Skip to main content

The tale of "Tu Hú" bird

Once upon a time, there had two monks whose names were Năng Nhẫn (the name mean patient) and Bất Nhẫn (the name mean impatient). They led their religious life when they were young in a remote temple. 
vietnamese fairy tales
vietnamesefairytales.blogspot.com
After a long time, Năng Nhẫn had had the result and became a follower of the Buddha. Bất Nhẫn also led his religious as his friend but he didn’t have luck as his friend. Therefore, he felt angry. He went to place where the Buddha sat and tried his best to explain how much loyalty he had, difficult things he had passed and hoped that the Buddha would allow him to become a follower. But the Buddha didn’t agree, he said:
“You are not only a loyal man but also innocent. That is so valuable but your mentality like a wild buffalo. Therefore you don’t become a follower. You have to be more patient then you will achieve your aspirations”.

Bất Nhẫn followed Buddha’s words. He found a big tree and sat by the. He planned to sit quietly in three years although what happened he would not move. Never pay attention anything, he followed Buddha’s meaning persistently.
From that day, Bất Nhẫn liked a thing without sense. He let ants crawled on his body, animals clawed his feet, bird left their shit on his head but he had never moved. 
Two summers had passed and the third summer was coming. one day, a bird – couple flew down on his shoulder and built a nest in his ear but he didn’t care he let they did whatever they wanted. They brought straw on his head, his face then the female bird laid eggs. They hatched the eggs together until fledglings appeared. They cheeped all time of day but he didn’t feel angry.
One day, which was ten days from the last date he had to sit under the tree, the female - bird went to collect food. She did found anything in all afternoon until evening she flew cross a lake and saw a spider was on a lotus. She dropped down to catch the spider. As the spider saw the bird, it hid himself between petals that made the bird spend a lot of time to find. Suddenly, petals were closed because of sundown, held the bird inside itself. The bird tried to escape but the petals so thick that she had to stay in it.       
The male bird stayed at home, was confused. He flew around all night. The next morning, the female was back. They burst into an argument. The male thought that the female was betrayer then he scolded her horribly. The female, in other side, tried her best to explain herself. Besides, young birds cheeped madly because of hunger. The mess made Bất Nhẫn be upset. When the argument was on the top, he took up his hand and grabbed the nest and threw hardly to the ground.
 “Bastard, because of the little problem, you all make my ears deafen from morning to now”, he shouted.

Therefore, the effort of Bất Nhẫn was downfall.
Bất Nhẫn didn’t give up. He went to the Buddha another time, showed him his regret. That time, he found a flowing river, volunteered to be free – ferryman. He planned to take one hundred people cross the river.
  He was patient although very few people wanted to pass the river. He had taken 98 people for two years.
A day in the fall, it had a violent rain which made the river more flowing. A woman and a child appeared incidentally on the riverside. They seemed to be like noble’s families. Before they landed their feet on the boat, the woman had said:
“Be carefully, I don’t want to get wet. If I get wet you will receive your punishment”.
Bất Nhẫn felt a little anger but he still smiled and said: 
“Don’t worry. I will try my best”.
Then he took them pass the river safely but as they landed their feet on the riverside, the woman suddenly shouted: 
“I left my luggage on the other side. You get back and bring it to me.”
Bất Nhẫn lost his words, tried to get back. Until the sun downed, he just got back the side where the woman was waiting. But when the woman looked into her luggage, she complained
“Omg, I leave the shoes of my son under my bed. You have to try to take me back another time”.
When the woman had just talked, Bất Nhẫn pointed his finger on her face and shouted:
“Bitch, I wasn’t born to serve you”.
The woman, exactly, was Guanyin who wanted to challenge Bât Nhẫn. She now was back her protoplast and said:
“You are not completely patient, you can not lead a religious life”. Bất Nhẫn bowed his head in shame. He was transformed into a bird which only appeared in the fall when he met Guanyin. People called the bird, “Tu Hú”. “Tu” was pronounced like religion in Vietnam.
THE END
"Translated by Hung Nguyen"

Book Introductions

1. Complete Collection of Vietnamese Fairy Tales - A Treasury of Legends and Folklore

Discover over 240 enchanting Vietnamese fairy tales, translated into English and beautifully illustrated. This collection is a treasure trove of legends and folklore that reflect Vietnam's rich cultural heritage. Available as an ebook on: Kobo, Apple Books

2. Vietnamese Fairy Tales - Stories in English and Vietnamese

This bilingual collection features 162 Vietnamese fairy tales in both English and Vietnamese, with stunning illustrations. Ideal for language learners and cultural enthusiasts. Available as an ebook on: Kobo, Apple Books

3. The Treasury of Fables

An enchanting collection of timeless fables, written in English and beautifully illustrated. Perfect for all ages, these stories offer valuable moral lessons. Available as an ebook on: Kobo, Apple Books

Ebook Banner

Essential Reads: Engaging Books You Can't Miss!

Read more: 
-----

BÀI ĐĂNG ĐƯỢC XEM NHIỀU

List of Vietnamese fairy tales

Vietnamese  fairy tales includes many stories as Tam and Cam; So Dua; Hundred – knot- bamboo tree... which were spread in folk. Each stories has  its own meaning. I think I can not translate exactly each word into english but I will try my best to convey its meaning to you. Hope you like them!

Thanh Giong

Once  upon a time, a woman was old but she had not given birth a child. One day, when she went to her field, she saw a stranger footsore on the ground. The big footsore made her surprise and said: “omg, this footsore is so big” the she put her foot into the footsore. More 9 months later, she gave birth to a little boy named Giong. The boy was extraordinary that he was over three years old but had not spoken. He only knew lying and smiling. vietnamesefairytales.blogspot.com That year, the enemies they were known An planed to attack the country of the boy. They were merciless. Wherever they had gone, houses were ruined, fields were fired, people were killed. The sight behind them is mess of corpse and blood and ashes.The King was worry he forced his servants to look for person who could fight against the enemies.  One day, a servent went to Giong’s village while the woman was holding the boy in her arms, she said sadly that: “Giong, I wonder that when you hav...

