Hundred-Joint Bamboo

Once upon a time, near Co Loa citadel in a village, there was a rich but stingy old man. Because of his stinginess, all the hired workers were fed up with him and left. In the village, there was a poor farmer who, because of poverty, had to find a job. The rich man saw that the poor farmer was strong, kind, and honest, so he agreed to hire him to plow the fields for him. The rich man had a lot of rice and money, but he was stingy. He was very afraid of having to pay the farmer for plowing, so he thought day and night. Finally, he thought of a plan to trick the poor farmer. When the farmer had worked for the rich man for a year, the rich man called the farmer over and coaxed him:

– Hey Anh, you have worked for me for a year and I am very satisfied and hard-working. I only have one daughter, and in 3 years she will be old enough to get married. Please work hard plowing the fields for me for 3 years. After that time, I will let you marry my daughter.

The honest farmer immediately believed the old man’s words. From the summer-autumn rice crop to the winter-spring rice crop, regardless of the sun, rain, wind, or frost, he diligently plowed the rich man’s field. Every harvest, he brought the rich man a lot of rice. The rich man’s family became even richer.

Three years passed in a flash, the time had come for the rich man to promise his daughter to the farmer. The rich man did not want the poor farmer to marry his daughter. He secretly tried to matchmake his daughter with the son of a rich man in the village. As for the farmer, the rich man tried to trick him. The rich man called him over and said:

– My child, you have worked hard all this time, I am very pleased with you, I will let you marry my daughter. But now, my daughter will need a wedding gift, you must go into the forest to find a bamboo tree with a hundred joints, bring it back here to make chopsticks for the whole village to eat at the wedding feast.

The honest farmer took his knife and went straight into the forest to cut bamboo.

After the farmer left the village, the rich man organized a wedding for his daughter and the rich man’s daughter. He had cows and pigs killed, sticky rice cooked, wine opened, and a very grand wedding feast prepared.

While the rich man was preparing the feast, the farmer wandered alone in the forest. He felled one bamboo tree after another. He carefully counted each joint on the bamboo trees, but none of them had a hundred joints. Still not discouraged, he went to the old bamboo bush, he tried to cut down the tallest one, despite the thorns tearing his shirt, scratching his skin, the bamboo fell down, he counted and counted again, but there were only more than forty joints. He was so sad, he sat next to the pile of half-cut bamboo and cried. Suddenly he saw an old man with white hair and rosy skin leisurely walking towards him, the old man asked him:

– Why are you crying?

He politely told the whole story. After listening, the old man said:

– Don’t worry, just go cut enough one hundred bamboo joints and bring them here, I will help you.

The farmer was so happy that he immediately cut a hundred bamboo segments and brought them to the old man. The old man pointed to the pile of bamboo and told him:

If you want a bamboo tree with a hundred joints, read “come in, come in” three times. Strangely, as soon as he finished reading, the hundred bamboo joints stuck together to form a bamboo tree with a hundred joints long.

The old man advised him:

– You cannot carry this bamboo home because it is too long. If you say “come out, come out” three times, the bamboo joints will separate as before. Please tie them up and take them home.

The farmer did as he was told and immediately the bamboo split into segments.

Before the farmer could thank the old man, the old man disappeared. Only then did he realize he had met Buddha. He silently thanked him and carried the two bundles of bamboo back to the village.

When he arrived home and saw everyone eating and drinking happily, the farmer realized that the rich man had deceived him. He quietly left the bundle of bamboo in the yard and went into the house to call the rich man to come and receive it. The rich man did not see any bamboo, but only saw bamboo joints. He smiled and said to him:

– I told you to cut down and bring back a bamboo tree with a hundred joints, not a hundred bamboo joints.

Without answering the old man, he muttered “come in, come in” three times, and immediately the bamboo joints stuck together to form a bamboo tree. The rich old man saw something strange, so he ran over and touched the bamboo tree. The farmer saw this and immediately recited “Khắc nhập, Khắc nhập”, and the rich old man was stuck to the bamboo tree, and there was no way to remove it. Seeing this, several rich men and his son-in-law ran over to try to remove it for him, but the farmer recited “Khắc nhập, Khắc nhập” and all of them were stuck to the bamboo tree again. The rich old man tried his best to beg him, he promised to let him marry his daughter right away and from now on he would not dare to trick him again. At that time, the farmer leisurely recited “Khắc xuất, Khắc xuất” three times, and immediately all of the rich men left the bamboo tree.

The rich man immediately returned the dowry to the rich family and let the farmer marry his daughter. The farmer married the rich man’s daughter, and because they worked hard, the two lived together very happily.

Story analysis from Aminthuvimoingay.

The story means that good things always come to those who are diligent, honest and hardworking. Difficulties may come but in the end everything will be fine for such people. Another meaning is that those who are always diligent, honest and hard-working will always have good people to help. Bad people with evil intentions will always receive appropriate retribution.