Skip to main content

Tam and Tu

Once upon a time, there had a man named Tam. Tam was a musical instrument-maker. He used to bring musical instruments to other areas to sell. When all musical instruments were sold, he turned back home and made other musical instruments. One time, he went distantly. He met a man on his way. The man was under a tree resting. He felt tired so he approached the man and had a rest. They had a conversation and therefore, he knew the man was Tu. He was a trader but that time he lost all money. He was thinking about finding a new job to live, being a servant.
vietnamese fairy tales
Tam felt sorry for Tu so he gave him half of his food to Tu.
“Help me shoulder my musical instruments till you separate, I will pay you some money”, said Tam.
They went. Later, they both felt thirsty. They found the way to a well but the well was nearly dry, too deep to take water. Tu turned to Tam and said:
“We have only choice. One of us will stand here, keep a top of this rope so the other can follow this rope to the bottom of this well and drink. Later, when the person in the well goes up, the other will go down to drink”. 
So they did. Tu was the first person who went down. But, as Tam went down, Tu left him there, under the well, shouldered the musical instruments away. Tam had called Tu many times but he didn’t response. He knew that he was cheated so that he tried to scream, hoping someone could hear his voice. But, the well was the place very few people went cross. He screamed and creamed very long that made his throat pained. At last, some travelers went cross and heard his voice at the late afternoon. They helped him up then strode.
Tam shuffled on the road, trying to find somewhere to take a rest, so tired and feeling disappointed about Tu who he had tried to help but he seemed to be a bastard. Later, he reached an old temple. he knocked on the door and asked the guard to let him stay there one night.
“Hope you can let me stay here sir. I can not force my feet move anymore”, he said in exhausted breathes.
“I’m afraid that you can’t because here is the place four evils live. They will throttle any strange who dares to stay here in night. Move! Before you can’t”, said the guard.
Tam was too tired to move. His eyes nearly shut that he couldn’t think more much about other things but to have a sleep.
“I can’t move anymore sir. Please let me to the place that I can hide myself in”, he said
“Only at cave entrance that was where you can hide yourself. There had a hole on the wall next to the evils’ cave”. Said the guard.
Tam went in the hole, helped himself lay. He slept and was woken up by somebody’s voice. Four evils were standing at front of the cave entrance, taking.
“Behind this temple, ten steps to the left. There has six jars of silver”, said the first evil.
“Behind this temple, ten steps to the right. There has six jar of gold”, said the second evil.
“I know a pearl which can force us die immediately”, said the third evil.
“Where?”, said the fourth evil.
“Just next to our entrance”, said the third evil.
Suddenly, Tam felt something which was under his body. That was a shining pearl. He threw the pear to the evils at one. All evils fell down, motionless. He went out to check and they all had died.
The next morning, Tam made his way to the guard and thanked him. Later, he went toward his home and brought his family back the temple. They dug up the places which evils mentioned and found the things, six jars of gold and silver. From that time, Tam became richer and had a happy life.
You must wonder how about Tu. After Tu stole Tam’s instruments, he went toward a distant place. When sunset, he walked in an inn to rest but the owner prevented him.
“Go! Go away. Here isn’t safe” said the owner, “Recently, evils always come and stay here in nighttime. They will kill any stranger who dares to stay here at night”.
Though he was very scared, Tu still decided to stay there because it was too late to find other place. The owner led him to a secret cave. Tu set the instruments front of the cave entrance, went in and slept. Midnight, evils came.
“Bum! Bum!” evils ran to every direction after an evil stepped on a drum. One of them bursted onto the cave Tu was in. The evil killed him while he was sleeping.
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

BÀI ĐĂNG ĐƯỢC XEM NHIỀU

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...

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!

Bài 14: Danh từ đếm được số ít và số nhiều và quy tắc thêm chuyển từ danh từ đếm được số ít sang số nhiều.

      Như chúng ta đã biết danh từ thường phân thành nhiều loại nhưng về mặt ngữ pháp bạn chỉ cần biết danh từ gồm hai loại: danh từ đếm được và danh từ không đếm được. Về cơ bản mình sẽ nói qua một chút về danh từ đếm được và danh từ không đếm được vì bài này chủ yếu xoay quanh danh từ đếm được. Về bản chất danh từ đếm được là những từ bạn có thể kiểm soát nó bằng mặt số lượng tức là bạn có thể đếm 1, 2, 3 cái gì đó và nó có sự phân biệt giữa số ít (một) và số nhiều (hơn một) của loại từ này trong ngữ pháp của câu. Ví dụ: I have  bananas và  I have  a banana  có sự khác biệt rõ ràng, bạn có nhận thất mạo từ  “a”  ở trước banana không? Thêm nữa Bananas  are  yellow và a banana  is  yellow bạn có nhận thấy động từ đi kèm có sự khác biệt không; danh từ số nhiều sẽ tương đương vói ư chỉ ngữ they và danh từ số ít sẽ tương đương vói it. Cơ bản là thế. Còn về danh không đếm được thì bạn phải cân, đo, đong như những...

