Dragon Spotlight 20: Lac Long Quan

This week's myth comes from the Vietnamese people - or, more accurately, the Vietnamese people come from this myth. It is the origin story of the Vietnamese and their 100 clans.

It all begins with Lac Long Quan's grandparents. His grandfather, King Minh, was himself descended from the son of a princess and a heavenly dragon, and King Minh met and married the beautiful immortal Lady Vu. King Minh and Lady Vu had a son, Loc Tuc, and the King hoped that Loc Tuc would rule over the kingdom. However, the kindly Loc Tuc wanted his brother Nghi to inherent, so the kingdom was split in half.

Loc Tuc ruled over the south, and one day met Long Nu, a daughter of a dragon. The two had a son who would become known as the great Lac Long Quan. Lac Long Quan had magical qualities, most notably living underwater, but perhaps his greatest ability was his benevolent rule. He brought order without cruelty, and always worked for his people. Unfortunately, his uncle Nghi had given birth to a very different son. Lac Long Quan's cousin King Lai ruled over the north, and one day found out that Lac Long Quan was spending time underwater. King Lai took advantage of this opportunity and began to oppress the south, abandoning his lovely wife Au Co to do so. At that time, the people of the south called out to Lac Long Quan and he appeared, seeing Au Co and falling in love immediately. She loved him in turn, and eventually gave birth to a sack of 100 eggs, each of which grew into a handsome son. But Lac Long Quan still had to travel back and forth to his underwater realm, and Au Co grew to miss her mountain home, so despite their love they eventually parted, with each taking 50 sons to their homeland.

Rachel's drawing of Lac Long Quan highlights his connection to the sea, with waves crashing around him.

The main inspiration for this dragon is the Asian Vine Snake, or Ahaetulla, pictured below. Not only do they have unique "flat" looking bodies, but their eyes are keyhole shaped, an extremely unique shape in the reptile world.

From http://www.backwaterreptiles.com/images/snakes/Asian-vine-snake-for-sale.jpg

Dragon Spotlight 19: Ulilang Kaluluwa

     The dragon team is back together at UMass for the spring semester!  The course on dragon mythology is running for its second semester in a row as we finalize our collection of dragon myths.

     This week we focus on another myth from the Southeast Asia section.  Part of Philippine mythology, the tale of Ulilang Kaluluwa is one part of the story of creation.

     In the beginning, there were three great beings: Bathala, creator of life who lived on earth, Ulilang Kaluluwa, a great serpent in the clouds, and Galang Kaluluwa, a winged being who loved the water.  On the day that Ulilang Kaluluwa first saw Bathala, he was displeased that there was a god as great as he and attacked Bathala on the spot.  The battle between them lasted for days, until finally Bathala won and in his anger, burned Ulilang Kaluluwa's body.

     Later in his travels, Bathala met Galang, who was overjoyed to have a friend with whom he could share his days.  They were very happy spending time with each other for many years, until one day Galang became sick.  Galang had heard of Bathala's dream of creating life on earth, and gave him instructions that when he died, Bathala was to take Galang's body and bury it where he had burned Ulilang Kaluluwa.  When the sad day came, Bathala did as he was told.  Not long after, a tree emerged from the ground - the first coconut tree.  Its leaves reminded him of Galang Kaluluwa's wings, and its round nuts which seemed to have eyes reminded him of his friend's face.  But the body of the tree was just like the tough scales of Ulilang Kaluluwa.  Bathala knew that the tree would provide everything for the creatures he had imagined, and set about making the first humans.

     For the intensely jealous Ulilang, Rachel's illustration relied on the dog-toothed cat snake (Boiga cynodon).  Not only does this snake slither around the tops of trees in forest canopies in many parts of Southeast Asia (including the Philippines), but he also has scales like tree bark, making him the perfect fit for Ulilang Kaluluwa.

     Here is a picture of our lovely inspiration, the dog-toothed cat snake.

     And here you can see the roughness of its scales, making it a good stand-in for Ulilang.

     Join us again next week for more dragon myths!