KVT – A Tale of Summer Rain

KVT – A Tale of Summer Rain

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KVT 2014
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KVT and a Vietnamese folk story of the seventh lunar month

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After a few years in Vietnam, I have naturally come to grips with some of the names for rain. For example: Mua To when it rains heavily.

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Mua Phun when it’s drizzling.

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Mua Xuan when it rains in spring.

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…………A couple of weeks ago when we were at a countryside tea stall bemoaning the gentle but constant patter of rain that had been dripping down for the past two days, making our motorbike trip through rice paddy landscapes unpleasant, the wizened old lady who owned the little stall fluttered her gnarled fingers through the drips splashing from the perimeter of the palm thatched roof, smiled, and said, ‘Ah. The seventh lunar month, Mua Ngau’ in a way that sort of implied that we were more than a little stupid to be complaining.

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Mua Ngau!?

The old lady, with a black lacquered smile, told her tale as I recorded it for translation when I got back to Hanoi
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‘Long ago a handsome boy named Nguu Lang worked in the heavenly fields of the Milky Way as a buffalo herder for the Jade God.

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The Jade God’s extremely beautiful daughter, Chuc Nu, who wove cloth shining as silver as the stars, saw Nguu Lang when he grazed his animals past the place where she sat working. Their eyes met and they immediately fell in love.

After much persuasion the Jade God allowed the youngsters to marry but soon things turned for the worse.
The couple were so besotted with each other that they spent all of their time making love and ignored their jobs. Soon Nguu Lang’s buffalo were trampling willy nilly through the heavenly meadows and Chuc Nu’s weaving lay abandoned, frayed and unravelling.

The jade God was beside himself with anger and when the young lovers, after repeated admonitions, didn’t improve their behaviour, he decided to punish them. He banished them to opposite ends of the sparkling Milky Way.

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When his anger subsided he relented a little and allowed them to meet for one month during the lunar year.

Thus, every lunar July all the black crows from around the world caw and cark their way in black clouds towards the heavens and form an arch across the Milky Way.

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Across this bridge Chuc Nu and Nguu Lang run towards each other and embrace in floods of warm tears. These tears fall to earth and replenish the crops that have been waiting parched and dry.

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The happy couple cry often. In happiness as they talk and make love, In sadness as they contemplate the end of their time together for another long year. During those delirious though despairing twenty eight days, the earth is refreshed with gentle rain that falls for hours.

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Their time together up, the black crows make another bridge and with more tears falling, Chuc Nu returns to her lonely side of the Milky Way and can be identified as the star Vega. Nguu Lang, with teary backward glances returns to his solitary place as the star Atair.

When the seventh lunar month approaches farmers in Vietnam watch for the black crows to fly from the fields. When this happens they are happy and grateful. Happy that the two lovers they call Ong Ngau and Ba Ngau will be reconciled and grateful for the tears that will water their crops and ensure a bountiful harvest. ‘

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The old woman’s tale has many Vietnamese versions and vary slightly from village to village, even household to household, as it has been told and retold for countless generations. Written versions also have differing nuances. In one versions the crow bridge is made on one specific day in the month. I prefer to think that Chuc Nu and her lover have 28 days to make love, laugh and cry.

It’s a tale that resonates in myths and legends about summer rain from China, Japan and Korea.

It’s another delightful addition to my collection of Vietnamese folk tales that pertain to nature. It’s on a par with the story of Nhat Ban ….Just when you begin to think Spring has come and you pack away your scarves, mittens and warm coats, the Jade God allows one more cold spell to demonstrate the love of newly wed Nhat Ban for her husband who is far away in the northern mountains battling invading Chinese.

PS: apologies to any who find errors in my translation.

Kiem Van Tim is a keen observer of life in general and the Hanoi cultural scene in particular and offers some of these observations to the Grapevine. KVT insists that these observations and opinion pieces are not critical reviews. Please see our Comment Guidelines / Moderation Policy and add your thoughts in the comment field below.

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