Word: dragon
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Stolen Eggs. The dragon, who lives in the Mekong River in front of the Lan Xang Hotel in Vientiane, is a powerful force to the spirit-worshiping Laotians. He is also angry. His daughter laid three eggs this summer; they were stolen, and the dragon wants them back...
...eggs are under guard in the headquarters of General Kong Le, commander of Souvanna Phouma's neutralist army. Kong Le got them from a peasant, who dug them up near the neutralist base two months ago. True enough, they did not really look like a dragon's eggs. They were hard-shelled and white, instead of being soft-shelled and mottled, as dragons' eggs in Laos usually are. But there was no mistaking them for the real thing: no sooner had the peasant taken them home than he fell into a delirium and was visited...
...peasant fled in terror to Kong Le, who sent Souvanna Phouma a telegram warning of impending disaster. Souvanna, who does not believe in dragons, shrugged it away. Even when the Mekong River started to rise, he attributed it simply to the annual monsoon rains. But the river kept on rising, to a 40-year high, which put the lower sections of the city 'deep under swirling brown water. Suddenly, Parisian education or no, the prince changed his mind: he could be blamed for the disaster unless he followed the dragon's instructions. He called on Kong...
...Phouma's principal election opponents had no intention of letting him off the hook. No sooner had he called for Kong Le than they sent the neutralist commander a telegram warning him to stay out of Vientiane or face "our cricket," which "is even more powerful than your dragon...
...river eventually went down without the benefit of atonement ceremonies, but Kong Le was so infuriated at the right-wing generals' interference that he refused to return the eggs. As a result, all of Laos was at the mercy of an infuriated dragon. As far as Souvanna Phouma is concerned, the principal disaster may come at the polls. The Laotian electorate never pays much attention to fiery-tongued orators, but dragons are something else again...