The Four Champions

The sea was vast, and yet a man stood at its edge, scooping water out and pouring it away. He wanted to see the seabed.

His bucket was strangely large. He lowered it and the water rushed in. He lifted it and the water poured out to one side. He worked as if patience alone could drain any sea, however wide.

Just then, a young man came walking up.

In the Vietnamese telling, he was the son of a poor family, and he had an unusual appetite. His parents could hardly feed him. His father spoke of an old debt, so large that it is plainly the exaggeration of a folk tale. He told his son to set out for a distant royal court and collect it.

The young man heard the bucket man say he was looking for treasure under the sea. He looked at the huge bucket, and at the water that had not dropped at all. Then he invited the man to come along. A debt that nobody knew how to carry was waiting at the end of the road. A man who dared to empty the sea would not shrink from a hard task.

The bucket man agreed. He left his work at the water's edge and set off with the young man.

Not long after, a fierce wind swept across the land. Trees ahead of them toppled with a roar. Among the fallen trunks stood a man whose breath was so strong that he brought trees down to gather firewood.

The young man told him about the old debt. When he heard it, the wind blower joined them too. The three walked on and left the sound of falling trees behind.

Another man was coming toward them, with a pair of elephants on his shoulders. The animals were huge, yet his shoulders stayed steady. The young man explained what he was setting out to do. The elephant carrier said he would go along.

From then on, the four kept the same heading. They had been strangers, met on the road, but none of them walked alone anymore.

At the distant court, the young man explained the debt. The court did not hand it over at once. First, the people there laid out food for the four travelers. The young man ate so much that the kitchen's supplies quickly ran low, and more had to be brought out.

Then a boat was brought so the four could travel by water. When it was far from shore, it suddenly flipped over.

Water closed in around them. But the man who could empty water was there. He took hold of the capsized boat itself and used it as a giant bucket, scooping and pouring. The water sank away, and the four found dry ground and returned safely to the bank.

Soon after, a crowd of guards blocked their way. This time the bucket man stepped back. The wind blower moved to the front.

He drew one mighty breath and blew.

The wind rushed down the path. The guards could no longer stand in a tight line. When the gust passed, the road was open. None of the four was hurt, and they went on with what they had come to do.

Only then did the court bring out the debt. The folk tale stretches it into a heap of wealth so enormous that people believed the four could never carry it away, even if they won it.

But the fourth man stepped forward.

On the road he had carried a pair of elephants. Now he took up the whole of that great debt. The weight that was meant to hold the four in place did not bend his shoulders.

The four turned for home. The exaggerated debt of the tale rested firmly on the elephant carrier's shoulders. His three friends walked beside him on the road that had brought strangers together.

At home, they shared what they had received, so that all of them could live in peace.

Far behind them, the sea was still wide, and the huge bucket still lay at the water's edge. Along the road home, four figures walked side by side. The long road no longer belonged to one person walking alone.