Tong Kau and the Dragons - A Hmong Folktale (as told by Vah Lao)

This film was produced through the Women and Folktales Project, a joint initiative of the Luang Prabang Film Festival (www.lpfilmfest.org) and the Traditional Arts and Ethnology Centre (www.taeclaos.org), funded by the Small Grants Program of the US Embassy in Vientiane.
Women are important storytellers and bearers of cultural heritage in Laos. However, their voices are rarely heard outside their communities, and traditional folktales and legends are in danger of dying out. This project was conceived to empower ethnic minority women in Laos by documenting, disseminating, and celebrating their traditional stories using film.
This is a traditional Hmong folktale, told by Vah Lao in Luang Prabang, Lao PDR. January 2015.
Filmed by Lao New Wave Cinema.
A Lao subtitled version is available here:

[@ynynmeli]

as a hmong speaker myself, the translator did such an amazing job like it's so god damn good. props to the dude who did it

[@LeedleLee457]

As someone who spoke Hmong growing up, sometimes it's hard to find the translation of certain words. I had no idea that THAT word meant lemongrass lol. Some words you only know the Hmong version of, and some you only know the English version. Mind-blowing when you find out that they mean the same thing.

[@jouamayher8763]

I love listening to how the elder tells their folk stories

[@paragonflash8937]

As a person who has hmong in their blood the way she talks as an elderly women is amazing. Hmong people has a really large respect for the elders because we see them as story tellers and i swear she sounds like one of my grandma's im like :0

[@DinoMan_6]

A soothing voice she has.

[@chrisyangtze8403]

Respect our elders remember where we come from... it's good story line..

[@qaibthai8996]

this isi beautiful. keep up the uploads

[@coledennis5233]

Is there anywhere that you guys keep full texts (English/Hmong) of these stories? I teach several Hmong students and would love to share these stories with them and the rest of my students.

[@taeclaos]

Please e-mail us and we'd be happy to supply! [e-mail]. Thanks!

[@fujok.9733]

Bruh. The dude freakin brought a concubine with him. What the hell

[@kayboi619]

so this is a fake story or real?

[@worldentertainmentvang7307]

It’s real..

[@hnodchuip]

the english is all over the place
hard to follow.

[@baileylee2912]

So fight hard, get bitches?
Wow. i-

[@ErenYeager-jp4gc]

Don't understand a word but sounds so pleasing. Which dialect of Hmong is it?

[@ifeellost.8308]

White Hmong Dialect.

[@Momcrawler]

She's speaking in the White Hmong Dialect

[@lely8006]

This is what happen when hmong don't learn their own language. And have no ideas what other language mean or usages. Poor translation and wrong. Two different story from hmong and translated.