Alright kids, gather around. Sit. This is how its all begin. This was before Facebook, Twitter, and even Myspace. Long, long, long time ago, before time itself.
Day 1: God created the earth, light and darkness.
Day 2: Heaven
Day 3: Dry land, the seas, and vegetation.
Day 4: The sun, the moon and the stars.
Day 5: Living creatures in the water, birds in the air.
Day 6: Land animals and people.
Day 7: God “rested”.
As God created the heavens, the earth and everything that lives. He made humankind in his image, and gave them charge over the earth. God formed a man and gave him the garden in Eden, except for the tree of knowledge. Adam was alone so God made a woman as his partner. The serpent deceived the woman; she and Adam ate from the tree. The earth became cursed, and God sent Adam and Eve out of the garden.
When God threw Adam and Eve out of Eden, the helpless couple were so lost they roamed the earth for centuries. They traveled the tip of Russia, to the West of Western Sahara; they wandered all the way to South Africa, then drifted up toward the most Eastern region of Asia, but they stopped short before they hit China; tired of aimless rove the couple decided to settle in the most southeast country in the region, present day, Vietnam.
With the hope to start a fresh new life and forget their miserable past, Adam changed his name to Lac Long Quan (it means dragon’s lord), just to remind himself that you know, he’s the man, the alpha male – the lord of dragons, and Eve picked Au Co (meaning fairy) to fit with the “we’re the children of heaven”. As the only male and female of their species, the Dragon’s lord and fairy Au Co get busy: making babies. Oh boy did they make babies. The more the merrier was their mantra, or it could the simple life then, when there was not much to do under the star lite night, beside humming along with the frogs and the crickets; together they made beautiful song. Maybe they were exploring each other anatomy (I wonder what was their first dialogue to each other), anyhow, for 100 years, each year, they welcomed a new member into their family. In the end they had 50 boys and 50 girls, a 100 in total, YES! that’s 1 and 0 and 0. If you’re thinking “Wow”. Me too. I was thinking the same thing, our ancestor were pretty horny couple. If you don’t believe me go ask your grandparents, that was how the earth was populated. But let’s move on and find out why Lac Long Quan and Au Co went separate ways.
Fairy Au Co could not help but felt guilty because of her actions they were no longer in heaven, so, she thought the only way to redeem herself was by working hard in the field. Everyday, she would take 50 of her daughters into the paddy, toiled in the sun, cultivated the land for food; working days and nights to take care of the growing family; all the while, giving Lac Long Quan as much free time to stay at home as he wanted, with the hope that he would forgive her. This was a bad judgement on her part.
It could be the pound Eve added from child-bearing, or the ban of forever step foot into Eden again, which we would never know, but I could speculated the first, Adam, developed a drinking problem. During the day, when Eve was away, Adam and his sons, gathered around drinking rice wine, listening to Adam retelling the great time in Eden, and how young and handsome he was, or how great he looks in the military uniform. When the drinking wasn’t enough they started gambling. And that was how the game of chance got introduced into our Vietnamese tradition, and its thrived among our people. The self evidence can be witnessed by visiting the many casinos around the world; you would see young men and women full of smelly fish sauce (nuoc mam) with buggy eyes, dead-tired outlook, at the Baccarat table wagging their wedding ring, or their children’s RESP away, all in an effort to keep with our forefather traditions. Or better, watch Thuy Nga, the Vietnamese singing show.
During a game of Tien Len, a gambling game, Adam lost the house to Hong Bang, his oldest son. Out of concern Eve complained her frustrations to her husband. Not only Adam didn’t bother to listen, he gave her a beating instead, the first of many, but being the wonderful mother that she was, Eve swallowed all the bitterness by reminding herself of that faithful day, when she ate the forbidden fruit. The verbal abuse followed by the physical abuse, Eve could withstand it all, however, she drew the line, when Adam introduced singing to his children. Oh my god, that was what broke the camel back for Eve: the singing, the belching, the crooning. She could no longer handle the raping, the defilement, of her ears anything else but the ears. So she took the next logical decision – together, with half, 50 of her children, they moved to live by the sea and start making fish sauce (nuoc mam) for the remainder of her life.
As for Adam, to get back at Eve for not being able to live next to God, or the betrayal must had left him with a purpose, I can assumed, knowing the hatred she had for sing, he moved into the mountain and trained his other half, 50, children to become singer for the rest of his life. And just to show you how successful Adam was, to this very day, you can see that the Vietnamese people love singing. Karaoke machine can be seen in every house, multiple talent shows produce every month, and singers, can be spotted in every event, including funeral. Yep! even dead Vietnamese like to sing. That was how good our ancestors were.
Well…that is all for now kids, I hope you enjoy the real story of Adam & Eve, or I should say the story of Lac Long Quan and Au Co. I hope you’ve learnt the many true stories and facts of our wonderful heritage. Until next time, have yourself a great day.
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