Lang Cun Cần, also called Đá Cần, is the principal culture-hero of the Mường creation epic. Born among the beings hatched from the eggs of the world-birds Chim Ây and Cái Ứa, he becomes the first great lord (lang) of the Mường. He organises the felling of the immense copper chu tree, whose timber and treasure equip the people with the communal stilt-house, the bronze drums and the ordered life of the mường; he apportions land, establishes the noble lineages and teaches the cultivation of rice. Sources give his name variously as Lang Cun Cần, Lang Đá Cần or simply Đá Cần, and traditions differ on the exact sequence of his deeds, but across recensions he is the founding ancestor-lord from whom the Mường aristocracy claims descent.