Legend of Nhawke Sing

A long time ago there was a boy named Wynd Nhut. He lived in a village high up in the great mountains in the lost kingdom of Nan Chao. The great mountain peaks of Nan Chao were called Muang Dang which means the realm of the gods. In his village there once stood a giant statue of Nhawke Sing. The locals called him Nhawke Sing because the statue had the body of a lion and the wings of an eagle. It was a mystery as to how the statue came to be there or who made Nhawke Sing. Not even the oldest and wisest amongst the village elders knew the answer to this mystery - but everyone in the village had heard of the legend of Nhawke Sing.

The whispers of the wind spoke of Nhawke Sing coming to life at night and flying away to the mystical, eternal land of Muang Taevidar - the land of angels- to feed on golden bamboo shoots. And this legend was whispered into the ears of many dreamers in that part of the world.

It became a tradition, especially for the young people of the village to test out the legend of Nhawke Sing. Everyone in the village whether rich, poor, young or old had come once or twice hoping for rich rewards in catching Nhawke Sing in flight. But try as they might, they would all fall asleep, only to wake to the rooster''s call the next morning. In the end they all decided that the legend was just another false whisper of the lying wind and they gave up trying.

One day, Wynd Nhut decided that he was going to find out for himself if the legend of Nhawke Sing was true.