The Story of Cuoi and the Banyan Tree

Long ago, in a small village surrounded by rice paddies and bamboo groves, there lived a man named Cuoi. He was neither particularly clever nor especially foolish, neither very rich nor desperately poor—just an ordinary fellow who spent his days farming and his evenings sitting under the stars, dreaming of adventures that would never come.

Cuoi had one notable characteristic: he was extraordinarily curious about everything around him. If he saw a new type of flower, he had to touch it. If he heard an unusual sound, he had to investigate. If someone told him not to do something, that was precisely what he most wanted to try.

“Cuoi,” his wife would often sigh, “your curiosity will get you into trouble one day.”

“Nonsense!” Cuoi would laugh. “How can learning about the world be dangerous?”

His wife would just shake her head and continue with her weaving, knowing that arguing with Cuoi when his mind was set on something was like trying to argue with the wind.

One day, while working in his rice field, Cuoi heard a tremendous commotion from the forest nearby. Crashes and roars echoed through the trees, followed by high-pitched yelping that sounded like an animal in distress. Being Cuoi, he immediately dropped his farming tools and hurried toward the noise.

Deep in the forest, he discovered an astonishing sight: a massive tiger was locked in fierce combat with a large cobra. The tiger’s powerful claws slashed through the air while the cobra struck with lightning speed, its fangs dripping with deadly venom. Both animals were already wounded and growing weaker with each exchange.

Cuoi watched in fascination, completely forgetting any danger to himself. As the battle raged, both creatures finally dealt each other fatal blows. The tiger collapsed first, its great heart stopping with a final, shuddering breath. Moments later, the cobra, its strength spent, coiled once more and then lay still.

“What a terrible waste,” Cuoi murmured, approaching the fallen animals. “Two magnificent creatures, both dead for no good reason.”

But as Cuoi stood there, something extraordinary happened. Three drops of blood from the tiger fell onto a small banyan tree nearby, followed by three drops from the cobra. Where the blood touched the earth around the tree’s roots, the soil began to glow with a soft, golden light.

Before Cuoi’s amazed eyes, both the tiger and the cobra began to stir. The wounds on their bodies closed like magic, their breathing resumed, and within minutes, both animals were fully healed and restored to life.

The tiger and cobra looked at each other in surprise, then at the glowing banyan tree. Without any further hostility, they bowed respectfully to the magical tree and disappeared into the deep forest, apparently understanding that they had been given a second chance at life.

“Incredible!” Cuoi exclaimed, his eyes wide with wonder. “A tree that can bring the dead back to life!”

Being the curious man he was, Cuoi immediately began experimenting. He caught a fish from a nearby stream and deliberately killed it, then placed it beneath the banyan tree and sprinkled some of its leaves on the fish. Within moments, the fish began to wiggle and then swam away when Cuoi put it back in the water.

“This is the most amazing discovery in the world!” Cuoi declared. “I must take this tree home!”

Very carefully, Cuoi dug up the entire banyan tree, making sure to keep all its roots intact and to collect some of the magical soil around it. He carried it back to his village and planted it in the center of his yard, where he could watch over it constantly.

Word of the magical tree spread quickly through the village. People came from far and wide to witness its power, and Cuoi became the most famous person in the region. He used the tree’s magic to heal sick animals, revive wilted crops, and even bring back beloved pets that had died.

“Cuoi has truly been blessed by the spirits,” the villagers said in awe.

But with fame came temptation, and Cuoi’s wife began to worry about her husband’s growing pride.

“Remember, husband,” she warned, “this magic is not truly ours. We are only the tree’s caretakers. We must treat it with respect and reverence.”

“Of course, of course,” Cuoi would agree, but his wife noticed that he was becoming increasingly careless with the sacred tree. He would show it off to visitors, boasting about “his” magical discovery, and sometimes he would use its power for trivial things, like reviving flowers just to impress guests.

The situation grew worse when the king himself heard about Cuoi’s magical tree and summoned him to the royal palace.

“Bring this miraculous tree to my court,” the king commanded. “I wish to see its power for myself.”

Cuoi was thrilled by the royal attention. He carefully transported the banyan tree to the palace, where he demonstrated its powers before the king and all the court nobles. The king was so impressed that he appointed Cuoi as the Royal Guardian of Magical Trees, a position that came with a fine house, expensive clothes, and more gold than Cuoi had ever dreamed of possessing.

