from:
Bao Tang Phu Nu Nam Bo: The Vietnamese Women.
Vestiges & Landscapes. The Cultural-Historic
(Di Tich Thang Canh Lich Su Van Hoa. Phu nu Viet
Nam); Nha Xuat Ban Phu Nu 1999; volume 2:
remains of goddesses - lady ancestors of
different professions - mothers of famous
persons (Di tich ve nu than, mau, ba to cac
nganh nghe va me cac danh nhan)
3.11 VONG
PHU (waiting for the husband) peaks in the
South [Vong Phu mountains]
In Viet Nam, there are many mountains which are
called Vong Phu. The name was perhaps originated
from the form of these mountains which look like
the appearance of women with their children in her
arms staring into the distance.
This also reflects the fact of our country
history. From the period of making nation, the
country had to spend through many wars in which
the participants were men; behind them were their
wives who replaced their husband to carry their
family burdens on their shoulders and were on
tenterhooks in waiting for warriors.
The legends about these "Vong Phu" mountains are
various in details, but they all had the same
contents of praising the affection, the waiting
and the faith of the Vietnamese women for many
generations.
1. Hon Ba (Hòn Bà (woman rock) is on the peak of
the Chanh Oai mountain range (also called Chánh
Hùng) near the De Ghi (Ɖê Ghi) sea mouth, Cat Chanh (Cát
Chánh) village, Phu Cat (Phù Cát) district, Binh
Dinh (Bình Ɖinh)
province.
There is are folk
verses handed among the masses of the people:
"In Binh Dinh,
there are Vong Phu mountain, Thi Nai marsh and
Green islet".
2. Phu Yen (Phú Yên) people also call Da Bia (Ɖá Bia) mountain (Bi
Son or Thach Bi Son in Chinese character) or Da
Chong Vong Phu (Ɖá Chông Vong Phu)
mountain. It is 706 meters high within the Deo
Ca (Ɖèo
Ca) range in the South-East of Tuy Hòa
district, beside the national highway Nº 1A.
The southern foot of the mountain is adjacent
to Vung Ro (Vũng Rô) sea; on its top exists a
big rock rising vertically with its round peak
looking like the appearance of a woman who
carries her child in her arms:
"This river and that mountains
are still here,
But where is
the man of the country now". (p.221)
3.12 HOI VAN (HÔI VÂN) hot water stream
[in northern Vietnam - legend about a fairy and
a poor man]
PHU CAT DISTRICT - BINH DINH PROVINCE
Hoi Van Hot water stream is 30 km distant from Quy
Nhon city in the North. Its length is about 2 km. It
is a mixture of hot water sources and cold water
stream alternately. The temperature at the spot is
60-70ºC.
On the northern side of the stream, there is a red
land hill called mountain Dat (Ɖât) (landy [?]
mountain as volcano remains).
The combination of Dat (Ɖât) and Hoi
Van (Hôi Vân) hot water stream is the remains of a
touching legend. The legend told about a fairy who
fell in love with a poor young man in the world. To
punish them, the God had thrown a piece of fire down
to burn their living place. The young man was buried
under the red land hill and the fairy has turned
into the transparent hot water stream.
On the two sides of the stream, there are bushes of
wild trees, and ties of matrimonial which were
reflected in the transparent water flow; it makes
interesting to those who come here to enjoy the
scenery (p.224).
3.13 GANH RANG TIEN SA (GÀNH RÁNG TIÊN SA)
[boats passing rapids]
QUANG TRUNG WARD - QUY NHON TOWN - BINH DINH
PROVINCE
Gang (Rapids) Rang Tien Sa (Ráng Tiên Sa) is the
name in Chinese characters of Nhan Chau (Nhan Châu).
To be in South-West, the rapids is high with
crashing sea waves and grandiose sceneries which
have contributed to the creation of the attractive
scene of Quy Nhon beach.
According to seafarers, "Ráng" means to make sail
slanted and turn the bow of boat to avoid being
against the wind. Boats passing this rapids must
often follow this way so it has been called Gành
Ráng (Ráng rapids) (p.225).
