Legends of Forest Spirits in the Central

Vietnamese Highlands

Thi Kim Ngan Nguyen

1   Introduction
The Central Vietnamese Highlands consist of red basalt and include
mountainous terrain and plateaus interspersed with valleys and plains. The
North Central Highlands include Kontum, surrounded by mountains
such as Ngoc Linh with an altitude of over 1000 meters. The Central
Highlands consist of low mountains, and the South Central Highlands are
the intersection between highlands and mountains of Lâm Đồng province
(Nguyêñ Văn Chiên̉ 1985: 89). The seasonal cycle of this region follows
the pattern of tropical monsoon climate: rainy season from November to
March, dry and hot season from April to October. This clear weather con-
trast shapes the characteristic cycles of production and cultural life. The
region is inhabited by ethnic minorities such as Êdê,̵ Xơ Đăng, Gia Rai,

T. K. N. Nguyen (*)
Department of Literature and Linguistics, University of Education,
Hue University, Hue, Vietnam
Hue University, Hué, Vietnam

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature 65

Switzerland AG 2024
U. K. Heise, C. P. Pham (eds.), Environment and Narrative in
Vietnam, Literatures, Cultures, and the Environment,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-41184-7_3
66 T. K. N. NGUYEN

M’Nông, and BaNa. It is also one of the areas of greatest biodiversity in

Southeast Asia and the world (Nguyêñ Văn Chiên̉ 1985: 211–254).
Ethnic groups in the Central Highlands live from the forest, which is
their source of life and offers them divine protection. The forest is the
“biosphere,” the greatest reality they face every day. For them, “nature
means forest, forest means nature. The forest covers, protects, and feeds
them, and it also shapes village culture” (Nguyên Ngoc 2018). Even as
the village preserves the forest, it can only itself be preserved through a
chain of vital relations with the forest. At the same time, the forest is also
immense, mysterious and intimidating, a symbol of fear, and a dwelling
place of evil spirits.
Ôn Khê Nguyêñ Tấn’s Vũ Man Tap Luc (1871) is regarded as a price-
less medieval Vietnamese document because it systematically records the
history of contact between the Annamites and the Central Highlands peo-
ple and the policies of the Vietnamese feudal dynasties throughout the
Central Highlands ethnic groups’ history. Ôn Khê Nguyêñ Tấn character-
ized them in his historical bibliography: “the high mountains having a
dense atmosphere, verdant forest, long clear streams, and springs teeming
with shrimp and fishes. Because their topographic environment is perilous,
their habits are rudimentary and frugal” (Ôn Khê Nguyêñ Tấn 2019:
175). Ethnic groups in the Highlands have established a lifestyle adapted
to the natural habitat, its topography, and climate over hundreds of years.
Ethnic communities have used nature to survive and have typically
expressed their respect and gratitude to the natural world. The leading
Central Highlands missionary and ethnographer, Jacques Dournes, who
lived in the area for twenty-three years, emphasized that the region cannot
live without forests:

Or la forêt est présente même au village, car la civilisation joraï est une civili-
sation du végétal. Les piliers porteurs de la maison, ainsi que les traverses et
entraits, sont en bois; planchers et cloisons sont en bambou fendu et déroulé; les
arbalétriers sont en bois, les pannes en bambou plein; la couverture est en
chaume; bambous et rotins assurent tous les travaux de vannerie. En sa maison,
l’homme demeure ainsi dans un cadre forestier, il n’en sort pas. (1978: 20–21)
[Now, the forest is present even in the village, because Joraï civilization is
a plant civilization. The columns that support the house as well as the cross-­
beams and ties are made from wood. Floors and partitions are made from
split and flattened bamboo. Rafters and roof beams are made from wood
and whole bamboo, the roof cover from straw. All basketry work relies on
 LEGENDS OF FOREST SPIRITS IN THE CENTRAL VIETNAMESE HIGHLANDS 67

bamboo and rattan. In his house, man thus remains in a forest framework;
he cannot leave it.] (Translation Ursula K. Heise)

Because of fewer than 500 years of history of contact between the

Central Highlands and the rest of Vietnam, the Central Highlands are a
typical autonomous region, but they have experienced fluctuations and
instabilities since ca. 1545, the reign of King Lê Trang Tông (1515–1548)
(Nguyễn Quốc Sửu 2011: 49). Bùi Tá Hán, the first mandarin to rule
the highlands, was appointed by King Lê Trang Tông in 1540. This
illustrious general progressively consolidated the Lê dynasty’s rule over
tribes in the Trư ờ ng Sơ n mountain range and the Central Highlands
(Ôn Khê Nguyễn Tấn 2019). Bùi Tá Hán established the base, expanded
trade, migrated Kinh people from the lowlands to settle in the
Montagnards and Central Highlands, and fostered a harmonious rela-
tionship between Kinh people and ethnic minorities. This mandarin
adopted a governing program that ensured the Central Highlands
Indigenous peoples’ autonomy to a high degree, resulting in a rare time
of calm for the region.
A short period of historical stability was associated with French colonial
policy in Vietnam (1884–1945). Medieval Han character documents such
as Đai Nam Thực Luc (1821–1909) and Khâm d i̵ nh Viê t sử thông giám
cư ơ ng muc chính biên (1856–1884), all recorded and compiled through
the Vietnamese feudal dynasties just mentioned, show that the Vietnamese
feudal court did not interfere in the social structure of the community of
the feudal lords. Indigenous peoples of the Central Highlands and the
tribes here still live with their millennial cultures, beliefs, customs, and
social structures. Since being incorporated into Đai Viêt territory, the Lê
court has implemented a policy of rule in which the autonomy of the
Indigenous peoples of the Central Highlands is ensured to a high degree,
creating a period of calm for this land that lasted about 200 years.
In 1900, the French School of the Far East, a predecessor of the
Permanent Archaeological Mission of Indochina (1898), which was offi-
cially established to explore new lands, expand the colony, and extend
French influence in the Far East, served at the same time for the invasion
and rule of Vietnam (Ngô and Trần 2009). French ethnologists at that
time were urged to develop a better understanding of Vietnam, but they
were also attracted to the long and diverse cultures of the Vietnamese
people, especially in the region of the Central Highlands. Henri Maître, a
French colonial official but also a scientist with a love of freedom, took the
68 T. K. N. NGUYEN

first steps in “civilizing” this wilderness: two seemingly contradictory

impulses that co-existed in the same man, captivated by the beauty of the
Central Highlands.

