Illustrated by Bui Xuan Loc
Adapted from a tale in The Treasury of Vietnamese Folktales by Nguyen Dong Chi
A young farmer learns that hard work and honesty can overcome deceit in this classic folk tale.
Once upon a time, an honest, hardworking, and strong young plowman went to work as a hired hand for a wealthy landlord. Tireless in the fields and skilled at farming, he quickly caught the attention of the landlord, who saw an opportunity to profit as much as possible from his labor. One day, the landlord called the young man over and coaxed him with sweet words: “Work hard for me, rising early and staying up late without sparing any effort, and in three years I will give you my daughter’s hand in marriage.”
Believing the landlord’s promise, the young plowman worked day and night to make his master rich. Three years later, thanks to the young man’s relentless labor, the landlord had acquired tiled houses, paved brick courtyards, and vast new fields and orchards. Yet the wealthy landlord had no intention of keeping his word. He had already secretly agreed to marry his daughter to the son of another rich family in the area. One day, pretending to be warm and affectionate, the landlord told the plowman: “You have served my family well. After three years of tending the tree, you are about to taste its fruit. Our estate now lacks only one thing: a hundred-node bamboo stalk. Go into the forest, find one, and bring it back, and I will let you marry my daughter.”
Overjoyed, the young plowman took his machete and headed into the forest. Little did he know that back home, the two wealthy families had already prepared a lavish wedding feast for their children. The two rich patriarchs chuckled to each other: “That fool could search the woods all year and never find a bamboo stalk with a hundred nodes! Sooner or later, venomous snakes will bite him, or tigers will tear him apart!”
Meanwhile, the plowman clambered over hills and waded through streams, searching through thicket after thicket. But all he found were ordinary bamboo groves, the tallest with fewer than fifty nodes. Heartbroken and exhausted, he sat down, buried his face in his hands, and wept.
Hearing his cries, Ong But – the fairy godfather – appeared and asked, “Why are you weeping, my child?” The plowman told him the whole story. Ong But smiled and said, “This is not a problem! Chop down one hundred bamboo segments, arrange them in a line, and chant, ‘Khac nhap, khac nhap’ (Join together, join together), and you will immediately have a hundred-node bamboo stalk.”
With those words, Ong But vanished. The plowman did exactly as he was told. Sure enough, all one hundred bamboo segments fused together into a single, magnificent stalk with one hundred nodes. Overjoyed, he hoisted it onto his shoulder and set off for home. But the stalk was so long that it caught on branches and dense brush, making it impossible to carry through the forest. Helpless, he sat down and wept once again.
Ong But appeared and asked, “You already have your hundred-node bamboo. Why are you still crying?”
The young man explained that it was too long to carry home. Ong But told him, “Just chant, ‘Khac xuat, khac xuat’ (Separate, separate), and the bamboo segments will come apart!” The plowman did as he was told, and the stalk instantly separated into a hundred nodes. He gathered forest vines, tied the nodes into two neat bundles, and happily carried them home on a shoulder pole.
When he arrived, he saw both families feasting merrily and preparing for the wedding procession. He realized that he had been deceived and that the landlord had secretly arranged for his daughter to marry someone else. Furious but composed, the plowman said nothing. Instead, he quietly laid out the hundred bamboo nodes in a line and chanted, “Khac nhap, khac nhap.” A magnificent bamboo stalk with exactly one hundred nodes, lush and glossy green, appeared before everyone’s eyes. Curious, the landlord rushed over to inspect it. The young man immediately called out, “Khac nhap, khac nhap!”
At once, the landlord was stuck fast to the bamboo stalk and could not pull himself free. Seeing this, the other wealthy father-in-law ran over to help him. As soon as he came close, the young man repeated, “Khac nhap, khac nhap!”
The second landlord was stuck fast to the bamboo as well. Both rich men wailed miserably, begging the plowman for mercy and pleading with him to release them. Before all the guests, they promised that the daughter would be married to him that very day. Only then did the young man calmly recite, “Khac xuat, khac xuat.” At once, both men came free, and the bamboo stalk separated into individual nodes. The plowman married the young woman that very day, and the couple lived happily ever after.
The Legend of the Hundred-Node Bamboo is not only a beloved Vietnamese folktale but also a story with an enduring moral. Through the journey of an honest plowman who overcomes deceit with Ong But’s help, the tale conveys a timeless message: goodness begets goodness, and hard work and honesty will be rewarded. Greedy, deceitful people who break their promises will eventually face the consequences. For young readers, the story offers a meaningful lesson about kindness, fairness, and the importance of keeping one’s word.
Artist Bui Xuan Loc was born in 1963, graduated from the Vietnam University of Fine Arts, and is a member of the Vietnam Fine Arts Association. He has participated in numerous fine arts exhibitions and earned Prize C at the Regional I Fine Arts Exhibition in 2003. He works primarily in oil paint on silk. His artwork celebrates the beauty of nature and humanity through a rustic, simple, and deeply expressive visual language.
