Hà Rầm Hà Rạc

THE GOLD PIT, THE SILVER PIT STORY (HÀ RẦM HÀ RẠC)

Hà Rầm Hà rạc, The Gold pit and the silver pit, the gold treasure and the silver treasure or the hole of gold, the hole of silver also known as Ho vang ho bac, ham vang ham bac is the story in the Vietnamese folktale. Although the story has many versions which are depended on the ethnic in Vietnam, it teaches us to love the family and not to be greedy

Summary
Long ago, there was a rich family includes a father and his two sons. One day, the father got an illness and died. On his death bed, he told his children to unite and love each other. After their father's death, two brothers still lived with each other for a while until the elder brother got married to a young rich lady who was pretty but lazy, cunning, selfish and greedy. As of the appearance of the sister-in-law, every change. The young elder sister-in-law did not want to live with her husband's young brother so she urged her husband days and nights to divide their father property. Although the elder brother loves his younger brother, the elder brother finally decided to do as his wife desired. One day, the elder brother, his wife and younger brother gathered to divide the property. The elder brother said:

- Now we will divide the property into three parts: the masculine (đực), feminine (cái) and the child/cub ( con). I'm the first-born. I and your sister-in-law have the responsibility to worship the ancestor so we will take all the things that belonged to the feminine and cub such as the house (cái nhà), the wardrobe (cái tủ), table and chair (cái bàn, cái ghế)... which is belonged to the "feminine" part and the buffalo (con trâu), the dog (con chó), chicken (con gà)... which is belonged to the "cub/child) part

The divide last until the night that makes the younger brother felt impatient any more. He took the falx ( machete, knife or axe that is used for cutting wood, Vietnamese word as rựa) and said:

- This belongs to the Masculine part (đực rựa) so it is obviously mine

Then he left the house immediately in that night while his brother and sister-in-law laughed for the success of their trick as they had prepared. As of the dividing date, the younger brother routinely went to the wood to cut tree for wood then brought to sell in the market. One day, because of the tiredness, he woke up when he was sleeping. Saw the new moon, he mistook that he overslept so he rushed into the forest to work. When he reached the edge of the forest, he realizes that he had a mistake so he lies down and continues to sleep under the big tree. He did not know his sleeping place is the usual playground of the pack of the monkeys. When the monkeys came and saw the younger brother was sleeping, they thought he was the corpse so they carried him to bury

Halfway, the monkeys discussed:

-Ha Ram Ha Rac, Bury in the gold pit or the silver pit

- Ha Ram Ha Rac, Bury in the gold pit, not the silver pit. Said the monkey Chief

They carried the younger brother to the gold pit, put him there and returned to their playground. The younger brother got up and saw he was lying the pit that he is surrounded by gold pieces. He quickly took the gold and returned to his old place.

He used the gold he took from the pit to buy house, garden, field, buffalo and improve his own life. The rumor about the woodcutter became rich after only one night soon reach the elder brother and sister-in-law which made they was in doubt

One day, on the death anniversary of the father, the younger brother came to the brother house to invite the elder brother and his wife to join the death anniversary feast in his house. The elder brother and his wife quickly got the beautiful dresses, wore the ornaments and came to his younger brother's house in order to practice the rite and find out the truth.

When they reached his brother house and saw him rich with the big house, many servants, the elder brother and his wife asked the younger brother about the course. And the younger brother honestly told the story to his brother and sister

After hearing this, the elder couple borrowed their younger brother the machete and quickly left the anniversary without practicing the rite. The elder brother took the elder sister-in-law and the machete went into the forest, to the place that their younger brother used to sleep. They soon reached that place. The elder brother and the wife lied down under the tree, look the new moon and waited for the monkeys. They eagerly wait to be carried to the gold pit. They expect to be richer than their younger brother, for now, they got not one but two people. The more people carried by the monkeys, the more gold they would take

Later the monkeys came. The greedy elder brother and the sister-in-law pretended to be dead. Seeing there were two corpses this time, The monkeys also carried at the same time both the man and woman to the burial place.

The whole elder brother's family eagerly waited to arrive the gold pit.

When they were passing the deep abyss on their halfway, the monkeys stopped and asked each other:- Ha Ram Ha Rac, bury in the gold pit or the silver pit?

- Ha Ram Ha Rac, bury in the gold pit - one monkey said

The chief monkey said:

- Ha Ram Ha Rac, God pit we buried before, this time we buried in the silver pit

When hearing these words, both the elder brother and his wife who were waiting to arrive gold pit could not withstand their greed so both the rich couple got up and spoke out loud:

-Bury in the gold pit! Please bury us in the gold pit

Realizing the couple were still alive, the monkeys got frightened. They dropped out their hands and threw both the covetous husband and wife down to the deep abyss. The greedy couple of elder brother and the sister-in-law fell to the deep abyss. They both screamed in terror as they fell the long way down to the bottom of the abyss as the consequence of their greed that they deserve to have.