Pendant ces deux années de découvertes captivantes, de courses incessantes and

opiniâtres, je me suis enivré sans mesure du charme profond des jungles insond-
ables; sur les marais et dans les chaînes abruptes, dans l’immensité des forêts-­
clairières sans bornes, sur les hauts plateaux que fouette la brise effrénée, j’ai
connu la liberté absolute, infinie, le pénétrant orgueil qui dilate l’âme des
découvreurs. (Maître 1912: n.p. [dedication])
[During these two years of fascinating discoveries, of interminable and
obstinate journeys, I have been endlessly intoxicated by the profound attrac-
tiveness of the unfathomable jungles. In the swamps and on steep mountain
ranges, in the boundless forest clearings, on the high-plateaus lashed by
frenzied winds, I have come to know the absolute, infinite freedom, the
deep-seated pride that expands the soul of explorers.] (Translation
Ursula K. Heise)

Although Maître asserts that the Annamites knew the Moi (authentic
ethnic minorities) people from ancient times and primarily based historical
research on the Central Highlands on the Phu ̉ Man Tap Luc of a
Vietnamese mandarin, his research is still widely regarded as the most out-
standing contribution to the study of Indigenous tribes in Vietnam’s
Central Highlands (Ngô and Trần 2009). Maître warned in the early
twentieth century that in a few years only the communities in the Highlands
might be truly Moi (authentic ethnic minorities), while those at the outer
rim would be devastated. In addition, he argued, the destruction would be
aggravated by the imposition of colonial civilization, which would lead to
a hybrid culture in the not too distant future (Maître 1912: 103). Maître’s
urgent appeal was published in 1912, and now, more than 100 years later,
his warnings have come true.
Along with Maître’s works, many valuable discoveries on the Central
Highlands that laid the foundation for the study of Vietnamese folklore
were written by famous scholars of the French School of the Far East such
as Indochina (1905) by Paul Dumer; Les Rhadés: Une société de droit
maternel [The Rhadés: A Matriarchal Society] by Anne de Hauteclocque-­
Howe (1987); Forêt, femme, folie: Une traversée de l’imaginaire joraï
[Forest, Female, Folly: A Journey through the Joraï Imagination] (1978)
and Pötao: Une théorie du pouvoir chez les indochinois Jörai [Pötao: A
Theory of Power among the Jörai Indochinese] (1977) by Jacques
 LEGENDS OF FOREST SPIRITS IN THE CENTRAL VIETNAMESE HIGHLANDS 69

Dournes; as well as Nous avons mangé la forêt de la Pierre-Génie Gôo [We

Have Eaten the Stone Spirit Gôo’s Forest] (1977) by Georges Condominas.
These researchers, under the French colonial empire, aspired to bring the
spirit of the Enlightenment to a region they considered ignorant and
sought to colonize its peoples, but on their journeys, they were seduced
by the pristine beauty of the rainforests and the supernatural cosmologies
of the Indigenous people. Therefore, all of these scholars proposed long-­
term strategies for preserving the Indigenous folklore of the highlands,
which French colonial authorities took little interest in.
The Republic of South Vietnam (1955–1975), with its policy of cul-
tural assimilation of all ethnic minorities to majority-Kinh Vietnamese cul-
ture, undertook extremely harsh measures of suppression and discrimination
against Indigenous groups in the Highlands, such as prohibitions
against teaching Indigenous languages and against wearing traditional
clothes like loincloths in public spaces. Tribal land ownership was denied
and customary courts were abolished (Nguyêñ Quốc Sửu 2011: 52). The
Highlands also became a major war zone of violent conflicts between
South Vietnam and the Viêt Minh. Large-scale destruction and social dis-
location were the fate of the Highlanders, with 85% of Highland villages
forced to relocate because of the fighting (Hickey 1982). At that time, the
Viêt Minh consolidated control over part of the Highlands, and this area
gradually became an experiment for its future administrative and social
policy in Northern Vietnam (Brown 2002 [1991]: 16). Vietnamese
researchers under the Communist Party government contributed to
research and cultural preservation of the Central Highlands, such as Cao
Nguyên Miê n ̀ Thư ợng [Essay of the Upper Highlands] by Cửu Long
Giang and Toan Ánh (1973).
Although many valuable ethnographic studies on ethnic minorities in
the upper Highlands of Vietnam have been published, there is little evi-
dence of interest in the folk beliefs and the legends of forest spirits as
manifestations of the unique metaphysical worldview of ethnic minorities.
This essay, therefore, focuses on the textual analysis of folk narratives,
mainly drawn from books, that describe the beliefs and legends of the
Highlands groups. Most of them are collected in the studies and ethno-
graphic descriptions of French researchers who went on long field trips to
study Indigenous peoples in the primeval and tropical forests of the
Annamite and Central Highlands regions in the nineteenth century, popu-
lations who had had little prior contact with the “modern” world. Other
research material derives from the collections of Vietnamese researchers
70 T. K. N. NGUYEN

from the mid-twentieth century. More recently, journalists have reported

on the destruction of primeval forests in the Central Highlands and
included beliefs about forest spirits in the region in their reporting. On
this basis, this essay seeks to contribute to the understanding of oral nar-
rative and perceptions of forest spirits.

2  The Sacred Forest in the Indigenous Cultures

of the Highlands

Scholars refer to Central Highlands culture as a “culture of forests,” “civi-

lization of plants,” or “civilization of upland fields” (Nguyêñ Văn Kim and
Nguyêñ Thành Tâm 2019: 45). The social organization of the ethnic
groups is based on the structure of the village near the forest. Their eco-
nomic form is swidden cultivation: each year, they burn a different patch
of forest for upland cultivation; cultivation moves from one patch to the
next so that soil can recover and forest regrow in the fallow parcels, and
can then be recultivated. In this fashion, the cycle of the forest being
cleared into a village and then the village transformed back into forest
takes fifteen to twenty years (Nguyên Ngoc 2018).
Ethnic minorities in the Highlands often divide forests into three types:
forest turned into habitat, forest that has been converted to agricultural
use, and ghost forest or sacred forest (Nguyêñ Văn Kim and Nguyêñ
Thành Tâm, 2019; Nguyên Ngoc 2018). Unlike the village area and
upland fields that are familiar and transformed by human hands, the sacred
forest has a hidden meaning and is geographically separated from the vil-
lage. Corresponding to each type of forest, the relationship between cul-
ture and nature and between people and forests has different
characteristics.
According to animist belief, the sacred forest is the seat of the yang
(good spirits) and the malai (or rohung, evil spirits). Each village owns a
sacred forest whose borders are often demarcated by the village elders with
ancient trees, streams, or large rocks. Usually, such forests are located
upstream and on mountain tops, conserving water and preventing ero-
sion. Some ethnic groups in the Gialai and Kontum areas also use such
areas as village graveyards, where villagers rarely set foot. Though the
boundaries are only conventional, neighboring communities acknowledge
and respect them.
 LEGENDS OF FOREST SPIRITS IN THE CENTRAL VIETNAMESE HIGHLANDS 71

