Legends Of The East

A Thai legend tells of a hermit named Phrom Ruesi who lived in the cave for 1000 years. After such a long tome he became so friendly with the “the-wadaa”, the Buddhist equivalent of angels that the wizened sage talked them into creating magical wonders deep in the caves.

So the “the-wadaa” created a stream that flowed out of the pedestal of a solid gold Buddha, a storehouse of divine textiles, a city of nagas, a mystical lake, a sacred immortal elephant and a tomb for Phrom Ruesi.

Has anyone ever seen the magical wonders of Chiang Dao cave? The locals say they are very deep inside the mountain … far beyond any passageways ever explored. Perhaps someday?

A second legend claims that anyone taking even a small stone from the cave will become forever lost in the underground labyrinth.

A third legend tells of how a soldier went into the cave and stole a marble Buddha statue and took the image to his house. Then he had to move and he moved the Buddha … but when he moved the Buddha, his son drowned. This frightened the soldier so he gave the Buddha statue to his brother who was an Air Force pilot.

After suffering two plane crashed the brother gave the statue to his superior. Very soon later the officer lost all his property, then died. Some people took the statue to the house of it’s final “owner.”

The father of this new owner decide the Buddha statue was good and made merit to it. Shortly thereafter, the new owner’s father dies and he wife became ill. The man was wise and read about the statue, and decided to return it. That very night he had a dream. In the dream, Phrom Ruesi appeared and told the man to return the statue by train as quickly as possible or he would be doomed.

Source : Guide to Thailand