The tale of "Tu Hú" bird

Once upon a time, there had two monks whose names were Năng Nhẫn (the name mean patient) and Bất Nhẫn (the name mean impatient). They led their religious life when they were young in a remote temple.

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After a long time, Năng Nhẫn had had the result and became a follower of the Buddha. Bất Nhẫn also led his religious as his friend but he didn’t have luck as his friend. Therefore, he felt angry. He went to place where the Buddha sat and tried his best to explain how much loyalty he had, difficult things he had passed and hoped that the Buddha would allow him to become a follower. But the Buddha didn’t agree, he said:

“You are not only a loyal man but also innocent. That is so valuable but your mentality like a wild buffalo. Therefore you don’t become a follower. You have to be more patient then you will achieve your aspirations”.

Bất Nhẫn followed Buddha’s words. He found a big tree and sat by the. He planned to sit quietly in three years although what happened he would not move. Never pay attention anything, he followed Buddha’s meaning persistently.

From that day, Bất Nhẫn liked a thing without sense. He let ants crawled on his body, animals clawed his feet, bird left their shit on his head but he had never moved.

Two summers had passed and the third summer was coming. one day, a bird – couple flew down on his shoulder and built a nest in his ear but he didn’t care he let they did whatever they wanted. They brought straw on his head, his face then the female bird laid eggs. They hatched the eggs together until fledglings appeared. They cheeped all time of day but he didn’t feel angry.

One day, which was ten days from the last date he had to sit under the tree, the female - bird went to collect food. She did found anything in all afternoon until evening she flew cross a lake and saw a spider was on a lotus. She dropped down to catch the spider. As the spider saw the bird, it hid himself between petals that made the bird spend a lot of time to find. Suddenly, petals were closed because of sundown, held the bird inside itself. The bird tried to escape but the petals so thick that she had to stay in it.

The male bird stayed at home, was confused. He flew around all night. The next morning, the female was back. They burst into an argument. The male thought that the female was betrayer then he scolded her horribly. The female, in other side, tried her best to explain herself. Besides, young birds cheeped madly because of hunger. The mess made Bất Nhẫn be upset. When the argument was on the top, he took up his hand and grabbed the nest and threw hardly to the ground.

“Bastard, because of the little problem, you all make my ears deafen from morning to now”, he shouted.

Therefore, the effort of Bất Nhẫn was downfall.

Bất Nhẫn didn’t give up. He went to the Buddha another time, showed him his regret. That time, he found a flowing river, volunteered to be free – ferryman. He planned to take one hundred people cross the river.

He was patient although very few people wanted to pass the river. He had taken 98 people for two years.

A day in the fall, it had a violent rain which made the river more flowing. A woman and a child appeared incidentally on the riverside. They seemed to be like noble’s families. Before they landed their feet on the boat, the woman had said:

“Be carefully, I don’t want to get wet. If I get wet you will receive your punishment”.

Bất Nhẫn felt a little anger but he still smiled and said:

“Don’t worry. I will try my best”.

Then he took them pass the river safely but as they landed their feet on the riverside, the woman suddenly shouted:

“I left my luggage on the other side. You get back and bring it to me.”

Bất Nhẫn lost his words, tried to get back. Until the sun downed, he just got back the side where the woman was waiting. But when the woman looked into her luggage, she complained

“Omg, I leave the shoes of my son under my bed. You have to try to take me back another time”.

When the woman had just talked, Bất Nhẫn pointed his finger on her face and shouted:

“Bitch, I wasn’t born to serve you”.

The woman, exactly, was Guanyin who wanted to challenge Bât Nhẫn. She now was back her protoplast and said:

“You are not completely patient, you can not lead a religious life”. Bất Nhẫn bowed his head in shame. He was transformed into a bird which only appeared in the fall when he met Guanyin. People called the bird, “Tu Hú”. “Tu” was pronounced like religion in Vietnam.

THE END

"Translated by Hung Nguyen"

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