Once upon a time, Da Hoa village was where a mage named Dong lived. He had powerful magics and was kindness. People in the village all respected him they had voted him to be head of village.
There years, farmers had a poor crop because it had not rained for long time. Therefore, they had very little rice to eat. Besides, price of rice increased highly which made them sell their farm farms to get money for food. At last, it seemed almost farms fell into rich mans in area.
Dong wanted to help farms and had a plan. Dong called rich mans to his home.
“God is kindness helping you all have much wealth. That is a gift god gives you. And now is the time you must show god your gratefulness”, said Dong.
Rich mans knew Dong was a mage who could connect gods so they asked him seriously:
“What do we need to do?”
“We don’t have any village hall that gods can not stay in our village as they come on ground. Therefore”, he said firmly, “we have to build a village hall”.
“It is too expensive to build a village hall. How can we do that?”, said one of them at one.
“Rich mans will spend their money and farmers, the poor, will spend their strengths and I will be the person who supervise the construction”.
Rich mans believed him. They discussed and decided to build the hall and Dong would become supervisor who collected money from them and directed building. They had contributed a lot of money and gave Dong. When Dong had received money from the rich, he immediately divided it to farmers and asked them bringing sands to build a foundation. Days later, when the foundation had built, he requested them to grow a kind of climbing plants next to the foundation and fence standing around the foundation. Other trees also grew on garden front of foundation. Later, he promised with rich mans that the hall would be complete in three months. Rich mans, on other side, doubted his words that he had divided all money to other so how he can build the hall without money but they also didn’t dare to ask him because he had never broken his promises.
Time passed, the foundation had been complete, money had been donated and the date was also coming but none saw he had done any thing since the foundation was complete. No wood, no bricks, no tiles were taken to there. Therefore, the rich gathered walked in his home and asked him.
“Village hall will be built in time”, he said flatly.
Rich mans who lived in neighbor village, Van Phuoc, also had donated much money to build the hall and hoped gods would gave them fortune but they had waited for long time and there was nothing happening. They turned impatient and walked to his home scolded him.
“We are traders who want to build a village hall with desire that gods will award us fortune. We have never thought that you would usurp our money but you did”, said one of them.
“You are only a liar”, yelled another then they all approached him and beat him roughly.
Though his face was swelled, he replied them.
“Village hall will be built. But, beating other is a sin and it is much more serious if the person you beat is old”, he said in normal voice, “I don’t make a joke. Anyone who beat me will be punished”, he shouted.
Then he wore a palm-leaf-conical-hat made his way to Van Phuoc village to have compensation. When he arrived to Van Phuoc village hall, he walked in middle of village hall and sat down.
He took off clothes and yelled:
“Everyone come here and see. Beating other is not a joke. People named Giap and At lived in this village have beaten me without reason. Anyone who beat me will have to offset a village hall”.
Then, he took out a piece of tree and started sharpening chopsticks, tied threads around them.
“What are you doing?”, said a person curiously.
“I am preparing things to bring this village hall away”, he replied the person without seeing him.
Rich mans in that village requested guards to force him away but he didn’t move. He talked to them.
“Giap and At have beaten me without reason so I will not go if I don’t have my compensation”.
“What do you want?”, said guards.
“People who have beaten me have to build a village hall to pay for their sins”, he said, “or if they can not build a new village hall, I will bring this village hall away and they will rebuild it later”, he added.
They thought that his request was nonsense so they ignored it and gathered people to force him away. He waited people gathered crowdedly, he pushed down his stick into ground then turned to them. He said:
“If anyone can take out my stick out ground, I will go away immediately”.
“And if we can not…”, said one of them loudly.
“You will lose your village hall”, he said, staring at the person.
Immediately, young burly man made his way to the stick, he gave him a despise look. He grabbed the stick by one hand and tried to pull up but, he couldn’t. He had to use the other hand to pull up the stick but one more time he couldn’t. At last, he hugged the stick by his whole body and tried his best to pull up but he still failed as previous times. Later, he wetted his body by his sweats trying to move the stick but the stick didn’t move. Tired, he requested others standing around to help.
People clustered grabbed the stick and all of them tried to pull the stick at same time. The stick still didn’t move though dozen of people pull it up. Short time later, they turned exhausted and had to drummed to gather people to village hall. When all people living in the village come to the hall, they chose the strongest people to pull the stick but it had nothing different the stick had no moving. Later, they had an idea tying ropes on the stick and using buffaloes to pull but it was also useless the ropes all were broken without moving of the stick.
That moment, Dong laughed.
“You all have lost”, he said loudly.
“Remember that your village hall is lost because of Giap and At. Find them and request them to build a new village hall”, he added.
At that midnight, a storm appeared, thunders rumbled, winds blew violently. At the same time, people heard Dong’s voice, “Lift up, down, move left…” then Van Phuoc village hall flew up to sky with pillars which had square rocks under them. The village hall flew toward river shore which led to Da Hoa village.
Dong had waited at there then he sat on his hat controled the village hall cross the river. The village hall was placed on the foundation which was built before. When all things had done, he checked around. The movement was successful and only a square stock fell down in river while the hall was moving.
Next morning, people in Van Phuoc found out that their village hall was stolen. They went to At and Giap to ask them to build a new hall. At and Giap felt nervous. They went to guards’ houses and discussed with them about accusing Dong.
The mandarin who received the case called Dong to court and asked:
“Why do you use magic to steal their village hall?”
Dong pretended that he didn’t know what the mandarin was saying.
“What are you talking about?”, he asked.
“Don’t make a joke, Dong. Only if you answer my question honestly, you can avoid being tortured”, said the mandarin firmly.
“That is nonsense, sir. Could I ask you a question that when the thing happened?”, he said.
“Two day ago”, said the mandarin.
Dong laughed the he said:
“Sir, you are a mandarin who is regarded parent of normal people but you do a nonsense thing, slandering me…”
The still had not finished his words, the mandarin shouted:
“Catch him and throw him in prison”.
“Please, keep you calm down, sir. If their village hall was stolen, it would leave marks that point how long it was stolen, didn’t it?” he said.
“Kales had leaves”, said guards of Van Phuoc village.
Dong laughed loudly, he turned to the mandarin and said:
“Sir, do you think how long their village hall has appeared. It is just enough for kales to grow up leaves while our village hall has been covered by trees and some of them climbed up till the roof”.
The mandarin made his way to Da Hoa village to check his words. Course what he saw was trees which were very thick on fence, on garden, on wall and including on the roof of the hall that was nonsense if the hall was only placed on there two days ago.
Therefore, Do was released. Gap and At were forced to build a new village hall for Van Phuoc.
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THE END
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Book Introductions
1. Complete Collection of Vietnamese Fairy Tales - A Treasury of Legends and Folklore
Discover over 240 enchanting Vietnamese fairy tales, translated into English and beautifully illustrated. This collection is a treasure trove of legends and folklore that reflect Vietnam's rich cultural heritage. Available as an ebook on: Kobo, Apple Books
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This bilingual collection features 162 Vietnamese fairy tales in both English and Vietnamese, with stunning illustrations. Ideal for language learners and cultural enthusiasts. Available as an ebook on: Kobo, Apple Books
3. The Treasury of Fables
An enchanting collection of timeless fables, written in English and beautifully illustrated. Perfect for all ages, these stories offer valuable moral lessons. Available as an ebook on: Kobo, Apple Books
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