The Small Island in Trúc Bạch Lake – Part 1

Part 1 – the past

Đức … fell … in the water
dog which followed the King when he relocated the capital
citizens of Ba Đình District did not want to have a restaurant on the island

Long ago, after reading my story about Thanh Niên Road, the reader asked, “What is the small island in Trúc Bạch Lake? What is there?”

A few months after that, Đức (22), and Minh (12) – they both speak English fluently – and I rented a swan boat and pedaled our way to the island to see what is there.

When we arrived at the island, Đức tried to climb up onto it, but slipped and fell, submerging one whole leg in the water. After that, Minh and I got onto the island.

On the island, we found a shrine dedicated to King Lý Thái Tổ. In back of the shrine, there is a stele which talks about the dog which followed the King when he relocated the capital from Hoa Lư to Thăng Long. I asked Minh please to read everything written on the stele and remember it. After we came back to land, I asked Minh please to tell me what the stele says, but he had forgotten!

Nearly a year passed before I finally met someone who knows about the island. He told the following history:

There used to be a shrine on the island for fishermen to pray. They came there to thank the god for their good catches of the past and to pray for future abundance. Some time later, the People’s Committee of the District of Ba Đình decided to convert the island to private use. They rented out the island to a restaurateur to have a restaurant built on it. They also built a bridge connecting Thanh Niên Rd. with the island.

But, the citizens of Ba Đình District did not want to have a restaurant on the island; rather they wanted their shrine back. So, people did not go to the restaurant, and soon thereafter the business went bankrupt.

After that, the island lay empty and many young people used it for love making. In the end, the People’s Committee destroyed the bridge and there was nothing on the island.

Many years later, after much discussion, it was decided to build a new shrine on the island, one dedicated King Lý Thái Tổ, and to the dog that followed him to Thăng Long.

So, what is this dog? And, why build a shrine to King Lý, and to this dog on the small island in Trúc Bạch Lake? The answer to these questions in part 2 soon.