Skip to main content

The tale of lime-jar

Once upon a time, a beautiful girl was born in a wealthy family and she also was a haughty girl. She made other girls tear away and men hate her. So that she was old enough to get married but no men agreed to marry with her. Someone she said that they were too fat, someone was too skinny, someone was to short…
At last she had married. Her husband loved her but she, in the other hand, always became jealous whenever her husband talked to other woman. To many times they had arguments that made their neighbors uncomfortable. At last, they can not stand any more and decided to divorce. Felt sad about family problem she decided to have a religious life.
vietnamese fairy tales
http://vietnamesefairytales.blogspot.com
She had led the religious life for 20 years that had made animals living around the temple accustomed to her back but she still couldn’t land her feet on Buddhist land. She thought that why she had known all Buddhist scripture and she also had a religious life as everyone but now she still didn’t become a Buddha. Therefore, she decided to go to Buddhist land to ask them about that.
One day, while she was her way leading to Buddhist land she stopped to take a rest at a house. The house belonged to a woman and her son. Although they lived lonely in deep forest but they were vegetarian so when they saw her they were very happy and treated her very well. They heard her talked about her religious life and the reason about travel. They admired her and wanted to leave their house then go with her to Buddhist land hoping they could become Buddha.
After hering their hoping, she smiled and said:
“You two want to be Buddha. Oke, follow me” but in her head she thought that she now still didn’t become Buddha so why they two, only vegetarian people, could become Buddha.
From that day, the female monk had two fellows. She felt the way become shorter, her feet faster then they at last came near Buddhist land. The woman and her son still thought about her as their master. They followed her words without doubt. She, in other hand, thought that they could become Buddha before her. That made her felt ashamed.
The Buddha after hearing that someone wanted to go Buddhist land transformed in to normal people. He followed them anywhere, listed all female monk’s works, all her actions. When they came to a large river the Buddha created a large temple with a large pagoda tree beside it in other side to wait for them.
Does not want the woman and her son followed she talked them that was “Tay Truc”(Buddhist land) and that tree was the tree which the Buddha had sat under before he became Buddha. She added that they only climbed on the top of the tree, muttered Buddhist scripture and jumped down then they would become Buddha.
Believed their master they went to top of the tree and jumped down but from the sky four Buddha sitting on lotuses flew down and brought them up the sky. They waved their hand to hint their fellow.
“It is truth. They have become Buddha”. She felt so surprised and acted like them. She climbed to the top of tree and jumped but the Buddha wanted to punish the monk who was haughty and cruel. Therefore, she fell down the ground, broken head and died. The Buddha transformed her into a lime-jar. That reminded all monks who had religious lives but had black hearts would be changed into lime – jars which were gutted forever.    


*In the Viet Nam people often eat betel which needs betel and areca and lime. They often put into a jar and used a small stick to take out lime whenever they want to eat betel.*

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

See 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!

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...

Cruel-second mother

A  man had two wives and each wife gave birth to a son, Linh and Lang. Linh was child of the first wife and Lang was child of the other. Linh’s mother died early left him staying with father, the second mother and Lang. Lang was older than Ling five years old and treated Linh as his same mother brother but his mother didn’t thought that she hated Linh. When Linh grew up, his father let him to study in school because he was son of the first wife while Lang followed his father, worked on their field. Unfortunately, his father died, left assets which were accumulated in three generations, vast field, red roof house with large gardens around, ponds will full of fish. Although the second wife still treated Linh normal as if he was her son but in fact she implicitly planned to harm him to usurp asset because the fate of women, not first wife, and their children just inherited very little. One day, the second wife requested Lang and Linh to go to market to buy fire-wood. Before th...

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.

Cam Ho Bui.

Long  time ago, that was in dynasty a poor boy lived near foot of a mountain named   Hong   Linh . His name was Ho. When he was child he had followed an old teacher to study but as his parents died he stopped. He also had no brother or sister so he lived alone from that time. He worked as a herd to live. All things he had were a knife, a conch and basket. Others because of felling sorry for him built for him a hut under the mountain. Front of the hut hanging an instrument which was made of bamboo. Every morning as he woke up he drummed on the instrument which would spread a noise and notified people living in the village brought their buffaloes to the crossroads then he would take care of them from that. Afternoon, he brought the buffaloes came back the crossroads and they could find the way to come their houses. Though his jobs had a little difficulty but he, in other side, felt delight. In addition to wage he usually was given serving whenever one of them had a fe...

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 ...

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...

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...

Truyện 127. Người dì ghẻ ác nghiệt

Ngày xưa, có một người đàn ông hai vợ, người vợ cả chết sớm để lại một đứa con trai còn bé tên là Văn Linh. Người vợ lẽ cũng sinh được một đứa con trai khác tên là Văn Lang. Văn Lang hơn Văn Linh những năm tuổi, nhưng hai anh em chơi với nhau thân thiết hơn cả anh em cùng một mẹ. Những khi Văn Linh bị trẻ con lối xóm ăn hiếp, Văn Lang lập tức bênh vực. Nhưng Văn Lang không biết rằng mẹ chàng trai lại coi Văn Linh như kẻ thù. Văn Linh ngày một lớn khôn, người bố cho chàng theo nghiệp sách đèn. Còn Văn Lang thì từ lâu đã theo bố tập quen nghề trông coi cày cấy. Nhà họ vốn có của ăn của để. Cả một tư cơ đồ sộ chắt chiu đã vài ba đời được gần vài chục mẫu ruộng và một mẫu vườn, có nhà ngói cây mít, thuộc vào loại khá nhất trong vùng. Đột nhiên người bố ốm nặng rồi qua đời. Người dì ghẻ ngoài mặt thì đối đãi với Văn Linh ngọt ngào tử tế nhưng trong bụng muốn nhổ cái gai trước mắt. Là con đích, Văn Linh sẽ được gần như toàn bộ tài sản. Còn mẹ con Văn Lang thì nh...