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Deep in a forest in Vietnam lived nine evil spirits who terrorized the
villagers nearby day and night. They choose the form of the crow and would
dig up the rice seeds and the farmers planted them and devour rice stalks.
Any attempt to chase the birds away was met with an attack that often
ended in the death of a villager. Hau Nghe, a young hunter who lived at
the edge of the forest heard of the crows. He would hunt and give the meat
to the villagers as they had no rice to trade. Hau Nghe was most skillful
with a bow and arrow and very handsome. He decided that he should hunt
down the crows.
After a fruitless day of hunting for the crows, he returned to his hut.
He looked into the sky and noticed that the full moon shone brighter than
ever before. As he looked he saw a palace of great beauty appear. A
beautiful woman emerged and flew down to earth on a moonbeam. The fairy
landed only a few yards away and came to him. Out of the night came the
nine crows so Hau Nghe drew his bow. The fairy warned him not to kill the
birds, but to only shoot their wings. Once this was done, they bound the
wings and feet of the birds.
The fairy instructed Hau Nghe that the only way to keep them from
escaping was to bury them. Together they dug a deep hole and buried the
birds. Since they realized that eventually the birds would dig themselves
out, the fairy decided that they should move the banyan tree from the
other side of the house over the birds. After this was accomplished the
fairy sealed the crows with a charm written on a long strip of red paper
that she pasted to the base of the tree.
As dawn approached, the fairy attempted to leave. However the shared
work blossomed a young love between the pair; Hau Nghe grabbed her
and begged her to stay. She tried to explain the she was Hang Nga, the
moon fairy and could not stay but Hau Nghe persisted that she stay and be
his wife. During the course of the argument, the sun had risen and the
moon had set which ended the argument and Hang Nga decided to be his wife.
The young couple were very happy together even though they lived in a
small hut at the edge of the forest. Hau Nghe hunted every morning and
Hang Nga gardened and watched over the house. After a short while they had
a baby girl, a fairy child like her mother. She was named Ngoc Tho, Jade
Rabbit.
As time passed they could hear rumbling from underneath the banyan
tree. Hang Nga told her husband that the crows were practicing their
martial arts but that all would be well as long the charm and the tree
remained intact. That night a terrible thunder storm came upon them. In an
instant a flash of lightening crashed into the banyan tree destroying it.
A gust of wind carried away the charm and the crows were free. As the
ascended into the sky they began to glow like fire. Hang Nga told her
husband that the months of training had transformed the birds into fire
crows. The nine crows glowed so brightly that they made the night sky look
like mid afternoon.
From that night the nine suns that never set scorched and dried the
earth causing famine and drought. Thousands of people died and those who
survived could find no relief. Hau Nghe was filled with grief. He wanted
to shoot the birds like beasts so he counted nine arrows and went into the
blinding suns. He was determined to overcome the heat and drew his bow. It
hit the first ball of fire and it exploded into a thousand pieces. He shot
all the suns until only the true sun remained. The villagers gathered,
shouted cheers and called for him to be king.
The next day found two strangers at the door of the young couple. They
introduced themselves as the chief mandarins of the court - Phung Mong and
Ngo Cuong. They told Hau Nghe that the king had died. They heard of Hau
Nghe's feat and wished him to be king. Being overwhelmed by this, he
decided to meditate on it for a while. He told his wife that he wished to
be king so that she could again live in a palace. He told her that she
would have all the finery befitting a queen. Hang Nga told her husband
that she wanted only to be happy and their lives together in the hut were
happy. She warned him not to trust the mandarins because they wished only
to use him and that riches can often be blinding. Hang Nga told him if he
wished to be king that he must remember to be as kind and selfless as he
was the day they met. She made him promise that he would not change. Hau
Nghe promised his wife that the kingdom would benefit from him being king
and that he would not change.