The typical taboos in the customary laws of the Central Highlands state
that such areas should not be violated, that ancient trees cannot be felled,
and that sacred forest used as graveyard must lie lower than the village
(Phan 2014: 445). The communities believe that if a sacred forest is vio-
lated, the entire community will be punished by the spirits with illness or
fatal accidents. Therefore, the Highlanders worship the sacred forest but
are also afraid of it. In their perception, the sacred forest both protects
them and can inflict disasters on them if it is violated. To control this tre-
mendous power, Highlanders have thousands of spiritual practices. They
are very interested in the good-luck and bad-luck signs, dreams, and other
signs sent by the spirits, especially in the sacred forest itself. Highlanders
typically believe that natural oddities function as omens of impending
negative occurrences in one’s life, and that events in the past that brought
bad luck to the village must be avoided in the future. As a consequence,
they are extremely attentive even to slight changes in their surroundings.
According to M’nông belief, for example, in the event of an encounter
with sêr birds (sparrows), calling people on the left side is lucky, while call-
ing people on the right side is risky. Or if one stumbles on a tree stump, it
is best to turn one’s head and stop because that is a bad sign. Or when one
goes to the forest to cut down trees to build a house, if there are rlang
birds (starlings), or kring birds (great hornbills) singing, it is a bad omen,
and it is best to turn back. In the forest, whatever one does, one must pray
to the gods first and absolutely not wash rice and use the hands rather than
a spoon to scoop rice (Tô 2003: 63).
These taboos derive most likely from previous experiences of bad luck
or disaster. In his book, Les chasseurs de sang [Blood Hunters] (1938),
Jean Louis Le Pichon mentions

entre autres [signes envoyés par les génies], le cri de l’oiseau d’or sur la gauche
du chemin, l’arbre abattu en travers d’un sentier, les oeufs de paon rencontrés
en forêt. Citons encore le chant du coq à minuit, le vol du toucan en direction
du soleil, la vue d’un python, la rencontre en forêt de certaines plantes … etc…
. et même l’éternuement au moment de s’engager dans une grave affaire!] (Le
Pichon 2011 [1938]: 15; ellipses in original)
[among other (signs sent by spirits) the call of the golden bird on the left
side of the road, a tree fallen across a path, peacock eggs found in the woods.
Let us add the cock’s crow at midnight, the toucan’s flight toward the sun,
the sight of a python, the discovery of certain plants in the woods … etc….
and even a sneeze at the moment one engages in serious business!]
(Translation Ursula K. Heise)
72 T. K. N. NGUYEN

In addition to belief in signs, M’nông spirituality includes an agreement

between humans and spirits for patronage that is solicited through sacri-
fices in forests. The yang in nature that are frequently invoked by the
M’nông people are trôk yang (god of heaven), teh yang (earth god), dak
yang (water god), bri yang (forest god), Ndu Nam Ka yang (Nam Ka
mountain god), dlei yang (tree god), and mau yang (stone god). Similarly,
the yang in the BaNa language are called yang kong (god of the forest) and
yang unh (god of fire). “The yang can help humans if they are satisfied
with the sacrifices but can also punish them if they do not perform prom-
ised sacrifices or violate the village of yang, destroy the yang house”
(Nguyêñ Thi Thanh Xuân 2019). Such animist beliefs about the sacred
forest are common among ethnic groups in the Central Highlands. They
believe that humans are born from trees and that their bodies therefore
enter a tree trunk when they die. Deities also exist in the trees. In this
human-plant-divinity cycle, the elements appear in different forms, but
share a common existence (Ngô 2007: 35).
Central Highlanders consider themselves “guests” in this forest, on the
land, and in the universe. The forest cannot be owned by humans, but is
conceived as an ancestral legacy that is passed on to descendants, on the
basis of a temporary social contract between humans and spirits, in which
humans are only dependents who express their gratitude to the land.
Ethnic minorities, in other words, show their respect for the forest through
worship of the forest spirits, through taboos, and through customs that
preserve the forest and build an archive of rich legends. The mysteries of
forests are entrusted to the community, at the same time that they help
communities to preserve their forests.

3  Narratives About Forest Yang and Forest Malai

Que les ancêtres te protegent!
Que ton sommeil soit souriant!
Bois et dors.
La vie est longue,
Le riz pousse difficilement dans les ray,
Et la forêt est pleine de mauvais génies! (Le Pichon 2011 [1938]: 23)

[May the ancestors protect you!

May you sleep with a smile!
 LEGENDS OF FOREST SPIRITS IN THE CENTRAL VIETNAMESE HIGHLANDS 73

Drink and sleep.

Life is long,
Rice is difficult to grow on the ray.
And the forest is full of evil spirits!] (Translation Ursula K. Heise)

This is a lullaby that mothers in the Central Highlands use to sing their
babies to sleep (Le Pichon 2011 [1938]: 23). From the cradle onward,
children are transported into a world full of divisions between good and
evil spirits, yang and malai (rohung), in forests which are both sacred and
dangerous. People pray to the yang to protect the babies that have just
been born, but they must also do everything they can so the birth of the
baby does not offend any evil malai. All ancestral customs must be care-
fully respected and no prayer must be omitted if the mother wants her
child to survive, and if she wants to avoid being dragged to death by
ghosts. The sacred forest, therefore, is associated with a rich array of nar-
ratives about yang, good spirits that protect the community, and malai,
who suck blood, perpetrate cannibalism, and entice humans to join them
by eating their souls. Forest Spirit legends such as yang and malai are
popular among all ethnic groups in the Central Highlands, particularly
among Êdê, ̵ M’Nông, Ma, and K’ho people. The characteristic yang and
Malay legends can be found in Central Highlands folk narrative collec-
tions such as X’tiêng Fairytales (Phan Xuân Viên 2015), M’Nông Folktales
(Trư ơ ng Thông Tuần 2010), Ma Folktales in Đô ̀ng Nai (Huỳnh Văn Tớ i
and Phan Đình Dũng 2014), and Vietnamese Folktales of Ethnic Minorities
Collections.
One of the yang stories, the story of Mâu Yang Gô according to Mr. Yo
Kring in the Krong No area, runs as follows:

̵ ông d i̵ và gặp mô t hòn d á̵ rất to, ơ ̉ d ó̵ xuất hiê n mô t con

Có mô t ngư ờ i d àn
ran ̵
́ ̆ d ang ngâm mô t khúc cu ỉ , nhìn thấy ngư ờ i nó nhả khúc cu ỉ ra, ngư ờ i
̵ ông nhặt lấy và mang vê ̀ nhà. Đêm ấy ông ta nàm
d àn ̆ mơ thấy mô t vi thần
xuất hiê n và bảo rằng: “Ta tên là Goo, nhìn thấy ngư ơ i d áng̵ thư ơ ng nên sau
này ta sẽ cho ăn nên làm ra”. Sáng hôm sau thứ c dây, nhớ lai giấc mơ , ngư ờ i
̵ ông d ó̵ tin ràng
d àn ̆ hòn d á̵ d ó̵ chính là hiê n thân cu a
̉ mô t vi thần tên là Goo
nên d ã̵ d ặt̵ tên cho hòn d á̵ d ó̵ là Mâu Yang Go.
[There was a man who went and met a very large rock. There appeared a
snake holding a piece of firewood in its mouth; seeing the snake release the
wood, the man picked it up and brought it home. That night he dreamed of
a god appearing and said, ‘My name is Goo, I see you’re worthy of pity, so
I will make you rich later.’ The next morning, remembering his dream upon
waking up, the man believed that the stone was the embodiment of a god
74 T. K. N. NGUYEN

named Goo, so he named the stone Mau Yang Go.]. (Nguyêñ Thi Thanh
Xuân 2019: 61; translation mine)

