MAGIC STONE

The Magic Stone, locally known as “Mo Rang Phat” (Rang: cave and Phat: bubbling) resides in a karst valley in Lung Sang village, Hong Quang commune, Quang Hoa, where are living Nung ethnic group people.

According to legend, the cave was the shelter of three girls named “Sam, Soi, and Moi”, whose duty was to look after the treasure inside the cave. These girls from a rich family were at the age to get married. Many men proposed marriage to them but all were refused. In order to protect the family’s treasure, the girls’ father asked the girls to stay inside the cave, and told them to raise the water to cover the cave’s entrance in case there was a thief. At a warning signal, the girls will raise the water level up.

In order to see water rising-up, one has to clap his hands or knock on the ground inside the cave with a stick or a stone and speak out loud several times a magic sentence: “Tý Sằm, Tý Sỏi, Tý Mỏi Rằng Phặt / Sặc Kim, Sặc Ngằn lố/ Bó áu nặm khảu mà/ Boong au ngằn léo lớ” (Miss Sam, Soi, Moi Rang Phat, the thieves are coming, raise water or else the thieves will take all the treasure). After calling, one can hear bubbling sounds inside the cave, at the same time water in the sinkhole gradually rises up.

Groundwater in Rang Phat is available and abundant in all seasons and the site is possibly located inside karstic limestones with underground lakes and rivers all connected somewhat like Thang Hen lake system. The reason for the fluctuation of the water level in Rang Phat could be a resonance phenomenon. It is common that in mountainous areas when someone shouts out, series of echoes return from surrounding cliffs. Possibly, the lake-karst caveunderground river system in Rang Phat is so complicated and special that the sounds of clapping hands, or calling echoing in the cave can resonate, become louder and create a greater pressure on the water surface, then make the water level rise.