Wild ginger and bitter gourd can defeat monkeys.

Báo Đắk Nông•28/04/2023

There was a family with quite a large number of children. The whole family worked together to clear land for farming at the foot of the mountain. Their farm was so vast that they couldn't hear each other's calls; walking from one end to the other, they would walk until their legs ached, and still wouldn't reach the end. A troop of monkeys came and destroyed their crops. The whole family tried to chase them away; if they chased them from the left, they would run to the right; if they chased them from above, they would run below; if they chased them far ahead, they would come closer from behind. They chased them, but the monkeys would run away; they shouted, and the monkeys shouted back, cursing at them. The whole family chased the monkeys from morning till evening, even skipping lunch to pursue them. As dusk fell and they could no longer see, the monkeys finally retreated into the forest.

The whole family was tired, hungry, and frustrated. That evening, after dinner, the father discussed with his son how to stop the monkeys from destroying the crops. The father said:

Children! Tomorrow we'll go set traps around the field to catch the monkeys.

The next day, everyone excitedly went to set traps. They set traps all around the field, on the ground, and even on tree branches. They sharpened stakes and planted them from the edge of the forest to the edge of the field, all around the field, so many stakes that the civets and foxes couldn't get through.

The following day, they set up traps again. They dug dozens, even hundreds of sinkholes, each with spikes planted at the bottom.

Two or three days later, the monkeys returned. Some trooped in the trees, others on the ground. The smaller, youngest ones went ahead, followed by the older, more mature ones. Reaching the edge of the field, some got caught in traps on their legs, others on their arms; if one got caught, another would help release it. In the end, none of the traps caught any monkeys.

The troop of monkeys approached the traps, saw one monkey hit by a trap, and broke off a branch to knock the trap down. Once they had a path, they pulled up all the traps as easily as weeding. Then they went to the fields and destroyed the crops. One monkey fell into a pit and got caught in a trap. Seeing this, the monkeys picked pumpkins and gourds, carried rotten wood and stones, and threw them into the pit to break the traps, then continued to eat and destroy. The whole family shouted and chased them away until their voices were hoarse. When they hit one monkey with a bow and arrow, another would pull it out for them, breaking the arrows and throwing them away. The monkeys ate and destroyed until they were full, and at night they returned to the deep forest.

The whole family could only stand by and watch helplessly as they tore apart the corn, ate the rice, and smashed the gourds.

One day, while drunk, the father said to his children:

- Tomorrow, our whole family will go to the forest to collect lots of dong (forest yeast plant) and rmuanl (bitter eggplant plant), all the plants that the M'nong people usually use to make yeast for rice wine.

The next day, the whole family went to collect wild yeast. They used beans and corn to make yeast, and cooked sticky rice and regular rice with the wild yeast. They prepared chicken and pork, tied many jars of delicious rice wine, filled the jars and gourds, and placed the leftover rice wine lees in dried gourds around the field. Sweet potatoes and corn were tied to the yeast and placed in baskets and trays. Inside the hut, they tied five or three jars of wine, chicken, and pork, arranging them as if celebrating the rice harvest. The whole family asked relatives in the village for help and prepared rattan, rope, and other ingredients.

The next day, the whole troop of monkeys came to the field again to scavenge. Seeing the field deserted, with no one around, and no traps, spikes, or pitfalls, the monkeys were overjoyed. They went to the edge of the field and ate the boiled potatoes and the rice wine lees that were laid out. After eating everything in the field, the monkeys went back to the hut. They ate all the chicken, pork, and sticky rice they found. After eating, they fought over the rice wine, drinking until the jar was empty. They knocked the jar over, and when they found the rice wine lees inside, they ate them too. The more they ate, the tastier it became; the tastier it was, the more drunk they got; and the more drunk they got, the more they ate, consuming all the rice wine lees, corn, potatoes, and sticky rice. The alcohol made them drunk and sleepy. They slept sprawled all over the hut and under the trees in the field, hugging tree trunks as if they were their companions, and pumpkins and gourds as if they were family. The monkeys were so drunk they forgot to tell each other to return to the forest.

As dusk fell, the villagers, who had been waiting, gathered together. Some wielded sticks, others used ropes to tie the monkeys in groups of five or seven, binding them to tree trunks, rocks, and even house pillars—not a single one escaped. They tied them up for three days and four nights, exposing them to the sun during the day and using fires and torches at night to warm and shine on their faces. The monkeys were hungry and whined for food. The villagers roasted bitter gourds until they were very hot and fed them to the monkeys. The monkeys found the food both hot and bitter, and were so frightened that they wrinkled their brows and turned red in the face.

Having taken revenge on the monkeys for destroying their crops, the whole family and the villagers celebrated. They ate pork and chicken, drank wine for three days and three nights, and also ate monkey meat. They ate every single monkey they could find.

The monkeys, fortunate enough to escape, hid in the bushes and by the edge of the fields, grieving for their companions who were slowly dying and being eaten by humans. They wept day and night, their faces red and their brows furrowed. They sat in the trees for so long that their bottoms became calloused, and they also ate bitter eggplant that they vomited uncomfortably, leaving their throats hoarse and unable to speak.

Since then, monkeys have been unable to speak like humans, and people have continued to eat monkey meat to this day. Whenever they hear the sound of gongs played on bamboo instruments, monkeys dare not approach the fields. The song "Exchanging Monkeys for Rice" is still passed down to this day.

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