A Friendship Story in Vietnamese Culture
This story also has another name, which is "Selling Hair to Serve Friends."
Why do Vietnamese stories always begin with people being poor?
Back in the old days there were three boys, Tung, Truc, and Mai. Each of the boys was from a different region in Vietnam and by chance they were brought together to study under the same teacher. The only thing the young men had in common was how poor each of them was.
Their families were dirt poor but the parents were determined for their sons to have an education. For that very reason, all of them buried themselves in their books so their family's effort would not go to waste. Somehow they became friends.
When they became friends, the boys swore together that later on in life if one of the three became successful, he would not forget the others and their time in poverty. He would also promise to aid the other friends out of the lower class.
After a while, due to family circumstances all three boys had to quit school; they went their separate ways. Tung was the first fortunate one to have his luck turn around. With a bright mind and perseverance, Tung was very determined to pursue his studies.
Tung became a servant for an elderly man named Nghe in order to continue his studies. The old man recognized Tung's potential and determination and supported him like a son. For the next few years, Tung studied and he was finally able to obtain Tien Si (a person who passed all three examinations held by the government). With the Tien Si, Tung became an officer in the capital city.
From that point, Tung's life picked up its pace, its speed turned into a whirlwind that no one could catch up with. Even though he now lived in luxury, Tung still remembered his book friends from before. One day, Tung decided to find his friends so he took a leave of absence.
On Tung's journey to find his friends, he dressed as a commoner in order to avoid disturbances and being hassled by the guard soldiers around him. It did not take him a long time to find Truc's house, one of his two best friends back in the old days.
The first visit...
Let's back track a bit to Truc's story after he left his friends. The day after Truc quitted school he inherited a large amount of land from his grandparents on his mother's side. Through hard work and knowing how to turn the land around, Truc was able to make the land rich in ten years and became well off.
Even though he was rich, he did not want to lose a dollar, a quarter, or even a penny to anyone. Because of this, Truc had forgotten the words of promise between the three friends in the past."AW Heck! Why waste your time searching? The other people did not bother to find you or I."
With that thought, Truc felt very secure with all his actions and words. When Tung first saw how rich his friend was, he wanted to test how true the feelings were so he did not say anything about his current life. The only thing that Tung told Truc was that he missed his friend so he wanted to find and visit him.
Judging from Tung's appearance, Truc guessed he only had enough to eat and only came to rekindle the friendship to ask for money. The thought floated with Truc as he pretended his life was still in difficulty and went on to tell Tung.
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