(Article of author Tường-Bách published in the Ngày Nay newspaper, February 10, 1935)
‘Girl and narcissus’, a painting of Mr. Tôn Thất Đào, painted on silk, illustration of Ngày Nay newspaper.
Although there are more beautiful and brilliant flowers, looking at the white petals of narcissus with bright yellow stamens, mixed with soft curved green leaves, still see the pure, noble look that no flower else has.
And look at a beautiful narcissus bulb, we must think of the skillful hands of the person who meticulously pared and cared for it from the time of purchase until flowering. Many people, especially women and girls, buy narcissuses and pare them for fun. But most people, when New Year is coming, go to Đồng Xuân market to buy some bulbs which were pared, it’s so good enough.
The profession of paring narcissuses for sale has made many people live in an affluent and leisurely manner, most in the villages of Nghi-Tàm and Yên-Phụ. Yên-Phụ village has been paringing narcissuses for countless New Years. Other villages have only imitated it for seven or eight years, and are still deficient, although they had to send people down there to learn the craft for several months.
Mr. Trưởng D… a skillful one in Yên Phụ, although he only pared about two packages of Nghi-Xuân, each of about 35 $ 00, he made a profit of more than a hundred silver each year, enough money for him to spend and smoke opium for twelve months.
But the work of paring narcissuses is by no means leisurely. Bring them home, preliminary paring, then must soak them in rows in shallow “barrels”, filled with water. Hard work – especially for an addict – because there is nothing more uncomfortable than mornings when it’s cold as hell, having to change the water, pare and trim each bulb, and meticulously sit and do the leaves so that they bend, or insert a needle into them and then peel the inside so that it is both in the middle and not too high.
Always have to take care of, always have to see if the weather is hot or cold to predict. If it’s hot, must take them to cold and windy place, but if it’s cold, must pare them down and put in a warm place, it will be very good if there’s a fireplace near them.
This New Year, it had to be afraid of a dangerous disease of narcissuses, suddenly one gets dots like mold and becomes all black, falls off, only a day or two would damage the whole bulb.
Seeing me, Mr. Trưởng shook his head and said:
– There’s no way to cure it.
I said just for fun:
– Why don’t you come to ask Mr. Nguyễn-công-Tiếu?
– Yes, the other day a person went up to Ngọc Hà to ask Mr. Tiếu, he told them to treat it with thanh-đạm bought at a traditional medicine store, but it didn’t work.
Truly it didn’t work, because Mr. Tiếu’s narcissuses are not any good.
—
But fortunately, that disease, because of the cold weather, no longer exists. Sitting by a dimly lit peanut oil lamp in a dark room, Mr. Trưởng happily soaked the regularly trimmed narcissuses, lush, with plump flowers, and arranged them in small earthen pots. And no matter how cheap it is, every bulb he sells can make five dimes – that’s not counting the best, most beautiful bulbs, selling for a dong, a half dong or more. Each bulb has only cost him one dime at the beginning. As for the damaged, bad bulbs that have to be planted, it is not significant.
“Paring narcissuss never lose money” – his words made me want to follow his profession. But before his hard work, patience, meticulousness and gentle, skillful hands – which I have not yet had – I see that its benefits are still far away.
But strictly speaking, it is only beneficial for the shops selling narcissuses, such as Sâm-Vinh, Hiệu-Xương at Hàng Buồm, for example. Every year they earn thousands of money, which is certainly money of Annamese people.
Although narcissus is a real luxury, it is a luxury worth buying. Because, lack of gentle beauty and fragrance of narcissuses in a transparent glass, how we call it New Year?
