The Legend of Trac Island – Tai Island ( Hon Trac – Hon Tai)

Monday - 19/12/2022 11:22

In front of Con Dao town, from the Shark Cape (Ca Map cape) to the East Sea, there are 4 small islands located close to each other, named Big Trac Island, Small Trac Island, Big Tai Island, and Smail Tai Island. People called this group of islands the fraternal islands. There were two identical twin brothers, Dang Phong Tai and Dang Trac Van. Dang Phong Tai, who was exiled to the island under Minh Mang’s era, was admired by the An Hai village chief and married his beloved daughter, Dao Minh Nguyet. The couple lived happily in An Hoi hamlet. Minh Nguyet was so beautiful and modest that male villagers called her An Hoi fairy.

Not long after, Dang Trac Van, twin brother of Phong Tai, was also exiled to the island. He was picked up by his brother and sister in – law to live in their house. Strangely, the two brothers were like two peas in a pod. Incidentally, when Trac Van came home earlier after cutting wood, his sister in –law thought he was her husband, thus she took great care of him and gave him a kiss. Trac Van stood still as if he was a statue for a while and then asked for her forgivenss. An Hoi was dumbfounded and begged the younger brother to keep this confusion a secret.

Unfortunately, another time, Phong Tai had to go to Co Ong village, and not knowing whether it was intentional or not, fairy An Hoi mistakenly placed a loving kiss on the younger brother again. Similar to the last time, Trac Van bowed to her and begged her to keep it secret to protect his brotherhood.

Due to the hidden love of his sister in - law, Trac Van left home and made a raft to a small island, preventing a moment that was contrary to normal morality. When Phong Tai returned and knew the story, he went all the way again to find his brother. However, the twins could not meet each other, and each died on a different island. Those two islands were later named Trac Island – Tai Island, or Fraternal Island. Folks handed down a verse about this erratic love and twinning heart of Minh Nguyen – Phong Tai and Trac Van:

“Who crosses Trac Island and Tai Island,
Please help me send some poems.
Late at night when the wind is cold and the stars are dim,
The moon is far away, yet the shadow is still waiting for the clouds.
When Chua Mountain runs out of trees,
And Con Lon is out of stone, I no longer love you”.