Co Bu

Once upon a time, in Phan xa village next to the sea lived a person whose name was Bu. When Bu was born he had three white hairs on his foot that was the signal he would be great in swimming and diving as he grew up. Course, when Bu grew up he was great in swimming that he could stayed in water long time. Besides, he had great strength. He followed a master to study martial arts. The master devoted teaching him. He taught him 18 kinds of martial arts and some magic. Bu didn’t want to be a general. He had travels a long the country and made friends with many people.

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When he 50 years old he almost had come to all place in the country. He knew how much the country was large. Bu came back his hometown. Now he had nice beard that was the signal for people realized him. Bu grouped people and taught them marital arts. He planed to found a new country. Their base was at a mountain which named Hong linh. Because of his magic, their actions were kept in secret. He had many friends so though he stayed at the base he could know every thing happened in every where. Many years, people had poor harvests he and some people used to steal rice and money from landlord then divide to the poor. They did the thing in silence, without killing and vandalism. He had saved many poor people and with the poor he was savior. On other side, landlord thought he was a danger. Soldiers always found the way to catch him. Two times, they nearly could have caught him but one time he jumped down a river and dived away and the other he used magic to make they couldn’t find out where he was and couldn’t catch him.

One day, Bu came back his home in secret to meet his family. Landlords in the area saw him and immediately they went and reported to district mandarin. The district mandarin feared that he could not afford to catch him, rode at one to report the province mandarin. The province mandarin grouped two thousand soldiers. They carried two elephants and two iron nets with them. Two days marching without rest they arrived to the village. That was 3:00 am. Bu was sleeping. People scared that he would be catch, so they woke him up to discuss.

“Don’t worry. I will find the way to escape”, he said.

He talked to others and knew that had a funeral in the south and people was going to carry the dead to bury. Bu went toward the south and climbed to the high tree. He waited mourners. After a short time, mourners went cross where he was he went down and joined the mourners. He used his sleeve to cover his face and pretended that he was crying. Soldiers saw the mourners the parted to let them pass. When Bu escaped the round he showed his face and laugh loudly.

“I am here, Bu. Don’t waste your time to round the area”, he said then jumped into the river. Soldiers threw the iron nets into the river at one and forced the elephants went dơn the river to trampled him. But Bu was great in dived so he dived away.

Another time, Bu had a travel without his fellow. When it was dark he came to an inn to rest. A person knew him and invited him to come his home. He cooked a meal to treat him. But he still didn’t finish the meal, soldiers had rounded the house. That time, the brought a wizard with them. The person led him to a tunnel. He asked the person to give him a bowl of water and a chopstick to do magic. Soldiers searched every where but they couldn’t find him. Therefore, they asked the wizard to help them. the wizard do a magic but he was cheated by Bu’s magic.

“He has escaped on a bridge over a swamp”, said the wizard.

Soldiers believed the wizard and went away. Therefore, Bu escaped.

Other time, he divided rice for people. When he just had finished, soldiers came. Bu was led to hide in a secret place. He asked people to give him a thin blanket then he covered his body and did magic. The wizard, another time, was cheated. He did magic and saw that Bu was hiding in plants near river. Soldiers sprinted to the shore but they could not find him and he escaped.

While soldiers many time thought that they could catch him, Bu wandered and helped others and he also was helped by them. Later, Bu disappeared that nobody knew where he was and whether he was alive or not.

THE END

"Translated by Hung Nguyen"

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