order to enjoy mental repose during his declining years.
The king was the father of twenty-two sons, all worthy princes. From among them he had to choose an heir and successor. It was a difficult task and the king was not certain how to determine the qualities of a future sovereign in his sons. He thought about it for a long time and finally arrived at a novel solution. Since there is much to be learned from travel, he decided to send his sons on a journey.
He called the twenty-two princes together and said "Go forth, all of you, to the farthest corners of the earth and search out for me recipes and foodstuffs that I have not yet tasted, but which I would greatly enjoy. He who returns with the best dish will rule this kingdom."
The princes dispersed and made their preparations. Twenty-one of them set out on distant journeys to search for the dish that would most please the king. Some went north into cold and inhospitable areas, and others journeyed south, east and west.
But there was one prince who did not leave the royal palace. He was sixteenth in rank and his name was Lang Lieu. His mother had died while he was still very young, and unlike his brothers he had never known the warmth of maternal love. He had only his old nurse to look after him.
Prince Lang Lieu was at a complete loss and had no idea about how he might set about procuring a new dish for the king. There was no one to advise him, so he remained in the palace, lost in gloomy meditation.
One night a genie appeared to the prince in a dream and said: "Prince, I know of your youthful loneliness and understand your anxieties. I have been sent here to help you, so that you will be able to please your royal father. Therefore, do not despair. It is a law of nature that man cannot live without rice; it is man's chief food. For that reason, you will first take a quantity of glutinous rice, some beans, some fat and lean pork meat, and spices. Pluck some banana leaves and from split bamboo cut flexible lacings. All these materials symbolize the abundance of the Earth.
"Soak the rice in clean water and boil part of it. When it is well-cooked, pound it into a cupola-shaped, plain cake.
"Now prepare a stuffing of bean paste and bits of pork. Place this between layers of rice. Wrap the whole in banana leaves and press it into a square shape. Then bind it with the flexible bamboo lacings. Cook it for a day and the cake will be ready for eating."
Then the genie disappeared and the prince awakened to find himself lying in bed, looking at the ceiling with wide-open eyes and repeating the words that he had heard. Could he have been dreaming? In the morning he revealed the secret to his old nurse and together they collected the proper materials and prepared the cakes as directed.
After the apricot trees had blossomed once, the twenty-one princes returned from their quests. They were weary from their long travels but happy with anticipation. Each prepared his dish with his own hands, using the special foods and materials that he had brought back with him. Each seemed confident that his dish would win the prize.
On the appointed day the dishes were brought before the king. Twenty-one times the king tasted, and twenty-one times he shook his head in disapproval. Then Prince Lang Lieu modestly presented his two cakes-one, white and "round as the sky" and the other, steaming hot and "square as the earth," wrapped in banana leaves with flexible bamboo lacings. The prince untied the leaves and displayed a soft, sticky, green cake, which he cut with the bamboo. The inside was white and lemon-yellow and studded with opaline bits of fat and brown bits of lean pork meat.
The king accepted a piece of the square cake and tasted it. Then he picked up a second piece, and then a third, until he had eaten the cake completely. Then he ate the round cake also.
"Is there any more." he asked, smacking his lips, his eyes dancing with pleasure.
"How did you make them?" he asked in wonder. Prince Lang Lieu told the story of how the genie had appeared to him and had instructed him in the selection of foodstuffs and the manner of making the cakes. The Court listened in silence.
The king was greatly impressed with the revelation for it attested divine support. He surmised that in the handling of state affairs, divine inspiration would not be lacking for the young prince. He accordingly named Lang Lieu the winner and appointed him his heir and successor. He decided that the round loaf should be called Banh Giay and the square one, Bang Chung, and ordered his ministers to give the recipes to the Vietnamese people.
A LIE AND A HALF
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