The Ghost Princess

Sabrina (my house mate) went on a walk today to check out the banana trees. The poor girl had been having a hard time due to the fact that she is vegetarian and for a few days could only eat the rice that was served. (I was fine with it, more food for me) Fearing she would get scurvy, she went looking for fruit or vegetables and found instead a small house on top of the hill. She was surprised to find the small, lighted house complete with a bed and came and asked me about it. I didn't know, and after seeing it, I was just as confused, so we went and asked the daughter of the man who owns this place, Rosie.

Rosie is a sixteen-year-old girl, giggly and shy as one might expect a girl of her age to be. After asking her, she quickly told us that she would explain, and that these were her beliefs and that she did not expect us to agree or believe if we didn't want to. She told us that 400 years ago, there was a Chan Princess that was married to a Karen prince. They both lived and died on the grounds that the school was built on. Although Rosie didn't know very much history about the prince and princess, she did tell us that nothing had been built on that land since they lived there because the land was haunted by the spirit of the princess. Regardless, the school was built two years ago and the founder believed that because his intentions were pure the princess would not mind.

Shortly after this, the people living at the school started to have bad, violent dreams. One of the volunteers actually woke to see a woman with long, black hair pull open her mosquito net and then disappear. After this, the family decided that something had to be done. They built a small house for the ghost of the princess to live, as well as a small house on the left for her servants to care for her, and a house on the right for her soldiers to protect her.

In the house is everything that the princess might need. There is a bed, and a mirror because the princess was very beautiful and would probably like to look at her. There is a bow, because her prince was a hunter and seeing the bow would remind her of him. And every Tuesday (unless she is menstruating), Rosie will go to the house and leave an offering of food, tea and water, but no meat-- the princess doesn't eat meat. Around the house are bricks which Rosie told us were 400 years old-- from the time that the princess lived. Like most spirit houses in Thailand, the house is built on the best piece of land. It is on the top of a hill where one can see the fields of rice and other plants, the river, and the mountains beyond. The view and the house compete to be the most beautiful thing there.

To get to the house, there is a gate that is guarded by tiger and something that we think is a giant. Rosie said that it was a “big person” with large teeth, and used her fingers to show us, looking like she was describing Kyle Bannoff, the rabbit from the Cave of Eternal Peril, with its “nasty big pointed teeth.” Whatever it is, if you cross the gate with bad intentions, then the tiger or the lion will cause you to have bad dreams. One person went through the gate on a motorbike and quickly had an accident, and so I guess that sometimes the tiger and the giant work in more direct ways.

The night, I had very bad dreams-- in one dream I was in an argument with another person that became so fierce that I actually screamed at the person using my actual voice and woke myself up. Later, when going to the gate, I stumbled and hurt my toe just as the gate came into view. This made me worry-- was I a bad person? Were my intentions not pure? I got to the house and explained to the princess that I was only here to help and got back unhurt. Hopefully we have reached an understanding now and and Princess will send me good dreams tonight.