Emperor Ly Anh Tong

The dragon hall was hushed, wide and cool, and the only sound was the soft rustle of robes as the officials bowed their heads. In the middle of that great stillness stood a bewildered boy, with no idea what to say before so many matters of state. Then a warm, steady hand rested on his shoulder, and a low voice leaned close to his ear to show him what was right and wise. The boy was the emperor. The man with the hand on his shoulder was a gentle official named Tô Hiến Thành.

The little emperor's real name was Lý Thiên Tộ. History calls him Emperor Lý Anh Tông, a ruler of the Lý dynasty. That dynasty ruled Vietnam from 1009 to 1225. He took the throne in 1138, when he was very small. He was so small that he may well have longed for an afternoon nap in the middle of court, or wanted to run out into the yard and play like any child. All the business of a country rested on the shoulders of a boy. Luckily, there were always gentle, upright grown-ups close by to shelter him.

Of those grown-ups, the one people remembered longest was Tô Hiến Thành. He was a famous general and a distinguished official of the Lý court. He was skilled at leading troops and keeping the realm at peace, and he was known as a man of great honesty. The emperor trusted him the way one trusts a teacher, or a respected elder uncle in the family.

People say Tô Hiến Thành had one precious quality. He chose people to serve the country for their talent and character, not out of personal feeling.

One story about him has been handed down to this day. When he was old and weak and lay in his sickbed, someone came to ask whom to trust with the great work after him. Beside him then was the person who brought his medicine every day, helped him sit up and gave him water sip by sip. Everyone assumed he would name that devoted helper. The room went quiet for a moment. Then he softly spoke the name of someone else, a man who seldom came near him, but whom he believed to be better at the work of the country. For Tô Hiến Thành, the good of the people counted for more than a debt of kindness to himself.

Living beside a man like that, a boy on the throne had much to learn. He could learn honesty, and care for the people, and how to put the common good above his own gain.

Emperor Lý Anh Tông stayed on the throne for a long time, about 37 years. The shy boy of the dragon hall grew into a mature ruler. In those years the country was kept at peace, and the lives of ordinary people were looked after. That was partly thanks to an emperor who was willing to listen, and partly thanks to loyal men such as Tô Hiến Thành at his side.

The warmest part comes at the end. As the emperor grew old and his life neared its end, he still worried about the heir who would follow him, a child who was very young. In his last decree he entrusted the little crown prince to Tô Hiến Thành, the man he had trusted for a lifetime. It was as if he were saying: please shelter this child as you once sheltered me when I was small. The boy who had once been carried through his confused days by a steady hand now passed that same hand on to another child.