This simple story exemplifies how the real world of the Central Highlands
is surrounded by a magical world of environment and nature, which is also
the realm of the yang. The old, upstream forests are the yang’s domain.
The importance of the forest yang to the Highlanders is also reflected
in the legend of Chặt Cây Thần (Cutting Down the Spirit Tree). The K’ho
ethnic group believes that a tree that was divided up gave rise to the dif-
ferent ethnic communities in the Central Highlands: the Chil took the
root, the K Du people the trunk, the Yong and the Ma branches and
leaves, which each of them took to the places where they live today (Lê
Hồng Phong 2006: 27). Another famous legend of the Central Highlands,
Ngư ờ i Lấy Cây (Marriage with a Tree), tells the story of a girl who went
to the fields and slept in a hut in the forest, and then suddenly became
pregnant. The girl explains to her parents that she had eaten or drunk
something in the forest (Trần 2006: 137). Some of the most beautiful
stories concern marriage between people and yang trees (Dournes 1978:
Chapter 3).
The worship of yang may stem from basic perceptions of dangers asso-
ciated with the forest: its stifling heat and humidity, stagnant streams, and
predatory animals. Because of such risks, those who had to hunt or fell
timber in the forest would watch the signs of nature carefully and often
prepare a propitiatory sacrifice to the yang by way of precaution. In turn,
such fears and precautions prevented forest workers from exposing them-
selves to the worst dangers. But the relationship between humans and
spirits was envisioned as reciprocal: if humans express their respect and
desire through a sacrificial ceremony, then yang, in turn, must respond by
satisfying human desires and providing prosperity. The epidemics,
droughts, and crop failures that nonetheless occur are, correspondingly,
seen as the consequences of exchanges that did not satisfy the spirits.
Although yang are generally considered to be good spirits, distinctions
between good and evil are not stable in the stories and beliefs of the
Central Highlands people. Spirits are able to change their nature from a
protective to an angry yang divinity who uses spells and amulets to harm
humans and make them lose their minds. Meanwhile, malai represent the
evil spirits of cannibalism who in certain cases are able to let go of the can-
nibal spirit and return to a normal body.
 LEGENDS OF FOREST SPIRITS IN THE CENTRAL VIETNAMESE HIGHLANDS 75

Ôn Khê Nguyêñ Tấn describes Moi’s fighting ability as “coming like

light, leaving like flashes,” relying on dangerous places to shoot arrows,
and javelin is their forte. Đai Nam Thực Luc also mentions many of the
ancient Moi practices of murder and the strange occurrences around death.
Therefore, it is easy to recognize that death, devils, and the horrific hap-
penings surrounding deceased souls become a vital theme in the folk nar-
ratives of the Central Highlands.
The folk narratives of ethnic groups in the Central Highlands call malai
(devils) by different names according to their language. The Srê equiva-
lent of malai is cà’, a witch who eats human souls. Somri, a form of tiger-­
man malai also known as kiak in the BaNa language, is believed to be a
ghost who often harms people while they sleep. The malai have a dual
character, just as the forest world and the entire metaphysical world of the
ethnic communities do. Stories among the Jarai and Êdê̵ explain the origin
of forest malai:

Ông Trờ i (Adei) goi ngư ờ i lên làm viêc trên cánh dô̵ ng ̀ cua ̵
̉ ông; dể trả công,
ông mờ i ho ăn môt bữ a ăn có nhiêu ̀ loai thit khác nhau; nhữ ng ai ăn thit ngư ờ i
trơ ̉ thành nhữ ng ngư ờ i rohung dâ ̵ ù tiên và moc môt cái mông ̀ trên dâ ̵ u,
̀ khiên ́
ho nhanh chóng bi nhân ra và bi tàn sát. Ho kêu vớ i Trờ i, Trờ i làm mât́ cái
mông ̀ trên dâ ̵ u
̀ ho di.̵ Ngày nay, chúng ta không còn biêt́ ai là malai (rohung).
̀ tình trang cua ̀ lai theo thế hê; dâ̵ ý là
Có nhữ ng rohung di truyên, ̉ ho truyên
nhữ ng ngư ờ i ít nguy hiêm ̉ hơ n. Nhữ ng ngư ờ i khác là nhữ ng rohung mớ i, ho
̵ ợc goi là nhữ ng loai “làm hai,” hay atau-rohung “ma ăn ngư ờ i.” Ho bi như
dư
vây là do ăn thit ơ ̉ chỗ môt rohung khác, hoặc do bi môt phù thuỷ ném bùa chú
dèng, hoặc là ngư ờ i pojau dèng dã ̵ không tuân thu các câm ́ kỵ cua
̉ ̉ tôc ngư ờ i.
(Cửu and Toan 1973: 25)
[God (Adei) demanded people work in his meadow; to compensate the
people for their labor, he offered them many types of meat for eating. Those
who ate human flesh became the early rohung people. The horns on their
heads made them easily recognized by their enemies and thus easily killed.
The rohung people asked God to cut the horns on their heads. Without the
horns, rohung people are not easily recognized. Presently, we can no longer
identify who the rohung people are. There are traditional rohung people.
They are less dangerous. The new rohung belong to the harmful type of
people, which is named atau-rohung (ghost who eats human flesh). Such
categorization is a form of punishment for the fact that they once ate the
flesh of rohung people. Or it was because a witch threw at them the cursed
talisman called dèng. Or they were punished because they broke the ethnic
taboos of their community.] (Translation mine)
76 T. K. N. NGUYEN

According to the Highlanders, ordinary people can also turn into malai
if they often interact with malai and are invited by them to eat human
flesh, or if they are possessed by demons. According to Chil belief, malai
have white eyes without any blood (Cửu and Toan 1973: 31). During the
day, malai live like ordinary people, hiding in ordinary human bodies. But
at night, they murder people for food or to chew on their dead bodies.
When a malai’s identity is found out, it is put to death like an animal. Any
person in a village can be suspected of being malai by the community, and
if so, this individual will be exposed to intense hatred. The call of a barn
owl is perceived to be a bad omen, indicating that it is possessed by a
malai who will bring death to the village, as Dournes reports:

