Page:The Mythology of All Races Vol 12 (Egyptian and Indo-Chinese).djvu/382

316 covered with vases, bouquets of flowers, and piles of fruit, but none of these can be presented without the candles which are sold on the premises. An inscription on stone records the particulars of the building of this temple in the Huong-vien suburb of Hanoi. "Great acts," it says, "are usually per formed by men. When, therefore, in the course of centuries a woman triumphs over the disabilities of her sex and ac complishes heroic deeds, everything possible should be done to commemorate them." A long and circumstantial account is given of the state of affairs which led the sisters to take up arms for their country: "These women, accustomed to be clad in rich silken garments, and whose hands had never touched any thing but jewellery, now donned heavy iron breast plates and brandished the sword and the lance. . . . When they drowned themselves, they did so, not out of despair, but because they had completed the task which had been laid upon them by the supernatural powers, and they therefore, of their own accord, returned to the land of the spirits." The inhabit ants of the village of Huong-vien are dedicated to the service of the temple, to offer the sacrifices, to burn the incense, and to look after the lamps of the sanctuary, and this from generation to generation, "for the heavens and the earth will never come to an end."

Bach-ma is one of the oldest and most venerated temples in Hanoi and is connected with the Trung sisters shrine in a very curious way. It was originally built for the worship of the Chinese general, Cao-bien, who was first Governor, and afterward King, of Annam, and who was so beloved of the people that they raised him to the dignity of one of the pro tector spirits of the country. Later the Chinese became very numerous in this quarter of the capital and took possession of the temple. Some repairs having to be made to the building and to the image, they seized this opportunity to substitute the worship of Ma-vien, or Phuc-ba, for that of Cao-bien. This Ma-vien was the very general who invaded Tongking,