Art of the Devil

Short Horror Story: In the past, most players were friends with a brown fairy according to a fashion trend called "high-class play." Ba Tra was infected with this fashionable trend. So almost every day she followed the wealthy men to the caves of the witch to smoke opium and stare blankly at the white smoke like the face of the brown fairy. At first, Ba Tra only smoked for fun but gradually became addicted. If there was no smoke at the right time every day, she couldn't stand it and started to heavily rely on it. When going out with those famous players, they always provided her with opium. When they were gone, Ba Tra bought a pipe and expensive boxes of opium to enjoy in her private room.

Gradually, Ba Tra became a close friend or rather a slave of the brown fairy. The diamond rings, jade bracelets, and expensive jewelry given by the players were lost in the smoke too. Ba Tra bluntly declared that what's given by heaven is precious enough and there's no need to question it! As a result, a year after the trip to Cambodia to get some opium, the wealthy men were even more infatuated with Ba Tra, who believed that she had been cursed by the opium!

And perhaps this was the biggest turning point in Ba Trà's life, and even for poor Mr. Lam: When Ba Trà clung to him and intended to hide forever in Can Tho, King Six-Feet, then Bachelor Bach, and many other lovers found their way there and caused countless earth-shattering jealousy scenes in the Western land.

Between the two towns of Rach Gia and Ha Tien, a large brick house appeared, surprising many people. At first, they thought the house belonged to a French official or a wealthy local leader. However, it was actually built by Mr. Ho Lam as a residence for himself and his lover, Ba Tra. After discovering that dangerous men from Siam were searching for her, Ba Tra fled with the help of Mr. Ho Lam. He built the mansion on a deserted road but later left it vacant due to a mysterious reason that only later became known.

Initially, Ba Tra thought her physical condition was due to her drug addiction, not realizing she was under a love spell. Eventually, she understood the truth and decided to end her wild affairs in Saigon. She secretly went back to Can Tho, where Mr. Ho Lam worked as a deputy director of a French bank, hoping to build a healthy and stable relationship with him, rather than indulging in passionate and immoral relationships.

The Lam family had barely finished building their new mansion when two strange men came to visit. They claimed to be travelers who had gotten lost and needed rest and water. Little did the Lams know that these men were actually agents of a Siamese curse.

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He performs some kind of ritual or chant, then sits there with his eyes closed, and within half an hour, hundreds of snakes of all colors crawl out and into the sacks without resistance. He repeats this process with more and more bags until all the snakes are gone, but when he touches one particular snake on the head, he suddenly stops and falls back while the snake remains motionless. The snake charmer appears shaken and makes strange noises, leaving everyone curious about what has just happened.

The caretaker approached and discovered a small snake on the back of the motionless large snake. The small snake had light green color with colorful dots, while the large snake remained still. Sensing danger, the caretaker quickly pulled the man away from the snake's den. Later, it was revealed that the snake master who came from Thailand to find the Lam family fortune was responsible for Ba Tra's death due to poisoning. The wealthy Lam family lost much of their wealth and assets due to their obsession with Ba Tra. She died alone in her old apartment with only an old chair as her sole possession.

Encounter at the Gambling Den in "Dai The Gioi" - Short Story of Madame Ba Tra

Madame Ba Tra and I unexpectedly met at a gambling den in Dai The Gioi decades later, resembling a dream. I had aged, but she asked if her beauty had faded. To me, she remained the woman from Khanh Ky's photo on Bonard street. I used to admire her every Sunday near my school, Chasseloup Laubat, which inspired me to become a poet.

For a while, Madame Ba Tra had almost one hundred thousand dong, which could have bought her three thousand acres of land that generated a minimum return of six thousand dong annually. However, despite the substantial sum, she died penniless, having sold her house and living in the stairwell of an apartment building with only her father's recliner as her sole possession.

Vuong Hong Sen recounts the death of Co Ba Nhu as follows: "Several years later, I met Ba Luu, a friend whom we got to know each other from Soc Trang. He told me that Tra had passed away a long time ago. She died in darkness. Dam Tien was different."