Wishing pearl

De was a young boy. His parent was servants of a landlord. Every morning, De led landlord’s cattle to meadow and brought them back at nightfall. De used to be excited in playing with his fellows and when he was in his game he didn’t care anything. Many times the cattle he herded ate rice on field and the owners used to beat him pained but he still left cattle and joined in his fellows. One normal day, he and his fellows had a swimming competition. An award was given to the winner that he couldn’t refuse. Therefore, he participated in the competition and left his cattle on a wild hill. They swam and dived in water until noon and when they walked on ground, a cow had disappeared. The cow belonged to no one but his master. Children separated to find the cow but the cow seemed to vanish they couldn’t find it. Sun was going to down, children made their ways to home they left De staying at there. Day stayed at there alone crying. After that, he fell in sleep. Latter, he was woken up b...

Bài 1.5: Cách sử dụng at, on, in cho thời gian, ngày, tháng, năm, mùa.

Chào các bạn! Bởi vì mình có hay dich truyện và một vài thứ linh tinh khác nên thường bắt gặp ngày, tháng năm. Thật ra khôngkhó để sử dụng đúng nhưng mỗi lần cần đến mình lại phải tra lại tra cứu. Điều đó rất mất thời gian nên hôm nay mình viết một bài liên quan đến at, on, in + thời gian để giúp bạn nào chưa biết và giúp chính mình nhớ được cách sử dụng của các giới từ at, on, in và dạng thời gian được theo sau giới từ đó.

So dua - Coconut boy

Once upon a time, there in a village had a couple who worked as servants for a landlord. Although they were over fifty years old, they had ever not had a child. They were sad about that, but they had never given up to dream about a child. One day, it's a very hot day, when the wife was working in the field and felt very thirsty. She seeked for water, but she didn't see any but a little water in a skull which was in a hole beside an ancient tree. She had no choice but to drink it. Right the moment she drank, the feeling of cold water running from her throat to her stomach made her felt very comfortable. As a magic, she was pregnant after that short time. Then, the husband died before he got the happiness looking his child be born. After nine months and ten days, the wife gave birth a son but he didn't look like any child on the world. He had no feet, no leg, and even no body. He just had a head with full of eyes, nose, ear, hair and mouth on it. He didn't ugly but was ...

Reluctant doctor

Once  upon a time, there was where a farmer whose name’s Tan lived. He was clever and timid man but with his wife he seemed not to treat her well that made her hate him and always found the chance to let him know the feeling when some body was beaten. That’s the feeling she used to get. One day when the wife was on the way to market, she heard some body, exactly that’s king's messenger, finding a doctor to cure princess.  A fish bone was stuck in princess’ throat and couldn’t take it out. It hurt the princess very much. So, her father, the king, who loved her much sent messengers to whole of the country to find doctors to help his daughter take the fish bone out. Anyone who could do the thing would have a worthy award money and name. The wife made her way to the messenger. “Dear sir,” she said, “I know a person. Best of best doctors. He can cure even people who nearly die”. “Really? What you just said”, said the messenger. “Yeah. That’s right but his behavior i...

The tale of "Banh Chung" and "Banh Day"

Once  upon a time, that had a king who was so old so he wanted to abdicate. He had had few wives who had given bird twelve sons. All of his sons had grown up and also were great people. The King was confused about choosing. “All of them are talent people. It is so difficult that I can choose a person and nobody can be jealous” said the King. vietnamesefairytales.blogspot.com “My Lord the king, we can have a contest” said a servant. “Oh, it is a good idea but what is subject of the contest?” said the king  “Meaning dishes, which we can put on ancestral altar” said the servant. “Great, let’s doing” said the king. The king called his son to come on and said:  “My sons, I don’t have many time and I want one of you to become the king. Now, anybody who can find dishes which not only are delicious but still have great meaning to put on ancestral altar will become the king.” 

My Chau and Trong Thuy

Once upon a time, there had a king, named An Duong Vuong. After many years fighting, he get a large area. The king planed to build a castle but whenever it had been built as tall as a men’s height then it was ruined. The king was unhappy. Therefore, the king had made an altar to pray God for few days until an early morning, a old man from seaside went to talk him God Turtle was going come to help him. The king was very happy and forced soldiers to wait on the seaside. The next day, in the water appeared a big gold turles toward seaside. The soldiers invited God Turtle to set sat on a big gold platter and brought to the king. The God Turtle told the king that the castle couldn’t have finished because of demons. God Turtle helped the king to kill the demons so all demons was killed. Besides, the God Turtle help the king design a castle look like a seashell with many gate levels. Half a month later, the castle had been finished. The king was very pleased but a little worry. He a...

The tale of lime-jar

Once  upon a time, a beautiful girl was born in a wealthy family and she also was a haughty girl. She made other girls tear away and men hate her. So that she was old enough to get married but no men agreed to marry with her. Someone she said that they were too fat, someone was too skinny, someone was to short… At last she had married. Her husband loved her but she, in the other hand, always became jealous whenever her husband talked to other woman. To many times they had arguments that made their neighbors uncomfortable. At last, they can not stand any more and decided to divorce. Felt sad about family problem she decided to have a religious life. http://vietnamesefairytales.blogspot.com She had led the religious life for 20 years that had made animals living around the temple accustomed to her back but she still couldn’t land her feet on Buddhist land. She thought that why she had known all Buddhist scripture and she also had a religious life as everyone but now she s...