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Grandmother told Tan a tradition.

Two thousand years later, the Co Loa Festival still honours the old king and the princess every January. There is a  temple on a mountain near the seashore where Princess My Chau died.  In the Ancient City of the Conch a flame has burned for 2000 years in honour of the heroes who have died for their country.


Thousands of years ago in Vietnam there lived a beautiful princess named My Chau.  She was known as the princess of the coat with a thousand goose feathers. She and her father lived in a palace decorated with stone animals  such as the turtle and the gryphon.

My Chau's father, the king,  was loved and respected throughout Vietnam, as for many years he had kept their country free from invasion by enemies. He often sought advice from a magic genie, who appeared in the form of a golden turtle.


With his magic crossbow, the king could kill thousands of enemy soldiers with just one arrow. No other country dared to invade the king's land. Then a wily general of an enemy army tried to make peace with the king. He offered his son Trong Thuy in marriage to the princess My Chau.

My Chau and Trong Thuy were married and the princess loved her husband dearly. She made a promise that if ever they lost each other, she would scatter goose feathers from her famous coat so that he could find her, wherever on earth she was!

Sadly, Trong Thuy had a plan to steal the king's magic cross bow to take to his own father. This he did. Once he had the magic weapon, Trong Thuy's father attacked Vietnam and the poor king was powerless without his magic crossbow.

The king tried to escape on horseback with his daughter My Chau behind him. But wherever they went, the enemy was always able to catch up to them. The king called out to heaven,'O Gods, why have you forsaken me?' From the sea the voice of the golden turtle boomed, 'Your real enemy sits behind you.' Yes, My Chau had been keeping her promise to her husband, and was secretly scattering the goose feathers from her famous coat!

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Grandmother also told Tan about animal stories.

Many of our Vietnamese stories are about animals, both real and legendary.  Animals in Vietnam  are regarded as friends and co-workers, rather than as pets.  And in a story, the fate of  an animal can tell in a witty and exciting  way, some important lesson or moral.  There are stories of dragons, unicorns and gryphons.  The golden dragon is a symbol of nobility and power.

The king suddenly realised what My Chau had been doing. In a rage of despair he drew his sword and killed his own daughter. The heartbroken father then threw himself into the sea. Blood from My Chau's body gushed into the  waves. Oysters at the bottom of the sea, being nourished by the blood of a princess, started producing precious pearls.

The husband Trong Thuy had followed the trail of feathers down to the sea. There he found the body of his beautiful wife  My Chau. He realised what a terrible thing he had done. He had sacrificed his wife for the ambitions of his father. He had lost his true love.

One day Trong Thuy, unable to bear his grief any longer,  threw himself into a deep pond where My Chau had loved to bathe. In this way he hoped that his soul would be joined by hers.