A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.
Overview
Gong Gow carries a packet of eggs at her waist and searches for a safe place to leave them in a universe containing only wind and water. She spins a web across the water, deposits her eggs and departs. Solid particles caught in the web become mud and then dry land.
The eggs enclosed within this earth hatch as Boo Pau and Myeh Pau, the first man and woman of the narrative’s first human race. That world is later destroyed by fire, followed by a separate account of descending spirits. The text gives neither a number of spider legs nor a body size beyond her status as the Great Spirit Spider.
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; How the World Was Created, pp. 85–86
- 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
People emerging from Gong Gow’s protected eggs
How the World was Created, pp. 85–86.
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- Boo Pau (first man)
- Myeh Pau (first woman)
The first man and woman explicitly emerge from the Great Spirit Spider’s eggs after the earth forms around them. Cosmological narrative origin, not biological phylogeny. Subsequent peoples are not expanded into modern ethnic genealogies. The source does not name a father or specify one egg per child.
Boo Pau
The account places Gong Gow’s eggs in the forming earth; Boo Pau emerges from them. This records the retelling’s cosmological origin, not a scientific account of human ancestry.
Myeh Pau
The account places Gong Gow’s eggs in the forming earth; Myeh Pau emerges from them. This records the retelling’s cosmological origin, not a scientific account of human ancestry.
Primary records and illustrations
William C. Griggs, Shan Folk Lore Stories from the Hill and Water Country
Shan traditions; introduction dated Bhamo1902. How the World Was Created, pp. 85–86
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, How the World Was Created, pp. 85–86Research access: 2026-10-05
- Primary bibliographic scanCombined volume title and copyright pages, published January1903Research access: 2026-10-05
Image credits
A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.