Coconut Skull

Once upon a time, there was a poor old farmer and his wife who lived in a rich man’s house. They were both kind and hard-working people, but they were over fifty years old and still had no children. One day, the wife went into the forest to cut wood. It was a very hot day, and she was very thirsty but could not find any water to drink. Suddenly, she saw a coconut shell next to the tree trunk filled with rainwater, so she picked it up to drink. After returning home, after a while, she became pregnant.

Some time after she became pregnant, her husband fell ill and died.

After her husband died, she gave birth to a child. However, the strange thing was that her child had no arms or legs and was round like a coconut. Feeling sad about this, she was about to throw the child away when the child spoke up:

– Mom! I’m a human! Don’t throw me away, it’s a pity.

The mother saw this and felt sorry for him, so she left him to raise and named him Coconut Skull. Over time, Coconut Skull grew up but his body was still round and hairy and he could not do anything. The mother was upset and sad. Coconut Skull understood his mother, so he asked permission to go and herd cows for the rich man.

At first, when he heard about Coconut Skull, the rich man hesitated because of his appearance. But then he thought: raising cows would cost less food, and the wages were not much, so he agreed. Coconut Skull was very good at herding cows. Every day, he rolled behind the cows to the field, and at night he led the cows home. Each calf was full, but Coconut Skull only ate two very small handfuls of rice. The rich man was very happy when he saw this.

When the harvest season came, the servants in the house all went to the fields to work, the rich man ordered his daughters to take turns bringing rice to Coconut Skull. Every time he had to deliver food, the two older sisters looked down on and rejected Skull Coconut, only the youngest sister, who was kind by nature, treated Skull Coconut kindly.

One time, while bringing food to Skull Coconut, the youngest sister suddenly heard the melodious sound of a flute as she walked to the foot of the mountain. Looking over, she saw a handsome young man sitting there, playing the flute while feeding the cows grass. But in the blink of an eye, before she could recover from her surprise, she only saw Skull Coconut lying there. After paying attention many times, the youngest sister knew that Skull Coconut was not an ordinary person, so she fell in love with him.

When the rental season ended, Skull Coconut returned home and urged his mother to ask the rich man’s daughter to marry him. The farmer’s mother was very surprised, but because her son kept begging, she tried to do as she was told.

Seeing Skull Coconut and his mother come to ask for a wife, the rich man smiled sarcastically:

– If you want to ask for my daughter, go home and buy a jar of gold, ten pieces of red silk, ten fat pigs, and ten jars of rice wine and bring them here.

The old woman had no choice but to leave, thinking that she had to stop trying to get her son a wife. However, on the appointed day, she suddenly saw all the dowry items in the house, and there were also servants carrying the gifts to the rich man’s house. The rich man was dazzled and confused, calling his three daughters to come out and see her. While the two older sisters criticized So Dua for being ugly and left, only the youngest sister bowed her head to show her approval.

On the wedding day, Skull Coconut arranged a lavish feast and had many servants. When the bride was brought to the wedding, no one saw Skull Coconut in his old form, but only a handsome young man standing next to the youngest daughter. Everyone was surprised and happy, while the two older sisters were both sorry and jealous.

After getting married, Skull and his wife lived happily together. Not only that, Skull also proved to be a very intelligent person. He studied hard day and night to practice writing. That year, Skull passed the imperial examinations and became the first-ranked mandarin. However, not long after, Skull was sent by the king as an envoy. Before leaving, he gave his wife a flint, a knife and two eggs, saying they were for self-defense.

In jealousy, the two older sisters plotted to harm their youngest sister so that they could take her place as the mandarin’s wife. While Coconut Skull was away, the two older sisters invited the youngest sister to go boating and tricked her into falling into the sea. She was swallowed by a whale, but luckily she had a knife, so she cut open the whale’s belly and escaped. She then drifted to an island. To survive, she used rocks to make a fire to roast the fish and eat it. The two chicken eggs she had brought with her hatched into a hen and a rooster to keep her company.

One day a boat passed by the island, the rooster saw it and crowed loudly:

Oh… oh… o…
It must be the mandarin’s boat that brought my aunt home.
The mandarin’s boat approached to see and recognized that it was his wife. The couple were both happy and sad when they met. The mandarin returned home and held a party, inviting everyone to share his joy, but he did not let anyone know that his wife had returned with him. The two older sisters were secretly happy when they saw this, and competed to tell each other the story of their unfortunate sister’s accident, pretending to be very sorry. The mandarin said nothing, and after the party, he called his wife out. When the two older sisters saw their younger sister, they were so ashamed that they secretly ran away.