The bamboo with a hundred knots

There was a man as rich as he was evil. He would leave no stone unturned to exploit his servants. He had thus amassed the largest fortune in the region.

His youngest child was not yet married.

Khoai, one of his servants, without family, had worked for him since childhood. He was almost eighteen years old. He was a tireless worker. Believing that he would not leave him, the master called him and said:

"If you do not spare your effort and work from morning to night, I will give you the hand of my youngest daughter."

Khoai, as naive as his master was crafty, started to work eagerly, and for three years busied himself with all the household tasks.

Ut, the master's daughter, had grown very beautiful. A very rich district chief asked for her hand in marriage for his son. Her father, forgetting a promise which he never meant to keep, agreed.

The ceremony was immediately prepared. Finding himself victim of a hoax, Khoai went to find his master and reproached him for breaking his word. The master felt inclined to reply to his servant by giving him a good thrashing, but he changed his mind. He thought:

"Khoai can still be of some use to me", and once again he thought of a ruse.

"It's true. I am preparing Ut's wedding, but if you want it to become a reality for you, go into the forest and bring me back a bamboo with a hundred knots. We will make from it the most beautiful chopsticks in the world. Then you will become Ut's husband."

Khoai, who never meant any harm, believed him and left for the forest. He looked and looked, but where could he find a bamboo with a hundred knots? Discouraged, he fell down at the foot of a tree and started to cry. Suddenly a venerable old man appeared before him:

"Why are you crying, my child?" he asked.

And Khoai told him his story.

"Go and cut down bamboo! Count a hundred knots and bring them to me!"

Khoai went away, brandished his axe and soon returned with the hundred knots requested.

The old man bent down and murmured in a low voice:

"Come in at once, come in at once."

Scarcely had he uttered these words when the hundred bamboo stumps. left haphazardly on the ground, rolled towards each other and joined together, forming a huge bamboo with a hundred knots.

Khoai wanted to throw himself at the old man's feet to thank him, but the Buddha, for that was who he was, had already disappeared. Then he put the bamboo on his shoulder to carry it. But how could he carry such a long bamboo across the thickly wooded country. He sat down and cried like a youngster.

Through his tears the old man appeared again.

"Why are you crying?"

And Khoai told him his troubles a second time.

Spreading his hand over the bamboo, the old man repeated very softly:

"Come out at once. come out at once."

And the bamboo broke up into a hundred stumps which Khoai immediately made into two bundles.

He found the two families in the middle of a wedding feast. Plates of food and mats covered with dishes and presents awaited the bride in the courtyard. Red with justified anger Khoai sprang towards his master. But the latter scornfully reproached him:

"I did not ask you for a bamboo with a hundred separate knots, but one bamboo with a hundred knots.

The guests, chopsticks raised in mid-air, burst into scornful laughter.

Having regained his spirits Khoai asked his master to go and look at his bamboo. and bending down whispered very quickly:

"Come in. come in at once."

The bamboo joined up instantaneously, tying up the master, who unsuccessfully fought angrily to try to free himself.

The district chief and his son who wanted to help him were themselves tied up in their turn. Only their cries and howls of pain could be heard. Pale with fear. the guests stayed rooted to the spot. Finally. they knelt before Khoai. begging his forgiveness and asking for the release of the culprits.

Khoai made them wait a moment, then murmured:

"Come out. come out at once."

Happy to escape so lightly, the district chief and his son went away without asking for their settlement.

Overruled for the first time in his life. the master could do no less than give Khoai his daughter's hand in marriage