A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.
Overview
Griggs introduces hpea as a Shan term corresponding to the Burmese nat and, citing Cushing’s Shan-English Dictionary, situates such beings above humans and below Brahmas. His examples include spirits of banyan trees and guardians of wells, tanks and lakes. These are the source’s reported religious categories, rather than a single animal species.
His A Laung Khit tale presents hpeas as a heavenly community under Sa Kyah: four strong beings build a road overnight, and sixteen row a supernatural racing boat. The examples show helpful roles alongside the introduction’s accounts of feared guardians. Griggs’s sweeping claim that everyone in Burma worships them is not adopted, nor is an attributed drowning by a guardian treated as independently established fact.
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; Introduction, pp. v–vi; 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 & 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
William C. Griggs, Shan Folk Lore Stories from the Hill and Water Country
Shan traditions; introduction dated Bhamo1902. Introduction, pp. v–vi; 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, Introduction, pp. v–vi; 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
A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.