The Legend of Nang Sib Song

Based on the celebrated Southeast Asian folk tale and Jataka story, 'The Legend of Nang Sib Song' tells the poignant tale of twelve daughters born to an impoverished merchant. Unable to feed his growing family, their desperate father abandons the girls deep inside a dense, enchanted forest. Lost and defenseless, the twelve sisters are taken in by Santhumala, an ogress queen disguised as a benevolent human noblewoman who raises them as her own adopted daughters in her secluded palace. Years later, the sisters uncover Santhumala's gruesome secret when they stumble upon a chamber filled with animal remains and human bones, realizing their adoptive mother is a flesh-eating Yakshi. Horrified, the twelve sisters escape to the neighboring human kingdom of King Rothasit. Bewitched by their collective beauty, gentle demeanor, and filial devotion, King Rothasit takes all twelve sisters as his royal consorts, provoking profound jealousy across the court. Vengeful and determined to reclaim what she considers hers, Queen Santhumala transforms herself into an exquisite enchantress and travels to King Rothasit's court. She enchants the monarch with dark magic, quickly supplants the sisters, and feigns a fatal illness whose only cure requires the eyes of the twelve consorts. Blinding the pregnant sisters and banishing them to a dark, subterranean cavern, Santhumala sets into motion a tragic sequence of events that will later propel the youngest sister's miraculous son, Phra Rotthasen, on a perilous quest to recover his mother and aunts' sight.