and found all the eggs broken. When he came outside, he was surprised to find a beautiful woman he had never met before. The woman said she was a stranger and had no one to protect her. As the man went back to his wife, the ogress, who had disguised herself in human form, said as if she were speaking to herself: "Oh, what a pity it is that he is married to an evil spirit and does not know it." In this way, suspicion entered in to the man's heart.

That night, the ogress again went to the hen house and killed the chickens there, spreading the blood and feathers around and then again smearing the face of the sleeping wife. When the man awoke, he immediately suspected his wife of being an evil spirit and dragged her out to the mountain where he killed her. He returned to find the ogress in beautiful form already waiting for him upstairs. They were soon married.

However, the daughter Yutalao was not happy. Naturally, she missed her mother but she also noticed that her step-mother did not care for her, never combing her hair or helping her in any way. Also, her weaving work was slow and sloppy. However, her father would not listen to her complaints and when she confronted her stepmother herself, she was rebuffed rudely.

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