155. Sự tích hoa cẩm chướng

:spin2: --Cẩm chướng,đóa hoa hồng như những viên bông gòn,không hương nhưng lại rất đẹp. cái đẹp thầm lặng. Cẩm chướng rất quan trọng trong cuộc sống của người Hy Lạp và Ý. Vào thời phồn thịnh của Ý cẩm chướng trở thành biểu tượng của sự hùng mạnh. Cẩm chướng cũng được gọi là loài hoa vủa Jove,vì Jove là một trong những vị thần được quý chuộng nhất. --Những sự tích về loài hoa này xuất hiện từ thánh kinh. Chuyện kể rằng khi đức mẹ Đồng Trinh Mary nhìn thấy chúa Jesu bị đóng đinh,bà bật khóc. Từng giọt nước mắt của bà rơi xuống chân Chúa,thấm vào lòng đất và từ đó mọc lên những cây hoa cẩm chướng đủ màu sắc. --Cẩm chướng còn được dùng trong việc tiên đoán tương lai của người con gái vị thành niên ở Đại Hàn .Ba đóa hoa cẩm chướng sẽ được cài lên búi tóc của cô gái theo thứ tự. Nếu đóa hoa nào tàn trước,chẳng hạn như đóa hoa cuối cùng,cô bé sẽ chịu khổ cực suốt cả cuộc đời. Còn nếu là đóa hoa trên cùng thì những ngày cuối đời cô ta sẽ phải chịu nhiều đau khổ. Khoảng đầu đời của cô ...

Thi Kinh Bodhisattva

A  person had been born times, lived other lives. Each time being born, the person was always a monk or a nut, lived with strong religious belief. She or he had passed nine lives but still   didn’t reach Nirvana. At the tenth, the person was reborn in the form of a girl. She was daughter of a normal family who lived in Cao Ly and her name was Thi Kinh. Thi Kinh was a calm, kind-hearted girl. She was the person who loved her mother and father, using to help them homework. When she grew up, he parent let her married with a student whose name’s Thien Si. Thien Si was born in normal family, not richer than her family but he was very hard in studying. Therefore, Thi Kinh had nothing more pleased than undertaking all homework for her husband to have time to study. One normal night, Thien Si sat on floor reading book while his wife, Thi Kinh, was staying by sewing. Front their face was only an oil lamp. Later, Thien Si felt tired, he laid down his head was on his wif...

Honorable thief

Long  time ago when the country was reigned by Thanh Tong Le in Thang long (the old name of Ha noi) lived a great thief whatever he wanted he could find the way to get it. He used to make mandarins and landlord afraid.    Mandarins and landlord had gone to catch him but they couldn’t touch to him he appeared and also disappeared as a wind. So, people called him Quan “gio” with “gio” was his nickname it meant wind. vietnamesefairytales.blogspot.com One day which was near Tet holiday the king pretended as a poor student traveled to have sight about people’s lives. He came and knocked on Quan gio’s door in accidental. The king show him his proverty and said pitifully: “I teach children in Dong xuan and have saved some money to bring to home to manage this Tet holiday. Unfortunately”, he creamed, “when I was on my way my money was stolen by theifs. Now I had no way to go. Please, let me stay in here for a night, dear you.” Quan gio gave him sympathy. He said: ...

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.

God of blacksmiths and blacksmith

Khong Lo, the god of blacksmiths, was the god who had taught people casting and also the go who governed blacksmiths. Khong Lo early realized that not all blacksmiths were good guy so he used to appear on ground and challenge blacksmiths. A street blacksmith who used to shoulder tools wander on street and helped people remold metal things. “Mold pots, mold jars, mold tray, remold metal things”, he cried to let others know he was a blacksmith. The blacksmith was great so he could mold and remold all things people needed in short time. In the time he worked he stayed in house of people who needed him to mold things. When things were molded, he got his money and set off. That was his work. One day, the blacksmith made his way to a fair. He went cross a forest and met a boy who was shouldering tools as he was. As he saw the blacksmith, the stood and bowed his head politely. “Do you see anybody go cross the direction you have passed, sir?”, said the boy. “Who do you find?”...

Tam and Cam

Once upon a time, there had a little girl named Tam. Her mother died early so her father decided to remarry on purpose the stepmother would take care of his little daughter. The stepmother gave birth to a girl, named Cam after that. Then, her father died after few years. Tam had to live with her stepmother and her sister, Cam. Since the time, she was forced to work hard, all housework, while Cam had to do nothing. One day, the stepmother gave Tam and Cam each one a corf to caught fish. She promised that who caught full her corf would receive a piece of red silk. Tam and Cam went to field together. She was hard to catch fish while Cam only wondered around till afternoon and had nothing in her coft. Cam pointed at Tam’s coft and realised it is full, thinking seconds, she said gently: “sister Tam, your head is mud, you should wash it or mother will punish you” Belive Cam, Tam went to river nearly. She left her corf on the shore,  waded into water to wash. Cam, meanwhile, stayed on t...