Skip to main content

Cat and mouse

Ngoc Hoang was king who ruled in heaven. As other kings, he had stores which storied all treasures belonging to him. The stores needed a person to manage them. Thu was one of gods living in heaven, clear and hard work. Therefore, Ngoc Hoang entrusted the job, taking care of the   stores, to Thu. Ngoc Hoang gave him keys and said:
“Though all things in heaven are unlimited, we shouldn’t waste them. Therefore, I need a person to manage them. That is you. You don’t need to report to me daily. Twice a year are enough”, said Ngoc Hoang.
“Follow your words, my king”, said Thu.
vietnamese fairy tales
Thu happily received his new position. Few years later, Thu did his duty well he set things at their places, didn’t wasted anything. Ngoc Hoang was very satisfied but nothing could keep its initial state pass time. Because things which belonged to Ngoc Hoang were very great none could count or measure, Thu thought about stealing.
“Only a little could be enough for my family to live till they died”, he thought. Then, he did as his thinking. He and his family had easy lives from that time. They put on nice clothes, ate delicious dishes they had never eaten, course, turned more beautiful. Day by day, he stole more and more. At last, he turned reckless and stole as much as he could.
Short time later, Ngoc Hoang found out. Thu was caught while he was stealing things from a store. Ngoc Hoang turned angry, he immediately forced him to live on ground with shape of an animal. The little animal, later, was called mouse.
Though Thu had been punished, he still continued doing what he had done, stealing. He stole things from people who lived in ground. Because he, now, was small in new shape, he stole small things, ate food, tore clothes of people. Therefore, people very hated him. They planned to catch and killed him but they couldn’t catch him. Besides, he had given birth too many other mouses since he was threw out heaven. Therefore, he and his offspring had destroyed many things.
At last, people had to beg Tho Cong the gods managed on ground and also the god who transmitted people's wishes to Ngoc Hoang. Tho Cong understood people’s wish and knew how to be serious if Thu continued giving birth to other mouses. Immediately, Tho Cong moved up heaven and reported to Ngoc Hoang.
“My king, my dear king, people on ground can live or not depending on your kindness. You know though stores in heaven are unlimited have been deficited because of him. Now, he was forced to live with people who had all things limited. King, you have to find out someway to destroy them before people on ground extinct”.
Ngoc Hoang was very surprised he had never thought that the small animal he created could do terrible thing. He thought a little then called Mieu, another god, to him. He said:
“I have never thought that Thu who was punished to live on ground can do terrible thing to people but, now, is too late to ask him to come back heaven. Therefore, I need you to move down ground and help people punish him and his family. You have to let him know that people are poor and he is not allowed to destroyed people’s things”, said Ngoc Hoang.
Mieu had a little worry. He said:
“According to Tho Cong’s words, Thu have given birth to many mouses. Uhm, you know it is very difficult for me to catch them if I have only myself. Besides, they are small and easy to hide themselves”, said Mieu.
“Course, I know. Therefore, I will change you into an animal which is three times than mouses. I give you sturdy muscles, sharpen claws and sparkling eyes which help you can catch them though you are in dark”, said Ngoc Hoang.
Mieu still didn’t like Thu so he agreed. He nodded and Ngoc Hoang changed him into another animal which, later, was called cat.
Mieu had worked very hard since he lived on ground. He used to warn mouses not to destroyed people’s things because they were very poor (cat spread sounds, meow which is pronounced like “nghèo” which have same meaning with poor in English). On other side, he also had huntings and killed many mouses.
Mouses seemed to have less chance to steal and destroy things in people’s house from the time cat landed on ground. Therefore, people felt grateful him so much and treated him very well, giving him delicious food on dish.Later, Mieu also gave birth to children, cats. His offspring continued doing his duty, protecting people’s assets from Thu and his family, mouse.
THE END
"Translator: 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

Read more: 
-----

Essential Reads: Engaging Books You Can't Miss!

Comments

Post a Comment

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!

