Emperor Dinh Toan

Think of a great hall with a soaring ceiling, its wooden pillars so thick that it takes the outstretched arms of several grown people to circle one. At the center stands a golden throne. On that wide seat sits a small boy whose feet do not reach the floor. His name is Đinh Toàn.

He was only six years old, no older than a child about to start first grade. Yet a huge task had been placed on his shoulders: to be emperor of a whole country.

He was born in 974, and he had another name too, Đinh Tuệ. His father was Emperor Đinh Tiên Hoàng, the name history gives to Đinh Bộ Lĩnh as emperor. His mother was Dương Vân Nga, a gentle woman who loved her son dearly.

His father had been a great man. It was he who, in 968, founded the Đinh dynasty and named the country Đại Cồ Việt, which means the great Việt country. The capital was at Hoa Lư, in what is now Ninh Binh Province, where ranges of limestone mountains ringed the land like a city wall.

Then a great sorrow came to the small family. In 979 the emperor died. The country suddenly met stormy times, and people were uneasy and afraid. The officials of the court raised the young Đinh Toàn to the throne.

A six-year-old knows nothing of the affairs of a country. He still loved children's games. He still needed a hand to lead him, and arms to hold him when he was afraid. Yet he had to sit on a tall throne, surrounded by things far too large for his years.

But the boy was not alone. Around him were many grown-ups who loved him and shielded him.

Closest of all was his mother. Dương Vân Nga was honored as Empress Dowager, and she oversaw the affairs of the country and looked after her young son. One can picture it: whenever the boy grew tired or frightened, his mother's arms were close by, a hand stroking his hair and a gentle voice calming him, as mothers have always done for their small children.

Beside her, the court had devoted generals and officials. One very gifted general was named Lê Hoàn. Soldiers trusted him, and the people held him dear. When the country was in trouble, steady grown-ups like him stepped forward to carry the heavy work and see to every need, so that the boy on the throne could be at peace.

It was a warm picture. In the middle sat one tiny boy. Around him stood his loving mother, his able generals, and grown-ups of one heart who wanted to shelter him. Some dealt with trouble at the frontier, some with matters in the court, and some with every meal and every night's sleep of the young emperor.

It is the same in any family. When trouble comes, the grown-ups often hide some of their worry and take the heavy share on themselves, so that the children keep a patch of peaceful sky. The young Đinh Toàn was sheltered by the grown-ups around him in just this way, in a time of many storms.

What remains of the boy is not a throne or power. It is a small child held in his mother's embrace and loved by a whole court in stormy times. He sat on a throne too wide for him, his feet not touching the floor, and not one day passed without the sheltering arms of the grown-ups around him.

He was only six years old, and in that vast hall he was neither cold nor lonely.