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Spirit of mythical princess looms over Thai cave crisis.


Relatives of 12 young soccer team members and their coach pray at a shrine for their rescue after going missing in a large cave, Wednesday, June 27, 2018, in Mae Sai, Chiang Rai province, northern Thailand. Rain is continuing to fall and water levels keep rising inside a cave in northern Thailand, frustrating the search for the boys and their soccer coach who have been missing since Saturday.



MAE SAI, Thailand – Along a muddy mountain path not far from the entrance to a flooded cave where 12 young members of a Thai soccer team have been missing for four days is a shrine to a mythical princess whose spirit is said to inhabit the caverns below.

A steady stream of visitors come to kneel down, light candles and incense and pray in front of a statue of a young woman wearing a pink traditional outfit, surrounded by flowers and other offerings.

For the past four days, the wish has been a simple one: Please let our boys come home.

The youngsters aged 11-16 have been missing since their 25-year-old coach took them to the sprawling cave on Saturday after a practice match. Rescuers led by elite navy divers have been frustrated by incessant rain and flooding that has slowed their search of the miles-long underground complex.

The statute is of Jao Mae Nang Non – which roughly translates as the reclining goddess – and her name is shared with the cave, Tham Luang Nang Non, as well as the surrounding mountain, Doi Nang Non.

Her legend, and in turn how her spirit came to linger in the cave in Chiang Rai province’s far northern Mae Sai district near Myanmar, is similar to dozens of other tales across a country whose belief system and folklore are heavily influenced by Brahmin, Buddhist and animist traditions.

It also speaks to the spiritual and mythical significance that caves hold in the Southeast Asian nation, where the ordeal of the young soccer players has spawned an outpouring of media coverage of ghost stories and supernatural explanations for the incident.

The legend goes that in ancient times a beautiful princess fell in love with a stable boy and became pregnant. Knowing their love was forbidden, they fled and eventually settled in the cave to rest. When the stable boy went out in search of food, he was caught by the princess’ father’s army and killed.

Distraught, the princess stabbed herself and bled to death in the cave.

The legend says it is her blood that became the water that flows through the cave, while her body is the surrounding mountains, said to look like a sleeping woman.

Runchanok Nganjit, a student and native of Mae Sai, said she has heard the story of the princess since she was a child and that local residents believe her spirit now guards the cave.

“We all believe that all places have guardian spirits, places like mountains, caves and houses,” she said. “We may not see them, but they can see us so we need to respect them when we go into their places.”

She said she believes the princess’ spirit is playing a role in the disappearance of the boys but she isn’t sure how.