the liquid be added to the triennial tribute.
* * *
Today we can see a small temple on a mountain near the seashore where Princess My Chau met her death. But it is particularly at Co Loa Thanh, the Ancient City of the Conch, that tradition keeps alive the cult of An Duong Vuong and My Chau. There, in the sanctuary of the temple, a flame has burned for 2000 years before the tablet of heroes who have fought for national independence. Farther on, a sacred banyan tree, several centuries old, covers the humble altar of Princess My Chau.
LITTLE STATESMAN LY
THERE WAS once a famous Vietnamese statesman whose name was Ly. He was very short of stature; in fact, he was so short that the top of his head was no higher than a man's waist.
Statesman Ly was sent to China to settle a very important political problem with that nation. When the Emperor of China looked down from his Dragon Throne and saw this little man, he exclaimed, "Are the Vietnamese such little people?"
Ly answered: "Sire, in Vietnam, we have both little men and big men. Our ambassadors are chosen in accordance with the importance of the problem. As this is a small matter, they have sent me to negotiate. When there is a big problem between us, we will send a big man to speak with you."
The Emperor of China pondered: "If the Vietnamese consider this important problem only a small matter, they must indeed be a great and powerful people."
So he lessened his demands and the matter was settled then and there.
THE BUFFALO BOY AND THE BANYAN TREE
COUI WAS of a very, very poor family. He had no education and the only job he could get was that of buffalo boy for a rich farmer. Every day he would look after the water buffaloes in the rice fields, prepare food for the pigs, and collect firewood in the forest. For these tasks the farmer gave him food and clothing and enough money to live on.
One day, while gathering wood in the forest far from home, Cuoi came upon a tiger cub that was frolicking in the sun. He picked up the cub intending to have some sport with it. As he did so, he heard a frightful growl from a nearby thicket. It was the mother of the cub, who had momentarily left her little one to search for game. Cuoi threw the cub to the ground and scrambled in terror up into the sheltering branches of the nearest tree. A moment later the tigress came crashing through the underbrush and growled ferociously as she saw the motionless body of her dead offspring; for Cuoi, in his haste to escape, had thrown the cub to the ground with such force it had been killed.
Up in the tree, Cuoi held his breath, for he knew that he could expect the worst. But then a strange thing happened. The tigress walked to a nearby stream and gathered the leaves from a certain banyan tree. She chewed them into a pulp which she then applied to the head of the dead cub. Immediately the young tiger jumped to its feet and ran about as if nothing had happened.
When the tigress and her cub had disappeared, Cuoi let himself down from his refuge and made his way to the miraculous banyan tree. He gathered a handful of leaves and took them with him. On the way home he came upon a dead dog lying by the side of the road. Cuoi then chewed the leaves into a pulp, as he had seen the tigress do, and applied them to the dog's head. After a few minutes the animal was restored to life; it jumped to its feet and bounded away. Cuoi realized that the leaves of the banyan tree had the miraculous power to restore the dead to life. So he uprooted the tree, dragged it home, and replanted it in the middle of his yard. He also warned his mother never to throw refuse or dirty water where the tree was planted.
"Otherwise," he said jokingly, "the tree will fly away to the sky."
Cuoi's mother paid no attention to this admonition and continued to throw rubbish at the very spot where her son had requested her not to. One day the tree began to slowly pull itself from the soil and to fly up into the sky.
Somehow Cuoi's joke was coming true!
Returning from his chores, Cuoi saw the tree floating away and ran after it in great haste and grasped its roots. But his slight weight was not sufficient to bring the tree down to earth again. Instead, he was carried with it into the sky.
After many days of travel Cuoi and the tree reached a strange new world where there was a permanent calm. It was the Moon. Cuoi planted the tree there and sat down to figure a way out of his terrible predicament; but there was no solution. There on the Moon he has sat waiting, year in and year out, even until today.
The children of Vietnam say that on certain nights, in the curve of the moon, they can see the lone image of Cuoi seated at the foot of a banyan tree. They maintain that sometimes he even turns his head to look at them and smile. They then wave to him and sing:
"Cuoi, Cuoi, the dream-time boy,
Alone, alone, on the Moon;
Playing with the stars in the lost twilight
Until late has become soon."
THE GAMBLER'S WIFE
ONCE THERE lived a man named Trong Qui who was so fond of gambling that he squandered all his money on games of chance. Trong Qui came from an illustrious family, and his father, Phung Lap Ngon, was a mandarin greatly admired for his integrity and righteousness.
Trong Qui's wife, Tu Nhi Khanh, was sweet-tempered, virtuous, and beautiful beyond description. Her father had given her in marriage to the son of his friend, Phung Lap Ngon.
From early childhood, Tu Nhi Khanh had dreamed of marrying a gifted scholar, a holder of many degrees. But instead, it was her misfortune to be married to a gambler and wastrel.
Tu Nhi Khanh tried to dissuade her husband from his dangerous passion, but her pleas availed nothing. Trong Qui was discharged from his job for debts and intoxication, and chose as companions a group of rascals who cheated and robbed him at every opportunity. He cared neither for his parents nor for his wife and children. He lived merrily, frequented tea-houses, and wasted his time and money. People began to call him the "King of Gambling." Finally, Tu Nhi Khanh became silent and resigned herself to fate.
One day Trong Qui met a rich merchant named Do Tam, who was also an inveterate gambler. Do Tam was actually attracted by the great beauty of Tu Nhi Khanh and secretly determined that he would win her away from her husband.
For his part, Trong Qui coveted Do Tam's wealth, but he was not as clever as the latter at cards. Do Tam permitted Trong Qui to win various sums of money from him over a period of weeks, and then one day placed a large sum of money on the table and said:
"Dear friend, you have been very lucky for the past weeks. Today, let us play for some really big stakes. You cannot cover this sum, I know; but let us play for it anyhow. If you win, you keep it;