J’ai entendu le cas de ces gens qui veillaient un mort, ils entendent du bruit
sous la case, ils versent une marmite d’eau bouillante entre les lattes du
plancher; après cela un homme du village n’est pas sorti de chez lui pendant
huit jours! Quand on entend, la nuit, la chouette effraie hurler: hiaak hiaak
khek khek khek, c’est signe qu’il y aura un mort au village. (Dournes
1978: 174)
[I have heard of a case of people who watched over a dead person. They
hear a noise under the hut, they pour a pot of boiling water between the
floorboards; after that a man from the village did not emerge from his house
for eight days! At night, when you hear the barn owl calling “hiaak hiaak
khek khek khek,” it is a sign that there will be a death in the village.]
(Translation Ursula K. Heise)

Thus, for the inhabitants of the Central Highlands, malai were human
before they became supernatural. In stories about malai, this typical state
of transition between village and forest, between humans and spirits, is
indicated by the recurring motif of the spirit morphing into the shape of a
human (Lê Hồng Phong 2006). In stories like Quỷ giã gao làm men
(Demons Pounding Rice to Make Yeast), the main character is a malai
who either blends into the village community, or a villager who is pos-
sessed and transformed into malai. Most malai are killed by villagers
when they are discovered, but in certain cases, the villagers return evil
beings to the forest (Phan 2015: 449).
There are thirty-five traditional narratives that feature the punishment
by death of suspected malai. Uncanny forms of suspicion and torture of
malai have also been documented in ethnographic descriptions. The Êdê̵
people performed a ritual invoking the gods to witness; right after that
they lightly stepped on the neck of the suspected malai to see if the malai
 LEGENDS OF FOREST SPIRITS IN THE CENTRAL VIETNAMESE HIGHLANDS 77

was scared; the Jarai people actually beat and tortured them. They wor-
shiped the divinity and then drowned the suspected malai. Sometimes
they tried the malai’s reaction with poison or boiled sap, or they poured
liquid lead on the victim’s hand. By the time of the Republic of South
Vietnam, all forms of torture and murder of suspected malai were strictly
forbidden, but fear of ghosts still permeated the spiritual life of minority
communities. Instead of being publicly executed, suspected malai were
killed in secret or driven out of villages (Cửu and Toan 1973: 32).
Thus, yang and malai, the good and evil spirits, embody the dual
nature of the forest in the narratives and practices of Central Highlands
communities. Yang creates a form of harmony between man and nature,
through whose worship these communities practice Indigenous knowl-
edge and preserve the original forests. Meanwhile, malai embody the ter-
rifying dark side of immense forests with no escape on windswept
highlands, functioning as a metaphor for the eternal fear of the forest
dwellers. The journey to the forest, therefore, is both a journey to the
sacred world of the gods and to the dark world of the wild domain where
people can get lost and be driven to insanity.

4  A Metaphysical Approach to Nature

The legends of forest spirits in the Central Highlands express Indigenous
conceptions of three different but intertwined worlds that make up the
universe: the human world, nature and the environment that are the realm
with innumerable yang, and the ghost world (malai/rohung). All three
worlds interact with each other, but not so that one world becomes depen-
dent on or controlled by another world. The three worlds’ particular con-
nection is built on negotiated exchanges and punishments. All three
worlds have a mutual responsibility and respect for each other’s indepen-
dence to maintain the harmonious order of the universe. Human activities
that break this harmony are thought to lead to a disturbance of nature and
to drought or individual or collective illness.
Whether in stories told by the fire at night, in historical recollections, or
in myths about the origin of the universe and objects, metaphysics perme-
ates the belief system about forest spirits. Considering the difference
between reality and fantasy, Condominas commented that “the Central
Highlands people like to live in the past. They do not live in their own
time. It is an outdated case” (Condominas 2003: 11). By contrast, Nguyên
Ngoc, a well-known writer who has for many years pursued the
78 T. K. N. NGUYEN

preservation of ethnic cultural values in the Central Highlands, observes

that the lifestyle of Highlanders shows their wisdom about the world:

Mô t ngày nào d ó̵ trong mùa Ni-nông (tiê ́ng Xê-d a̵ ̆ng nghı ̃a là “không làm
nông”) kéo dài 2-3 tháng, toàn bô dân làng theo già làng bỏ lai tất cả nhữ ng
gì mà toàn bô lich sử tiê ́n hóa cu ̉a con ngư ờ i d ã̵ d em
̵ d ê̵ ́n cho ho: dung cu,
quân áo, thóc lúa…Tât cả kéo nhau vào rừ ng, và sô ng lai hoàn toàn d ờ̵ i sô ́ng
̀ ́ ́
nguyên thu ̉y. Lấy d á̵ co vớ i nhau làm ra lửa, sa ̆n bat́ ̆ hái lư ợm… trong vòng
15-20 ngày. Nguyên Ngoc nhấn manh: “nhu cầu trơ ̉ vê ̀ tam ́ ̆ gô i trong cô i
nguô ̀n nguyên thu ̉y cho sach con ngư ờ i—tôi nghı ̃ d ó̵ cũng là mô t cái minh
triê ́t. (Nguyên 2018)
[A day in the Ni-nông season lasts from two to three months. On this
day, the villagers leave behind all things that the history of human evolution
has given to them: tools, clothes, rice … and together they return to the
forest, and completely re-immerse themselves in the simple life, rubbing
rocks together to make fire, hunting and gathering over fifteen to twenty
days. The need to return to bathe in the original lifestyle is a way to cleanse
people—I think that’s also a kind of wisdom.] (Translation mine)

Therefore, the ethnic minorities residing in the tropical forests of the

Highlands always live in a dual reality and always seem to live two lives at
the same time. One life belongs to the space of the village and to the harsh
reality of immense forests with their animal life. Another life belongs to
the world of spiritual beliefs and to the mystery of the forests. These two
lives are not in contradiction with each other. This demonstrates that eth-
nic people build a life of continual spiritual experiences while rationality
remains awake, as well as a “free existence” from within based on the
eternal values of nature and ancestors’ lifeblood.
Through the extremely lively presence of stories about the world
“beyond,” the metaphysical world of Highlanders lies not in the future,
but in the present; the spirit world always accompanies them. From sunset
until dawn, as ordinary people live their everyday lives, another life domi-
nates the spiritual world. When the village’s inhabitants slowly fall asleep,
the world of forest creatures wakes up through myths about yang, malai,
and cannibalism. However, this dual reality does not mechanically divide
these communities’ lives, as their imaginations, actions, and customary law
obey the mystical laws of nature and are in constant dialogue with all the
supernatural forces of the spiritual world. There is no sign of any conflict
between a metaphysical sense of the world and rational perceptions of life.
There is always an implicit voice negotiating between reality and
 LEGENDS OF FOREST SPIRITS IN THE CENTRAL VIETNAMESE HIGHLANDS 79

