Vietnam

Cuoi, the Boy on the Moon
Legend of Nguu Lang and Chuc Nu
The Legend of the Morning and Evening Stars
Legends of Rabbit on the Moon

Cuoi, the Boy on the Moon

As told by; Luong Ngoc Quynh

As translated by: Luong Ngoc Quynh

Once upon a time, there was a young man named Cuoi. He was a good and kind guy. He always helped people who were in trouble. One day, when he was going into the forest to cut the trees, he found a cave of tigers. There were four baby tigers sleeping in it. Cuoi thought, “Although they are still small, they are evil animals. When they get older, they might kill the people in the villages.”　　　

Cuoi used his axe to cut off the tigers’ heads. Soon the mother tiger came back. Cuoi was very scared, but he was a smart man. He quickly climbed up a high tree. When the mother tiger reached the cave and saw the scene of her children’s deaths, she was heartbroken and wept for a while. But then, she stopped crying and went to a small tree, plucked its leaves, and put them into her babies’ mouths. After being fed those leaves, the baby tigers returned to life and were very happy. Cuoi saw everything from the branch of the tall tree. Then the tigers left to hunt for food.　　　

After the tigers left, Cuoi climbed down from the tree. He checked out the magical tree, dug it up, and carried it home. On his way home, he saw a dead beggar lying on the road. To test the tree’s magic, Cuoi plucked some of its leaves and put them into the man’s mouth. After a while, the man returned to life. After hearing about the extraordinary tree, the man cried, “This must be the magical tree that has the power of reviving. It used to belong to the Deity. You must take care of this tree carefully. You must water it with clear water. If you water it with dirty water, it will leave the ground and fly away.” 　　　

Cuoi carried the tree home and planted it in his garden. He watered it with clear water every day. The tree grew fast. Because he had the magical tree, Cuoi used it to save peoples’ lives, and everybody loved him very much.

One day, while he was fishing, Cuoi saw a dead dog by the river. He saved the dog, and from then on, Cuoi had a new friend. Another time, a rich man came to find Cuoi. He begged him to save his daughter’s life. Cuoi agreed. Cuoi followed the man to his house. He brought the leaves of his magical tree along to revive the girl. After swallowing those leaves, the girl woke up. To thank Cuoi, that family tried to give him a lot of money, but Cuoi refused to accept it. At last, the rich family decided to give Cuoi their daughter in marriage. Cuoi agreed because she was a nice girl.　　　

The couple was living peacefully and happily. However, some bad guys wanted to provoke and anger Cuoi. When Cuoi was away from home, they killed his wife and threw her intestines into the river so that he couldn’t save his wife’s life. When Cuoi came home, he was pained by his wife’s death. Cuoi tried everything he could to save her, but he was unsuccessful. Feeling pity for his master, the dog told Cuoi a way to save his wife’s life: “If you want to save your wife, you must kill me. Then use my intestines to replace your wife’s. If you do that, your wife will be fine.”

Cuoi did what the dog said, and his wife was restored to life. To thank the faithful dog, Cuoi shaped bowels from soil and replaced the dog’s bowels to save his life. After all that happened, humans and pets have become nearer and dearer. 　　　

But after returning from the dead, Cuoi’s wife became very forgetful, and even forgot things that Cuoi had just said. She didn’t remember one important thing: Watering the magical tree with clear water. One day, she took a full bucket of dirty water and watered the magical tree. When the dirty water was poured down the tree’s root, the tree shook and started to leave the ground. It flew away. Cuoi was so frightened that he grabbed the root of the tree to hold it back, but unfortunately the tree took Cuoi along with it. Cuoi and the tree kept flying until they reached the Moon, and the tree stopped there. Cuoi had no way to return home. He had to stay on the Moon permanently.

Since then, when people look up at the Moon, they see Cuoi sitting by the tree.

Legend of Nguu Lang and Chuc Nu (Vega and Altair)

As told by; Luong Ngoc Quynh

As translated by: Luong Ngoc Quynh

Once upon a time, high in the sky, there was a young man named Nguu Lang (Altair). He was the cowherd* for the deity Ngoc Hoang. He was skilled at playing the flute, and he always played while tending the buffaloes**. His flute-playing was amazing, and his music made people feel happy.

Altair secretly fell in love with Chuc Nu (Vega), a goddess who oversaw weaving fabric in the heavens. Nguu Lang usually tended the buffaloes near the palace where Chuc Nu was staying. Chuc Nu loved Nguu Lang’s flute music. She couldn’t believe that there was such an amazing musician. When she saw Nguu Lang, she fell in love with him.

They loved each other so much that they became distracted and forgot their duties. Nguu Lang didn’t care about the buffaloes anymore, so the buffaloes wandered away. They went to Ngoc Hoang’s favorite garden and destroyed it. This made Ngoc Hoang very angry. He separated the couple by ordering Nguu Lang to go down the Earth and become a normal person, while ordering Chuc Nu to stay near him and work harder. After that, Nguu Lang and Chuc Nu couldn’t see each other anymore. Nguu Lang had to live alone on Earth.

