The legend of restored sword lake

King Lê Lợi returned sword to tortoise

Everywhere in Việt Nam at that time, people were rising up against the domination of the Ming Chinese (1406-1428).

On the Chu River in Thanh Hóa Province lived a fisherman named Lê Thận. One night, Thận hauled up his fishing net. It felt heavy and Thận was filled with joy thinking he was going to have a big catch. Pulling the net to the boat side, though, Thận saw the “catch” to be nothing but an iron bar resembling a blunt knife without a handle. “Ah me,” Thận sighed, “the only catch for the whole night and it turns out to be this worthless piece of iron.” Thận threw it away.

Another night, Thận cast his net in another section of the Chu River. After a while, seeing the water bubbling, Thận hurriedly pulled up his net. He saw the same iron bar stuck in the net. Angry, Thận threw it away again.

Then came another night and Thận went fishing late. At cockcrow, the man pulled up his net and feeling the bottom of the net with his hands, he found the same iron bar. But this time he decided not to throw it away. Bringing the iron bar onto the deck of this boat, Thận lit a fire in order to take a closer look at this mysterious and persistent object. When he had a chance to see it more clearly, Thận saw that it was not an iron bar at all: “Ah, a sword blade,” he exclaimed.

At this time, all over the country floods of people were joining Lê Lợi’s insurgent army. On the two banks of the Chu River, the sounds of horns blaring and the voice of commanders could be heard night after night. Lê Thận looked at his sword, thinking, “God has urged me to go to help save my country.”

Thận abandoned his boat and went to join Lê Lợi’s army. One night when the army had to spend a night in the forest, Thận was put on guard over his camp. Lê Lợi, being on patrol, saw on one side of Lê Thận’s camp something shining. He walked into the camp out of curiosity. It was the fisherman’s sword blade he had seen. Lê Thận took down the sword blade and showed it to Lê Lợi. Lê Lợi watched it for a while and then said, “This is a magic sword blade. Only it lacks a magic hilt to match.”

Soon after that night, Lê Lợi and his followers lost a battle and had to retreat into the forest, each man finding a place to hide. Lê Lợi took shelter on the branch of an old banyan. There, he noticed nearby on another branch streak of light that looked like fireflies of the scales of python flashing in the night. Lê Lợi moved to this branch to get a closer look. At first sight, he mistook the strange light for a piece of rotten wood on which lived a phosphorescent centipede. But when he picked up the object it turned out to be a sword hilt made of horn. The germs inlaid in the hilt were shining brightly.

Remembering the sword blade he saw in Lê Thận’s camp, Lê Lợi decided to unite the pair and tucked it in his waistband.

On that day the army reunited, Lê Lợi told everyone about the hilt he had found in the forest. He took out the hilt to be matched with Lê Thận’s sword blade. The two matched perfectly. Lê Thận and everyone else knelt down, shouting, “God his bestowed on you this magic sword.”

Big tortoise floats in the Sword lake

After this event, Lê Lợi’s army regained its strength. By contrast, the Ming troops became weaker from hardships and pressure from Lê Lợi’s army and had to retreat. Using his magic sword, Lê Lợi began to win battles against the invaders.

Finally, the Ming troops officially declared their surrender. After ten years of fighting, Lê Lợi’s army gained a glorious victory in 1427. The whole nation was unified and Lê Lợi was enthroned as king. The people lived in peace.

One beautiful day, Lê Lợi took a boat trip around the Lục Thủy Lake (Green Water) in the center of the capital city. It was early autumn, and lotus leaves were as green as the water surface. Suddenly, from under the lotus leaves emerged a huge tortoise. It had a raised back and looked as black as a bamboo boat. The tortoise slowly swam towards the King’s boat. Then it raised its body. It clasped its two front legs and bowed to the King, “Now that peace has been restored to the nation, please return the sword to our God of Waters.” Lê Lợi immediately took out the sword that had remained tucked in his waistband since his victory. He respectfully raised the weapon above his head. The tortoise took the sword and disappeared into the water, but the luster of the sword remained and spread over the surface of the water. Since that time, the lake has been named Hồ Gươm (Sword Lake) or Hồ Hoàn Kiếm (Restored Sword Lake)./.