Lạc Long Quân and Âu Cơ - Vietnamese

My home has always been where the mist kisses the mountaintops and the air smells of damp earth and sweet orchids. I am Âu Cơ, a fairy of the high peaks, and my heart belongs to the green, endless forests of this land. For ages, I wandered the hills, healing sick animals and helping villagers with my knowledge of herbs. One day, while traveling through the lowlands, I saw a sight that stopped my breath. A monstrous beast was terrorizing a village, and a handsome, powerful man rose from the waters to defeat it. He moved with the grace of a river and the strength of a tidal wave. This was Lạc Long Quân, the Dragon Lord of the Sea. Our eyes met, and in that moment, the mountain and the ocean greeted each other for the first time. Can you imagine seeing someone with the power of the ocean in their eyes? He was drawn to my gentle spirit, and I was captivated by his courage and the deep mystery of the sea that lived within him. We fell in love, knowing our worlds were as different as stone and water. This is the story of how our love created a nation, the tale of Lạc Long Quân and Âu Cơ.

Lạc Long Quân came to live with me in the mountains, but his heart longed for the sea. Still, our love was strong, and soon, a miracle happened. I did not give birth to a baby, but to a large sac filled with one hundred perfect eggs. We watched over them with wonder, and after seven days and seven nights, one hundred beautiful children hatched from the eggs. What would you do if you suddenly had one hundred brothers and sisters? They were not ordinary children; they were strong, clever, and kind, a perfect blend of their father's dragon strength and their mother's fairy wisdom. Our home was filled with laughter and the sounds of a hundred small feet running through the forest. They grew quickly, becoming strong young men and women. But as they grew, so did the distance between Lạc Long Quân and me. He was a creature of the water, and the dry mountain air made him feel weak and far from his home. I was a daughter of the mountains, and the endless roar of the sea made me feel small and lost. We loved each other deeply, but we realized a dragon cannot live forever on a mountain, and a fairy cannot make her home in the deep sea. We had a difficult choice to make, not just for us, but for the future of our one hundred children.

With heavy hearts, we decided to part. 'I will take fifty of our children down to the coast,' Lạc Long Quân said, his voice like the rumbling tide. 'I will teach them to fish, to sail, and to understand the ways of the water. They will build the coastal lands.' I looked at my remaining fifty children, their faces full of mountain spirit. 'And I will take fifty children with me to the highlands,' I replied. 'I will teach them to farm the land, to raise animals, and to build homes in the high valleys.' It was the hardest goodbye, but we knew it was right. Our children, the ancestors of the Vietnamese people, would thrive by mastering both the mountains and the sea. This is why the people of Vietnam call themselves 'Con Rồng, cháu Tiên'—Children of the Dragon and Grandchildren of the Fairy. Our story explains why the nation is united, even though some live in the misty highlands and others along the sun-drenched coast. We are all one family, born from the love of a Dragon Lord and a Mountain Fairy. This myth has been told for thousands of years, passed down from grandparents to grandchildren, reminding everyone that their strength comes from both the steadfastness of the mountains and the power of the ocean. It continues to inspire art, poetry, and a deep sense of pride, a beautiful reminder that unity can be found in our differences.