Piecing earth and sky together

In the beginning, a helper from heaven named Faam Koh came down to make the sky. His sister, Faam Toh, came down to make the earth. So begins the delightful story of a very competitive pair who use the distinctive embroidery of the Mien people to create the earth and sky.

Because both siblings want to make their part of the world the most beautiful, they work in secret until it is finally time to reveal their handiwork, and find out that the two pieces don’t fit together! The two try stretching the sky – only to result in some stuffing falling out as clouds, but Faam Toh solves the problem by stitching the fabric into mountains, rivers, gorges, and valleys. Only then do the earth and sky fit perfectly, allowing all the plants and animals to thrive.