metaphysics, and ethnic people act according to the guidance of the nego-
tiation process between humans and yang.
The ongoing interweaving of malai and yang traditions also reminds us
that forest spirits are not a static force. The good and evil forest spirits are
interchangeable, the supernatural permeates everyday life, and encroach-
ment on the sacred forest results in tragic consequences. Similarly, spiritual
reverence and dread are inextricably linked while considering the forest
and the stories of yang and malai. Such Indigenous legends have contrib-
uted to forming the attitude of respect and fear towards forests in the
spiritual universe of the Central Highlands and the capacity of keeping
sacred jungles of ethnic minorities for hundreds of years.
The yang and malai forest spirits have been two integral parts of the
Central Highlands people’s lives from ancient times, also the two insepa-
rable sides of the sacred forest, much like light and darkness in this uni-
verse. While yang provide divine protection, malai exist as a shadow in the
soul and life, reminding the forest’s inhabitants that every being is a tiny
planet inside an infinite universe. Furthermore, nature is not only protec-
tive, as yang are, but is also capable of destroying people, as malai are.
Over time, tales about yang and malai evolved into a code of conduct and
a contract between humans and nature. The ongoing interweaving of
these traditions also reminds us that forest spirits are not a static force. The
good and evil forest spirits are interchangeable, the supernatural perme-
ates everyday life, and encroachment on the sacred forest results in tragic
consequences. Similarly, spiritual reverence and dread are inextricably
linked. Such indigenous legends have contributed to the attitude of respect
and fear towards forests in the spiritual universe of the Central Highlands
and the capacity of keeping sacred jungles of ethnic minorities for hun-
dreds of years.

5   Forest Spirit Stories in Contemporary

Vietnamese Media
Over the last ten years, there has been a continuous flow of research proj-
ects and reports on deforestation in the Central Highlands, which has
been accompanied by the reconstruction of traditional legends about
ghost forests in contemporary media. A search for “forest-worshipping
ceremony” yields about 1,830,000 results (0.36 seconds) on the Internet.
While some administration officials in the media try to erase the remnants
80 T. K. N. NGUYEN

of indigenous belief as proof of Kinh civilization’s superiority by continu-

ing to evoke stories of malai and their executions, other scholars as well as
the media have begun to promote Highlanders’ native knowledge as a
means of forest protection. The increasing frequency of news reports that
feature legends of sacred forests indicates movements of resistance and
self-defense against the loss and destruction of the great forests.
The simultaneous appearance in new media of stories about malai and
yang legends demonstrates the government’s hesitancy and contradiction
in implementing social and cultural programs in the Central Highlands.
On the one hand, the Central Highlands are Indochina’s crossroads, a
vital strategic military territory with a long history of autonomy (Bùi Tá
Hán, Đai Nam). Throughout Vietnam’s medieval history, the Central
Highlands region maintained an autonomous model. Until the reign of
King Bảo Đai (1926–1945), the Nguyêñ Monarchy (1802–1945),
Vietnam’s last feudal dynasty, continued to implement the policy of auton-
omy for the Central Highlands and legalized it with the policy of Hoàng
Triê u ̀ Cư ơ ng Thô ̉ (the land on the border of the imperial court). The
physical and political areas defined by the Nguyêñ Dynasty in Hoàng Triê u ̀
̉
Cư ơ ng Thô are those in which Kinh do not have a majority, including the
present-day Central Highlands and autonomous zones of ethnic minori-
ties in North Vietnam.
On the other hand, following the 1975 reunification of the two parts of
Vietnam, the government aimed to build an enormous national unity
block, holding the territory and border from South to North. Various
experimental policies and models associated with the Central Highlands
quickly followed. Additionally, the government claimed that imposing the
Kinh social model on Central Highlands ethnic minorities simplified
macro-management in a country with different ethnic groups. Additionally,
the Kinh people hold a strong view that it is vital to bring civilization and
material comforts to the plains and the majority to the Central Highlands.
The retellings of traditional yang and malai stories point to different
extremes of the administration’s management of Central Highlands’ issues
through the media. From 1975 onward, the government initiated a cam-
paign called “new economy” that fostered the move of ethnic Kinh (86.2%
percent of the population) from the lowlands and coastal areas to the
Highlands. This policy culminated in the 1980s and was re-emphasized in
important resolutions of the National Congress of the Communist Party
of Vietnam that emphasized that “vấn d ê̵ ̀ dân tô c và d oàn̵ kê ́t các dân tô c
́
là chiê n lư ợc cơ bản, lâu dài cu ̉a sự nghiê p cách mang nư ớ c ta” [the issue
 LEGENDS OF FOREST SPIRITS IN THE CENTRAL VIETNAMESE HIGHLANDS 81

of the nation and the unity of the peoples is the basic and long-term strat-
egy of our country’s revolution] (Viên Nghiên cứ u Xã hôi 2011: 7; trans-
lation mine).
However, the “new economy” policy lacks a deep understanding of the
cultural characteristics of this region, and the migration of many other
poor ethnic groups continues to cause serious instability for the Central
Highlands in the contemporary context. As of 1975, only about sixteen
Indigenous peoples had lived in the region. Only a short time later, more
than thirty other ethnic minorities flocked to the area, most of them poor
and illiterate families with many different forms of religious beliefs who do
not speak the Vietnamese language of the Kinh people. “New Economic
Zones were created in lightly populated areas, particularly in the Central
Highlands and in border regions in southern Vietnam. Since 1975 over
half a million people have moved to the Central Highlands particularly
from the overcrowded Tonkin Delta. Around 350,000 of these have
migrated since 1981” (Brown 2002 [1991]: 266). As a consequence of
this migration and the rapid transformations in the ethnic make-up of the
region, economic patterns have been disrupted, forests have been
destroyed for cultivation, and land ownership has changed. Waves of
migration over time have left haunted forests of dead trees, which turn the
legends of primeval sacred forests into mere nostalgic memories.
The history of development and changes in the early Indigenous com-
munities in the Upper Highlands of Vietnam as they integrated into Kinh
lowlands culture shows that the different cultures and civilizations adopted
by the early tribes in turn often did not complement each other to become
complete and good. Today they are messy, chaotic, and colorful. The vast
forests, their space of existence, disappeared in a short period of time.
Some ethnic groups became close to the Kinh, gradually abandoning tra-
ditional high-mountain villages to join the bustling cities. They left their
familiar stilt houses to settle in villages with concrete houses and media
with pre-installed official channels of state information. Central Highlands
people gradually became familiar with the purchase, sale, and exchange of
lands—which used to be the non-transferable inheritance of their ances-
tors—and surrendered their use to the Kinh. Other groups of people who
did not adapt to urban life gradually retreated into the deep woods, dis-
persed, and became more angry and agitated over time.
The lack of deep knowledge of ethnic minorities’ habits, beliefs, and
farming practices, particularly their autonomous social model, has resulted
in a slew of regulations that badly affect their cultures (Ngô 2007). The
82 T. K. N. NGUYEN

