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:
-----

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!

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.

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.

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...

Thach Sanh and Ly Thong Chapter 1

Chap 1:  fight with huge snake  Once upon a time, a woodcutter and  his wife were over sixty years old but they had had not any children. Although they were sad, they still did good thing and hoped God would give them one child. At last, their kindness had come to King of heaven who requested his son to fly down and reincarnate to be the old couple’son. They had just enjoyed the happiness for a short time. Then, the old man died, before his son was born. Vietnamesefairytales.blogspot.com After that, the woman gave birth to a beautiful, strength boy. She named him Thach Sach. The poor boy grew up with no father then his mother also left after few years living with him. They only left him an ax and a pair of shorts. Day by day, he went to forest, cut tree, split them then took to market to get money. When he was thirteen, king of heaven forced his servants down to teach him magic and martial arts. Then they was back heaven, Thach Sanh continued living alone in...

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...

Crow and Peacock

Once  upon a time, both Crow and Peacock were best friends and had same feather colors, gray. They knew themselves were ugly so they didn’t appear front of other birds. Peacock in Crow’s eyes was uglier than him because Peacock had a small head and a long neck that they didn’t connect to his body. vietnamesefairytales.blogspot.com One day, Crow talked Peacock: “A painter was painting nearly so we should come and steal some colors to paint on our feathers and make it beautiful” said Crow Peacock bowed his head. That day, the painter hadn’t finished his picture so he left his jar of colors on ground and took a nap. The first time, they stole a paintbrush and some jars then hid them on mound middle lake nearly. The second, they planned to go and steal again but the panter had woken up and came his home so they only took a jar of ink and a pocket of purl he had left. “Right, we start painting, yet” said Crow Crow made Peacock lie down and began painting. Crow painted v...

Bài 1.6: Động từ “to be”.

Động từ “to be” là một động từ đặc biệt và gần như có nhiều dạng thức nhất trong nhóm động từ. Vì vây, để giải thích rõ ràng ý nghĩa và các sử dụng động từ “to be” là một vấn đề khá phức tạp. Mình sẽ có gắng giải thích một cách dễ hiểu nhất cho các bạn.

Bài 7: Let và help; have, get và make

    Cấu trúc chung của các động từ trên là let/help/have/get/make (có thể cần chia) + somebody + simple form. Nhắc lại một chút: simple form là dạng động từ nguyên thể không có “to”. VD: "to go" được gọi là infinitive và "go" được gọi là simple verb