The Legend of Mr. Cuoi Dancing with the Moon, Sister Hang Nga, and the Meaning of the Mid-Autumn Festival Tale

The imagery of Mr. Cuoi dancing with the moon, alongside Sister Hang Nga, is deeply intertwined with the childhood memories of countless generations, especially during each Mid-Autumn Festival. Today, the little ones with Team PasGo explore the origins of this legend and delve into the significance of the Mid-Autumn Festival story. Let's dive into this tale together!

1. The Legend of Mr. Cuoi Dancing with the Moon

Once upon a time, there was a peasant named Cuoi. One day, as usual, Cuoi went into the forest to chop wood. When he approached a small stream, Cuoi suddenly startled to see a tiger's den. Looking around, he only saw four tiger cubs playing with each other.

Cuoi immediately rushed forward, wielding his axe to strike each cub with a swift blow to the ground. But at that moment, the mother tiger returned. Hearing the terrifying growl behind him, Cuoi quickly threw the axe and climbed up a nearby tall tree.

From above, Cuoi saw the mother tiger running to a nearby bush, grabbing some leaves to chew and feed her cubs. It was truly miraculous that just a few minutes later, the four tiger cubs came back to life. Waiting for the mother tiger to take her cubs elsewhere, Cuoi went to the bush, dug up the roots, and took them home.

Cuoi discovers precious herbs

On his way back, Cuoi encountered an old beggar lying dead on the grass. Seeing this, Cuoi immediately set down his load, plucked a few leaves from the bush, and fed them to the old man!

Not long after, the old man opened his eyes and sat up. After hearing Cuoi recount the entire story, the old man exclaimed in astonishment:

– Oh my! This tree is the legendary “tree of life” indeed. It's truly a gift from heaven to help the world. Take care of this tree, but remember not to water it with dirty water or it will fly away to the sky!

Saying so, the old man walked away with his cane. Cuoi carried the tree home and planted it in the eastern corner of the garden, always remembering the old man's advice, watering it with well water every day.

Since the day he had the precious herb tree, Cuoi has saved many lives. Rumors of Cuoi's miraculous powers spread far and wide.

One day, Cuoi crossed the river and found the body of a dead dog floating. Cuoi picked it up and used his herbal knowledge to revive the dog. The dog followed Cuoi gratefully, showing its gratitude. From then on, Cuoi had another clever animal companion.

Another time, a wealthy old man from a neighboring village rushed to Cuoi, begging him to save his daughter who had slipped and drowned. Cuoi gladly went with him, using his herbs to heal her. Just a moment later, the girl's pale face suddenly turned rosy and she came back to life. Grateful for Cuoi saving her, the girl asked to marry him. The wealthy old man also agreed to give his daughter to Cuoi.

Cuoi and his wife lived harmoniously together. One day, while Cuoi was away, enemies passed by their house. Knowing Cuoi had the power of resurrection, they decided to play a cruel trick.

They killed Cuoi's wife, intentionally removed her intestines and threw them into the river before leaving. When Cuoi returned, he found his wife dead, and despite using many herbs, nothing worked because without her intestines, she couldn't survive.

Cuoi saves his wife using herbal medicine

Seeing his master weeping bitterly, the dog approached and offered its own intestines to replace those of the master's wife. Indeed, the wife came back to life and remained as young and beautiful as before. Out of love for his dog, Cuoi crafted a set of intestines from clay and placed them inside the dog's belly, saving its life as well. From then on, the bond between husband and wife, human and animal, grew even stronger.

However, from that moment on, Cuoi's wife's temperament changed completely. She often forgot things, which sometimes annoyed Cuoi. After countless reminders, Cuoi instructed his wife: “If you need to relieve yourself, do it to the west, not to the east, or the tree will fly to the sky!”. But as soon as she heard the instruction, Cuoi's wife immediately forgot it.

One afternoon, while Cuoi was still in the forest gathering firewood, his wife went to the backyard. Forgetting her husband's warning, she urinated against the precious tree. Unexpectedly, as soon as she finished, the ground began to shake, the tree swayed violently, and the wind roared. The banyan tree suddenly uprooted itself and soared into the sky.

Just then, Cuoi arrived home. Seeing the situation, Cuoi panicked, dropped his load of firewood, and rushed over, thrusting his axe into the tree roots to hold it back. But the tree had already lifted off the ground, beyond anyone's strength to stop. Cuoi refused to let go, and in the end, the tree pulled him up into the sky, soaring all the way to the moon.

