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Overview
In the state of Lai Hka, a devout woman’s prayer for a child is answered by Lord Sa Kyah, but her son is born as a frog. Sa Kyah explains that he is a great hpea and will take a handsome human form after one year and seven months. Griggs calls the mother Myeh Khit, or Frog’s Mother, and records the hero’s later worship-name as Sau Maha Khit.
When the mother seeks a princess as his bride, the king demands a magnificent road within seven days on pain of death. Khit appeals to Sa Kyah, who sends four powerful spirits to build it. Later gifts of bright garments and a stone that enables flight allow the couple to appear at a festival as heavenly visitors.
A final boat race determines the succession. Sa Kyah supplies a vessel rowed by sixteen hpeas, which wins before its rivals have reached the turning post halfway through the full race. During the race the prescribed time expires and Khit becomes human. He grants office to the relatives who had mocked him rather than executing them.
Origins & earliest records
Shan traditions of the hill and water country, Burma/Myanmar
Records & interpretation
Full relevant tale and introduction directly read; historical spellings preserved.
Selected bibliography
Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.
- 01
Shan Folk Lore Stories from the Hill and Water Country
Introduction dated Bhamo, 1902; A Laung Khit, pp. 9–18
- 02
Shan Folk Lore Stories, in The Red Miriok / Shan Folk Lore Stories (combined edition)
Bibliographic witness only: unpaginated title and copyright pages independently inspected in original scan; publication line says January1903, copyright1901and1902. This does not establish the date of the separately transcribed Gutenberg witness or of first publication.
Family, evolution & connections
A Laung Khit’s stated human and supernatural parents
A Laung Khit, pp. 9–18, in Griggs’s English retelling.
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- Myeh Khit (mother) + Lord Sa Kyah (stated supernatural father; joint grouping)
Birth identifies Myeh Khit as mother; dialogue and narration explicitly identify Lord Sa Kyah as father. Joint-parent root groups two stated parents without implying their marriage or ordinary reproductive mechanism. Frog and handsome man are the same child’s forms. The royal father-in-law is a separate person, not Sa Kyah.
Myeh Khit
The woman bears the frog-form child and is repeatedly called his mother; Myeh Khit is the tale’s label for Frog’s Mother.
Lord Sa Kyah in Griggs’s A Laung Khit
The frog calls Sa Kyah his father, and the narration calls him Sa Kyah’s son. This is tale-specific miraculous parentage, not ordinary biological reproduction.
The king’s youngest daughter in A Laung Khit
The king gives his remaining unmarried daughter to Khit after the road is completed; the concluding boat race calls her the youngest sister.
Primary records and illustrations
William C. Griggs, Shan Folk Lore Stories from the Hill and Water Country
Shan traditions; introduction dated Bhamo1902. A Laung Khit, pp. 9–18
Complete relevant narrative and introduction read from Gutenberg32375. Early English spelling retained; no invented individual narrator, modern standardized transcription or physical anatomy. Publication date distinguished from dated introduction. Original combined-volume title/copyright pages independently viewed: archive item redmiriokshanfol0000anna, cached griggs-redmiriok-6.jpg and-7.jpg in public/assets/credited/_audit; publishedJanuary1903. Separate bibliographic witness, not a claim that full original scan text was collated.
References
Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.
- Historical folktale collectionGriggs, Shan Folk Lore Stories, A Laung Khit, pp. 9–18Research access: 2026-10-05
- Primary bibliographic scanCombined volume title and copyright pages, published January1903Research access: 2026-10-05
Image credits
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