The Field of the Thrown Blade

In the tales of the people of Thanh Hóa, the drums on Mount Băng Sơn have just fallen silent.

Lê Phụng Hiểu still holds a great blade in his hand. Gongs, drums and flags stand ready on the mountain. Officials and villagers have come in crowds, as if to a festival. Everyone waits for the moment the blade leaves the general's hand.

Lê Phụng Hiểu was a general of the Lý dynasty. The Lý dynasty ruled Vietnam from 1009 to 1225. He came from the Băng Sơn area of Châu Ái. The place is now in Hoằng Hóa, Thanh Hóa. At home he is also called Ông Bơng. The name is tied to Mount Bơng, which is another name for Băng Sơn.

The people of Thanh Hóa also say that even as a boy, Hiểu had unusual strength. He liked to practice throwing blades, fighting with staffs, lifting weights and martial arts. Once he carried two huge bundles of firewood home from the mountain.

The young man came down with a bundle on each shoulder, Mount Bơng behind him and the road home ahead. Hiểu grew up, became a general, and earned merit.

After this, the emperor wished to reward him. Hiểu did not ask for a higher title. He asked only to return to Mount Băng Sơn, stand on the mountain and throw a large blade. Wherever it fell inside the public land, he asked to receive the land up to that spot as his own estate.

His request pointed to the very land where he was born. A son of Băng Sơn had gone out to win merit, and now he chose a reward that began on the mountain of his home.

The emperor agreed.

So came the day when gongs and drums rang out, flags stood on the mountain, and officials and villagers crowded in. In the middle of the crowd, Lê Phụng Hiểu held the large blade he had asked to use for marking out his field.

The general swung the blade to gather force.

Then the blade left his hand.

Through the sound of gongs and drums, the crowd watched it go. The blade flew very far, past the slope of the mountain, and fell in the area of Đa Mi. That extraordinary flight belongs to the wonder of the tale from Thanh Hóa.

Officials went to the spot, marked the land and measured the portion granted. The emperor gave that field to Lê Phụng Hiểu as his estate, free of tax.

People call this reward the thrown-blade field, or Thác đao điền.

Thác đao means throwing a blade, and điền means field. Later, the name Thác đao điền came to be used more widely, for any field given to reward a meritorious official. But in the story of Lê Phụng Hiểu, the name above all keeps the choice of one son of Thanh Hóa.

He chose land that began at Băng Sơn. In the memory of his home, the name of Ông Bơng still goes with the name of Mount Bơng.

The drums have gone quiet. The flags and the festival have faded away. Looking from the granted field toward Băng Sơn, the blade of the tale has stopped flying, but it lies still inside the name of the thrown-blade field.