The Tale of the Hundred - knot Bamboo tree

Once upon a time, there had a boy who was poor, had no field. Therefore, he found the way to work for a landlord. He was healthy, worked hard and great in working so the landlord wanted him to work for him long time without any pay. One day, he called the boy to come. "You are honest and healthy. If you agree to work for me in three years without pay, I will let you marry with my only daughter after that." The boy agreed. He believed completely. He worked very hard, help the landlord turn richer that he could build more houses, buy more fields and cattles. Then, time passed. Three years nearly crossed, the boy always remembered his master's promise while his master, the landlord didn't want to do his promise. He in secret had found another boy for his daughter, a son of another landlord in that area. Therefore, what he need was a reason to refuse the boy. One day, he called the boy to come. "You have worked very hard for three years, waken early, slept late....

Story 1. Cong Uan Ly, the first king of Ly dynasty.

As  a fairy tale when he who was a poor farmer  with no field had to work for monks staying in   Tien   Son temple which was placed in   Bac   ninh   province loved a nun in the temple. Then the nun  was pregnant  and couldn’t keep the thing in secret months. Then the abbot found out and was very angry. The abbot expelled the nun   immedately . He and she went away they took a rest in a forest. The man felt thirty and went away to find water. He saw a well and bent down to drink.   Unfortunely , he fell down into the well and died. The nun had waited for long time but didn’t see the man come back. She went to find him but as she arrived the well had been buried by termites. None knew that the place had a “dragon stream” which was only intended for blessed person. So painful the nun creamed but meanwhile she felt her stomach painful. She knew that she nearly gave birth to a child.  Therefore, she tried her best to go to a ...

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...

Truyện 166. Vợ chàng Trương

Ngày xưa, ở làng Nam-xương có cô gái tên là Vũ Thị Thiết, người đã xinh đẹp lại thùy mị nết na. Nàng lấy chồng là Trương sinh vốn là người cùng làng. Trương sinh có tính cả ghen, hay để tâm xét nét vợ, nhưng vợ chàng thường giữ gìn khuôn phép nên không có chuyện gì xảy ra. Vợ chồng hương đượm lửa nồng chưa được bao lâu thì bỗng nghe tin chốn biên thùy có giặc, chồng vâng lệnh quan phải từ giã mẹ và vợ đi lính thú. Bấy giờ vợ đang có thai. Buổi chia tay thật là bịn rịn, mẹ chúc cho con chân cứng đá mềm, chồng khuyên vợ gắng phụng dưỡng mẹ già và nuôi con khôn lớn. Sau khi chồng trẩy được mươi ngày thì Vũ Thị Thiết sinh được một đứa con trai, đặt tên là thằng Đản. Thằng bé sởn sơ mạnh khỏe, còn bà nội của nó vì nhớ con sinh ra đau ốm. Vợ chàng Trương hết lòng mời thầy chạy thuốc, nhưng bệnh của mẹ chồng mỗi ngày một nặng, chẳng bao lâu thì mất. Nhờ có bà con xóm giềng, mọi việc tống táng đều lo liệu chu toàn. Đã mấy thu qua không thấy chồng...

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...

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 ...

2. Black dragon, the abandoned son of dragon family

The first black dragon' s born with whole body in black color, bigger than his brother and especally, he had only four toes on each foot (like half-black dragons having four toes instead of five). The ugly appereance made him not to be admitted by other members in his family that they thought he's half-blood dragon though the pure blood's inside him. Therefore, black dragon's not inherited the ability, controling natural phenomena, water, wind, cloud, thunder... After that, black dragons continued to be born and almost of them were not admitted and couldn't control any natural phemona.

Thuong Luong

Thuong Luong was common name of creatures which are in people’s imagines. They are distant relatives of dragons. While dragons are worshiped as gods, the gods ruled rivers and sea and the gods can make rains, Thuong Luong is not respected as dragons that the creatures are too amorous, combative, wild, and have bad behaviors. All most of them like to harm people.