Skip to main content

The Tale of Geckos

Once upon a time, a poor couple who named Thach Sung lived in a hut next to a market. They begged others to live. Although their lives were difficult, they were people who had ambitions. They had saved a lot of money which was hidden under ground in their hut but they still acted as poor people and continued praying.
vietnamese fairy tales
vietnamesefairytales.blogspot.com
One night, when Mr. Thach Sung was coming home he saw two buffaloes were fighting.
His experience told him that year the water would rise over ground very much and of course they couldn’t pick up so he dig his money and bought rice by all money he had. The August that year, a big flood occurred. Therefore, they earned a lot of money by selling rice for others. 
Then they stopped spaying and started lending others money to take interest. A short time later, they became rich people. Mr. Thach Sung had bought many buffaloes, farmland for next years but he wanted to be richer. He cooperated with bandits in the region, shared what they robbed, then sold them. Ten years later, Mr. Thach Sung now became the richest man in the region but his ambition was also binger than that he wanted to become nobles. He presented to King very much treasures. Of course, the King let him supervised a region. He left his home, came to the capital and built a building where could contain thousands of people. He and his wife now lived in luxury that none could reach. 
That time, in the capital a man, named Vuong, related to the Queen who also was known for his richness participated a party which Mr. Thach Sung was in. after talking few minutes the topic of conversation change into that who was richer than the other. 
“All my servants wore silk clothes. Whenever Tet came I had to bought tons of silk for them.” said Vuong 
“My servants must eat as much as all people who live in a districts” said Mr. Thach Sung 
“I use sugar instead of wood to cook” Vuong said
“I use millions of candle to heat my rooms in the winter” said Mr. Thach Sung
After hours, a man interupted their words: “If you two only say about what you have without proving we couldn’t decided who was richer than other. You must show up and I think person who is loser will have to give the other three case of gold.”
They agreed. The date came. First, Vuong made his servants hung silk above all bed in his house but Mr. Thach Sung made his servant hung silk on all ceiling in his house. Vuong used glass on his roof that made his home look like a jewel but Thach Sung forced his servants cut alabaster and paved them on the yard font of his house that made people admire.
The contest continued. Thach Sung asked Vuong: “Do you have coral?” 
Vuong showed people a big branch of coral and asked him: “Do you have Rhino horns?” 
Thach Sung showed people a teapot and teacups made by rhino horns. They showed people many other valuable things. Then they started showing people strange things. Thach Sung let them see a horse which could run a thousand miles a day but Vuong invited people came his garden to see a two-head deer. That time Thach Sung kept silent rather long. Everyone thought that he gave up but, for a while, he took out a gem and said: “I have a gem, if you bring it in the summer you will feel cool and in the winter you will feel warm. It is only one in the world”
Vuong was confused and was going to borrow Queen a gem but a nobless who sat next to him said in secret some words to him then he smiled and turned to Thach Sung and said: “I know you are a richest man I have ever seen but you also don’t have many things”
“What don’t I have? If you show me what I don’t have I will gift you all things a have and if you don’t you have to gift me all your assets” said Thach Sung. Then they signed their name on a commitment front all of people who was in the contest. For while Vuong said: “You don’t have “mẻ kho” (a traditional spices of Vietnam).” just hearing “mẻ kho”, Thach Sung startled he knew that thing when he was poor he had used it to cooked fish but when he became rich he had not ever used it again. He forced servants to find everywhere in his house but they didn’t find out.
Then winner was Vuong. Thach Sung had to give his assets to Vuong include his wife and his servants. He came back to the hut and regretted his assets he had lost. Then he died and transformed into a gecko which people nowday in Viet Nam call "Thach Sung". 
Today, people in Viet Nam say: Thach Sung lack "mẻ kho" to mean that none has enough all things 
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


Read more:
Tale 19. If Toad croaks, it will rain
Tale 20. Thach Sanh and Ly Thong Chapter 1
Tale 21. Thach Sanh and Ly Thong Chapter 2
Tale 16. The Tale of God of Kitchen
Tale 17. The Tale of Ba Bể Lake
List of Vietnamese fairy tales
-----
Truyện cổ tích Việt nam (For people who can read Vietnamese)
Vietnamese historical stories (For people who love history)
Nhãn:

BÀI ĐĂNG ĐƯỢC XEM NHIỀU

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 ...
Read more

The third wife of Cai Vang.

Once  upon a time, Hoang Van area was managed by a mandarin. People called him Cai Vang. When he was child, he picked up a pearl. That was a magical pearl. It helped him not to be harm by any arrow. All arrows turned to other direction when they flew nearly him. Cai Vang had brought the pearl with him every time since he got it. While the time he was mandarin, he used taxes for himself. Therefore, he was imprisoned and tortured. One day, soldiers escorted him cross a forest. When they spent very litte noticing on him, he ran. Soldiers chased after him and shot arrows toward him. Because of magical pearl, he could escape safely. From that time, Cai Vang grouped people and trained them. He planned to fight against the king. He called himself Thuong Cong. vietnamesefairytales.blogspot.com Cai Vang had three wifes. His third wife was great in martial arts though she was only 20 years old. Before he started to fight he called three wifes to come and ask: “I am now sitting ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Toad is uncle of King of gods

Long  time ago, it had not rained for four years that made all lakes, rivers are out of water, trees were withered and animals were thirsty. Most of animals only waited to die but a tiny, ugly Toad planned to go up heaven to save their life. vietnamesefairytales.blogspot.com First, Toad went alone up. When he crossed a dried swamp he met Crab. Crab asked him where he went. Toad talked him that he wanted to go up heaven to pray God to make rain and invited Crab went with him. Initially, Crab didn’t want to go he said he prefered waiting to die to going up heaven from which was too far. Toad had insisted for a long then Crab agreed.
Read more

Bay Giao, Chin Quy

Once  upon a time, in  Cai - se   village lived two brothers one was Bay   Giao   and the other was Chin   Quy . Their parent had died when they were child leaving them some parts of field. They were beefy and also wanted to devote their power for their country. They heard that Binh dinh was land of martial arts so they sold their field, packed then went toward Binh dinh. They found to many masters and had no long time to be great on 18 skills of martial arts. They they said goodbye their teacher came toward castle. But meanwhile the country was peaceful that they didn't have any enemies so the king preferred mandarins than generals. Therefore,   they had to turn back their way to their village. They taught people martial arts to live but it didn’t help them have enough money to fill full their stomach. Having no choice, at last, they worked as thieves then changed into robbers. They robbed travelers but they onl...
Read more

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.” 
Read more

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...
Post a Comment
Read more

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!
1 comment
Read more

Thach Sanh and Ly Thong Chapter 2

Chapte r 2: attack to the giant eagle One day, as Quynh Nga who was the King’s daughter was walking in the garden, a giant eagle flew down from the sky and brought her away. The eagle flew cross the hut where Thach Sanh now was living. Thach Sanh saw that eagle so he shot a arrow. The arrow stuck on the eagle’s left wing but it took the arrow out by its beak and continued flying. vietnamesefairytales.blogspot.com Thach Sanh followed blood dropped on the ground and found out a cave where the eagle lived. He ticked on the entrance of cave them he came back his hut. 
Read more

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. 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 the...
1 comment
Read more