The ideal Match

- A Vietnamese Folk Tale, Retold

Once there lived a lazy father with his daughter in a village in Vietnam, close to Hanoi. He was known to be the laziest in his village and probably the whole of Vietnam! He had vowed to get his daughter married to the laziest man, an equal match to him! 

Years passed by, but the father rejected all potential suitors who came to his doorstep. His daughter grew impatient and angry, beginning to lose all hope of ever being betrothed.

One day, as her father was of course, lazing by his house, he saw a man walking backwards headed toward his place. It was quite a sight and the daughter could not bear her laughter and burst out laughing out loud. The father himself was quite amused and asked the visitor “pray, why are you walking backwards, are you in your right senses?”

The young man let out a long yawn and said, “well sir, I have come to your doorstep with the humble wish to ask for your daughter’s hand in marriage. I thought if you decide to reject me, it would be far easier for me to just go back the direction I came. You see I don’t want to make the effort of turning my body around to walk back.”

The father was thrilled and his joy knew no bounds…”yes! Yes! I have finally found him, dear daughter come here, and you are the right match for my daughter. Good sir, I have been waiting so long to find a man like you, I agree to give my daughter’s hand in marriage to you.

And so the daughter was married to her ‘ideal’ suitor and they all lived lazily ever after….

The bride’s old grandmother sang a song during the wedding; appropriate to the occasion…It went something like this…

A musician meets his equal
A runner meets his match
But when a lazy man meets his peer
Oh! That is some catch!

He didn’t talk, he didn’t stalk
All he did was a backward walk
The village folk were merry
After all, the father never lifted his hand to even pick a cherry