A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.

Overview

Fleeson introduces five outcasts as men whose neighbours have given them contemptuous names: Eyeless-Needle, Rotten-Egg, Rotten-Banana, Old-Fish and Broken-Pestle. Yet their subsequent ambush follows those names physically. Eyeless-Needle pricks the sleeping cannibal, Rotten-Egg bursts at the fireplace, Old-Fish breaks the water jar, Rotten-Banana makes him slip at the stairs, and Broken-Pestle strikes him dead at the bottom. The companions take his goods and disappear.

The telling does not supply an intervening transformation or explain whether the object-like actions are literal. Both the initial identification as men and the later actions are therefore retained, without silently replacing them with animated household objects or inventing a spell. No separate supernatural anatomy is given to their cannibal victim.

Ambiguously human and object-like companions who ambush a cannibalSpecific historical telling
01

Origins & earliest records

Historical Laos country within Siam, as identified by the collection

02

Records & interpretation

Complete relevant narrative and Willis G. Craig’s introduction directly read.

Selected bibliography

Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.

  1. 01

    Laos Folk-Lore of Farther India

    Katherine Neville Fleeson, collector/translator · 1899

    XI.5, Eyeless-Needle, Rotten-Egg, Rotten-Banana, Old-Fish and Broken-Pestle, pp. 152–153

Family & connections

A source-supported family tree or inspiration record has not yet been compiled for this profile. Related reading below indicates a connection in subject matter, not a proven lineage or creative influence.

Primary records and illustrations

Direct primary record

Katherine Neville Fleeson, Laos Folk-Lore of Farther India (Fleming H. Revell, 1899)

XI.5, Eyeless-Needle, Rotten-Egg, Rotten-Banana, Old-Fish and Broken-Pestle. XI.5, Eyeless-Needle, Rotten-Egg, Rotten-Banana, Old-Fish and Broken-Pestle, pp. 152–153

Complete tale read. Initial human labels and later object-like actions retained without invented metamorphosis; actual snake revival distinguished from feigned human death. Source plant unidentified and not presented as real medicine.

Inspect the digitized plate · Source collection manifest

References

Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.

  1. Historical folktale collectionFleeson1899, XI.5, Eyeless-Needle, Rotten-Egg, Rotten-Banana, Old-Fish and Broken-Pestle, pp. 152–153Research access: 2026-10-05

Image credits

A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.

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