Department of Ethnic Minority Affairs’ summary reports also demon-

strate that the government is acutely aware of the effects of the collapse of
traditional ethnic structures that will destabilize or eliminate minority cul-
tures (Vu Dân tôc 2020). The destruction and disappearance of great
forests and the flooding caused by the removal of watershed forests during
the rainy season from October to November 2020 in the central and high-
lands region have alerted and awakened society to horrific environmental
destruction.
Therefore, official media communications emphasized backwardness,
ignorance, and wildness in their portrayal of ethnic minorities before
2000. A survey of the language used in reports written about ethnic
minorities in official state media, carried out by the Institute for Studies of
Society, Economy and Environment, found that the authors used signifi-
cantly more language with negative than positive connotations. Such neg-
ative words, when they are frequently used in newspapers, can cause
prejudice and deepen negative beliefs about ethnic minorities as backward,
poor, dependent, and unengaged communities (Viên Nghiên cứ u Xã hôi
2011: 19). However, since the early 2000s, with the rapid disappearance
of vast forested areas, the attitudes of the media that reflect the govern-
ment’s official views has begun to change. Stories about beliefs in forest
gods and the benefits of Indigenous knowledge in using and protecting
forests have appeared frequently in reports about deforestation and calls
for conservation and the promotion of minority cultures. The media mes-
sages are clear that the government’s behavior and policies toward the
Central Highlands are contradictory. The government’s supportive
response in promoting and disseminating forest spirit legends and Central
Highlands customary forest protection laws appears to be part of a strat-
egy of “promoting the allocation of forest land and forest resources to
communities, particularly ethnic minority communities, for management
and use following their customary law” (Cuc lâm nghiêp 2001; translation
mine). However, the government continues to pursue the goal of unifying
the ethnic community throughout Vietnam by rejecting all traditional
autonomous structures of the Central Highlands ethnic groups. This issue
contributes to the fact that the state’s official media continue to portray
ethnic groups as backward, inferior, and wild (Viên Nghiên cứ u Xã hôi
2011). This inferior status is considered the most legitimate and reason-
able justification for bringing lowlanders’ civilization to the highlands,
enhancing “people’s knowledge” in the highlands, and imposing uniform
management methods and practices on all ethnic communities in Vietnam.
 LEGENDS OF FOREST SPIRITS IN THE CENTRAL VIETNAMESE HIGHLANDS 83

6  Conclusion
The instability and decline of the traditional social structures of the Central
Highlands villages force us to re-examine their unique traditional cultural
values, which are gradually being lost. An analysis of the traditional meta-
physical beliefs of Central Highlands ethnic groups focusing on narratives
about forest spirits shows the views from inside and outside of the ethnic
minorities’ experience of change as their traditional social structures have
collapsed. The narrative of yang, the kind deity who keeps the forest, can
be understood as a “romanticization” of the ancient values that Central
Highlands people invoke to promote the restoration of destroyed forests.
The stories of malai, by contrast, highlight Indigenous people’s sense of
“tragedy” in the contemporary cultural context. These two tendencies
point to the deep rift between autonomous Indigenous societies and their
metaphysical worldview in the past, on one hand, and the survival of
minority cultures and their diminished and marginalized identity in con-
temporary society, on the other. The resurgence of stories about forest
spirits in the contemporary world reveals the strength of minority cultural
discourses. At the same time, highlighting Indigenous knowledge, beliefs,
and legends protects the ecological integrity of ethnic cultures. As envi-
ronmental destruction in Vietnam progresses, the power of Indigenous
knowledge and narratives about nature emerges with greater clarity.

Acknowledgements This research was funded by the Ministry of Education and

Training under grant number B2022-ĐHH-03. The author also acknowledges the
partial support of Hue University under the Core Research Program, Grant No.
NCM.DHH.2022.10.

Appendix: News Reports About Forest Spirits

Report 1

̀ bào bản d̵ia Tây Nguyên nghìn d̵ờ i d̵ã tao dựng, gìn giữ bồi d̵ắp kho
“Đông
tàng văn hóa quý giá, d̵ặc sắc qua Luât tuc, Sử thi, Truyên cổ… Thế như ng
bên canh nhữ ng giá tri tích cực, còn d̵ó mảng tối tâm linh d̵ày d̵oa nhiều phân
ngư ờ i bi thảm nhất. Ma lai là môt minh chứ ng… Trong môt tiêc cư ớ i, A
Thun d̵ã cãi nhau và lỡ tay tát ông A Táo ơ ̉ cùng làng. Dù ngay sau d̵ó 2
ngư ờ i d̵àn ông d̵ã bắt tay làm hòa như ng hôm sau, A Táo d̵au bung dữ dôi rồi
qua d̵ờ i. Mặc dù các bác sı̃ khẳng d̵inh A Táo chết do bi ngô d̵ôc rư ợu, như ng
mối nghi ngờ A Thun là Ma lai d̵ã loan khắp làng. Ngư ờ i ta suy diễn A Thun
84 T. K. N. NGUYEN

d̵ã dùng “thuốc thư ” giết chết A Dong và Y Dôt vài năm về trư ớ c, vì 2 ngư ờ i
d̵ó bênh nặng, cúng Yàng hết mấy con trâu, con bò như ng vẫn không khỏi. Già
làng tổ chứ c hop khẩn cấp, buôc A Thun nghe cả làng “d̵ấu tố.” Bi dồn ép, A
Thun vừ a nhân mình là Ma lai, liền bi lũ làng kéo d̵ến d̵ốt nhà, d̵uổi ra khỏi
làng. Cùng d̵ư ờ ng, A Thun d̵ư a vợ con d̵ến ơ ̉ tam tai chòi rẫy trên nư ơ ng, d̵ợi
khi sự viêc lắng xuống. Nào ngờ ngay sáng hôm sau, dân làng lai lũ lư ợt kéo
d̵ến chòi, buôc A Thun phải giao “thuốc thư ” ra, mớ i mong d̵ư ợc sống. A Thun
quỳ lay dân làng, thề d̵ôc mình không phải là Ma lai, không có thuốc thư ,
như ng vẫn bi d̵ám d̵ông quá khích tròng dây mây vào cổ kéo ra con suối canh
làng, d̵ánh cho d̵ến chết, rồi căn dặn vợ con A Thun: Hễ ai hỏi phải nói A
Thun tự tử, nếu không cả nhà sẽ bi giết!” (Hoàng Thiên Nga 2013)
[The Indigenous people of the Central Highlands have created, pre-
served and fostered a valuable and unique cultural treasure through custom-
ary law, epics, and ancient stories … But besides these positive values, there
is also a spiritual dark side, one that has damned some people to tragic fates.
Malai is an example. At a wedding party, AThun quarreled and accidentally
slapped ATao, a fellow villager. Afterwards the two men shook hands to
make up, but the next day ATao came down with a severe stomach ache and
suddenly passed away. Although doctors confirmed ATao died from alcohol
poisoning, suspicions that AThun was a Malai spread throughout the vil-
lage. It was deduced that AThun had also used a “poisonous herb” to kill
two other villagers, ADong and YDo, a few years prior, because the two of
them were seriously ill, and despite making an offering of buffaloes and
cows to yang, they still could not heal. The village patriarch held an emer-
gency meeting, forcing AThun to answer “accusations” from the whole vil-
lage. Under pressure, AThun admitted that he was malai; villagers
immediately burned Athun’s house and kicked him out of the village. With
nowhere to go, AThun took his wife and children to temporarily stay in a
hut on the upland field, waiting for things to settle down. Anyway, the next
morning, the villagers flocked to the hut again, forcing AThun to hand over
the “poisonous herb” if he wanted to live. AThun knelt and bowed to the
villagers, swearing that he was not malai and had no poisonous herb. Yet the
villagers still dragged him to the stream next to the village, beat him to
death, and instructed his wife and children that: If anyone asks, say AThun
committed suicide, otherwise the whole family will be killed!] (transla-
tion mine).

