A legend of Waiting for husband stone

A long time ago, in a small village there was a poor family. The parents had to work hard every day to make ends meet. They left their two children at home. The parents told their son that he had to take good care of his little sister, keep her safe and happy. The mother, knew that the boy liked to play outside with other boys in the village, usually said that if he teased his sister or made her cried, he would be punished. The two little children played and took care of themselves from early morning until the late evening when their parents came back.

One day, the boy was peeling a sugar-cane,sudden his knife was slipped out of his hands and hit his sister’s head. The little girl screamed loudly then fainted away. Her blood dyed her hair. The boy was scared. He called his sister but the girl did not answer. The boy thought his sister died and his parents would be too angry with him so he ran far away. He went through many places, did anything he could ring up himself. Time flew fast. He stopped in a fishing village in Bình Định. He was adopted by a fisher family and learnt fishing. He grew up, became a strong fisherman. The man tried to forget his hurt so he did not tell anyone about his story. He still dared not to come back to his hometown.

When he was about twenty, he met a grace girl and fell in love with her. She was an adopted daughter of a fisherman who lived nearby his village. They married in the happiness of both families. The young couple loved each other very much. When the husband went fishing, the wife stayed at home, knitting fishing-net. When he came back, the wife went to the seashore, welcomed him and took fish to sell in markets. After two years, they had a lovely son. Their small family was always full of laughing.

One day, there were heavy seas running that made the husband stay home. While their son playing in front of the house, the husband helped her wife brush her hair. Suddenly he saw a scar on her head, well covered by hair that he had not seen it before. He asked her about it, she told him about her childhood. The scared was caused by her brother when peeling a sugar-cane when she was about four or five years old. Her brother, after that, was too scare so he ran away, left her there, bleeding and faint. Luckily, her neighbor stopped by and tried to help her. They also called her parents. They hurriedly went home. After that, her parents tried to look for her brother but they did not succeed. They were too sad that they got ill and died. She was too small to live alone so her relative found a good family for her. After many years, she became a young woman in the fishing village which was very far from her hometown. She did not remember anything of her brother and hoped he had a nice life.

Listening to his wife’s story, the man had to try to hold his breath. His heart was broken. He did not know how it could become such a tragedy. He had done everything to forget his terrible memory but now it came back and got him down. He did not want to upset his wife because he knew that if she knew the truth that they were siblings she would be filled with guilt and broken heart. The man could not sleep that night. Without a goodbye, he took the boat and rowed away. He hoped that time would mend his wife’s heart and she would be happy with someone else and forgot him. The man never came home again.

The wife got up, she was so surprised when she did not see her beloved husband. When she did not find out their boat, she knew that he had gone out to the sea. She did not know what happened but she did as she had done: going to the beach and waiting for her husband. Day after day, the husband still did not come back. She climbed on a mountain, looked far away, kept waiting for her husband. Finally, the woman transferred to a limestone which had a shape that looked like a woman with her child in her arms, still waiting for her husband every day and night. People called it “Hòn vọng phu” (Waiting for husband stone). It was considered as a symbol of a faithful love.
In many places in Vietnam, people can show you a Waiting for husband stone. Every stone has its own story which is not much different from the one above. This is the first story of Waiting husband stone I've been heard - that's why I chose it to tell you al.

Posted in: Fairy story,Vietnam