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| Tản Viên Mountain |
Long, long ago in a small hamlet near a forest lived a poor wood-cutter, so poor that although he was now approaching his thirties, he still could not have a wife. Though he worked very hard from dawn to dusk he had to live from hand to mouth and go hungry on rainy days. Notwithstanding all his hardships and sufferings he never complained of his lot.
Long, long ago in a small hamlet near a forest lived a poor wood-cutter, so poor that although he was now approaching his thirties, he still could not have a wife. Though he worked very hard from dawn to dusk he had to live from hand to mouth and go hungry on rainy days. Notwithstanding all his hardships and sufferings he never complained of his lot.
One day he went to the forest as usual and felled a giant tree. As it was too late to cut the wood, he went back, axe on shoulder, to his thatched hut. Next morning, when he returned to the spot, he was struck dumb with surprise to find the tree standing erect and as live as before. The wood – cutter set himself to work all over again and as on the day before, chips of wood flew and scattered over the grass that grew sparsely among the bushes. When the sun reached the horizon, the colossus was again lying on the ground. But the following day the marvallous tree was once again standing and all marks of cutting had again disapeares. Three times, the poor wood-cutter’s labour was thus lost.
He did not lose heart but decided to clear up the mystery. So after bringing the giant down to the ground once more, he did himself in a bush nearby. At midnight, hungry and worn out by his tremendous efforts during the day, he was about to fall asleep when he was wakened by unusual sounds. He opened his eyes and saw a young and very beautiful fairy who lightly struck the felled tree with her magic wand and behold! The tree rose upright, its wounds healed. Leaving his shelter, the wood-cutter approached her, protesting against being thus deprived of the produce of his labour.
“I am Thai-Bach-Tinh-Quan”, said the beautiful creature, “and this tree is my favourite resting-place. I know that you are very poor and do not mean to deprive you of the fruit of your toil. This wand will make good your losses. Just as it has power to bring this tree to life again so it can heal wounds and cure human illnesses. Take it and you will be the greatest healer ever known on earth. Remember, however, your present misery, and be generous toward the poor”.
Thereupon the fairy disappeared.
The wood-cutter left his native village and travelled over the land to give assistance to the sick. He performed miraculous cures. His reputation as healer spread throughout the country and the gratitude of those he had restored to health went before him on his travels, securing for him the people’s veneration.
One day as he walked along the bank of a river, he met a group of buffalo- boys gathering around a snake they had killed. He drew nearer and noticed on its head the letter (Royal). He touched it with his stick, it soon stirred, reached the water and disappeared.
A few days later while the healer was taking a rest in his home, a tall young man with the dignity and poise of a king, carrying a large tray full of pearls, diamonds, and bars of gold and silver entered his house. The newcomer bowed down before his host and introduced himself:
“I am the Crown Prince of the Kingdom of the South Sea. My name is Young Dragon Prince. You have of late cured a snake marked with a letter “Royal”. The snake was myself. I have come to thank you for saving my life.”
The former poor wood- cutter, however, refused the rich gifts offered. He had no need of so much wealth. The Prince wanted nevertheless to show his gratitude, to his saviour and invited him to visit the submarine realm of his father. With a horn of rhinoceros he split the waves for his guest to enter the marine world.
In the pale sea- green kingdom, the king Long Vuong gave his son’s saviour a magnificent reception. Festivities and banquets were held throughout the sea for three days. In the enchantment of coralline architecture, the hosts of many coloured fish glistened like the most brightly attired birds of the tropical forests. The king offered him again treasures of fine pearls, gold and silver from sunken vessels.
Again the healer refused, but on the king’s insistence he had, in the end, to accept an ancient bood of magic, a very old text on wishes and vows, and with it he returned to the mainland.
Back in his home, he started to decipher the old manuscript, which revealed to him formulas with which his wishes would be fulfilled at once. His new power enabled him to increase the favours he had distributed around him.
