Sang Thong (Thai: สังข์ทอง, 'golden conch'), The Prince of the Golden Conch Shell or Phra Sang Thong is a Southeast Asian folktale inspired from the Paññāsa Jātaka, a non-canonical collection of stories of the Buddha's past lives. In its Thai version, it tells the story of a prince who acquires a golden countenance, dons a disguise, marries a princess and saves the kingdom of his father-in-law.
Summary King Yotsawimon has two wives, the first named Chantathevi, the second Suwanchampa. She gives birth to a snail shell. His second wife conspires to banish her rival and her son from the palace. Mother and son are expelled from the kingdom and take refuge with an old couple. His mother breaks his snail shell. He departs and is taken in by a giantess. One day, he jumps into a golden well and his body acquires a gilded appearance. He takes the treasures of giantess: a mask, a pair of flying shoes and a double-edged knife. He disguises himself with "an ugly mask" and calls himself Chao Ngo. (in other accounts, the mask is said to be of the Ngor people or a Negrito, and he is described as having black skin). (In another Thai version, the prince escapes with the treasures from his adoptive mother, named Panturat, who dies of a broken heart). His next stop is the Samon Kingdom, ruled by Thao Samon, where he arrives during a suitor selection test by the seventh daughter of King Samon, named Rodjana (Nang Rochana). During the selection, she is to throw a garland of flowers to her suitor. Chao Ngo is there amidst the crowd. Nang Rochana can see him through the disguise, but everyone else sees him as an ugly person. She throws the garland of flowers to him, marking her choice of husband. The king banishes his daughter after their marriage to a house in the rice fields. In order to test his seven sons-in-law's mettle, he asks them to hunt a stag in the forest. The brothers-in-law ride to the forest, while Sang Thong takes off his disguise, shows his golden skin and attracts every stag to himself. Sang Thong's brothers-in-law see that the mysterious golden-skinned man has the wild animals all around him, and ask him to share some with them. Sang Thong agrees to let his brothers-in-law have some of the animals, in exchange for them cutting off a piece of their earlobes. Next, the king orders them to bring him a hundred fishes. The brothers-in-law go to catch the fishes for their king. Sang Thong, in his golden appearance, has summoned all the fishes from the river, and his brothers-in-law meet him and ask for some of his catch. Just like before, Sang Thong agrees to let them have the fishes, as long as they cut off a part of their noses. At the end, Indra challenges the Samon Kingdom. Prince Sangthong takes off his disguise, assumes his true form and defeats Indra at a game. The king of Samon acknowledges him as his son-in-law and gives him the kingdom. In an epilogue to the story, his real mother goes to the Samon Kingdom, now ruled by Sang Thong, and works as a cook. She inscribes their joint history in a gourd and the king recognizes his mother.
Development The earliest written version of the folktale appears as the Suvarna-Sangkha Jataka story in the Paññāsa Jātaka, a non-canonical collection of stories of the Buddha's past lives (jataka tales) written in Pali and compiled around the 15th–16th centuries in Chiang Mai, now in northern Thailand. Prior to then, the story was probably part of the oral tradition in the areas of present-day Thailand and its neighbouring countries. The tale was adapted into the lakhon nok play format, and extant fragments dating to the late Ayutthaya period (late 17th century – 1767) are known. The best known written version is that of the lakhon nok attributed to King Rama II. The tale continues to enjoy popularity in Thailand, being one of the best known folktales and a prime example of the chak chak wong wong genre of stories. It appears in a wide range of media forms, is depicted in murals of Wat Phra Singh in Chiang Mai, and has been adapted for various modern literature and popular media.
Spread Variants of the tale are found across Thailand's neighbouring countries in Southeast Asia. According to James R. Brandon, Fern Ingersoll finds many literary treatments of the tale of Sang Thong across this region. J. Leyden and Captain James Low mentioned the existence of an Indo-Chinese (Siamese) tale titled "Hǒi-sang" ("The Prince in a Conch Shell"), wherein the protagonist is a prince born in a chank-shell, abandoned in the forest and rescued by the Nāgas, given a golden ship by the Thewaldas and Devas, and goes on adventures. According to Leyden, the story figured among "most popular [Cheritras] among the T'hay", containing "the same stories and incidents" current among the Rukhéng, Barma and Malayu peoples.
Burma In another version of tale, titled The Snail Prince and sourced from Burma, the queen gives birth to a snail, to her husband's horror. He orders the queen to be demoted to a lowly station and to throw the snail in the river. The snail is saved by an ogress (or ogress queen) and becomes a human boy. When he becomes a youth, the ogress gives him a cloak that turns him into a hunchback, to disguise his appearance; a magic cane and sends him to a human kingdom. He works as a cowherd in the city. When the youngest daughter of this city's king wants to marry, she throws a garland of flowers that falls on the now human snail prince. They marry. His father-in-law sets a task for his sons-in-law, and the hunchbacked youth accomplishes it. He reveals his true appearance as a golden prince and succeeds his father-in-law.
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