I win, I will take your wife as your bond."
Trong Qui was slightly intoxicated, but looked at the money with covetous eyes and thought;
"Why not? I have been lucky lately and I may win again. If it comes to the worst, I can work hard to redeem my wife." And he accepted the bet.
In three hands Trong Qui had lost everything, and could do nothing but ask Tu Nhi Khanh to come to Do Tam's home. He said to her: "I have been mad, but it is too late now to make amends. I have staked my happiness and lost. You must remain here with Do Tam until I can earn the money to repay the debt and take you home again."
Tu Nhi Khanh was sick with horror, for she knew that she would not be able to resist the advances of the rich merchant. Her face turned pale, but she tried to hide her emotions and said to Do Tam in a meek voice:
"When one must choose between poverty and wealth, there is a clear choice. This meeting should have a happy ending. If you deign to accept me into your house, I will be your servant as I have been the servant of my husband. But first I would like to return home to say farewell to my children.
Do Tam was delighted to hear this speech, for he had expected some resistance on the part of Tu Nhi Khan, and he was only too happy to grant her request.
The betrayed woman returned home, took her two young children into her arms, covered them with kisses, and said:
"My little ones, I must abandon you, but it will not be to live with another man, whatever may be the wrongs of your father." Then she committed suicide.
This act brought Trong Qui to his senses, and his grief was profound and sincere. A real change took place in his character. He foreswore gambling and was truly ashamed of his former life. Unfortunately his meager means diminished day by day, and he soon became entirely destitute.
Having learned that one of his old friends was mandarin in Qui Hoa, he decided to go there to beg for help. At the halfway point of the journey, he became exhausted and sat down to rest at the foot of a tree. Suddenly he heard a voice from above.
"Is it you, Trong Qui? If you remember old associations, wait for me in the temple of Truong Vuong on the tenth day of the coming month. Do not fail to be there, and do not believe that the world of the dead is without communication with that of the living."
Trong Qui recognized his wife's voice. He raised his eyes towards the sky and saw a black cloud, which passed fleetingly towards the north. He thought himself the victim of an illusion.
Nevertheless, on the tenth day of the following month he went to the temple of Truong Vuong as directed. When he arrived there, it was already late. The evening shadows had enveloped the melancholy landscape in silence. Trong Qui entered the temple, and stretched out in the gallery reserved for pilgrims.
Towards the end of the third watch, he heard the sound of gentle weeping. Distant at first, the sound drew nearer. Trong Qui then made out the figure of Tu Nhi Khanh in the darkness.
"After my death," said his wife, "the Emperor of Jade took pity on me and permitted me to enter his service. Until the present time I have been too busy to see you again. It was in the course of a mission that I met you yesterday; I was going to carry ram to the lands of the North. But for this fortuitous circumstance, we would not have found each other again."
Trang Qui expressed his regrets for his misdeeds and begged her to pardon him. The two lovers talked until dawn. Before leaving him, Tu Nhi Khanh said:
"I have had the opportunity of attending the audiences of the Emperor of Jade, and I have heard the fairies announce that the prosperity of the Ho is approaching an end. During the year of Binh Ti, war will break out and 200,000 men will perish. All those who have failed to cultivate the tree of virtue will be delivered to torment. Order and Peace will be reestablished by a Righteous One of the Le family. I beg you to rear our sons properly and, when the moment comes, advise them to follow this hero without fear or hesitation."
Then she vanished.
Trang Qui did all that Tu Nhi Khanh had requested. He devoted his life to the care and education of their sons and never remarried. When the future Le Thai To rebelled in the region of Lam Son, the two sons of Trang Qui recruited partisans in his behalf. After the accession of the Great King, both rose to the rank of privy councilor and, even in our day, their progeny prosper in the district of Khoai.
THE TAILOR AND THE MANDARIN
IN THE capital of Vietnam there was once a certain tailor who was renowned for his skill. Every garment that left his shop had to fit the client perfectly, regardless of the latter's weight, build, age, or bearing.
One day a high mandarin sent for the tailor and ordered a ceremonial robe.
After taking the necessary measurements, the tailor respectfully asked the mandarin how long he had been in the service.
"What does that have to do with the cut of my robe?" asked the mandarin good-naturedly.
"It is of great importance, sire," responded the tailor. "You know that a newly appointed mandarin, impressed with his own importance, carries his head high and his chest out. We must take this into consideration and cut the rear lappet shorter than the front.
"Later, little by little we lengthen the rear lappet and shorten the front one; the lappets are cut exactly the same length when the mandarin reaches the halfway point of his career.
"Finally, when bent over with the fatigue of long years of service and the burden of age, he aspires only to join his ancestors in heaven, the robe must be made longer in the back than in the front.
"Thus you see, sire, that a tailor who does not know the seniority of the mandarins cannot fit them correctly."
THE ORIGIN OF BANH GIAY AND BANH CHUNG
BANH GIAY and Banh Chung are two types of delicacies which are very popular with the Vietnamese people.
Banh Giay is served regularly at festivals and ceremonies. It is a rounded, convex cake of glutinous or nep rice, which resembles white dough, soft and sticky. Its cupola-shaped top is said to resemble the shape of the heavenly vault.
Banh Chung is served particularly at the Vietnamese New Year's festival, which occurs during the first three days of the first month of the lunar calendar. It is a square cake, wrapped in banana leaves and tied with lacings of flexible bamboo slivers. It is a very rich food for the interior contains a filling of bean paste to which may be added small bits of pork meat, both fat and lean. This filling, which is amply seasoned, is pressed between layers of glutinous nep nee. Its square shape is considered a symbol of the thankfulness of the Vietnamese people for the great abundance of the Earth, which has supplied them with nutritious food throughout the four seasons of the year.
Here is the story about the origin of Banh Giay and Banh Chung.
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