The Kathuic peoples apparently descend from a snake. An orphan was expelled from his village and went to live in the jungle alone as a hermit. He built a small hut to live in and everyday when he returned from his fields, he came home to a delicious dinner. Not knowing who had prepared it for him, he decided one day to hide in his hut and to see who was cooking for him. He discovered that it was a very beautiful woman who was bringing him dinner. He questioned her, asking why she was providing for him. The woman responded that she saw him living alone and had taken pity on him. He asked to marry her and she brought him home to her parents. As they were approaching the home of her parents, she transformed into a snake. It was then that the man realized that his love was in fact a snake and both of her parents were snakes. They permitted the marriage on condition that a dowry would be paid to them. The couple married and had four children together, two girls and two boys. The wife passed away and the children married each other and multiplied. This is the origin of the Kathuic peoples.

Until the 18th century, a giant terrorized the Kathuic people. The giant descended from the heavens every month and demanded that one villager be offered to him. A pariah and an ugly man who was quite fond of smoking a waterpipe had recently settled down in a Kathu village. He was greatly despised and the people found his presence unbearable. The villagers elected to offer him up to the giant. Facing certain death, the pariah asked for his waterpipe and began to smoke. As the giant descended from the heavens, he saw the man exhaling smoke from his mouth. Fearing that the man was, in fact, a dragon, the giant fled. And to this day, the Kathu continue to smoke from bamboo pipes.

TexasCowboy, where did you hear that story?

That is very nice. Where did you meet them? As far as I'm aware, most Kathu people live in Xe Kong, with a few villages in Salavan Province on the way to Tad Lo. There are also Kathu people in Vietnam, believe it or not. I'm actually very interested in their cultures and language and I'd someday like to learn their languages and do some linguistic analysis. I have no linguistics degree but I'm an amateur linguist.

As far as I am aware, the province of Champassak is mainly Lao people in Pak Se, with a small Suay population in Sukuma and Muang Bajeang. The Ngae tribe can be found in Bajeang also. Around the Pak Song loop towards Attapeu you can find the Yahern people.

Attapeu: Yahern tribe continuing down on the same road coming from Pak Song in Champassak. A smaller tribe called Oy, I have visited their village once before. From Phu Vong down to Cambodia, you can find the Brao tribe, also called Lavae (some find Lavae offensive).

Se Kong: Kathu, in many villages. There are very few Lao people in Se Kong outside of the city. It's basically a Mon Khmer speaking province, but Lao people came and set up the city as a trading post. Tae Taeng has Suay, and Kathu and Ta Oy, I think. (I'm not so sure.) If you go around Muang Laman it's all Alak. They have very cool looking designs on their homes if you ever get to go take a look. Around Pa Um, you will see a huge missile, an old remnant from the Vietnam War. If you continue up into the mountains from Pa Um in between the path to Chalern Xai there is an unknown Mon-Khmer tribe. I've been up there myself and asked them, but they don't seem to be able to speak Lao. There are no schools and no electricity in that area. If you go towards Dak Cheung, high up in the mountains, the Talieng tribe can be found. They can all speak Lao, although the area is on the poor side. I think Talieng is the only tribe in Dak Cheung.

I haven't visited all of Attapeu and Se Kong, but I'm sure there are other tribes there. I have to go back and map them out someday. Maybe you can help me, TexasCowboy, if you are still in Laos. I need to learn information of the tribe that lives between Pa Um and Chalern Xai. None of them can speak Lao. I've suspected that it was Alak but I'm not sure.

I attached a picture of this unknown tribe's village in the mountains.

EDIT: the village is bigger than that but I couldn't fit the whole image on here due to a file size limit.