THE MOUNTAIN OF ETERMAL EXPECTANCY

By Lê Anh Dũng

“Đồng Đăng có phố Kỳ Lừa

Có nàng Tô Thị, có chùa Tam Thanh ….”

Approaching Lang Son market town, a traveler who takes a trip to the Highlands from the Red River Delta, will notice, to the right of an old route in North Vietnam, a small and desolate mountain. At the very peak of this mountain stands a boulder suggesting the silhouette of a woman with a baby in her arm. The resemblance comes alive and is very striking particularly in late afternoon as the sun dips down to the western horizon. That is the “Hon Vong Phu”, the mountain of a lady with an infant petrified into the eternal waiting for her husband.

The story runs as follows: Long ago, in a village of the Highlands near the Sino-Vietnamese border, there lived two orphans: a young man of 20 and his 7-year-old sister. Alone in the world, they were all for each other.

One day, a passing-by Chinese astrologer, when entreated by the young man to tell his fortune, told him:

“If these are truly the birth dates of yours and your sister’s, you will fatally marry your own sister. Nothing can change the course of your fates.”

The terrible prediction shocked the young man and haunted him day and night. In the end, bordering insanity, he took an extreme measure.

One day he took his younger sister along on his usual firewood-cutting trip deep in the forest. When the innocent girl turned back to him, stooping to pick a wild flower, he dealt a mortal blow of axe at the back of her head . . . and fled.

He rid himself of the obsession of the prediction, but for quite a while the horror of his crime followed him. He changed his name, gradually regained his peaceful life, and ended up by resettling himself in Lang Son.

Many years has passed-by, then our man – no longer now – married the daughter of a merchant. Soon a baby-boy was born to the happy couple.

One day, entering the inner court, he found his young wife drying her long black hair in the sun, her back toward him, unaware of his approach. When she combed and lifted her hair to the wind, he caught a glimpse of a long scar just above her nape.

Disturbed by the memory of his long-forgotten crime done to his sister, he asked her the cause of that scar. After a short hesitation, he tearfully retold him her sad story.

“I’m not the blood daughter of the merchant I call my father, but only his adopted one.”

“I really don’t know what has become of my brother; and never can I understand why he did that to me. We used to love each other so much.”

Her face was stained with tears. The man, bracing himself up to control his emotions, had her tell him her father’s name and that of her native village.

When there was no doubt whatever left, he gamely managed to keep the horrible secret to himself and felt unable to carry on their conjugal life. He made up a pretext to go on a long trip.

Long months of waiting went by, the wife patiently and resignedly waited for his return, always alone with her child. But months passed into year, and then another year dragged by, her beloved husband still remained vanished. Each afternoon, hugging her child, she climbed to the top of the mountain hoping to see the dear silhouette of her husband on the way home. Then one day, a terrible storm struck the area. Through thick curtains of rain and violent lashes of wind she stood oblivious to the elemental fury of nature. Her eyes remained fixed on the horizon. She and her infant were transformed, petrified into a statue in her eternal expectancy – a crystallization of faithfulness and suffering and resignation of the Vietnamese women.

- eternal (adj) (lasting forever) mãi mãi, vô cùng.

- Expectancy (waiting) Sự chờ mong.

- Market town (a town as the administrative seat of a province) thị trấn

- Desolate (adj) – (sad and solitary) trơ trọi

- Boulder - (a huge rock) tảng đá lớn

- Silhouette ( the outline of a human body) hình bóng

- Resemblance (likeness, similarity) sự giống hệt.

- Striking (adj) – (conspicuous, tremendous) nổi bật

- In late afternoon: lúc chiều tà

- Petrified (changed/ transformed into rock) hóa đá

- The story runs: chuyện kể rằng

- Sino-Vietnamese border: biên giới Việt-Hoa

- Orphans ( children whose parents have already died): trẻ mồ côi

- They were all for each other (they loved each other dearly)

- Astrologer: thầy tướng số

- Fatally (as prescribed by fates or heavens): thiên định, tiền định.

- Prediction (to predict = to foretell) lời tiên đoán

- Haunted (appearing in mind and donating all other ideas): ám ảnh

- In the end ( >< at the end refers to space whereas in the end to time meaning eventually)sau cùng

- Innocent (adj. – naïve): ngây thơ, vô tội

- Turn her back to him: quay lưng lại

- Stooping (bending the body down): cúi xuống.

- Fled (to flee- fled- fled: run away, escape) trốn thoát

- Obsession: ám ảnh

- Merchant ( a businessman, a trader)

- Caught a glimpse of : thoáng thấy

- Tearfully (adv. – covered with tears)

- Blood-daughter: con đẻ >< step-daughter, adopted daughter

- Take a pity: rủ long thương

- Native village (a village where one was born and grew up):nơi chon nhau cắt rốn

- Keep the secret to himself (not to disclose it to anyone): giữ riêng bí mật

- Conjugal life (mutual life of husband and wife)

- A pretext (an excuse to do something): cớ, lý do

- Hugging (to hug: to embrace, to hold dearly with one’s arm)

- Faithfulness (loyalty): long chung thủy, tiết hạnh