There are different legends about the small sanxian of the Lahu ethnic group in different places. The following is an introduction to it.

The legend of the Lahu village in Lancang
In the Lahu village of Lancang, there is such a story: Legend has it that a long time ago, the Peach Blossom Fairy in Tiangong gave a string to Lahu people to play in order to relieve anxiety. Sanxian Lahu is called drop in the language. Originally there was only one string, and the sound was relatively monotonous. Later, it was changed to two strings, but the sound was still not good, and finally it became the current three-string. In the old society, the Lahu people could not bear the oppression of the chieftains and often rose up to resist. There was an uprising leader named Li Jinbao, a famous sanxian player who was captured after the failure of the uprising. On the night before he was about to kill him, the officials agreed to his request to play the sanxian again. Li Jinbao played all night in grief and indignation, and the sound of the qin stopped abruptly when the rooster crowed, and he was ready to go to sacrifice himself. But the wives and young ladies of the official family were listening to the qin all night, and they were so fascinated by it that the sound of the qin stopped abruptly. The chieftain had no choice but to accommodate his wife and daughter, and Li Jinbao was saved from death. The upright Li Jinbao was reluctant to play the piano for the official family, so he hid in the mountains. Later, this piece of music composed by him was called "Resurrection Tune". The sanxian played by the Lahu people has also spread since then.

The legend of Cangyuan Wa village
In Cangyuan's Wa village, legend has it that there was a family that was very discordant and often quarreled. An old man cut a piece of tea wood, hollowed it out in the shape of a wooden spoon, covered it with toad skin, tied it with three strings, made three strings, and played beautiful and touching music with it. Stop making noise. The old man said to them: "These three strings are like a family, the inner string is the mother (mother string), the middle string is the father, and the outer string is the son (child string). Accurate, you can play a pleasant tune. You have to live in harmony, and then you can live a happy and happy life." Since then, the family has been living a harmonious life under the influence of the sanxian music. Since then, the sanxian has spread. As long as you play it, people can sing and dance together in harmony, regardless of ethnicity, gender or age, and use it to "talk about love" and build a harmonious and happy family.