King Hùng Vuong had a daughter Mi Nuong, of extraordinary beauty. When she arrived at the age of marriage, her reputation burst even more. The king decided to choose a talented husband for her.
One day, two young men, brilliant of intelligence and beauty arrived fortuitously at the same time and asked the hand of Mi Nuong. One was called Son Tinh, genius of the High Mountains and the Deep Forests, the other, Thuy Tinh, genius of the Rivers and the Immense Seas.
The king, embarrassed, did not know which one to choose because both had incomparable talents and infinite power. After a moment of reflection, the king placed them in front of a challenge: one hundred trays of sticky rice, an elephant with nine tusks, a rooster with nine dewclaws, a horse with nine red manes. The one who brought everything first was Mi Nuong’s husband. The next day, at dawn, Son Tinh arrived first with all the gifts and took the beautiful girl to the mountains. Thuy Tinh came next with all the offerings but the princess had left.
Confused and furious, Thuy Tinh rushed forward, raising the water level, determined to penetrate the mountains and kidnap Mi Nuong. Son Tinh raised the mountains even higher. Thuy Tinh deployed his genius, beating the call of the winds, storms, lightning and thunder, shaking the whole mountain and forest. Son Tinh kept the mountains immovable. Thuy Tinh resorted to the marine troops and dashed with the current, gave massively the assault. Son Tinh, with iron nets, cut the route of the reinforcements, rolled rocks to fill the souls and crushed the sea monsters which floated away.
After three days and three nights, each day beaten more, Thuy Tinh resigned himself to withdraw his troops and bring back the waves. However, he never forgave Sơn Tinh and did not let go of his desire for revenge to get the princess back. Thus, every year, the people had to suffer floods and storms as a result of Thuy Tinh’s eternal vindictiveness. But Son Tinh had dykes built to protect his people against these floods.
