The golden buffalo

During the time of King Ly in the 11th century, there lived a huge man named Khong Lo. Khong Lo, which means "Giant", joined the monastery as a young boy. Wherever he traveled, he carried an iron bar and a magical bag, which, no matter how much was crammed inside it, never became full.

At that time, the king of Dai Viet wished to cast some bronze statues as offerings to the Buddha. Since there was no black bronze to be found in his kingdom, the king asked Khong Lo to travel to China to collect some. Carrying his magic bag, Khong Lo set off to the north.

Some months later Khong Lo arrived at the Chinese court and was taken to meet the king. "I have come to ask your highness for some black bronze so that we may expand Buddhism in Dai Viet," said Khong Lo. "I came here alone with just this one bag," he said. "I ask for one bag full of bronze."
 

Seeing the small bag; the Chinese king smiled. "Even if you needed hundreds of bags, it would be our pleasure to supply bronze for such a good cause." The Chinese king then told his store-keeper to allow Khong Lo to take as much black bronze as he needed.

In front of the king's warehouse stood a large statue of a buffalo, made of solid gold. The store-keeper pointed to the golden buffalo and teasingly asked Khong Lo: "Do you need this buffalo?"

"No, thank you," answered the monk. "I only need some black bronze." Khong Lo started to put bronze into his bag. Even when he had taken all of the bronze in the Chinese king's storeroom, his bag was not yet full. By the time the Chinese king realized that all of his bronze was gone, Khong Lo had already travelled 300 kilometres. Feeling cheated, the king sent 500 soldiers in pursuit of the giant monk. Arriving at a wide river, Khong Lo heard the Chinese soldiers approaching. Khong Lo jumped into the river and began to swim. He was some way across when a Chinese soldier called out: "Please wait! Our king told us to help you to carry the bronze and to escort you safely to your own country."

"Please send my thanks to your kind-hearted king," replied Khong Lo. "But it's only one bag so I don't wish to trouble you."

Some days later, Khong Lo hitched a ride on a ship bound for Dai Viet. After some days of smooth sailing, a violent hurricane blew up. In the eye of the storm, a giant sea serpent leapt from the waves and began to pursue the boat.
 

"Keep silent and I will kill this monster," said Khong Lo, who then threw a large pumpkin into the sea serpent's mouth. As the serpent was choking on the pumpkin, Khong Lo beat it over the head with his iron rod. Unable to flee, the sea serpent broke into three parts, which later became three islands. No sooner had the sea serpent been killed when the storm died down.

The ship sailed peacefully on to Dai Viet, where King Ly was anxiously waiting. The king asked Khong Lo to cast four offerings. Khong Lo divided the bronze into four piles: one part to cast the nine-tiered tower of Bao Thien; one part to cast a 24-metre-high Buddha statue; one part to cast an urn big enough to fit 10 people; and the final part to cast a huge bronze bell. When this massive bell was finished, its peals could be heard as far away as the Chinese capital.

Upon hearing the sounds of the distant bronze bell, the golden buffalo that stood in front of the Chinese king's warehouse woke up. Since black bronze is the mother of gold, the golden buffalo set off in search of its mother. In no time at all, the golden buffalo has found the bell and settled nearby. Khong Lo was afraid that whenever the bell was struck it would attract golden objects. To avoid earning the hatred of neighbouring states, Khong Lo asked the king to get rid of the bell. Not wishing to provoke a war, the king agreed.
 

Khong Lo threw the bell into West Lake. Hearing the peals of the bell as it sank into the lake's depths, the golden buffalo followed. Because of this story, West Lake is sometimes called "Golden Buffalo Lake." And Khong Lo is recognized as the man who introduces bronze casting to Vietnam.