The Legend of the Magic Crossbow: A Vietnamese Tragic Tale of Love, Deception, and A Golden Turtle
- Mel Bridges
- Apr 14
- 4 min read
Updated: Apr 27
The Legend of The Magic Crossbow
In ancient times, King An Dương Vương (reign 257–179 BC), formerly known as Thục Phán, conquered the kingdom of Văn Lang from the Hùng kings and renamed it Âu Lạc. He established his capital at Cổ Loa, a citadel city with intricate moats and ramparts that was plagued by delays and sabotage.
The king was bothered by the crumbling outer walls of the citadel, which he constantly was fixing. Evil spirits, led by a devious white chicken, tampered with the construction site at night, making these walls continue to fall apart.
Kim Quy, the Golden Turtle God
King An Dương Vương prayed and sought guidance from the gods. A golden turtle deity emerged from the seas to assist him. The turtle god subdued the white chicken and kept him from interfering with the king’s construction until the citadel work was finished.
The turtle even provided the king with a turtle claw to be used as the trigger to a powerful crossbow. One shot from this magical crossbow unleashes a 1,000 arrow bolts, killing hundreds of soldiers. The king used this crossbow to keep his enemies at bay, and his kingdom enjoyed peace for several years.
Triệu Đà and His Devious Conquest of Âu Lạc
There was an unfriendly emperor of the neighboring Nam Yue kingdom to the north, Triệu Đà — Zhao Tuo in Chinese reference, who tried several times to attack the Âu Lạc kingdom to annex it to his kingdom. But Emperor Triệu Đà’s forces were easily defeated by King An Dương Vương’s magic crossbow.
Desperate to conquer Âu Lạc, the emperor had to know why this king was so invincible. He devised a plan to get a mole inside King An Dương Vương’s household. He had his son Trọng Thủy marry the only daughter of King An Dương Vương, Mỵ Châu. The marriage formed an uneasy peace between the two kingdoms.
Trọng Thủy, the emperor’s son, went to live with Mỵ Châu at Co Loa. It was common for the husband to live with his bride’s family since the kingdom of Âu Lạc had matriarchal society norms. This fit right into Emperor Triệu Đà's plans.
When Trọng Thủy met Mỵ Châu at Cổ Loa, he found her to be the most graceful and beautiful girl he had ever met. They genuinely fell in love with each other. They were happily married for a time. But soon, Trọng Thủy had to fulfill his duty to his father in finding out about King An Dương Vương’s defenses.
Trọng Thủy’s Trickery
One evening as they sat under the silvery moon in the garden, Trọng Thủy asked Mỵ Châu why her father was so powerful—if the king had a hidden secret or power. His wife, fully trusting her husband and being naively in love, told him the truth: the king had a magic crossbow with an enchanted claw given to him by a turtle god that yielded invincible power.
Trọng Thủy asked Mỵ Châu if she would let him look at this marvelous weapon. She refused. But he kept asking her until one day Mỵ Châu yielded. She sneaked Trọng Thủy into her father’s quarters and allowed him to examine the magic crossbow.
Wasting no time, Trọng Thủy confided in his father about the magical claw on the crossbow. Emperor Triệu Đà, never one to miss an opportunity, had a fake claw created and passed it on to his son. One night, Trọng Thủy broke into the king’s bedroom and swapped the turtle claw trigger from the crossbow with the counterfeit claw.
Trọng Thủy asked for permission to visit his father, saying he had been away for too long. Being a loyal son, he gave the turtle claw to his father Triệu Đà. Mỵ Châu remained unaware of her husband’s deception.
Failure of the Magic Crossbow
Soon Emperor Triệu Đà arrived with troops to attack Âu Lạc. King An Dương Vương, confident in his magic crossbow’s reliability, took no precautions to fortify his defenses. But when it was time to face battle, the king found that his trusty crossbow failed him — it no longer proved effective at thwarting the enemy’s soldiers.
As Cổ Loa fell to Triệu Đà’s forces, King An Dương Vương summoned Mỵ Châu to escape with him on a horse. They fled southward through the rice fields and onto to the forest; they raced through the lowlands and the marshes.
Approaching the seas, the king faced the shores and prayed to Kim Quy, the golden turtle god, for salvation. The golden turtle emerged from the waters and revealed, “Beware, the treacherous enemy is behind you on the saddle.”
The turtle commanded King An Dương Vương to kill Mỵ Châu. In a fit of rage and blind fury, the king obeyed the golden turtle god’s dictate and struck down his only daughter.
Instant and Not-So Instant Regret
Immediately the king was horrified at slaying his own beloved child. However, he was still drawn to the Kim Quy’s voice, calling out to him from the depths. With a maddening compulsion, the king plunged into the sea, surrendering to the dark waters and drowning himself in a state of despair.
When Trọng Thủy found his wife’s body, he brought her back home to Âu Lạc for a proper burial.
One day, he grieved for Mỵ Châu while seated at the well where she used to wash her hair. He gazed at the waters in the well, his mind filling with memories of his lovely wife as she cleaned her hair there. Driven by anguish and remorse for his part in her death, Trọng Thủy jumped inside the well to meet his demise.
A common legend tells of oysters who drink of the sea waters stained with the daughter’s blood create pearls of stunning beauty. When the pearls of such oysters are washed with water from the well where Trọng Thủy drowned, they become pearls of unequaled brilliance.
Citations
1. Taylor, Keith W. (1983). The Birth of Vietnam, Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, pp.16-18.
2. Van Quyen, Duong and Coburn, Jewell R. (1994). Beyond the east winds: legends and folktales of Vietnam, Thousand Oaks: Burn, Hart and Company Publishers, pp. 50-62.
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