3.14 Suoi TIEN (Suôi TIÊN) (Fairy stream)
[a conical hat]
BINH DINH PROVINCE
Suoi Tien (Suôi Tiên) is a beautiful landscape of
Binh Ɖinh
province. Here, the legend of Suoi Tien origin has
been handed down among the masses of the people.
Once upon on time, at Bong Son, Qui Nhon, there
was a poor family having a very beautiful and
virtuous daughter who lived by making conical
hats. She fell in love with a young man who was
very studious in labor in the same village. the
Bong Son district chief, having seen the beautiful
girl, had wanted her as his concubine; but was
refused. He used his power to threaten her family;
the girl along with her fiancé had escaped from
Bong Son and come to live in Go Gang (today Phu
Cat district).
Not to hold the girl, the Bong Son district chief
used the hands of the Bin Dinh province chief for
his avenge; he told the chief of Bin Ɖinh
province about her beauty and family. The
province chief had wanted her so he had ordered
the obligation of her fiancé to go to the army
at a distant place; at the same time, he made it
a condition that she should either accept to be
his concubine or find 10 Vietnamese pounds of
salangance's nest to dedicate to the King within
a month. She had selected the second condition.
At that moment, the young man who had escaped
from the troops to see her knew the event. He
decided to replace her to find the salangane's
nest. At the departure, he had received the Go
Gang conical hat as a souvenir and her promise
of waiting for his return from his lover.
At the delivery day of salangane's nest the
young man had been unseen, the girl had to
escape to Qui Nhon, the province chief ordered
his soldiers to pursue her up to Ganh Rang
mountain then to Vung Chua mountain. The
soldiers ran after her hurriedly and thought
that they would catch her. Suddenly, the heavy
rain came down and thunder was heard. Vung Chua
mount was cracked to create a large slit and the
girl disappeared into it. From the mount slit, a
transparent stream was seen. The soldiers
supposed that she turned into fairy. and the
name of Suoi Tien (Fairy Spring) has come to
existence since then.
At the same moment, the young man's boat which
had been coming ashore was destroyed by big
waves. The found salangane's nest drifted down
into the sea. He saw afar on Vung Chua mountain
that it seemed his lover's shadow, he held the
souvenir conical hat and ran straight up the
Suoi Tien area (p.227).
3.15 HOANG DE Citadel (HOÀNG ƉÊ
Citadel) [former capital of Tay Son brothers
- footprints of women generals]
NHON HAU VILLAGE - AN NHON DISTRICT - BINH DINH
PROVINCE
This was the first capital of the Tay Son
brothers, governed by Nguyên Nhac. This was the
site where kept the footprints of women generals
at that time such as Vu Thi Duc (Vu Thi Ɖúc), Bui Thi Xuân... As time
passed Hoang De (Hoàng Ɖê) citadel
of today just remains the ruins of a famous
dynasty of "poor peasants with red flag"
with the existence of many heroines (p.229).
3.16 THI NAI Marsh [in Binh Dinh
province - Herring fish]
QUY NHON CITY - BINH DINH PROVINCE
This is the largest salt marsh
in Binh Dinh (Bình Ɖinh) province which is
about 2 to 10 meters deep over 5,000 ha wide; it
receives water from the two rivers: the Côn and
the Hà Thanh.
Scads [Herring fish] in Thi Nai marsh are known
to be delicious and to have a large output: Not
only to be a busy fish port, but Thi Nai is also
a very attractive natural scenery (p.230).
3.17 D'RAY SAP Waterfall [water of
fog, smoke, love and tear]
DAK LAK PROVINCE
D'ray-Sap waterfall is also called Khói (Smoke)
waterfall. It's 29 kilometers distant from Buon
Ma Thuot (Buôn Ma Thuôt) city, Daklak province
in the South East.
D'ray Sap is not only a big pillar of water, but
also a cluster of five big and small falls
separated by cliffs, pieces of woods, all lies
on an arch to the rising sun direction that
comes down in a big lake to form a stream. This
is the most beautiful scenery of the Western
Highland.
