83. Mr. Nam Cuong

Long time ago nobody couldn’t remember when. In Quan anh village lived a powerful wizard. Whenever he slept he only woke up after three day and three night passed. As he woke up he went out at one but nobody knew where he went.
That time, rebels appeared in many place. They made armies had no time to rest. Though his actions were secret, at last people found out the wizard lead ghost soldiers to practice. They hung a flag which had two words “Nam Cuong” in it (Nam Cuong means Nam is a strong country). People called him Nam Cuong after that.
Nam Cuong liked gambling and always won. Whenever he gambled, he used to win all money of others. But, man Cuong had never brought to home the money, he always divided to the poor. Due to that, the poor used to round him.
One day, he went to district market. When he went in a restaurant, many beggars had rounded him. But, that time, he didn’t bring money. He observed and found out a local official. The local official just had collected taxes. Now, his pocket was filled full of coins. Nam Cuong stood up, called the restaurant owner and asked him to give him husks.
The owner went to the kitchen with Nam Cuong’s pocket and a little time, he brought out the pocket with full of husks in that. Nam Cuong took the pocket and moved and pushed it in to table few times. A short time later, people heard a tinkle of coins. He chuckled then waved his hand to hint beggars coming. He opened the pocket, took out coins and gave them.
When the last coin was divided, he left the restaurant. The local official, after finishing his meal, he opened his pocket to take out coins but his pocket, now, had no coins with out husks. He was very surprised. Then he also found out that Nam Cuong, a wizard had done the thing. He immediately sprinted to find Nam Cuong. But, Nam Cuong had disappeared.
The name of Nam Cuong spread largely. While beggars hoped to meet him to have his help, mandarins wanted to catch him whenever they could.
One day, when he was gambling, he was rounded by soldiers. Soldiers put their swords on his neck. Besides, bullies also came to and rounded him. He had no choice but let them catch him. Soldiers knew about his magic, they knew that he could escape easily. Therefore, the forced him into a coffin and shut. They made a hole to let him have air to breathe. But, when they opened the coffin they didn’t see him in that. He had disappeared.
Mandarins were angry. They invited a wizard coming and asked him to help them catch Nam Cuong. Mandarins asked spies to spy around his house. Months later, the spies sent a letter that Nam Cuong had come home. Immediately, mandarins grouped soldiers came to his house and rounded it. But, when they broke in his house, it was empty. At last, they heard snore which was from the field behind his house. After long time observing, they found out a rice tree which was bigger several times than the normal. They knew that was place where Nam Cuong hid so they used servant-color-clew tied the tree carefully and carried it to office. Mandarins were satisfied as they heard Nam Cuong was caught. But when they untied, Nam Cuong appeared and scolded them for while then he disappeared.
Two times they missed him. That time, they had a plan. They would catch his wife and he would find the way to come. Spies, another time, sent a letter. Soldiers immediately were grouped and rounded his home. They were forced to catch him though they had to pay any price. Nam Cuong had known about their plan so he transformed his wife to be big as a finger. He set his wife in a bamboo tube behind the house. Then he sprinted to the river near his house.
Soldiers searched any where they could. That time, the wizard they had invited helped them find out the wife. They pulled the wife out and immediately the wife transformed into her normal size. They asked:
“Where is your husband?”
The wife chose not to reply but she couldn’t close her mouth more time when soldiers started to torture her. The poor wife had to talk them where his husband was.
“My husband now was into the river. He hides himself in a snail”.
Soldiers with the wizard’s help dried the river and found out a biggest snail they had ever seen. They broke the snail and course, they saw Nam Cuong. That time, Nam Cuong was caught.
The end.🎭🎭🎭
"Translated by Hung Nguyen"
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List of Vietnamese fairy tales

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