“Now I am truly important,” Cuoi told himself, admiring his reflection in his new silk robes. “People will remember my name forever!”

But success and wealth changed Cuoi’s character. He became boastful and careless, treating the magical banyan tree as if it were merely a tool for his own advancement rather than a sacred gift from the spirits.

One day, while showing off to a group of visiting dignitaries, Cuoi decided to demonstrate the tree’s power in the most dramatic way possible. He took his wife’s favorite singing bird, which was perfectly healthy and happy, and deliberately killed it in front of the shocked audience.

“Watch this, honored guests!” Cuoi announced proudly. “I will now bring this bird back to life!”

But as he placed the dead bird beneath the banyan tree, something felt wrong. The tree’s leaves, usually bright green and full of life, seemed duller than before. The golden glow that had always emanated from its roots was barely visible.

“Come on, tree,” Cuoi muttered, sprinkling more leaves on the bird. “Don’t fail me now in front of all these important people.”

Nothing happened. The bird remained lifeless.

Cuoi began to panic. He tried everything he could think of—different leaves, different positions, different incantations he made up on the spot. The dignitaries watched with growing skepticism, and Cuoi felt his reputation crumbling before his eyes.

In his desperation and anger, Cuoi did something that sealed his fate forever. He struck the tree trunk with his fist and shouted, “Stupid tree! You’re making me look like a fool!”

At that moment, the banyan tree shuddered as if struck by lightning. Its roots began to pull themselves out of the earth, and the entire tree started to rise slowly into the air, dirt and stones falling from its ascending roots.

“Wait!” Cuoi cried, realizing his terrible mistake. “I’m sorry! Come back!”

But the tree continued to rise, and Cuoi, in a moment of panic, grabbed onto one of the dangling roots, hoping to pull it back down to earth.

Instead, the tree’s upward momentum only increased, carrying the terrified Cuoi with it. Higher and higher they rose—above the palace, above the clouds, above the very sky itself.

“Help me!” Cuoi screamed, but there was no one who could reach him now.

The magical banyan tree, offended by Cuoi’s disrespect and abuse of its sacred power, was returning to the realm of the immortals. And Cuoi, who had grabbed onto its roots in his foolish desperation, was being carried along for the journey.

Up and up they traveled, past the clouds, past the stars, until they reached the bright, silvery surface of the moon. There, the banyan tree planted itself firmly in the lunar soil, where it would be safe from human greed and disrespect forever.

Cuoi found himself stranded on the moon with only the banyan tree for company. He tried everything he could think of to get back to Earth—he pleaded with the tree, he promised to be more respectful, he even tried to climb down the moonbeams—but nothing worked.

The tree had made its decision, and Cuoi was stuck.

From that day forward, whenever people on Earth looked up at the full moon, they could see the dark shadow of the banyan tree spread across its bright surface. And if they looked very carefully, they could sometimes make out the figure of a man sitting beneath the tree—poor Cuoi, forever exiled to the moon because of his greed and disrespect for nature’s gifts.

Cuoi’s wife mourned her husband’s loss, but she also understood that his fate was the result of his own choices. She lived out her days quietly in their village, often looking up at the moon and hoping that her husband was learning wisdom in his celestial exile.

The villagers, meanwhile, learned an important lesson from Cuoi’s story. They were more careful about treating magical things with proper respect, and parents would point to the moon when teaching their children about the consequences of greed and the importance of humility.

“See Cuoi up there?” mothers would tell their children as they pointed to the moon. “He thought he owned something that belonged to the spirits, and he forgot to be grateful for the gift he had been given. Now he sits alone in the sky, a reminder that some things are too precious and sacred to be taken for granted.”

And so Cuoi remains on the moon to this day, sitting beneath his banyan tree, looking down at the Earth he can never reach again. On clear nights, when the moon is bright and full, children still point upward and tell each other the story of the curious man whose foolishness carried him to the stars.

Some say that Cuoi has learned his lesson by now and has become wise in his lunar exile. Others believe he’s still the same curious, somewhat foolish fellow he always was, just with a much better view of the world he left behind.

But everyone agrees on one thing: the next time you’re tempted to take something precious for granted, or to abuse a gift you’ve been given, just look up at the moon and remember poor Cuoi—forever separated from everything he loved because he forgot that with great power comes the responsibility to use it wisely.