90. The third wife of Cai Vang

Once upon a time, Hoang Van area was managed by a mandarin. People called him Cai Vang. When he was child, he picked up a pearl. That was a magical pearl. It helped him not to be harm by any arrow. All arrows turned to other direction when they flew nearly him. Cai Vang had brought the pearl with him every time since he got it.
While the time he was mandarin, he used taxes for himself. Therefore, he was imprisoned and tortured. One day, soldiers escorted him cross a forest. When they spent very litte noticing on him, he ran. Soldiers chased after him and shot arrows toward him. Because of magical pearl, he could escape safely. From that time, Cai Vang grouped people and trained them. He planned to fight against the king. He called himself Thuong Cong.
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Cai Vang had three wifes. His third wife was great in martial arts though she was only 20 years old. Before he started to fight he called three wifes to come and ask:
“I am now sitting on tiger’s back. Soldiers will not let me peace. Therefore, I want to risk my life fighting them and maybe, we will have a good way. What do you thik?”
The first wife said:
“Don’t think about the foolish thing. How can a grasshopper fight against a cart? I think you should think again. If you still keep your mind and want to fight against the king, I will stay home   and take care of your mother”.
The second wife said:
“My dear husband don’t, don’t do that thing. We can have happy lives with our assets though we live at any where”.
The third wife couldn’t keep herself calm any more, she was angry and shouted:
“Don’t you know in which case we are? Do you know birds can not fly, plants can not grow because of them?  People are wating for a leader who led them to fight against the king and his courtiers. Your weak words, now, should throw away”, she turned to his husband, “If you want to fight with them, I wil support you by my best. Any one who wants to take care of parent should go home and do that thing”.
Then the third wife mounted on a horse and rode toward camp, trained people. After seeing the third wife’s determination, he didn’t delay any more. He decided to fight. Many people supported him. Many of his supporters were people who had extraordinary strength and were great in martial arts. The third wife was the most prominent person between them. In the fighting, we attacked Lang Giang, the third wife took two swords in her han
ds rode toward enemies. The enemies only knew to part and ran, ran to save their lives. After she got Lang Giang, she attacked Van Giang immediately.
Mandarins was informed that Cai Vang rebeled. They brought soldiers to round the area. The third wife was rounding Van Giang and was informed. She shouted: “Any one who dares to fight against us will be destroyed”. Then she brought soldiers back Lang Giang. Mandarins and their soldiers couldn’t keep their dominance in long time. They had to send sent a letter to the king. When the king had read the letter, he forced generals in other provinces brought soldiers coming and fighting against Cai Vang.
The fighting prolonged in months. Whenever they conflicted, Cai Vang was always a person who rode firstly. Arrows flew toward him as drops of rain but they couldn’t harm him. Opposition soldiers felt scare. They rumored that Ba Vang had god’s help so, they escaped. Number of people who escaped grew up each day.
Later, a servant of Cai Vang made a serious mistake. He feared that Cai Vang would kill him. Therefore, He ran away and participated in opposition soldiers. He advised to the leader of opposition soldiers.
“He brings a migical pearl that iron arrows can not harm him. If you can make golden arrows, I think they can harm him”.
They forced smiths to make golden arrows immediately. General gave golden arrows to great archers and asked:
“Whenever you saw Cai Vang, all of you have to shoot immediately toward him”.
The next morning, they proveked soldiers’ Cai Vang. A servant of Cai Vang brought soldiers to fight them but they creamed name of Cai Vang and scolded. Angry Cai Vang mounted on horse and rode as fast as he could toward battlefield. When archers had seen him they shot immediately toward him. Of course, golden arrows could harm him. An arrow crossed his head and made an ear drop. Cai Vang covered his head by hands and rode toward camp. But, the injury was too serious. He couldn’t pass and he died.
Before the last breath he muttered to his wife: “My dear wife, god stopped me so I can continue any more. My aspiration and also soldiers’ aspiration, you help us perform it”.
The third wife sad and angry. He asked people to keep the news that her husband had died in secret and biesides, asked them to bring him to home and bury. Then she brought soldiers to attack. She chose three hundreds solders to go and proveke them. That day, the general of archers showed him up to attack them. She pretended as she lose and rode away. The general thought that she was frightened and chased after her. But he had made the most foolish thing he had done. He was arrested. The third wife forced soldiers to escort to hometown and burned him front of his husband’s tomb.
Their fighting spirits grew up from that time. Later, they caught another general, Hong Lo. But, the third wife didn’t kill him because she realized he was young and handsome and she thought that he could do big thing. She had few wins but short time later, the king and his soldiers knew that Cai Vang had died. Therefore, they fought more intensely. The third wife found out that she couldn’t maintain the battle more. One day, he grouped soldiers and generals and said:
“Thuong Cong (Ba Vang) had died. The god had stopped helping us. So, I want you to save your lives. Dissolve, turn back houses and work as farmers”.
The day they divided, they cried. The third wife returned Hong Lo to the king with a condition that they would divide and the king would not punish them. The king agreed.
Later, the third wife brought all assets divided to soldiers and she went away. And where she went to, nobody knew.       
The end.🎭🎭🎭
"Translated by Hung Nguyen"
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