The Demon of Stone Mountain
Long long ago, in the age before television, two brothers lived in the highlands of Vietnam. Their mother and father died of old age around the same time. While the younger brother went off to bury his parents the older brother quickly went to their parents' house to see about the inheritance. The older brother was very greedy and when he saw the money his parents had left behind he went and hid it all.
When the younger brother came back he asked “Where is the fortune our parents left?”
“Our honored parents were not as careful with their money as we thought.” The older brother replied “The only thing left is the house, the ox, the dog, the cat, the southern rice paddy and the northern field which we will divide between us. I will take the house since I have a wife and you do not, that means I will also get the southern rice paddy since it is close to the house. You will get the northern field since it is farther away and you can build your own home near it. I will take the ox since there is already a pen for it at the house and you can have the dog and cat.”
Thinking that his older brother was telling the truth about what their parents had left behind he accepted the division. He was saddened that he would have to try to farm the northern field though. The northern field had never been farmed and was only owned by their parents because no one else wanted it. It was right next to stone mountain where it was said a demon lived and everyone agreed that the area was cursed. Feeling he had no choice he accepted his lot and went to the field. He built a small shack nearby to live in, it was cramped, cold and leaked horribly when it rained, but it was a start. He then looked at the field to figure out how he was going to grow crops on it. The field was exceptionally rocky, what little dirt he saw was very poor, and even weeds struggled to grow in it. The younger brother had a plow but of course had no ox to pull the plow. He looked at the scrawny dog and the mangy cat he had received and not having any better ideas hitched them up to the plow and urged them forward. The dog howled, the cat wailed, but the plow slowly worked it's way across the land. He hadn't been working that long when he heard a strange deep sound booming across the land. It sounded almost like someone saying “heh”. The young man knew how important it was to get his crops planted so he didn't think anything of it and just kept working. A little while later the same deep sound boomed across the land. “Heh heh”, it almost sounded like a giant voice chuckling. The young man looked around for the voice but the plow then hit an exceptionally large rock and overturned, knocking him over.
“Bwahahahah!” the voice laughed, the noise was deafening.
The young man looked towards stone mountain and realized that the stories about a demon on stone mountain were both completely right and completely wrong at the same time. There was no demon living on stone mountain, the entire mountain was a giant demon made out of stone! The demon had been watching the strange spectacle of the young man trying to plow the field with a dog and cat and unable to contain himself was laughing at him, his mouth wide open. The young man was at first terrified by the sight but looking in the demons mouth he saw it was full of treasure. While the demon was busy laughing the young man grabbed his only sack and quickly climbed up the demon and jumped into it's mouth. He stuffed his sack full of gold and jewels and then climbed back down. The demon stopped laughing shortly thereafter and seemed to settle down into it's regular position. The young man didn't have a lot of treasure but it was enough for him to afford to build a real house on his property, a nearby rice paddy, and two ox so he could work both the field and his new paddy. It wasn't long before the older brother heard about the good fortune of the younger. He went to his brother and asked him how he had been able to afford the new home, rice paddy, and oxen. The younger brother told him the full story of grabbing the treasure from the demons mouth while it was laughing. The older brother, being as greedy as he was, asked the younger brother if he could borrow the cat and dog to plow the field and try his luck. The younger brother being generous agreed. The older brother hitched up the dog and cat, pushed them on, and did his best to till that field. It wasn't long before he heard the demon start chuckling and then begin to fully laugh out loud. The brother and his wife saw the treasure in it's mouth and being prepared both ran up to the demon with many sacks. They both quickly filled a sack full of treasure but wanting more they started to fill a second, and then a third. While filling their third sack though the demon realized what they were doing and being angry at their greed, stopped laughing, closed his mouth, and swallowed them whole. The younger brother seeing the whole thing was saddened by the loss of his brother. Realizing his brother was dead he went to his parents' old house to claim his brothers possessions. It was then that he discovered how his brother had tried to cheat him when he found his parents' money. As the sole survivor of the family he inherited everything, eventually married, and lived a comfortable life with his wife and children.