Once upon a time, in the period of Hung Vuong the third, there lived
along the riverbank a very poor family. The father, Chu
Vy Van, and the son, Chu Dong Tu, had only one piece of loincloth
between them and took turns wearing it. When the father
died, Chu Dong Tu, who loved and respected his father very much,
buried the cloth with his father. From then on, he had
nothing to wear, and had to hide in the water. He traded
the fishes he caught for rice from the merchant ships that sailed
down the river.
In
that period, Tien Dung was the beautiful princess. She
loved to sail. One day, the princess passed by the riverbank
where Chu Dong Tu lived and fished. She fell in love with
the romantic scenery and decided to make a stop. Chu Dong
Tu ran to a bush and covered himself with sand to hide.
She asked her handmaids to cover the area so she could take a
bath.
As
the princess playfully splashed her handmaids, the water caused
the sand to run off; Tien Dung was startled to find a naked young
man. Chu Dong Tu was frightened and tried to run away.
Their unusual encounter led Tien Dung to believe that fate brought
them together. Despite the fact that he was a common man
and she was a princess, Tien Dung asked the servants to bring
him clothes, and married him. Governor Lac Vuong was very angry.
He revoked her royal title and prohibited her from ever returning
to the palace.
Chu
Dong Tu and Tien Dung traveled everywhere. In their travels,
they met a fairy who gave them a magical cane and straw hat.
That night, when they affixed the cane to the ground and put the
hat on top as the fairy instructed, a royal palace and servants
appeared to serve them. In the morning, when they pulled
the cane up from the ground, the whole palace levitated together
with Chu Dong Tu and Tien Dung, and flew them to the clouds forever.
The area on the ground where the palace was became a big swamp. Thousands
of years later, Emperor Trieu Quang Phuc positioned his army
in this swamp and defeated invaders from the North.
