The
temple to Truong's wife is located on the side of the Hoang river, village of
Vu dien, district Ly Nhan, province of Ha Nam. Here is her story.
She
married a man of the Truong family. After a half a year, he was conscripted to
go and fight a distant war. When he left, she was pregnant. She gave birth to
boy, which she name Dan. During her husband absence, as she sat with her child,
she would point to her shadow and would tell him that that was his father.
After three years, her husband was released from service and came home. The boy
by then could talk. When he called him, he replied:
You
are also my dad? How can you talk now? My dad used to be silent. He came at
night. He would sit when mom sat. He would move when mom moved.
The
husband was struck by what his son has revealed to him. He became suspicious,
then questioned his wife and did not believe when she denied having been with
another man. He gave her such a hard time that in despair she jumped in the
Hoang river to kill herself to prove her faithfulness.
Then
one night, as he sat with his child, he pointed to the shadow of his father on
the wall and said:
My
dad has come back, see!
It
finally struck the husband that his wife has used her shadow to provide the boy
with as a surrogate father. As he came to recognize the injustice he did onto
his wife, he built a altar on the river edge so that he can make offering to
help free her soul. The people of the village subsequently built a temple in
her honor. King Le Thanh Ton (1442 - 1497) on a tour of this province passed
the temple and this inspired the following poem about her temple:
This
column of incense smoke by the whirlpool
Is
this the temple of the wife of Truong.
When
the oil lamp is out, do not listen to the child,
Why
the river to bring her misfortune.
Witnesses
of her faithfulness are the sun and the moon
Why
is it necessary to have an altar to redress the injustice
Passing
by we learn the ins and outs of this story
Truong
you have been too harsh!
King
Le Thanh Ton reigned from 1460 to 1497. He was one of the enlightened King of
the Early Le dynasty. He made political reforms and also was a patron of the
arts. He founded the 'Tao dan nhi thap bat tu', the 28-star literary society,
and was their leader.
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