Nguu Lang never forgot Chuc Nu; she always appeared in his dreams. One day, an old buffalo told Nguu Lang a secret: “A group of goddesses went down to Earth from the heavens to bathe in the river, and one of them was Chuc Nu. If you want to see your love again, you must do exactly as I say. You must steal Chuc Nu’s dress while she is bathing, because without that magical dress, she can’t fly back the heaven.”

Nguu Lang did everything that the buffalo said. When the goddesses finished bathing, they put on their clothes and returned to the heaven. But Chuc Nu couldn’t find her dress. The other goddesses got tired of waiting for her. They decided to leave Chuc Nu behind and flew back home. Right after they left, Nguu Lang came out from hiding and Chuc Nu was thrilled to see him again.

Nguu Lang and Chuc Nu got married and lived happily together. They had two children: one girl and one boy. But their peaceful life didn’t last for a long time. When Ngoc Hoang heard the news, he became angry. He ordered Thien Loi (the Thunder genie) to perform a mission: Go down to Earth and separate the family by capturing Chuc Nu.

The separation caused a lot of crying and sorrow for Nguu Lang, Chuc Nu and their children. The old buffalo felt pity for them, and he said to Nguu Lang:

“I’m very sorry about what happened to your family. You have endured many difficulties, so I have decided to help you. All you must do is to kill me and put on my leather. It is magical leather. With it on, you will be able see your wife again.”

Nguu Lang did exactly as the buffalo said. He killed the buffalo and put on his leather. It was amazing! He could fly. He took his children to search for their mother. After flying for a long time, they saw Chuc Nu. She was sitting by a window in a high tower. Nguu Lang tried to fly as fast as he could to reach the tower. However, Ngoc Hoang knew what was happening when they came close to the tower. He used his magic to create a large river to separate the family. He called it Dai Ngan Ha (the Milky Way).

The family was unable to reunite. Nguu Lang, Chuc Nu, their son and daughter cried. Their tears saddened every creature in the world. Feeling moved by their touching love, Ngoc Hoang decided: “I am moved by the couple’s beautiful love, but they have broken many of the rules of the heavens. I can’t ignore that. So I will make a decision. I will order the magpies to make a bridge over Dai Ngan Ha once a year so that Nguu Lang and Chuc Nu can meet each other. It will be on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month. (This is some time in July, but the exact day changes from year to year).”

In Vietnam, July is a rainy season. The Vietnamese say that the rains are Nguu Lang and Chuc Nu’s tears, because they are happy to see each other again. Therefore, that rain has evoked a beautiful story. Whenever we see the rain in July, we remember the touching love between Nguu Lang and Chuc Nu.

*The man who looks after the cattle.

**In Vietnam, water buffaloes, not cows, are the most common type of cattle.

The Legend of the Morning and Evening Stars

As told by; Luong Ngoc Quynh

As translated by: Luong Ngoc Quynh

Once upon a time, in a small village, there were two brothers whose parents had died in the past. The older brother’s name was Cung, and his younger brother’s name was Coc. Because Coc was still small, Cung worked very hard to raise his little brother. They always stayed together. When Cung went to work on the farm, he brought his brother along. Cung gave any good food that he had to his brother, and Coc always listened to his big brother. They loved each other very much. In time, Cung got married, but that didn’t change the love between Cung and Coc. Cung, his wife, and his brother lived happily together.

One day, Cung was ordered to leave home and serve in the army. Before leaving, Cung told his brother to take care of his wife.

Cung said:“I have to go away for a while, and the day for my return hasn’t been decided yet. I am going to miss you and my wife. You must stay strong. You must listen to my wife at home.”

After Cung left, Coc was afraid that someone might kidnap his sister-in-law. To make sure that she was fine, Coc dug a small hole in the wall between his room and his sister-in-law’s room. Every night, he put his hand on his sister-in-law's stomach to guard her. 　　　

Despite Coc’s vigilance, the woman became pregnant. This frightened Coc very much; he was afraid that his brother would never forgive him. He decided to go away and headed to the western mountains. The poor young man kept traveling west until he was too tired to move. He died at the foot of a high mountain when the Sun went down.

When Cung came home, he was very angry to hear that his wife was pregnant. Although his wife said that his brother was not to blame, Cung did not believe her.

He said, “I trusted my brother but he betrayed me. He hurt me. I never want to hear about him again. Think about it as if I never had a brother.”

A few months later, Cung’s wife gave birth. However, she didn’t give birth to a child…but to a hand. After this, Cung believed that his brother was innocent. He left home to find his brother, but he could not find him. He headed east and asked everybody he met if they had seen his brother, but all of them answered “no”. Cung kept walking and finally, stopped at the foot of a high mountain. Cung did not have the strength to walk any further and died at sunrise.

