The Legend of Chu Dong Tu

During the reign of the 18th Hung King, there lived a poor fisherman named Chu Dong Tu. He and his father were so destitute they shared a single loincloth. When his father passed away, Chu Dong Tu, out of filial piety, buried him with the garment, leaving himself with nothing. He spent his days hiding in the reeds of the Red River, fishing in the water to survive. One afternoon, Princess Tien Dung, the King’s adventurous daughter, sailed by and decided to bathe. She ordered her servants to curtain off a sandy spot on the shore—exactly where Chu Dong Tu had buried himself in the sand to hide. As the water from her bath washed the sand away, the naked youth was revealed. Though startled, the Princess believed their meeting was a divine decree of fate. She married him despite her father's certain anger. Together, they became successful merchants and sought spiritual wisdom from a Taoist master. Eventually, their entire citadel ascended to heaven in a single night, leaving behind a vast marshland known as the Marsh of the One-Night Trance.