The thrilling story of the giant turtle attacking the buffalo in the middle of the Red River

Mr. Kinh uses all his energy to launch the bamboo tree into the back of the turtle. The giant diving turtle lost its grip on the dream buffalo lost in the flowing red sediment.

During the time around Van Hoi lagoon in Hien Luong commune, where the famous Au Co temple is located, I only met Mr. Le Xuan Kinh, who had witnessed a buffalo with a giant tortoise. attacked in the Red River.

Mr. Kinh's house is located right after the People's Committee of Hien Luong Commune. Mr. Kinh is over 60 years old, his figure is thin and austere. His hometown is Xuan Quang commune (Tam Nong, Phu Tho), the area of ​​buffalo liver stone gravel, only live eucalyptus. When he was a boy, he worked as a bamboo trader along the Red River, from Yen Bai and Ha Hoa to Tam Nong, even to Ba Vi, Hanoi. Later, he established his career in Ha Hoa and brought his wife and children to live here.

The section of the Red River that flows through Chi Chu village has many times appeared giant turtles.

Several decades of struggling to earn a living on the Red River, every stream and corner of the river from Yen Bai to Phong Chau bridge is well known. According to Mr. Kinh, in the process of going to the river along the Red River, hundreds of times he met giant turtles, as big as a dipper, heavy weights, when the turtles were on the mudflats in the middle of the river and sandy banks of the river in the sun. or floating head up in wide river sections, slightly flowing water.

There are 3 areas on the Red River where Mr. Kinh often meets giant turtles, including Xuan Quang commune (Tam Nong), Chi Chuong village area (Chi Tien and Thanh Ba communes) and the adjacent section between Hien Luong communes ( Ha Hoa) and Minh Quan (Tran Yen). These areas are characterized by a very wide riverbed, many sandy beaches and dense boulders along the river, with stone tunnels, very deep water cliffs and gentle flowing water.

Referring to the fact that he once witnessed the giant tortoise attacking the buffalo between the Red River, Mr. Kinh became very excited.

Make a giant turtle. (Photo collectors).

At noon in the summer of 1999, when the raft flowed to Xuan Quang commune, Mr. Kinh controlled a raft to anchor to the shore to go home to rest. When he was about to go ashore, a young boy called out: " Mr. Save your buffalo ! '.

Mr. Kinh looked back at the promontory, saw a boy standing on the shore asking for help, and the dream buffalo was rising up and down in the middle of the water, about 20m from the shore. The boy said that when he was releasing water buffaloes into the river, a turtle swam to pull the buffalo to the middle of the river.

Mr. Kinh drove the raft back to where the buffalo was hiding in the red water. About 10 meters away, he saw a giant tortoise, his back covered with mosses, as big as a scattering, neck with a plug, head with a trophy, clenched tightly on the stubble of a buffalo. The struggle is very fierce, the buffalo kicks very hard, trying to squeal on the water, and the giant tortoise clenches its fist on the buffalo.

Using all his energy, Mr. Kieng launched a bamboo tree into the back of the turtle. The giant turtle disappeared, the buffalo was also lost in the red silt line.

Where giant turtles once attacked buffalo dream.

Wait forever without seeing the buffalo body floating, Mr. Kinh urged people to put a net to block the river near the Phong Chau bridge. As expected, in the afternoon, the body of the buffalo came and caught the net. Everyone tied the ropes to the dream horn, then used a motorboat to go to the river bank of zone 8, Xuan Quang commune.

Everyone was horrified to see that from the feet to the thighs of the buffalo bitten, it was torn and torn, the skin was broken, and all tendons were broken. This giant tortoise's teeth must be as sharp as knives and the jaws must be as strong as pliers to have such power.

For Mr. Kinh and people in Xuan Quang commune, it is not uncommon for giant turtles to appear in the Red River, they often see turtles floating in the river. From April to October of the solar calendar, people here swim boat to the sand in the middle of the river, and record in the river reeds to find turtle eggs. A turtle nest filled with a basket, the whole family was bored.

Since his childhood, Mr. Kinh had heard his grandfather and grandpa threatening to cross the river, so that the children could not go to the naughty river bank. When he grew up, he saw 'big flow' like a hot one, crawling on the sand to know it was a turtle.

About the giant tortoise that killed the dream buffalo, Mr. Kinh and the people of Xuan Quang commune met many times. From the age of 10, he and his friends ride buffalo to the Red River to watch this giant turtle float. The turtle is large but very gentle, does not attack children who buffalo buffalo ever.

Many times it crawls up to the sand and sunbaths, children often stand in the distance, throw bricks, or shout, panic turtles run a circuit down the Red River to disappear.

The strange thing is that after the giant turtle attacked the buffalo, the people along the Red River pass through Xuan Quang commune and the neighboring communes no longer see it again.

Continue…