The Toad Princess

Uthayadevi(อุทัยเทวี ) or The Toad Princess(นางพญาขี้คันคาก ) is a well-known folk tale from the north-east of Thailand.

Uthayadevi (actually pronounced as oo-tai-tay-wee) was a daughter of a Naga princess and a tree spirit (Rukkhadeva). As a result of forbidden love affair, the Naga princess had laid an egg secretly on land and protected it with her venom before she returned to her under water realm. One day a hungry toad came across the Naga's egg and swallowed it. The toad suddenly died of the Naga's poison, at the same time, the egg hatched into a baby girl. The Naga's daughter thought that the toad was her mother. The girl then had inhabited the dead toad taking it as her shelter before the old couple met the speakable toad corpse by chance. The old couple adopted the toad (with the girl living inside) and named it Uthayadevi until the girl grew up to be a lovely woman.

Uthayadevi later met Prince Sudharaja (soot-ta-raat) and got married. Although there were some difficulties, the story of Uthayadevi and the Prince had a happy ending. In some versions of TV dramas, there were a snake, a turtle and a bird accompanying Uthayadevi.

This is my entry for Fairy Tales Contest by #Traditional-Artists club.

Watercolor on Canson Fontenay 300g rough paper(wrong side)
Original Size : 30.5 x 40 cm