Skip to main content

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.
vietnamese fairy tales
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.” 

After hearing, princes raced to find. They went to all directions, collected all extraordinary and rare dishes. Whatever dishes they heard they also tried to find.
Lang Lieu who was 8th prince lost his mother when he was a child. Therefore, he had lived alone and now he had no helping. When rest of the princes forced their servant raced to find, Lang Lieu was lying on his bed thinking. He had thought about dishes he had eaten in his life for few hours until he fell in sleep. He dreamt. In his dream, he saw himself and other princes were in the contest. When rest of princes had started cooking he, in other hand, still didn’t know how to do. Suddenly, an angle flew from sky down front him. 
“Lang Lieu, I come here to help you” said the angle.
“How should I do?, ” said Lang Lieu
“Nothing was bigger than the sun and the earth; nothing was more precious than rice”, she added, “come here and give me a hand”.
She asked him to clean glutinous rice and she went to collect mug beans. While she was making cakes she also explaining.
“Those cakes, we will call “Banh Chung”, symbolize the earth so they have to be square. Mug beans and meat are filled into the cakes to symbolize plants and animals which are living in the earth. The earth are covered by trees and field so you must cover the cakes by green leaves.” Then she tied cakes.
“So, it has done. Now we will make cakes symbolize the sun, we will call “Banh Day”. The cakes will be round and white” she said. Then she ground glutinous rice and molded.Then she put all cakes into two big pots then poured water and cooked.
Lang Lieu had woken up as that time cakes were being cooked. He started making cakes like the cakes in his dream.
The contest was coming. While others brought luxurious dishes, rare dishes or extraordinary dishes Lang Lieu, in other hand, brought simple cakes which were not attracted. Everyone also mowed and shook their heads as they saw the cake but when they ate them all of them couldn’t prevent themselves to talk a praise.
“Wow, it is so delicious”, said a noble, “extraordinary flavor was from simple things”.
Hung Vuong also surprised as he had eaten a piece. He flipped it down and up to observe but he didn’t find out anything. He asked Lang Lieu how to make the cakes. Lang Lieu talked him recipes and also the strange dream.
Over afternoon, Hung Vuong announced the winner.
“The 8th will be come the next king” said the king, then he took up “Banh Chung” and “Banh Day” over his head and added: “They were not only delicious but also take great meanings. They symbolize the earth and the sun and also field where we spend time and effort. It is so simple and also extraordinary, easy making. Only Lang Lieu who is talent person could imagine”.
Lang Lieu, after being the king, had still made the cakes to put on ancestral altar on Tet holiday which tradition was maintained to now day.  
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 29. The tale of "Tu Hú" bird
Tale 30. The tale of Dracaena
Tale 31. The tale of Coot
Tale 26. The War of TheDuke and The God of water
Tale 27. The tale of Betel, Areca and Limestone
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

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 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

The Tale of Catfish

Once upon a time, a young monk had led a religious life for 3 years he knew all Buddhist scriptures and was good preacher but he had never become a Buddha. Therefore, he decided go to “Tay Truc” where Buddhas lived to ask them how to become a Buddha. The way from where he lived to where Buddhas lived was very dangerous, distant and each more step as more dangerous but he did give up, still went up to Tay Truc. The journey had taken 50 day, he had been lost may times, been fevered few times but he had been always given help. He went up whenever he had been cured. One day, when he had just landed his feet in forest, the sun had set. He tried to find a place to rest. Fortunately, he found out a home in middle of forest. Knock on the door, he saw an old woman appear. He planned to request for rest but she waved her hand and said: “Go away! Go away! If my son come, you will be killed.”
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

The tale of Betel, Areca and Limestone

Once  upon a time, those were two men named Tan and Lang who were near and dear brothers. Especially, they look very like the other that even their parents also didn’t recognize. Their father who was a tall, burly man and great in art of fighting was the King gifted a last name which was Cao. Cao families had been famous since they had the last name. vietnamesefairytales.blogspot.com When Tan and Lang had grown up their parents died. They still lived together they always went with together.
Read more

The tale of watermelon

Once  upon a time, a young man whose name was Mai An  Tiem   was a slave. He was sold to a King named Hung   Vuong . Mai An   Tiem   was clever, he   learned   vietnamese   language very fast.   Futher , he knew so many stories, places and could do everything so good so he was liked by Hung   Vuong   very much that wherever Hung   Vuong   had come he also came with him. Three years later, he was Hung   Vuong   let to become a noble and was stayed in a building near the castle. Besides, Hung   Vuong   made his daughter become his wife.  Mai An   Tiem   now had wife, a five-year-old son, servants and assets. He seemed to lack nothing. Although he had never been arrogant people still were jealous with his his luck. vietnamesefairytales.blogspot.com One day, people who were participating in a party complimented as much as they could but he only said: “That because of ...
Read more

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...
Read more