'Sung Thong, the prince in a shell' from Folktales of Thailand
The myth of the queen who gave birth to a shell and was chased away. But that shell was not empty…
King and queen are unhappy because they had no son! But after a long time it became known that the queen was going to have a child. But she gave birth to a shell. The king was driven crazy by people who shouted that the queen was a witch. He banished her and put her shell and all in a boat.
She landed near a forest. The queen got out of the boat with the shell and met an elderly couple who lived there. That invited her to share the house and the food with her and she helped in the vegetable garden. But inside the shell was a boy hidden! He grew. When the three inhabitants had gone, he crawled out of the shell to play; then he crawled back again. When he was a little older he also cooked their food! His mother began to suspect that something was wrong with the shell; she hid and saw a handsome boy climb out of the shell.
She destroyed the shell and asked him to lead a normal life. He was given the name Prince Sung by her. But that reached the ears of jealous women in the palace who plotted to kill him. Then the Serpent King offered his help to protect Prince Sung.
A giantess was assigned to raise Prince Sung. In fifteen years she raised him and bathed him in the golden pond which made him golden in skin. She taught him mantras and when he uttered them he could command all the deer in the forest and all the fish in the water.
She gave him a golden baton and a pair of crystal shoes that enabled him to fly invisibly. But she also gave him a camouflage suit to look like an ugly Ngoc. Then the prince flew to the remote city of Samont.
Marry seven princesses…
The king of Samont had seven beautiful daughters. He wanted his daughters to choose husbands and ordered all young single men to come to Samont. Then young princes gathered from Samont, Cambodia, Laos and other countries.
The candidates were in their Easter best. The king's seven daughters wore dazzling dresses and jewels. The first six ladies chose their husbands but the youngest, Princess Rochana, could not make a choice.
The king asked if anyone was missed. Yes, there was an ugly guy in the Ngoc costume and he had to take a seat. Princess Rochana went through the candidates again and saw the handsome prince through the Ngoc costume. She chose him. The monarch and queen were appalled at her choice and banished both to the outskirts of the city.
Princess Rochana knew she had not made a wrong choice. She lived happily in a cabin with her husband who was still wearing that ugly suit and she didn't tell him she knew who was in it...
The hunt
The king wanted to see if the sons-in-law could hunt and wrote out a test: "Tomorrow everyone bring six deer!" The Ngoc put on his crystal shoes and flew to the forest. He spoke the words of the mantra and all the deer came to rest with him.
The others finally came out to him and formerly six deer. But he gave each colleague only one deer and cut off a piece of the ear everywhere. The king was amazed that only the Ngoc had six deer and the others had only one deer with a broken ear…..
The second test: catching a hundred big fish. This time he took off his Ngoc costume and with the help of the mantra all the big fish came to him. Later came the others who had caught nothing. He gave everyone two fish and cut off a piece of the nose.
To the king he could bring a hundred fish, the others only two with a piece from the nose. The king and queen were stunned. Rochana was naturally happy.
Interference from above
The god Indra took the form of a soldier with an army and challenged the king to a polo match with the city at stake. Otherwise he would burn the city down. The king allowed only six sons-in-law to play because he was ashamed of the Ngoc. But they were easily defeated. Indra demanded the seventh son-in-law as an opponent.
When the next day the city had left and Indra was ready on his horse, fully equipped, a beautiful horse sprinted into the field with a golden-skinned prince on it. He challenged Indra. The disguised Indra tried to defeat his rival but the prince was stronger. Indra's horse soared through the air and to everyone's surprise, the seventh son-in-law's horse also rose foaming to answer the challenge. Indra couldn't win; on the contrary, he conceded a goal. The game was over. Saved the city.
Indra gave up his disguise. He told them who he really was and also told them who the Ngoc really was. The Prince from the Shell. Prince Sung's mother and the forest couple were compensated with money, clothes and land. Sung and his wife Rochana were allowed to live in the palace until Sung finally became the next king of Samont and the entire kingdom.
Source: Folk Tales of Thailand (1976). Translation and editing Erik Kuijpers.
A story from Thai song and dance culture. With a king, handsome son/daughter, villains, sorcery, and all's well that ends well. Elsewhere, the story is called Prince Sang Thong. Ngoc is a Vietnamese given name and means jewel, gemstone. But there is a second meaning: a bitch of a bitch that smells like rotten eggs.