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

Overview

A god concerned with human destiny descends from the sky to check on an exhausted woodcutter. Hearing the man’s wife express loving concern, the god rewards the household by turning its gathered firewood into gold. He next overhears a different household’s bitter complaints and turns that man’s bundle into venomous snakes.

The tale presents the second transformation as a corrective intervention within a domestic moral lesson. The god is described by his care and actions, without an individual name or physical portrait. This source does not identify him with In Ta Pome, who appears separately later in the collection.

Sky-dwelling guardian who transforms firewoodSource-specific local narrative
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

    VIII.1, Love’s Secrets, pp. 101–102

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)

Historical Laos country of Siam; English collection. VIII.1, Love’s Secrets, pp. 101–102

Full story, relevant footnotes and introduction read. Primary witness is the historical English collection; no claim of direct oral field verification, precise modern location or original-language nomenclature.

Inspect the digitized plate · Source collection manifest

References

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

  1. Historical folktale collectionFleeson (1899), VIII.1, Love’s Secrets, pp. 101–102Research 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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