Dazzling star in Thanh Hoa province

That night, the astrologer of the Court was kneeling before the Emperor:- Sire, in seven consecutive nights, at this hour, I saw a lucky star twinkling in the South, lighting the whole region of Thanh Hoa. No doubt, a genial person is living hidden there, Your Majesty should have an imperial edict promulgated to find out this man of talent.A few days later, an order of the Court was conveyed to the whole province of Thanh Hoa: within one month, each village must offer to the throne a pregnant buffalo. Governors, mandarins, notabilities, frightened and demoralized, had no longer desire to eat, to drink and to sleep. Never, never in one's life, had one heard such a thing: a male buffalo with calf!Quynh's father was a communal official. Quynh told him:

- Papa, give me one hundred coins, I shall settle this matter without a hitch. The father furnished him with the money. Quynh made his light luggage and went to the capital. Accommodated in a modest inn, he waited for the propitious opportunity to put his idea in practice. The chance came at last: the Emperor, escorted by his high dignitaries, was making a tour in the city. Quickly, he hid himself in a gully-hole on the way of the Monarch, then at the latter's approach, Quynh began to weep, to lament, to groan, to shout so noisily that His Majesty, quite surprised, stopped to find out the reason.The guards brought to the Emperor a boy all in tears, his clothes soaking wet and dirty with the muddy water of the sewer. His Majesty deigned to ask him:
- Hey! Boy, why do you so pitifully weep and complain?
Quynh clamoured all the stronger, then he answered with repressed sobbing:
- Sire, I was going to commit suicide in that sewer when the guards caught me.
The Monarch showed increased astonishment:
- You are but a child, what incites you to, put an end to your life?

Quynh sobbed all the louder, interrupting his sobs with hiccups:

- Sire, my mother died years ago. I would like to have a younger brother or sister to carry in my arms, but my father has not accepted to give birth. The Emperor was convulsed with laughter:

- You are a cracked boy. You will take this stick and complain to the stars in the sky. Your dad is a man, how can he get pregnant and give birth to a baby for you to carry in your arms?

At once, Quynh ceased weeping, stood upright, and grasped the Emperor's robe:

- Sire, is the Imperial Court also cracked when it ordered the villages to lead to the throne buffaloes, yes pregnant buffaloes?

The astrologer was at the side of His Majesty. He put some questions to Quynh on his native village, his larger family, his age... Then quite happy, he told the Emperor that this boy corresponded exactly to the lucky star he had mentioned to him.

The Emperor, with great satisfaction, gave order to cancel immediately the edict about "pregnant buffaloes", to take measures to help "the boy of the star" in going sound and safe to his family and in achieving his study with greatest successes.