Cung's wife started to worry when her husband didn’t come back. She decided to leave home and search for Cung and Coc. She asked people if they had seen the brothers, but no one had seen them. She kept running and calling her husband’s name, but no one replied. Only the sounds of the mountains answered her cries. She cried and kept running until she couldn't move her legs any longer. Then she died.

Since then, people have seen a young man’s spirit standing on the top of a western mountain and looking down the valley at the sunset. Everybody said that he looked very sad, because he felt guilty for what he had done. They called him Sao Hom, the Evening Star. When people woke up, they saw another spirit standing at the top of an eastern mountain at sunrise, his eyes looking everywhere as he searched for his brother. People called him Sao Mai, the Morning Star.

People also saw a women's spirit traveling across the sky every night. It looked like she was searching for something or someone. The old men in the village said that she was looking for her husband. People called her Sao Vuot, Shooting Star. The hand that Cung’s wife had given birth to became Sao Rua, the constellation of Taurus; its duty was to protect and take care of these three unfortunate spirits.

*The Evening Star is actually the planet Venus when it is east of the Sun. When Venus is west of the Sun, it appears in the morning and is known as the Morning Star. Although dimmer and closer to the Sun, Mercury is also sometimes called the Morning/Evening Star.

Legends of the Rabbit on the Moon

As told by: Luong Ngoc Quynh

As translated by: Luong Ngoc Quynh

A long time ago, there were four friends living happily together in a jungle. They were the Rabbit, Hound, Otter and Monkey. They were all kind animals that always helped other animals and people who were in trouble.

One day, an old, poor beggar came to that area. He was so dirty and bad-smelling that no one and no animal wanted to be near him. But the beggar was very hungry. While he was walking, he said to everybody, “I am very hungry. Could someone please give me some food? Please…”

He dragged his feet and kept walking into the woods. Luckily, he met the Monkey. The Monkey was preparing the food for the winter. The beggar said, “Could you be kind and give me some food? I’m starving. I haven’t eaten anything for long time.”

After hearing about the man’s situation, the monkey gave him the best fruits that he had gathered and said, “I only have these, but you can keep them and eat them. They will make you feel better.”

The beggar received the fruits from the monkey and thanked him. Then he walked away from that place. The beggar came to the river and met the Otter. The Otter had just finished fishing. When he heard that the man was hungry, the Otter went into his cave and took the fish that he had just caught and gave them to the beggar. The beggar ate the fish, thanked the Otter and kept walking.

After a while, the beggar met the Hound. He told the Hound exactly what he had said to the Monkey and the Otter. The Hound gave him all of the food and meat that he had hunted for all day long. The old man accepted the food and thanked him.

The man kept going into the jungle and met the Rabbit. He told the Rabbit what he had said to Monkey, Otter and Hound. Although the Rabbit pitied him, he didn’t have anything that the beggar could to eat because the Rabbit’s food was grass and leaves. He thought for a moment and said, “I am very sorry. I have nothing for you to eat. Since you are hungry, I must prepare something for you to eat. You can rest for a while, and I will prepare some food for you to eat.”

The Rabbit gathered all of the wood nearby and started a big fire. He said, “Please use the fire to grill me. Then you can have food to eat.”

When the Rabbit had finished speaking, he bravely jumped into the fire. Suddenly, a wind came and blew out the fire. The Rabbit was very surprised. While he was trying to figure out what was happening, he saw the beggar transformed into a totally different man. He was wearing a glowing crown, had beautiful eyes, and was surrounded by glowing lights. The Rabbit knew that he was the Deity. The Deity said, “I am the Deity in the sky. I had turned into a beggar in order to test the kindness of the people and animals on Earth. I was impressed by your kindness. You are the animal who deserves to be extolled by every creature on Earth. Tonight is the night of the full-moon. I will carve a likeness of you on the Moon so that all creatures in the world can gaze upon you with respect for your kindness.”

He used his magic to carve an image on the Moon.

Since then, whenever people looked up to watch the Moon when it was full, they could see a carving of a rabbit on it.

Compiler’s note: Variations of this story occur from India to Japan. In some versions, one of the animals is a jackal or a fox instead of a hound. In India, they say the beggar was actually the god Sakra. In China they say he was the Jade Emperor.

The Moon Rabbit is also called the Jade Rabbit.

People say the dark areas on the eastern side of the moon look like a rabbit standing on its back legs and holding a mallet for pounding material in a mortar. The smaller dark area on the southern part of the moon is the mortar.

The Chinese say that the rabbit is pounding the potion of life for Chang’e, the goddess who lives on the moon. The Koreans and Japanese say that the rabbit is pounding rice candy known as ‘thuck’ in Korean or ‘mochi’ in Japanese.