These sculptures on Puek Tian Beach are a reference to the masterpiece epic poem Phra Aphai Mani by Sunthon Phu. Everyone in Thailand knows this legendary poem. It all started when a king sent his sons to study abroad where one of them mastered the martial art of sword fighting and the other one mastered the art playing the magic flute that can put anyone to sleep (or worse). When they returned, the king was angry with both of them for taking up studies in things that didn’t contribute to their skills to take over for him as a ruler, so he expelled both of them from the kingdom. An ogress, disguised as a beautiful maiden, kidnapped one of the princes and they got married and had a son.

Once the prince figured out he was married to an ogress, he escaped with his son with the help of a mermaid family. The woman chased the mermaid and the prince. But then, the prince used the flute to put the ogress to sleep forever, after having a child together, he left the mermaid, and started traveling, meeting new women, getting married, and having new children. Sunthon Phu spent more than 20 years writing this poem about these events, finishing it in 1844.