Legend of De Cho Gang Village

Next to An Khe ward (Gia Lai province) lies a small Bahnar village, yet it holds a fascinating and captivating history. The stories told by Mr. Dinh Klum, a veteran revolutionary of the village, unveiled to me pages of legend that I thought had been lost in the mists of time…

From the village's legends, we learn that the small village of De Cho Gang was once a gathering place for the Tay Son rebels. The story goes that, during an unnamed farming season, a Kinh man arrived in the village. He introduced himself as Nhac (Nguyen Nhac). Seeing his age, everyone called him "bok" (uncle). Bok Nhac taught the people of De Cho Gang how to dye their teeth and chew betel; then, the villagers followed Bok Nhac in building fortifications and digging trenches to fight the cruel king from the lowlands… After Bok Nhac passed away, the villagers of De Cho Gang mourned him and held a memorial service. The offerings typically included a pig, a jar of wine, rice paper, incense, and candles… just like the Kinh people.

Bok Nhạc was gone, and the people of Đê Chơ Gang returned to their old lives… So many farming seasons passed, no one remembers. Then one day, someone who went to trade salt in An Khê rushed back in a panic, saying that the French had arrived!

De Cho Gang village today.

The French were unlike the Bahnar or the Kinh people; they had blonde hair, big bellies, blue eyes, and some even had faces as black as burnt wood. It was said they were Yang's people. Yang the French were numerous outside An Khe, forcing the Kinh and Bahnar people to build roads for their four-wheeled box-like structure…

The sky had always been silent, but one day a very strange sound was heard. Looking up, I saw something very strange, with two wings, a pitch-black body, and smoke constantly pouring from its tail. It flew back and forth close to the treetops for a moment before disappearing…

Since our grandparents' time, no one has ever seen anything so strange! We asked the villages, and they said it was a French kite. Who gave the French a kite? Surely only Yang could have. The village of Kó was so scared that they sacrificed a buffalo. Seeing this, many other villages followed suit, offering sacrifices so that Yang would tell it not to come down and steal pigs and chickens.

Only the people of De Cho Gang didn't offer sacrifices. The village elder said they had to catch the kite to see if it was a gift from Yang to the French. But how to catch it? They discussed weaving a net out of rattan. If it flew close to the treetops and its wing got caught, they could catch it, just like catching a fish in the stream!

They discussed it and then put it into practice. The whole village went into the forest to split rattan and weave nets. Every tall tree had a net stretched across it. Everyone was anxiously waiting for the French kite to arrive… The moon set and then rose again, and it really did come. But standing under the tree watching… Oh Yang, it was still several hours away from the top, not flying as close as we saw from afar!

After the French kites flew by, news spread from village to village that the French were coming. The French chose a village chief and forced the men to perform forced labor for 10 days each year. They had to bring their own rice and salt, and were also beaten. The villagers of De Krui resisted. The French immediately sent kites to drop stones that exploded with a force louder than thunder. Houses in De Krui burned down, and almost everyone died. Seeing this, other villages obediently went to perform forced labor for the French. De Cho Gang was worried; what could they do? Some suggested escaping into the forest. But escaping would be too difficult, and what if the French kites spotted them and dropped stones like they did to De Krui? They decided to just go and do the forced labor to see if they could endure it…

Then the French came and conscripted laborers. The village had to send a few strong men ahead. After they left, every house felt like it was in a funeral. We waited until the tenth day to return, but everyone recounted their hardships. They had to move stones, chop trees, and dig earth all day long; if they slowed down, they'd be beaten. It was unbearable; we had to find a way!

"What other choice do we have? We'll either have to endure forced labor or fight back against the French. Even if the French are Yang people, I'm not afraid!" Mr. Ding said. True to his word, he gathered several young men to train with him in archery, preparing to ambush the French...

Not long after the first raid, the French came again. Mr. Ding immediately ordered everyone to lie in ambush. Hiding deep in the forest at the edge of the village, as soon as the French arrived, everyone fired arrows. Taken by surprise, the French panicked, but in the blink of an eye, they fired back. The explosions were like thunder; no one could bear it and had to run. The villagers also had to flee deep into the mountains. The French went from house to house, smashing gongs and cymbals, then setting fire to the village. Sitting on the mountain looking back, everyone could only cover their faces and weep. There was no way to fight the French. The French were Yang's men, given kites and fire-shooting weapons by Yang. The only way was to hide deep in the mountains, hide very carefully, so that the French wouldn't see them…

The village couldn't grow. Out of ten children born, seven or eight died. If it weren't for 1945, all the people of De Cho Gang would have died!

That year, the village of De Cho Gang heard so many strange things: the French had kites flying in the sky, things that shot fire, and it seemed no one could defeat them. Yet the French were defeated by the Viet Minh. People thought the Viet Minh were a more powerful force than the French, but it turned out they weren't. The Viet Minh were just ordinary Kinh, Bahnar, and Ede people... it was only their compassion for their fellow countrymen that made the French flee…

***

I have chosen to record here a turning point in the long history of De Cho Gang village. This turning point explains why such a small village could not be subdued by either the French or the Americans. De Cho Gang was like a spear at the enemy's flank. Such a small village was so firmly integrated into the nation. The ancient story I hear resonates with a very contemporary relevance. The philosophy about the survival of each community, each nation, is like the fate of each chopstick within the bundle in this strangely simple fable…

And so, the village of De Cho Gang grew up, becoming a single chopstick in the bundle of chopsticks, alongside the community of Vietnamese ethnic groups!

Source: https://baodaklak.vn/du-lich/dak-lak-dat-va-nguoi/202508/huyen-su-lang-de-cho-gang-76b1087/