|
|
This is the Vietnamese story "A Taste of Earth". It
tells of the beginning of the earth and of the goddess Au Co and her Dragon Prince who create the first people. In the
beginning ,a geat bird comes to rest on the cold earth. She lays two enormous eggs, one red the other ivory, and then
retreats back into space. Thousands of years later, the red egg hatches and becomes the sun and the ivory hatches to
become the moon.
The brilliant light from the sun shone all the way to the 36th heaven, the home
of many goddesses, including Au Co, the youngest and lovliest goddess. Au Co pulled back a curtain of cloud and saw
the beautiful earth below.
Au Co: "Come, my sisters, let us change ourselves into white Lac birds
and fly down to explore this new planet!"
So, Au Co and her fellow goddesses fly down to the earth
and are delighted by the landsand seas that the light of the sun has revealed to them. The goddesses land on the earth
and transform back into their goddesss form. They sang hand in hand and began dancing, the first dance on earth.
Au Co reached down and scooped up a handful of earth. Overwhelmed by the smell and feel of it, she swallows a tiny hadnful
of it. The sun begins to set and the ivory moon begins to appear. The goddesses change back into the snow-white
Lac bird and begin to fly home. However, having tasted the earth, Au Co had lost her magical flying powers and could
not return to the 36th heaven. Frightened and alone, she began to weep.
Dragon Prince:
"Sun shining brightly Au Co:
"Bright Golden crow
Sky and sea both blue
Fragrant new earth
Butterflies flutter
As white Lac birds
By a river so new
We flew below
Where have you come from?
A taste of new earth
Why do you weep alone?"
No longer can I fly
My sisters departed
I wait alone and cry.
Lost in a strange land
My tears becoem a river."
The Dragon Prince consoled Au Co, and before long, they were talking
and laughing. As they walked down the mountain, they noticed that the banks of the river formed from Au Co's tears were
lush with vegetation, but also that the river was drying up. So the Dragon Prince took some of Au Co's tears and created
rain to form many rivers to nourish the earth. The rivers took the very shape of Au Co herself. Her long legs
stretching to the sea, her hair flowing over all the hills and mountains. Her image was forever imprinted on the green
fields of the earth. Thus, Au Co, so beautiful and full of vitality, was herself the fertile heart of the earth.
Not long after living together, Au Co laid a large sack of eggs. They placed the egg sack outside in a grassy meadow
to accustom their future children to teh sky, the earth, and the warmth of the sun. For nine years, they visited the
egg sack daily. One morning, they discovered the egg sack had grown as large as a small hill and had begun to rip apart.
One hundred snow-white eggs began to appear, and from each emerged a plump baby. One hudnred little boys and girls stretching
their arms out to be held.
Au Co and the Dragon Roince carried their children back to their cave
and made cozy beds for them. Au Co devoted all of her time to her children. She loved the earth and all its plant
and creature; she loved her new life, and was no longer overcome with sadness from not being able to return to the 36th heaven
and her fellow goddesses.
Au Co and the Dragon Prince created a human language for their hcildren
and named all the things on earth. When the children were older, they taught them how to gather fruit, to make stone
toos to hunt with, and to weave nets to catch fish from the sea. One night, the god A Nhi appeared to Au Co in a dream
and revealed to her how to make fire, which she passed onto her children. Their children learned to build huts, dry
and preserve meat, and make clothes.
Generation of humans came and went. Although humans
were half dragon and half goddess, they only lived a few hundred years. When children came of age they could marry.
A young woman's parents would bring an offering of salt to a young man's parents to request a marriage. If the young
man's parents agreed, the young man was sent to live wit his bride and her family. At the wedding, the bride and groom
received sweet rice from everyone in the village. The ceremony itself was simple- bride and groom shared a meal of sweet
rice together. After the wedding, they continue to live with the bride's family.
The salt
offered to the groom's parents was a symbol of trust and friendship. The sweet rice eaten at the wedding was a symbol
of intimacy and fidelity. Au Co created all these customs for her children. Since the birth of hte first humans,
Dragon Prince and AucCo had been there to teach and protect htem. The men each wore a dragon tattoo to ward off sea
monsters while fishing. The people had inherited the bravery of dragons from their father and the intelligence of goddesses
from their mother. The people looked to Au Co as their ruler and used the image of the Lac bird as the symbol of their
land. They often called the Dragon Prince "Lac Dragon".
One day, Lac dRagon was summoned
by his father to return to the sea to take over the throne. Lac Dragon promised to return to Au Co as soon as possible.
Au Co remained with her people to guide and care for them. |
