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Characters:
Giong: One of the four immortals, known as Saint Giong, only twelve years old, lives in a poor village, has never spoken a word
Dragon: the antagonist, destroys the kingdom every year
King: side character, is worried for the kingdom's future
Psychic: side character, foretells the future of the kingdom
The dragon wreaked havoc in the kingdom every year destroying villagers' homes and crops. The king had sent countless trained knights to try to defeat this dragon countless times. None of the knights ever made it out alive. This year, the dragon had destroyed more homes and crops than normal. The king knew that this time it would be very difficult to rebuild, possible but difficult. This made him worry for the next year. The dragon seemed to be growing stronger. What if next year the dragon completely wiped the whole kingdom out?
The king decided to visit a psychic to foretell the future of his kingdom. The psychic said, "The mighty dragon will be slayed by one who is not powerful in strength but one who is only twelve years of age." The king asked if the psychic would travel with him across the kingdom to help him identify this boy. The psychic agreed. They traveled for three days and three nights. They went to every house with a twelve-year-old boy. On the final, fourth day, they found him.
The courageous, young boy was named Giong. He lived in the poorest village of all that was located on the outskirts of the kingdom. When the psychic had pointed at the boy and said, "That is him. He is the one who will slay the dragon," everyone in the poor village laughed in disbelief. Giong had never spoken a word. However, when Giong heard the psychic say that he will be the dragon slayer, he jumped up and announced, "Yes! I am Giong the dragon slayer! Give me your best sword and your best horse! I will ride to the dragon's lair and slay him at once." Everyone stared at Giong with their mouths wide open. This was the first time they ever heard him speak.
The king gave Giong the best sword, that was almost as tall as him, and the best horse. He rode off to the dragon's lair. When Giong entered the lair the dragon asked in a low, booming voice, "Who goes there?"
Giong replied, "It is I, Giong. I have come to slay you."
Upon hearing this, the dragon laughed. He said, "How can you, a mere little boy, slay me when knights bigger and stronger than you have failed?"
Giong said, "They may have been bigger, but I am smarter."
The dragon replied, "Oh, is that so? You are still a boy who has yet a lot to learn. I am a dragon who has lived for thousands of years, but your confidence raises some curiosity in me. Let's strike a deal. If you can answer this riddle correctly I will allow you to cut off my head. If you answer incorrectly then I will get to eat you."
Giong agreed to this deal.
The dragon asked, "Still a child I carry two horns.
In middle life
My face is like a flower.
After twenty years
I’m already in decline.
But after thirty years
Two new horns grow.
What is it? "
"The moon," Giong replied.
The dragon was in disbelief. He thought that Giong, being only twelve years of age, would not be able to answer a question that would require more years of knowledge. The dragon surrendered and allowed Giong to cut off his head.
When Giong came back without a scratch and the dragon's head in his arms everyone was in shock. They cheered him on and called him a saint for what he did. 'Til this day, Giong is known as Saint Giong. He is also known as a wise man of little words. Many worship him still for saving the kingdom.
Author's Note:
I kept the storyline pretty similar from the original. The major change that I added to this story was the villain. In the original stories, a villain wasn't ever specified. The original story just simply stated that there was a bad guy and Saint Giong defeated it. I decided to paint the villain as a dragon. I chose a dragon because a lot of Vietnamese tales seem to involve dragons so I thought it would be fitting for this tale.
I also added the part about the king visiting the psychic to foretell the future of the kingdom. I thought this would be a nice addition so that there would be more details on how the king found Giong. I also feel like there are a lot of psychics in tales so adding a psychic to this story would make it seem more of an old, folklore tale.
Another change I added was switching the age of Saint Giong. In the original tale, Saint Giong was only three years old. I wanted to make it a bit more realistic and decided on twelve years old. I still kept the original detail of Giong never speaking a word. I think this makes it even more drastic because a twelve year old never speaking a word seems more troubling than a three year old never speaking a word.
I also went into detail with how Giong went about slaying the dragon. I wanted to make it more realistic. Obviously, a twelve-year-old would not have the strength to slay a dragon. I decided to paint Giong to be an intelligent boy (a wise boy with little words). That is why I made the dragon give a riddle to Giong. The riddle is actually a Vietnamese one too. I chose this riddle because it talked about the moon phases twenty and thirty years later, something that Giong (being only twelve) would have no way of knowing. However, the dragon underestimated Giong's knowledge.
Bibliography:
"Thanh Giong" from wikipedia
Image Information:
Dragon from pixabay
Thanh Giong statue in Ho Chi Minh City (wikimedia)
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