Page:The Mythology of All Races Vol 12 (Egyptian and Indo-Chinese).djvu/380

314 The struggle was bloody and desperate, but the Chinese triumphed, and to celebrate his victory Ma-vien set up brazen columns, on which he inscribed the words, "When this pillar falls, it will be the end of the Annamese race."

Historians do not agree as to the fate of the two heroines. Some say that only Trung-nhi perished in the battle and that Trung-trac, with despair in her heart, retreated to Mount Hi-son, whence divine beings carried her to heaven. How ever that may be, the Trung sisters have always remained the personification of patriotism in the hearts of the Tongkingese, and the people of their native district built a temple in their honour at the mouth of the Day River, where they have been worshipped ever since.

The devotion of Trung-trac and Trung-nhi to their country has never ceased. It is related that in the twentieth year of the reign of Anh-tong of the Ly Dynasty, in 1158, there was a terrible drought in Tongking, and the monarch sent the monk Cam-thin to offer sacrifices and prayers for rain at the temple of the two sisters. It rained the following day, and in his delight at seeing the country saved from ruin and famine the King had himself borne in his palanquin to look at the rice fields, once more wet and verdant. When he went to sleep that night, he saw in vision the two sisters, riding together on an iron horse which was carried by the wind, their costumes being blue robes girt with a red sash and a head-dress shaped like the flower of the hibiscus. They told him their names and said that it was they who had brought the rain and that they would always grant what was asked of them with prayer and devotion. When he awoke, the King told all of his dream. He had the temple to the sisters gorgeously decorated and ordered a perpetual sacrifice to be made. Later he had a second temple built in their honour close to Hanoi, but it was carried away by the scouring of the banks, and subsequently another was erected behind the embankment to the south of the town, this being the Chua-hai-ba of the present day.