Report 2:

“Trong khi da̵ i ngàn trên khăṕ Tây Nguyên bi xâm hai không ngừ ng, gây da̵ i
han khiêń ngư ờ i dân và hàng van cây trông̀ chiu cảnh khô khát chờ mư a, thì
rừ ng dô̵ ì Cư H’Lăm vẫn xanh tôt,́ chúng tôi dừ ng chân tai thi trấn Ea Pôk,
́
 LEGENDS OF FOREST SPIRITS IN THE CENTRAL VIETNAMESE HIGHLANDS 85

huyên Cư M’gar (Đăḱ Lăk), ́ cách Buôn Ma Thuôt chừ ng 15 cây sô,́ tìm hiêủ
huyêǹ thoai dô̵ ì Cư H’Lam ̆ rông 18,6 ha vớ i nhữ ng lờ i nguyêǹ bí ẩn, giúp khu
rừ ng dư̵ ợc bảo tôn,
̀ trơ ̉ thành “chiêć máy diê̵ ù hòa” cho thi trấn ngôt ngat. Gặp
già làng Y Ruê Mlô (67 tuôi) ̉ nhiêù na ̆m giữ chứ c trư ơ ̉ng buôn ơ ̉ buôn Ea
́ ́ ́ ̀
Măp, thi trân Ea Pôk hỏi vê sự tích rừ ng Cư H’Lăm, ông vui vẻ cho hay:
‘Mình nghe ông bà xư a kể rằng: Ngon d̵ồi này d̵ã có từ lâu, thuơ ̉ ấy nó
chư a có tên goi, cho d̵ến khi có mối tình say d̵ắm giữ a nàng H’Lăm và chàng
Y Đhin. Ngày ngày ho dắt nhau lên d̵ồi hái hoa nguyên thề suốt d̵ờ i bên nhau.
Tuy nhiên mối tình của ho sớ m tan vỡ khi pham vào luât tuc ngư ờ i cùng ho
không d̵ư ợc lấy nhau. Ho chết trong d̵au khổ và hóa thành nhữ ng linh hồn
rừ ng, khiến cả d̵ồi cây trơ ̉ thành khu rừ ng thiêng. Câu chuyên trên d̵ư ợc lư u
truyền qua nhiều thế hê cùng vớ i lờ i nguyền khó lý giải. Nếu ai vào rừ ng vô
tình nhắc d̵úng tên Y Đhin và H’Lăm sẽ bi thần rừ ng giam giữ d̵i mãi không
ra. Nhữ ng ai có ý d̵ồ d̵en tối, truc lợi rừ ng Cư H’Lăm d̵ều phải d̵ền tôi. Chặt
cây dựng nhà, lâp tứ c nhà sâp hoặc bi cháy trui. Còn săn bắt thú rừ ng sẽ gặp
tai nan hay phát bênh d̵iên khùng vô phư ơ ng cứ u chữ a, tai hồ nư ớ c ơ ̉ khu
rừ ng có rất nhiều khoai môn nư ớ c, như ng ngư ờ i dân chı̉ d̵ư ợc phép lấy d̵em
luôc rồi ăn tai chỗ chứ dứ t khoát không d̵ư ợc d̵em về, nếu không sẽ mắc tai hoa
cho bản thân. Ngư ờ i trong làng còn truyền tai rằng, cách d̵ây gần 10 năm,
môt ngư ờ i trong làng vào rừ ng bắt d̵ư ợc con rùa vàng. Về d̵ến nhà ngư ờ i này
d̵ang bình thư ờ ng bỗng hóa dai. Gia d̵ình liền thả rùa về rừ ng như ng bênh
tình vẫn không thuyên giảm’ (Lê Nhuân, Báo Dân Sinh, cơ quan truyền thông
của Bô thư ơ ng binh và xã hôi).” (Lê Nhuân 2018)
[While thousands of trees all over the Central Highlands were continu-
ously damaged, causing droughts that led people and thousands of trees to
suffer from dryness and thirst, waiting for rain, Cu H’Lam hill forest remains
green. We stopped at Ea Pok town, Cư M’gar district (Dak Lak), about
15 kilometers from Buôn Ma Thuôt, to learn about the legend of Cư
H’Lam hill, 18.6 hectares wide and known for its mysterious curses, helping
to preserve the forest and becoming an “air conditioner” for the stuffy
town. Meeting the village elder, Y Ruo Mlo (67 years old), for many years a
village chief in Ea Mom village, Ea Pok town, we asked about the legend of
Cư H’Lam forest and he happily said: I heard the elders say: This hill has
existed for a long time, but in the past it had no name, until there was a pas-
sionate love between Ms. H’Lam and Mr. Y Đhin. Day after day, they took
each other up the hill to pick flowers and vow to be together forever.
However, their love soon broke down when they violated the customary law
that prohibits relatives from marrying. They died in agony and turned into
forest spirits, turning the whole hill into a sacred forest. The above story has
been passed down for generations along with a curse that is difficult to
explain. If someone entered the forest and mentioned Y Đhin and H’Lam’s
name by mistake, they would be kept by the forest god forever. And those
86 T. K. N. NGUYEN

who have dark intentions and profit from Cư H’Lam forest must pay for
their crimes. If they cut down trees to build a house, for example, the house
will immediately collapse or burn to the ground. Hunting wild animals in
the forest will cause an accident or make them go crazy with no cure. At the
lake in the forest, there are many water taro, but people are only allowed to
boil and eat them on the spot but definitely not take them home; otherwise,
it will cause a disaster. People in the village also said that, nearly ten years
ago, a villager went into the forest to catch a golden turtle. At home, this
man suddenly went wild. The family immediately released the turtles to the
forest, but the illness did not get better] (translation mine).

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