Later on he went to Than Phu harbour, took a boat and went up the Red River to the mountainous regions. During his journey he stopped for a few days at Thang Long, acient Hanoi. But life in the capital did not suit him. The city pleasures seemed to him dissolute and the people licentious. He proceeded on his way up to Phu Lo where he caught sight of the Tan Vien mountain with its three peaks. It was the very place he had dreamed of. He then wished for the existence of a road winding round the mass of moutains. The road soon appeared rising up to the summit where the healer had made up his mind to take up residence.
From his dwelling, perched on the Tan Vien mountain, he liked to go down to the river to watch the fish play. Wherever he stopped, on the bank of his favourite Tien Hoang river or on some mountain-side, he had a palace appeare which disappeared with him.
He never forgot in his pleasures to multiply good deeds during his travels. He always cured poor people and improved the situation of the distressed, and the people were most grateful to him. Wherever they found traces of one of his miraculous palaces they built a shrine in his honour . He was known to them as the Genie of Tan Vien.
At that time, King Hung Vuong ruled over the country. His daughter, the princess My Chau, was reowned both for her beauty and virtue. Now, it happened that the Young Dragon Prince of the South Sea and the Genie of Tan Vien mountain both fell madly in love with her.
King Hung Vuong was very perplexed when he received the double request of marriage.
“One woman and two men” he said, “that is embarrassing. The princess can not be divided into two. The suitor who by tomorrow brings me the richest present will have My Chau’s hand”
As all his wishes were immediately granted, early next morning the Genie of Tan Vien was ale to bring to the court a great quantity of vases full of fine gold dust and large golden nuggets. Other rare China-ware containing bars of silver as bright as the moon beams were added to cups full of pearls and dimonds of all sorts and sizes. The rarest birds with the most glistening plumage sang in cages of plaited rattan. Last but not least, a cohort of strange animals, among them a nine-tusked elephant, nine-spurred cocks and nine-maned horses, completed the magnificent present of Tan Vien. The King was so pleased with this abundance and variety of invaluable gifts that he gave the beautiful princess to Tan Vien without waiting for the Prince of the South Sea, and Tan Vien took the bride to his palace on the mountain summit.
The Prince of the South Sea arrived too late. His rival was by then the happy owner of the peerless My Chau. He flew into a rage, and how terrible was his reaction! He let loose furious winds howling over the moutains, throwing down the giants of the forests like straws, turning over heavy rocks as if they were dead leaves and destroying in one breath crops and houses for miles around, the waters boiled, whipped and swelled by deluges of rain.
Tan Vien did not lack resourses to defend himself. He spread an iron net up-stream from Tu Liem to stop his adverary. The latter changed his path and traveled by the Ly Nhan river. When he reached the Quang Oai hills, he followed the Hat Giang river, crossed the Lo River and, to outfrank his enemy, penetrated in to the Da River. He has swelled all the streams and torrents on the mountains and they flooded over. Enormous masses of water, loaded with red alluvium, rose to the base of the mountain where the revengeful prince intended to attack. He had entrenched the faunna of his aquatic armies in pits dug all around. When everything was ready he launched the final assault.
But the people living around the base of the mountain had brought assistance to their benefactor in danger. On his order they made hurdles to dam the rising water. A section of them armed with harpoons, spears and bows was sent out against the allies of the aggressor. Tigers, bears, panthers on the mountain also came to the rescue of the kind-hearted Tan Vien. The uprooted trees and brambles and rolled enormous rocks into the river to bar the way to the invaders, inflicting heavy losses on the Dragon Prince’s troops. When the two champions came to grips, a storm broke out, bringing about winds and rains that made the day as dark as night. When light reappeared, everywhere on the water floated corpses of fish, tortoises, snakes, and wreckage and debris testifying to the final defeat of the Young Dragon Prince and his armies.
But the fiery tempered adversary of the Genie of Tan Vien mountain comes back every year, and when the monsoon begins to blow, resumes battle against his former saviour. For his part, the victor always carries on his protective and kindly mission.