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First and foremost came the princesses, who bowed till their foreheads touched the dust; they lifted their clasped hands over their heads and turned away their faces while they offered the sweetest and most savory food to the visitors. But it was noticed that although the spirits ate the food offered by the amats and common people, they would not eat that given by the princesses, but wrapped it up and placed it on one side.

The next day the princesses came to their sister’s house and derided her. “O wife of an animal,” they cried, “you would not come to the feast, and so you lost the chance of seeing the mighty Lord Sa Kyah descend from the hpea country,” and then they told of the wonderful sight, and again made fun of their unfortunate sister.

Khit’s wife smiled at them and then she said: “It is you who are unfortunate, not I. My husband is not the ugly animal you think him to be, but is a great and powerful hpea. It was not the Lord Sa Kyah who descended yesterday, but his son, my husband, and myself, and to prove my words, whose are these?” and she produced the very bundles of food that her sisters had offered the day before to the supposed ruler of all spirits.

The sisters were surprised to see that she had the food there, but they laughed her to scorn when she told them of her husband.

In order that his son should become mighty and famous, the Lord Sa Kyah sent one of his attendants to the king, and caused him to give an order to his children that they should have a boat race. The one who reached the winning post first and carried away the flag on its rattan pole was to be king in his room, and the one who came in last was to be slave to the fortunate one.

There were great preparations among the servants of the six princesses, and many wagers were made as to who would be successful, but none wished to wager as to who would come in last, as all knew it would be the youngest sister.

“She has no boat,” said they, “and has no servants to make one, or money to buy one. Even if she had, what could she do? Her husband has no hands, how could he row against and defeat the swift boatmen who have been called by the princesses?”

The king gave seven days in which his daughters were to prepare for the race, and during that time the shouting of the various crews as they practised on the lake was heard from early morning till the sun dropped behind the mountains, but only six boats were seen.

The race was to take place on a lake at the outskirts of the city, and on the morning of the seventh day, when the six princesses took their stations they were surprised to see that there was a seventh boat there, but they did not know that it was a magic boat sent by the Lord Sa Kyah from the hpea country, and that the sixteen rowers were not men, but hpeas.

The course was over a thousand cubits to a post, around it, and return, and so fast did the magic boat glide through the water that it had covered the entire distance and the captain had laid the flag at the king’s feet before any of the other boats had reached the first pole that showed half the distance.

But something even more wonderful than that had taken place. During the race, the time set apart during which the son of Myeh Khit was to have the form of a frog had expired, and, lo! he was now the most handsome man in all the hill and water country. He had a crown of gold upon his head, and the magic white clothes such as only hpeas wear were on his person. His wife was clothed in as beautiful a manner, and the king, at last seeing the mistake he had made in treating him so badly, knelt on the shore and asked: “Which lord is the son of his slave?” by which he meant, which of the lords was the one to whom he had given his daughter.

But the Lord Khit, as he was now called, did not take a mean revenge on his unkind brothers and sisters, and when they came on their knees begging for their lives, and asking the privilege of being his slaves, he took compassion on them, and instead of ordering them to immediate execution, made them his amats.

This is why the Shans who live in the hill and water country worship Sau Maha Khit.

[Footnote 1: “‘A Laung,’ one who is progressing toward a divine state; an incipient deity.”– Cushing’s “Shan Dictionary,” p. 586. ]

GLOSSARY OF TERMS

PUC. Curry.

ZAYAT. A place built for the accommodation of travelers, also used as an assembly place for worship, especially during religious feasts; they are usually built near monasteries.

PARAH. (Burmese, payah ) a god; an image of Gautama Buddha.

KAM. Luck.

MAU. To be skillful.

AMAT LOeNG. The chief amat or chief counselor of a prince.

SOIE. The Indian ” viss “; a weight equal to about three and a half pounds avoirdupois.

CHATTIE. A cooking pot, usually made of earthenware.

HUeK. A deep rent in the earth with steep sides; a ravine; a torrent usually runs in it during the rainy season, but it is dry in the hot season.

HPEA. Spirit or supernatural being.

AMAT. A minister of State.

HSAN. A rice bag.

NANG ME PRAH. A queen.