The [natives of] E De (Ê Ɖê) call D'ray-Sap the water of
fog, smoke, love and tear. According to the Ê
Ɖê village patriarchs,
formerly, this place used to be the tryst
place of H'Mi, the daughter of a rich tribal
chief with Y-Rit, a poor young man without
parents.
One day, having heart that H'Mi had
been obliged to get married to a neighboring
tribal head by her parents, H'Mi and Y-Rit
were so unhappy. Both came to their tryst
place to pour out their heart to each other.
Suddenly, it appeared a monster from the sky
whose head was as big as [a] mount; its
eyes looked like bronze cauldrons and its body
was sparkled of silver luster. The monster
pounced on H'Mi, the young man Y Rit (Y Rít)
grabbed the monster's foot and fought against it
to keep his lover.
But the monster was too big and furious, it had
stamped the ground to form a deep hollow, then
an enormous pillar of water spurted out from
that to carry H'Mi away. Y Rít had fainted and
he turned into a century old tree. The place
where had appeared the enormous pillar of water
turned into a waterfall throwing white spumes
all over the mount and forest all day and night
as H'Mi tears has been shed for her faithful
love (p.232).
3.18 YA LY Falls [water of a girl
called "Ly" - dying for saving Plei Mun
village with a spring of water]
CHU PAH DISTRICT - GIA LAI PROVINCE
Ya means water in the Gia Rai dialect, so Ya-Ly
means the water of a girl whose name was Ly.
According to legend, once upon a time, in a
certain year of drought, the people of Plei Mun
village were about to die of thirst. Right at
the moment, Ly, a beautiful girl in the village
had decided to seek for the water source. On the
way, she saw a very big radish, strangely big;
and when she pulled it up, she found a source of
fresh water, at the same time a deity appeared
and said: "If you reveal this secret, you will
die."
Ly was dead because she told the villagers about
the water source and she saved them. From now
on, the water source of Plei-Mun has been called
after her name: Ya-Ly falls (p.234).
3.19 HUSBAND and WIFE Rocks [two rocks
with legends]
NHA TRANG CITY
Those are two big rocks, one is on the beach and
the other is in the sea, so we may call them
separately, they are Hon Chong (Hòn Chông)
(Husband rock) and Hon Vo (Wife rock) locating
in the north of the Cai (Cái) estuary in Nha
Trang. It's the site for tourism where almost
can't help being visited by those who arrive in
Nha Trang.
Legend has it that there once came here a grant
[?] to have a sight seeing, he met a group of
fairies who were taking a bath. He stopped on
the watch to see them passionately;
unexpectedly, his feet slipped down and he feel
down. He hastened to cling to the mountain wall
that caused the collapse of a mount side and
falling of rock into to make Hon Chong (Hòn
Chông) (husband Rock) today. At the rock he held
on, there remains his hand print and footprint
carved deeply with his 5 toes on the rock.
Another legend told that there was a couple of
poor fishermen who were in a storm at sea, their
boat was drifted to this place where used to be
high mountains. Their boat was bumped against
rocks and was broken into pieces; the wife was
carried away by waves, the husband dived
immediately into the water to catch his wife and
tried to swim ashore. But due to big waves, he
had to hold on to mountain wall with his one
hand and keep his wife with the other. The
mountain was collapsed and both of them were
sunk into the fierce waves. The fingerprint of
the brave and loyal husband has been leaving on
the rock forever (p.236).
3.20 A NA Sea (CÀ NÁ Sea) [goddess Poh
Inur Kar playing with sand]
About 30 kilometers from the town of Phan Rang
on the National highway Nº 1 toward the South is
Ca Na.
The place name of Ca Na is the phonetic variant
from the word Canak in Champa language. It is
the rare region with charming landscape which
has been a resort for a long time.
Ca Na also existed in legend of the former
Champa people when Ninh Thuân was within the
mountainous district of Panduranga of Champa
kingdom. It was said that when young, Goddess
Poh Inur Kar often went for a bath on the white
sand islet in the middle of the river, near Hlow
Tang hill. When bathing she usually stretched
her left leg, then scooped up sand with her
hands and let it chop on her foot's arch, then
[she] sang:
"The bay is as
shallow as pond...
The sound stirs Ca Na."
