This story is taken from 试析四则傣族洪水神话, An Analysis of Four Dai (Tai) Flood Myths by Yongxian Qu (2018)

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Once upon a time, there was an old man who made his living by planting gourds.

One year, he planted all his gourd seeds. Among the many vines that grew, one particular gourd began to form. It grew larger day by day, faster than any gourd the old man had ever seen. Soon, it was bigger than a water vat. Its color was brilliant gold.

When people saw it, they muttered among themselves. "Is something strange about to happen?" some said. Others whispered, "Could it be a demon in disguise?" A few even suggested destroying it before it brought disaster upon them.

But before anyone could act, there came a thunderous crack—KRAKOOOM!—and the sky went black as ink. Rain poured down in sheets. Water began to gush from the mountains and bubble up from the earth.

In the span of a single breath, the village was swallowed. Houses were swept away like twigs.

The water rose so high that it covered even the mountaintops.

Everyone in that place perished—everyone except for two siblings and their dog.

As the brother and sister fled for their lives, they saw the giant golden gourd floating toward them. They climbed onto it, straddling it like a raft, and let it carry them wherever the water went. Their dog swam behind them, following the gourd through the flood.

The water rose higher and higher, all the way up to the Southern Heavenly Gate of the Jade Emperor's palace.

When the Jade Emperor saw the flood reaching his very doorstep, he was terrified. He quickly issued a decree: the waters must recede at once.

The brother and sister, saved by the great gourd, floated back down to earth as the floodwaters withdrew. They landed on the ground.

But the earth was a wasteland. Nothing lived. Everywhere they looked, there were ruins and barren fields.

From that day on, the brother, the sister, and their dog lived together, depending on one another. They used a piece of wood as a hoe. They used a sharp stone as a knife. They gathered wild herbs for food. The sky was their blanket. The earth was their bed.

But they had no rice seeds to plant. How would they grow food?

The brother and sister searched everywhere. They turned the dog over and over, looking for any hope. Finally, tucked in the dog's tail, they found three grains of rice.

They planted those three grains. And from them grew a vast field of golden rice.

Time passed. The brother and sister grew into adults.

The brother thought to himself, "We cannot go on like this. We must start a family. We must have children. We must continue the human race."

One day, he gathered his courage and said to his sister, "Why don't we become husband and wife?"

The sister was shocked. She thought, "Why would my brother ask such a foolish question? We are brother and sister, born of the same parents. Surely the heavens would never allow this."

But then she remembered: they were the only two humans left on earth. She was torn.

Finally, she said to her brother, "We must do three things. If all three happen as I say, then we will become husband and wife—and we will know that heaven itself has agreed."

"First," she said, "each of us will carry a millstone. You go to the eastern hillside. I will go to the western hillside. We will roll our millstones down at the same time. If the two stones come together and join as one, we will marry."

"Second," she said, "you take a thread, and I will take a needle. We will stand where we are, and throw them forward at the same time. If your thread passes through the eye of my needle, we will marry."

"Third," she said, "I will take a shuttle, and you will take a spool of thread. You stand in the east, and I will stand in the west. We will throw them at the same time. If your thread enters my shuttle, we will marry."

The brother agreed.

One by one, they did the three things. And one by one, each sign came true. The millstones joined together. The thread passed through the needle's eye. The thread entered the shuttle.

That very night, the brother and sister bowed to the heavens and earth and officially became husband and wife.

Some time later, the sister gave birth. But the child was not a normal baby. It was a strange, shapeless lump of flesh—no head, no arms, no legs. It looked like a winter melon made of meat.

The brother and sister were frightened and distressed. What should they do?

They took the strange lump of flesh and chopped it into many small pieces. That night, they went out into the wilderness and scattered the pieces everywhere. As they scattered each piece, they chanted:

"Let whatever tree each piece falls upon become that tree's clan name…"

The next morning, when the sun rose, the mountains and fields were filled with people. Smoke rose from cooking fires in every forest.

And that, the elders say, is how people got their family names.

From that time onward, the earth was once again populated with human beings.

But the people had no livestock—no cattle, no horses, no pigs. They had no farming tools.

So the Heavenly God cut out paper shapes of cattle, horses, pigs, plows, and hoes. He scattered them down to the human world. As they fell, they turned into real animals and real tools.

And the people never forgot that it was the dog who brought them the first three grains of rice.

To this day, every year at the First Rice Festival (the New Rice Tasting Ceremony), the people offer the first bowl of new rice to the dog—before any human takes a bite.