Hau Nghe was made king and had instructed the mandarins to make changes
to help the citizens of the kingdom. After a period of time, he called the
mandarins in and asked if the changes had been made. They told him that
all the reforms had been made and that the ambassador from China would be
visiting. Ngo Cuong told his king that the ambassador said that the lowest
mandarins in China live in much finer palaces than his. After consenting
to make repairs the mandarin suggested building a whole new palace by the
river. The king knew it would drain the treasury completely but the
mandarin insisted that the people were so pleased that they would be
willing and anxious to help.
In no time a tax was put in place and workers brought in to begin
construction. Hau Nghe soon became more interested in the new home than
the kingdom. About halfway through construction the king was told that the
taxes weren't collecting enough because the rich weren't paying their
share. The king decided that those who didn't pay should be forced to work
on the palace. Soon men, both rich and poor were working on the palace and
new men were constantly being added to make up for the ones who were dying
because of the poor conditions.
Hang Nga could not bear it anymore and confronted her husband. She told
him that she feared living in the new palace because she thought the
spirits of the men who had died would haunt them. He laughed at her. She
told him that the people were dying from starvation because of the taxes.
Hau Nghe told her that disloyalty needed to be punished. Hang Nga tried to
convince her husband that the mandarins were using him, that they were
destroying him. He became very angry, arguing that they were his friends
to whom he owed everything and that it is the duty of his subjects to
serve the king.
When the palace was finished it was the most beautiful building anyone
had ever seen. However the mandarins were quick to fan his desires by
suggesting a summer house and a theater. Years passed and the suffering
grew worse. Hang Nga took it upon herself to go to the people to give alms
and treat the sick, but it offered little solstice compared the ravages of
the king.
One afternoon, the king received a visitor, a magician who wished to
present a great spell to the king. It was a formula for an elixir of
immortality. It required a tower of twelve thousand feet to collect the
dew of clouds and nine hundred ninety nine of the youngest and most
beautiful children in the kingdom to cook in the pot of dew. The king did
not want to kill the children but the mandarins insisted that if he die
the next king might destroy the glory of his thrown and convinced him of
all the good he could do if he were immortal. Hau Nghe relented, the tower
was built and the children were gathered.
Hang Nga pleaded with her husband not to continue but her cries fell on
deaf ears. She tried to remind of the days in the hut at the edge of the
forest, of the happiness they had shared then. He demanded to know if the
love they shared 'then' was dead now. The queen replied that she loved Hau
Nghe and that he was dead. The king became so enraged that he slapped Hang
Nga so hard that she fell to the floor.
The king went to the magician and demanded that the elixir be finished
immediately. On the full moon the dew and children were gathered. Hau Nghe
sat on his throne, Hang Nga sat beside him with the princess Ngoc Tho. The
entire court was assembled.
A cauldron was prepared and when the dew was boiling the children were
marched into the room. The magician announced that they were ready to
begin. Hau Nghe wished to know if they would be successful and if they had
gone to every length to insure that the finest ingredients had been found.
As the magician began to reassure his king, he noticed Ngoc Tho. He
noticed that she was a fairy child and demanded that she be used. He
insisted that she alone would make the elixir more powerful than all the
children could. He even guaranteed their success if they used the
princess. Hang Nga was outraged for the king gave his consent. Ngoc Tho
clung to her mother in tears. Hang Nga picked up her child and the
princess began to shrink. The queen had transformed her into a rabbit.
Hang Nga ran to the balcony and rose into the air. Hau Nghe drew his bow
but was so furious that he could not steady himself to aim it. Arrow after
arrow fell short.
Just as Hang Nga reached her lunar palace, an angry mob broke into the
chambers of the husband's palace. Armed men stormed the palace killing the
guards, and freed the children. They grabbed the magician and boiled him
in the dew. The mandarins were killed and the men searched for the king.
They found him on the balcony shooting arrows at the moon. Hang Nga could
hear his cries and looked down from her palace. Tears flowed from her
eyes, not for the king but the Hau Nghe who had died long before.
TOP
Taken directly from:
"The Sky Legends of Vietnam."
Lynette Dyer Vuong. HarperCollins Publishers.
©1993
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