The legend of Lac Long Quan and Au Co

Once upon a time... Thousands of years ago, Kinh-duong-vuong, King of Xich-quy, married Long-nu, a princess from Dong-dinh-ho. Because of Long-nu's origin, their son Sung-Lam, popularly known as Lac-long-quan, was believed to be descended from the line of the Dragons. Lac-long-quan had superhuman strength, and he liked to stay near the water. He succeeded to the throne of his father, and governed the Lac-Viet tribe.

During that time, the Lac-Viet tribe was still isolated. Monsters and demons often appeared to harass people. There was a giant fish called Ngu-tinh, who lived for hundreds of years in the East Sea. Ngu-tinh always swallowed up big fishing boats when they passed by his gulf. Thus, the fishermen were very frightened of him. 

Lac-long-quan heard about Ngu-tinh's evil deeds and decided to exterminate him. He commanded his tribesmen to make a huge boat and went looking for Ngu-tinh. When he saw Ngu-tinh, using all his might, Lac-long thrust a trident into the giant fish's mouth. This action brought great pain to Ngu-tinh and he soon died. Lac-long-quan cut off Ngu-tinh's head with his sword. Thus, he had terminated the oppressing force for all the people in the Coast.

Yet, there was another evil force threatening the citizens of Long-bien Province. The children there were often being taken away by Ho-tinh, a wild old fox with nine tails. Ho-tinh lived in a cave and he came out every night to take children away and ate them. Lac-long-quan weaved five colors of threads into a big lasso and set up a trap at the entrance to the cave. When Ho-tinh came out that night, he was trapped; his neck was stuck in the lasso and he was choked to death.

On the way to the highlands of Phong-chau, Lac-long-quan was told about the evil stories of Moc-tinh. Moc-tinh was a tree demon who lived for centuries. At night, Moc-tinh would take a human form and came to the villager's farms and wrecked havoc. Lac-long-quan asked his men to make a big axe. He cut that tree down and Moc-tinh died within the tree.

After completely destroying the tree demon, Lac-long educated his tribe people about agriculture. He taught them how to sow rice seeds and harvest rice. Rice can be cooked by putting it in a bamboo tube with some water and broil it over the fire. Then you split the bamboo tube to get the cooked rice.

Fishing boats usually had two big eyes painted on both sides of the anterior end. Fishermen had tattoos with designs of ferocious animals. Lac-long-quan believed that it was beneficial to have the tattoo for when the fishermen dive into the water, they would scare off the other marine animals with their mimicking design.

At that time, De-Lai, King of another northern tribe made a trip to the South. He liked Lac-long-quan very much and arranged a marriage between Lac-long-quan and his daughter, Au-co. The groom was a talented man; the bride was a beautiful lady. They were a well-assorted couple. People in the tribe were very happy. They feasted for months.

Au-co got pregnant after one year. The tribes people gathered up to help Au-co prepare for the birth: some boiled water, others sewed clothes or diapers. But Au-co only gave birth to a big membranous sac instead of a baby. 

The sac then became bigger and bigger. On the seventh day, it suddenly burst; inside there were one hundred eggs. Each egg hatched into a little boy. The boys stood up and ran to their mother. 

Au-co and Lac-long-quan spent days and nights taking care of their one hundred children. The tribes people often brought fruits and rice to the boys. The boys ate a lot and grew up very quickly. After a short period of time, they were as tall as their father. Even though Lac-long-quan had a family of his own, he missed the Coast very much. He often went to visit his mother Long-nu. Au-co was sad because she thought her husband was not paying attention to their children. 

Lac-long-quan said: "I am from the Dragon line. I like to dwell in the Coast. You are from the Fairy line; you like to be on highlands. Therefore we cannot live together. It is better that we separate now. You take fifty children to the highlands and I take fifty children to the Coast."

Since then, Lac-long-quan and Au-co separated; one went to the highlands and the other went to the Coast. The children of Lac-long-quan and Au-co were the ancestors of Lac-Viet. That's why Vietnamese call themselves "Dragon and Fairy descendants."