Cuoi and the herbal tree flew to the moon, thus forming the legend of Cuoi and the Moon Palace

Looking up at the moon, people could see a distinct dark spot resembling an ancient tree with a figure sitting beneath its roots. From then on, people referred to that shape as Cuoi sitting under the banyan tree.

The legend of Cuoi and the Moon Palace is a story often told by grandmothers and mothers to their children on every full moon night, especially during the Mid-Autumn Festival.

2. The Legend of Sister Hang Nga

Once upon a time, in the sky appeared ten sun gods, shining down on the earth so intensely that it became almost uninhabitable, with the seas and lakes drying up, and the people barely able to survive.

This event moved a hero named Hau Nghe. He climbed to the top of Mount Con Lon and used his divine power to shoot down nine of the sun gods with his divine bow. Thanks to this, Hau Nghe earned the respect and admiration of everyone, with many seeking him out to learn from his wisdom, including Bong Mong, a deceitful practitioner of dark arts.

Not long after, Hau Nghe married a beautiful and kind-hearted woman named Hang Nga, and the couple was admired by all for their talent and beauty.

One day, Hau Nghe visited Mount Con Lon to see a friend. On the way, he unexpectedly met Queen Vuong passing by and asked her for the elixir of immortality. She said drinking it would instantly turn one into a celestial being.

However, Hau Nghe couldn't bear to leave his beloved wife, so he temporarily entrusted the elixir to Hang Nga. She kept it in her vanity box, unaware that Bong Mong had seen it.

Three days later, Hau Nghe took his students out for hunting, and Bong Mong pretended to be sick, requesting to stay behind. Later, he sneaked into the inner courtyard and forced Hang Nga to reveal the elixir. In a desperate moment, she hurriedly opened her vanity box, took out the elixir, and drank it all.

After drinking the elixir, Hang Nga felt herself becoming weightless, rising towards the sky. However, she remembered her husband and only flew to the moon, the nearest place to the mortal world, before becoming a celestial being.

Hang Nga ascended to become a celestial maiden

That evening, when Hau Nghe returned home, the palace maids cried as they recounted the morning's events. In anguish, Hau Nghe looked up to the night sky and called out his beloved wife's name. To his amazement, he noticed that the moon tonight was exceptionally bright, with an additional figure resembling Hang Nga.

Hau Nghe quickly instructed someone to go to the flower garden where Hang Nga often frequented, set up an altar, and placed her favorite dishes and fruits on it, as an offering to Hang Nga in the moon palace, whom he dearly missed.

Upon hearing the news of Hang Nga ascending to the moon palace as a celestial maiden, everyone laid out altars under the moonlight, praying for Hang Nga's kindness to bestow luck and peace. Since then, the tradition of moon gazing during the Mid-Autumn Festival has been passed down among the people.

The Legend of Sister Hang Nga

3. The significance of the legend of Uncle Cuoi and Sister Hang Nga 

Inspiring exploration of new things, exploring the universe for children

The legend of Uncle Cuoi and Sister Hang Nga is a beautiful, mysterious imaginary image that our ancestors conceived to explain the phenomena of the universe. 

The folklore tales of Uncle Cuoi and the story of Sister Hang Nga are two legends that children greatly enjoy, helping them understand more about the moon's image. This encourages children to explore new things in the world around them, to understand the vastness and greatness of the Earth and the universe.

Teaching children about family affection, compassion 

The folklore tales of Uncle Cuoi and the legend of Sister Hang Nga also teach children about marital affection, family bonds, nurturing compassion, forgiveness, and helping others in times of difficulty.

Therefore, the Mid-Autumn Festival is also an occasion for people to return home from afar, gather together, prepare altars in the yard, and admire the moon together while enjoying feasts. This is also an opportunity for various activities such as lion dances, lantern parades, which children greatly enjoy. 

The legend of Uncle Cuoi and the story of Sister Hang Nga are two of the most popular folklore tales in the Vietnamese literary treasure. Moreover, the legend of Uncle Cuoi and Sister Hang Nga still hold significant meaning today, deserving to be cherished as great works.

Besides telling children the story of Uncle Cuoi and the moon on the Mid-Autumn Festival, take time to enjoy intimate meals with family on this Mid-Autumn Festival 2023. Check out these restaurants offering special deals for family gatherings on the Mid-Autumn Festival:

Above are some information about the legend of Uncle Cuoi and the story of Sister Hang Nga that Team PasGo wants to share with children. Thank you parents and children for your interest in reading this article!