The Queen of Silkworms
23/05/2010
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09:39:00
VGP - Nghi Tàm was the biggest silkworm farm in ancient Thăng Long. It is said that people in this area were taught the trade by Princess Quỳnh Hoa, the daughter of King Lý Thái Tông (1054–1072) but Quỳnh Hoa was not a real princess. She was born in Nghi Tàm, the daughter of Trần Vĩ, a mandarin in the Lê Thánh Tông dynasty from Nam Hà Province, who opened a school in Nghi Tàm when he retired.
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A
bird-view of the present-day Nghi
Tàm Village |
As the story goes, one beautiful day after finishing his lessons, Trần Vĩ
came to enjoy the beautiful sights of the lake and sat against a tree and fell
asleep. Suddenly, he felt like he was in heaven where he saw a mandarin
kneeling and begging the King of Heaven to allow Princess Quỳnh Hoa to come to
Earth and be reincarnated into the Trần family. Trần Vĩ was called in and given
the girl then he thanked the god with a bow and left. When they came to the
gate of heaven, the two unicorns guarding the gate said goodbye to Quỳnh Hoa
and the wind made the trees rustle and the lake surface ripple. Trần Vĩ woke up
dazed from his beautiful dream, and soon afterwards his wife, who was over 50,
became pregnant and gave birth to a girl they named Quỳnh Hoa after like the
princess in the dream.
Quỳnh
Hoa grew up into a beautiful and intelligent girl. She married Liễu Nghị (the
son of Trần Vĩ’s friend) who passed the doctoral examination and was appointed
county chief of Hà Trung (Thanh
Hóa Province).
When the Champa invaders threatened Thăng Long, Trần Vĩ was given a royal
ordinance to block their way and Quỳnh Hoa disguised herself as a man and
helped her husband in battle. After defeating the enemy, Liễu Nghị was
nominated as the Court Counselor to advise the king and later became the
Governor of Phụng Thiên (Thăng Long). Quỳnh Hoa became the Governor Lady and
stayed in the palace to teach weaving to the imperial maids. When Liễu Nghị
passed away, she asked for permission to go back to Nghi Tàm where her husband
used to teach and help the local people learn weaving. When she died she became
the tutelary spirit of Nghi
Tàm Village
and is worshipped there and in sixty other places.