In Vietnamese myths,
the story Son Tinh and Thuy Tinh to
explain their country own situation in a tropical and monsoon land.
Son Tinh was the spirit of
the Mountain and Thuy Tinh the spirit of the Waters. The king, Hung Vuong VI,
had an extremely beautiful daughter, and he did not wish her to marry just any
prince. He consulted with his court and hit upon the idea of sending out a
proclamation far and wide to the effect that he was seeking a suitable party
for his daughter. Princes came from far and wide but none was considered to be
a good match for the king's beloved daughter. Finally, one day there came at
the same time two very handsome young noblemen asking for the princess' hand.
Upon inquiry and examination, they turned out both to be equally distinguished,
talented, and powerful. The king was in a quandary as to how to choose.
Finally, he decided to send them both away, saying that whoever turned up the
next day first with the proper wedding gifts would be given the princess in
marriage.
He was, therefore, given the
hand of the princess. Barely had the proceedings been completed when Thuy Tinh,
the Water spirit, turned up with his gifts.
Being of a fiery
disposition, Thuy Tinh could not accept his defeat. He sought to challenge Son
Tinh to a contest to see who was the stronger and therefore more deserving of
the princess. But Son Tinh simply ignored him, strong in his conviction that
right was on his side. Furious, Thuy Tinh called on the waters of the rivers
and brooks to overflow their banks and flood the land, In no time the whole
land became a storm and raging sea that rose day by day and hour by hour,
ruining all the crops and ravaging the land.
But Son Tinh was
imperturbable in his palace in the mountains; all he needed to do was to get
his mountains to rise a little bit higher when the waters threatened to flood
them. After several days and weeks of trying to overcome his rival by raising
the waters, Thuy Tinh finally had to concede defeat and order the waters to
withdraw. This happened at the end of the monsoon but Thuy Tinh was never fully
reconciled to the loss of the beautiful princess. Every year he tries to reenact
the battle and that was how monsoons came to Vietnam.
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