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Story 9: Royal Concubine Y Lan

Being royal concubine seemed to be god’s setting for Thi Yen Le, a country girl. She was born in Tho Loi village (in Duong Quang, Thuan Thanh which now is Gia Lam, Hanoi). She lost her mother when she was child. Every day, she busied weaving but she still kept the beauty and innocence.

vietnamese fairy tales
That year, in 1062 while mulberry trees was in harvest time, King Thanh Tong Ly was on his travel went to Dau temple in neighbor village, crossed Tho Loi. The temple was sacred temple and King Thanh Tong Le went to there to pray for a son (King Thanh Tong Ly that time was 40 years old but he still had never had a son. Therefore, having a son was the greatest wish). While Yen was picking up mulberry leaves in filed, a crowd of people went cross the field who were the king and his servants. King Thanh Tong Ly rode on a horse and was escorted by soldiers. People living the village didn’t want lose their chance seeing the king, sprinted to and rounded him. King Thanh Tong Ly stopped to meet them. Then, he observed the field which was filled by green and felt peaceful. Suddenly, he kept eyes stop. He saw a girl between mulberry trees. Though the girl was distant but King Thanh Tong Ly seemed to be atracted. He couldn’t ignore the girl's shape. That moment, Yen stopped picking and turned toward the crowd and realized that people were looked at her. She hurriedly hid herself behind orchids growing on a tree near that. The king ordered a servant to call she came. Yen was pretty shy, followed the servant. She straightened her clothes and stood on knees front the king. She answered politely king’s questions but the conversation happened in short time because she had to come back home and fed silkworms.
When the king came back castle, he could not forget the beautiful girl who didn’t turn scared as others when she met him face to face. Then, he decided to take her to castle. The country girl became royal concubine and lived in Y Lan palace which had just been built for her. The name, Y Lan related to the sight King Thanh Tong Ly saw at the first time he met her, it meant country girl stood by orchid and that name also was her name after that.
  Royal Concubine Y Lan was born in country so she could not enjoy life without working as other concubines. She asked the king to make a loom that she could weave and taught others in palace weaving.
In 1066, she gave birth to a son. The son was named Can Duc and was become crown prince at one. The king treated her better and ordained to be leader of other concubines; course, she was under the queen. From that, others called her in respect, Royal Concubine Y Lan.
While people burst into happiness, a person didn’t feel happy who is Queen Thuong Duong. Fire of discord emerged between two women, the most powerful woman and the second power woman.
Though she was a concubine, Royal Concubine Y Lan started participating in solving national problems. She had many great ideas that made the king be satisfied. She seemed to be a trusted adviser.
In 1069, Chiem and Tong, two neighbor countries, cooperated to fight Dai Viet. Tong planned to fight Dai Viet in north and Chiem would fight Dai Viet in south. They planned to part Dai Viet in two and one would have half after they captured Dai Viet. King Thanh Tong Ly decided to bring soldiers to fight against them.
 After the ceremony in Dong Co temple, the king gave the power to Royal Concubine Y Lan front of all mandarins and generals. She could solve inside national problems while the king was absent. Then, the king and General Thuong Kiet Ly brought soldiers to fight Chiem. 
Had power, Royal Concubine Y Lan managed well. She solved problems on time. Example: she ordered mandarins to open national storage and gave food and seeds to people food at places where floods occurred; she ordered generals to pacified rebels; she went to craft villages, met craftsmen and encouraged them; she taught people feeding silkworms and weaving…
At the same time, King Thanh Tong Ly and soldiers was on battlefield. Many soldiers had sick because they were not accustomed to weather. Besides, their enemies were strong, they lost many soldiers. Kinh Thanh Tong Ly feared that the fighting would have no end and besides, he feared that Royal Concubine Y Lan could not solve national problem alone. Therefore, he gave General Thuong Kiet Ly power to lead armies, he and a crowd of soldiers turned back castle. But, on the way he came back, he heard praises for Royal Concubine Y Lan and saw all people seemed to be satisfied. The king felt ashamed, he looked at sky and lamented:
“She is a woman but why she is so great? I am a man, but why I am so useless?”
Later, the king ordered soldiers to turned back battlefield. As if he was gave more power, the king won and had caught king of Chiem. They escorted king of Chiem to Thang Long (the capital of Dai Viet that time)
January 1072 on lunar calendar, King Thanh Tong Ly suddenly died. Prince Can Duc ascended the throne with title Nhan Tong Ly when he was only 7 years old. King Thanh Tong Ly died but he still didn’t command that who would help the new king in solving national problems. As usual they would be the recent queen, Thuong Duong and his adviser, Dao Thanh Ly. But,…
One day in June, after 6 months being the king, King Nhan Tong Ly notified a decree that he crowned Royal Concubine Y Lan to be Empress Dowager Linh Nhan who would had power to manage there country till the king grew up. General Thương Kiet Ly became adviser for Empress Dowager Linh Nhan and could be on behalf of her to solve some problems. The previous queen, Thuong Duong and 72 concubines were forced to die with reason that they had to serve the dead king, Thanh Tong Ly in the dead world. Royal Adviser Dao Thanh Ly was forced to go to Nghe An and managed the area. Chiem and Tong heard the news that Dai Viet was disordered, they planned to fight Dai Viet another time.
 Empress Dowager Linh Nhan knew that she could fight against foreign enemies while country was chaotic. Immediately, she called Dao Thanh Ly to come back the capital following Thuong Kiet Ly’s advice. Dao Thanh Ly got rid of his dislike to continue dedicating for the country. He was ordained to be the most powerful mandarin who stood by Empress Dowager Linh Nhan and helped her solve naltion problems.
In 1075, while Tong was preparing to fight Dai Viet. General Thuong Kiet Ly gave a plan that they would bring soldiers to Tong’s land before they come to Dai Viet. The plan was accepted. After six months, Thuong Kiet Ly had destroyed many camps of Tong and fired their food source. Then, he brought soldiers back and prepared to defend with Dao Thanh Ly and Empress Dowager Linh Nhan.
As their guess, in 1076, Tong’s soldiers went into Dai Viet. General Thuong Kiet Ly was responsible for fighting against them. Adviser Dao Thanh Ly solved inside national problems and Empress Dowager Linh Nhan was responsible for serving food and weapon. They chased enemies out of country after that.
The country got peaceful again. Empress Dowager Linh Nhan continued training King Nhan Tong Ly till he grew up. When the king grew up and could managed country alone, Empress Dowager Linh Nhan used the rest of life following Buddhism. She felt remorseful about the death of Queen Thuong Duong and 72 concubines. The thing she could do to expiate was begging for forgiveness in temple and built, repaired temples.
In spring, 1117 she died.
Every year, Duong Xa (Tho Loi village) holds a ceremony on the 19th and the 21st February on lunar celendar to celebrate the day Royal Concubine Y Lan was crowned and a ceremony on the 24th and the 25th July the day she died. That reminds people about a woman who was born in normal family had been a powerful woman in vietnamese history.
THE END
"Translated by Hung Nguyen"

Read more: 
Historical stories
Story 7: One Pillar Pagoda (Chua Mot Cot)
Story 8: King Thanh Tong Ly
Story 10: Temple of Literature - Imperial Academy
Story 11: King Nhan Tong Ly
Story 12: General Thuong Kiet Ly
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Truyện cổ tích Việt Nam
Vietnamese fairy tales
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