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

Overview

A community on flat ground asks giants from the distant east to help raise a temple site. The giants offer to carry an existing mountain-top instead of laboriously piling soil, while the people prepare the building materials. When the people do no work and mock the request for assistance, the giants abandon the mountain partway and return home.

The people eventually build their own mound and temple. The isolated mountain is used as a reminder that accepting help still requires contributing labour. These giants initially offer willing assistance; the tale does not make them inherently man-eating or malicious, and supplies neither personal names nor a precise height.

Mountain-moving giantsSource-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

    V.1, The Giants’ Mountain and the Temple, pp. 65–67

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. V.1, The Giants’ Mountain and the Temple, pp. 65–67

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), V.1, The Giants’ Mountain and the Temple, pp. 65–67Research 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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