The BETEL and The ARECA TREE
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LAN BACH LE THAI 1
Under the reign of Hung-Vuong III, there lived a mandarin named CAO, who had two sons, TAN and LANG, resembling each other like twins. Both of them were good-looking, had the same lofty handsome brows, the same straight noses and intelligent sparkling eyes. They were exceedingly fond of each other.
Unfortunately, the mandarin and his wife died, and a series of misfortunes reduced the orphans to want. To avoid the mortification which followed the disasters, the young men decided to go into the wide world looking for work. Fate had it that they knocked at the door of Magistrate LUU, an intimate friend of their parents. The Magistrate gave them a most cordial welcome in his stately mansion. He brought them up like his own sons, for he had none himself, the gods only giving him a daughter as fair as a white lotus, and as fresh as a Spring rose.
The Magistrate, wanting to tighten their bonds of affection and friendship, wished to give her to one of the young men in marriage. Both of them were naturally attracted by the good looks and the graceful manners of the pretty maiden, and loved her secretly. However, they had an equally generous heart, and each one insisted that the other should marry her. They would never have come to an agreement, had the clever Magistrate not used a little trick to find out who was the elder brother.
He ordered a meal to be served to the brothers, with only one paix of chopsticks. Without hesitating, LANG picked them up and handed them to TAN in a very respectful manner. TAN took them in the most natural way in the world.
The Magistrate immediately chose TAN as the bridegroom.
TAN was now the happiest man on earth. He loved passionately his bride and they pledged eternal love to each other. He had never known such’happiness and spent his time making love poems to describe his bliss, and to sing his deep love. He completely neglected his brother LANG, who seemed to have gone out of his thoughts.
After the wedding of his brother, LANG soon overcame his secret love for the young woman, and he gladly accepted his lot for he only wanted the joy and happiness of his beloved elder brother. But gradually, he realized that TAN was indifferent and even cold to him.
LANG sat alone in his quarters, motionless and silent, waiting for a sign of friendship and care from his brother, but it did not come.
Poor LANG ! to him, this was despairing sadness. At length, he broke out into wild sorrow: « Alas ! my elder brother does not love me any more. Why should I stay here at all, for nobody cares for me? The sooner I leave this place, the better.»
He sprang to his feet and ran away, for he could bear his sadness no longer.
Past many green hillocks and leafy forests he ran, until he reached a dark blue sea. A cold wind blew, the sun had sunk, and the last rosy gleam of the sunset was soon swallowed up by the immense sea. He looked and looked in the dim twilight, but there was no boat to be seen. And the night came, so dark that he could not see anything around him. He was completely exhausted, hungry and thirsty and his head was as hot as fire. He sat down on the grass and wept and wept until he died and was turned into a white chalky rock.
When TAN realized that LANG had stolen away from the house, he was extremely sorry and ashamed of his selfishness.
Full of regret and worries, he set out to look for his younger brother.
He went along the same way, crossed the same hillocks and forests until he reached the same dark blue sea. Tired, he sat by the white rock, wept and wept until he died and was turned into a tree with a straight stem and green palms on the top. It was the areca tree.
The young bride missed TAN so much that she too set off one day in search of him.
She went along the same way and got to the tall tree, and entirely worn out, lay at its foot. Tears of despair rolled down her cheeks, and she kept on crying sorrowfully until she died. She was turned into a creeping plant — the betel — which twined round the lofty column of the areca tree.
Enlightened by a dream, the peasants of the place built a temple in commemoration of the fraternal and conjugal love of the unhappy people.
Years later, when King Hung Vuong III happened to be in that place, he was puzzled by the rock, the tree and the plant he had never seen before.
When he heard the whole story, he said: « If these are such devoted brothers, and faithful husband and wife, let us mix up the three things together to see the result.»
They burned the rock which became soft and white, wrapped a little of it in a leaf of betel, cut a piece of areca nut, and squeezed them together. A sort of a red liquid looking like blood ran out of the mixture.
The King meditated and said: « This is the true symbol of conjugal and fraternal love. Let the tree and the plant be grown everywhere in commemoration of this beautiful but sad story.»
And people started to get brothers and sisters, and especially newly-wed people to chew them to maintain fraternal and conjugal love. Then, the habit spread very quickly until in the end a great number of people chewed betel at all meetings to « maintain mutual affection. »
Nowadays, betel is still chewed by newly-wed couples, and also at ceremonies and anniversaries. Some people still like to chew this strong mixture which makes them slightly giddy, and which might seem bitter to others, but is really nice to those who are used to it.
SEE MORE:
◊ The BICH-CAU Predestined Meeting – Section 1.
◊ The BICH-CAU Predestined Meeting – Section 2.
◊ CINDERELLA – The Story of TAM and CAM – Section 1.
◊ CINDERELLA – The Story of TAM and CAM – Section 2.
◊ The RAVEN’s Gem.
◊ The Story of TU THUC – The Land of BLISS – Section 1.
◊ The Story of TU THUC – The Land of BLISS – Section 2.
◊ Vietnamese version (Vi-VersiGoo) with WEB-Hybrid: BICH-CAU Hoi ngo – Phan 1.
◊ Vietnamese version (Vi-VersiGoo) with WEB-Hybrid: BICH-CAU Hoi ngo – Phan 2.
◊ Vietnamese version (Vi-VersiGoo) with WEB-Hybrid: Viên ĐÁ QUÝ của QUẠ.
◊ Vietnamese version (Vi-VersiGoo) with WEB-Hybrid: Câu chuyện TẤM CAM – Phân 1.
◊ Vietnamese version (Vi-VersiGoo) with WEB-Hybrid: Câu chuyện TẤM CAM – Phân 2.
NOTES:
1 : R.W. PARKES’ Foreword introduces LE THAI BACH LAN and her short-stories books: “Mrs. Bach Lan has assembled an interesting selection of Vietnamese legends for which I am glad to write a brief foreword. These tales, well and simply translated by the author, have considerable charm, derived in no small part from the sense they convey of familiar human situations clothed in exotic dress. Here, in tropical settings, we have faithful lovers, jealous wives, unkind stepmothers, the stuff of which so many Western folk stories are made. One story indeed is Cinderella over again. I trust that this little book will find many readers and stimulate friendly interest in a country whose present-day problems are regrettably better known than her past culture. Saigon, 26th February 1958.”
3 : … updating …
NOTES:
◊ Contents and images – Source: Vietnamese Legends – Mrs. LT. BACH LAN. Kim Lai An Quan Publishers, Saigon 1958.
◊ Featured sepiaized images has been set by Ban Tu Thu – thanhdiavietnamhoc.com.
BAN TU THU
07 /2020