Văn bản Thánh Gióng viết bằng tiếng Anh

armour, and an iron helmet made for me, and I will undertake to annihilate the invader," Giong said.. The representative, rather surprised, made his report to the King.[r]

The Saint Giong

the country during the reign of the sixth Hung King Everywhere villages were set

on fire and the population massacred Everywhere the drum rolls of the war mingled with the cries of the victims

The King sent messengers out to every corner to discover a hero capable of saving the homeland

At this time there lived a woman in Ke Dong who was no longer very young but still celibate One day, on crossing the garden planted with aubergines, she saw the enormous footprint of a man One

does not know why but she had the idea

to compare the footprint with her own Scarce!y had she put down her foot then she felt a strange sensation

Some time after, she found that she was pregnant Ashamed, she abandoned her native village and went to live in the forest At the end of twelve months she brought a handsome boy into the world

As she was homesick, she returned home with her son and again started to

cultivate aubergines and to fish for

crabs and snails to satisfy her needs and those of her little Giong

She courageously faced everything, but one thing meanwhile saddened her

Giong, nearly three years old, neither spoke nor laughed The whole day he

remained motionless where she had left him

The day the royal herald passed through

the village hardly had the speaking

horn become silent when the baby,

standing up abruptly, called:

"Mother, will you invite the King's

messenger to come in here for a few

minutes?"

His mother, very happy, called the

messenger

"Return immediately to the Court and request the King to have a horse,

armour, and an iron helmet made for

me, and I will undertake to annihilate the invader," Giong said

The representative, rather surprised, made his report to the King The King gave an immediate order to the blacksmiths to work night and day to make the armour and the horse required by Giong

After his interview with the King's

messenger, the child grew in front of everyone's eyes He each day swallowed larger potfuls of rice and every evening his clothes burst at the seams As his mother no longer had enough rice and aubergines, the whole village helped her

to feed Giong

When the horse was finished, it was

brought to the village But Giong tapped the animal lightly on the back, and it collapsed and the blacksmiths,

ashamed, carried it away

They returned with a horse twice as

larger and heavier This time it again flattened under Giong's hand Giong

laughing, said to them:

"I need a horse with all its organs:

heart, liver, lungs and intestines."

The King tore out whole sections of the mountain to find iron and thousands

of workers speeded up the i!on works day and night

On the day fixed for the departure, the village offered Giong a meal composed

of seven baskets of cooked rice and

salted aubergines Giong soon devoured the lot Then he stood up and one could see him grow enormous

The blacksmiths pushed the iron horse with great difficulty Giong put on the helmet, but the armour was too small, and cracked The village children filled the cracks with reed flowers

Then, taking the iron whip, Giong jumped

on the horse which, with a long whinny, bounded forward Flames spouted from its nostrils The enemy was then halted

at Tran Son

On his galloping horse Giong brandished his whip and rode into the crowd of

soldiers who fell like cut straw The

survivors fled Giong followed them But his whip suddenly broke Then Giong tore out bunches of bamboo on his path to strike blows

All the enemy were exterminated or

dispersed

Feeling thirsty, Giong tied his horse to a tree and, approaching a well, entirely emptied it

Leaving the broken whip near the well, Giong galloped as far as Soc Son

mountain where he deposited the armour and helmet on He climbed onto the top

of the mountain, looking at his native land for a last time, then, on his iron horse, he rode up to the heaven

The King had a temple erected at Ke Dong

to the hero, saviour of the Homeland, and awarded him the title of "Celestial Prince of Phu Dong."

This temple is still in existence at the village of Phu Dong They can show you the tracks of the horses' shoes where Giong passed Today these are lakes

which are round

As for the bamboo which grows in the plain, they have the yellow colour

called Dang Nga This colour resulted from the fire which spouted from the

nostrils of the iron horse This fire even burnt a village still called today "Chay" (Burnt Village) in northern Ha Bac

province

Every year, on the ninth day of the

is held to commemorate the Saint

Giong's victory over the invaders.