Skip to main content

Mực swamp

Long time ago, when Vietnam was managed by recent king whose family name was Trần the country had a venerated teacher with extensive knowledge his name was Chu An. Therefore, so many people came to be his students.
The recent king also heard about good things of him so he invited him to come the castle, supervised Quoc Tu Giam which was the only one school in Vietnam that time and taught prince directly.
After one year, people saw him came back home.
“I couldn’t stay at there and see 7 bad courtiers say lies to the king”, he said.
Then he continued teaching at home. People came to study more crowdedly than before that he had to build 4 shacks for them sitting.
Hearing his fame two sons of dragon king, a god, who was king of seas and responsible for rain-making also came to study. Everyday, they swam to riverside in dragon form and transformed into human form when they landed on ground. They acted, spoke, and moved like human. Therefore, none had realized who they were for long time.
One day, when Chu An was marking a person came.
“Early morning when I came back from district market I crossed riverside and saw two people who were walking on water from middle sea toward riverside. They looked like Gan and his brother but I wasn’t sure. Therefore, I followed them. Of course they went to here”, said the person.
“What we should do now teacher”, he added.
 “Ignore them. It is good thing if monsters also wanted to study”, Chu An nodded his head.

That year, it had never rained that region for entire year. Ground was cracked. Trees, rices wilted and wilted each day. People became confused and the teacher also worried as them.
A afternoon after he finished session he asked the two students stayed and said:
“My students, you two help others a little.”
They bewildered and still didn’t know to say anything. They looked the other to have a hint but none understood.
“You don’t need to hide me. I had known everything. Now only you two can save people. You can make a rain now”, the teacher added.
They had looked the other for few minutes. Then they said:
“We can make a rain but Ngoc Hoang who was king of all God, king of heaven, forbiden not to take water from any lakes, rivers or seas so we can not make a rain.”
“Think you can take water in which that are not forbiden places. If you can not make a rainfall you can make a drizzle”, Chu An said earnestly.
They kept silent for few minutes then they pointed at ink bottle and said:
“Rules of my king were very hard but your words, my teacher, I can not ignore so we will use water in this ink bottle.”
Chu An was very happy he sprinted toward his table, brought his ink bottle with his brush in it to give them. Then, three of them went to riverside. The students took the brush pointed at the ink bottle and waved the brush toward sky few times. At last, they threw the ink bottle and the brush down the sea. They kneeled before  their teacher then disappeared.
That night it rained, a rainfall. Chu And felt both happy and worry he couldn’t sleep that he went to door and came back all night. The next morning, people were surprised that only their region had the rain and the water had black color but their fields were saved. Therefore, they were very happy.
King of heaven and gods were very surprised when it rained. The king was angry he forced gods to find out who had made the rain. Of course, the students were discovered. The king ordered to cut off their heads. Two of them were cut of their heads and thrown down the sea from heaven.
Their bodies now were in dragon form but their bodies and their heads were in other places. Chu An was very sad, exactly brokenheart. He cried and he made all of his students brought the students, that time they were two dead dragons, to bury. The students were buried carefully near riveside. After that, people built a temple at their tombs which was called Gan, names of the students.
The ink bottle was drifted to a village called Quynh Đo it made the all water in swamp had black color. Therefore, people called the swamp “Mực” swamp (Ink swamp). The brush was drifted to a village called Tó (now it is Thanh Oai) that village had many people who had high marks in many contest from that time to now.
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 44. "Lồi" citadel
Tale 45. Thu Huon
Tale 46. Truong Ba's soul inside Butcher's body
Tale 41. Fat cow or bony cow
Tale 42. Cao Biền
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

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

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...
Post a Comment
Read more

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

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...
Read more

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.
3 comments
Read more

Wishing pearl

De was a young boy. His parent was servants of a landlord. Every morning, De led landlord’s cattle to meadow and brought them back at nightfall. De used to be excited in playing with his fellows and when he was in his game he didn’t care anything. Many times the cattle he herded ate rice on field and the owners used to beat him pained but he still left cattle and joined in his fellows. One normal day, he and his fellows had a swimming competition. An award was given to the winner that he couldn’t refuse. Therefore, he participated in the competition and left his cattle on a wild hill. They swam and dived in water until noon and when they walked on ground, a cow had disappeared. The cow belonged to no one but his master. Children separated to find the cow but the cow seemed to vanish they couldn’t find it. Sun was going to down, children made their ways to home they left De staying at there. Day stayed at there alone crying. After that, he fell in sleep. Latter, he was woken up b...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Tale of the Hundred - knot Bamboo tree

Once upon a time, there had a boy who was poor, had no field. Therefore, he found the way to work for a landlord. He was healthy, worked hard and great in working so the landlord wanted him to work for him long time without any pay. One day, he called the boy to come. "You are honest and healthy. If you agree to work for me in three years without pay, I will let you marry with my only daughter after that." The boy agreed. He believed completely. He worked very hard, help the landlord turn richer that he could build more houses, buy more fields and cattles. Then, time passed. Three years nearly crossed, the boy always remembered his master's promise while his master, the landlord didn't want to do his promise. He in secret had found another boy for his daughter, a son of another landlord in that area. Therefore, what he need was a reason to refuse the boy. One day, he called the boy to come. "You have worked very hard for three years, waken early, slept late....
Read more

Bài 1.4: Phân biệt a few và (very) few; a little và (very) little.

  Hi các bạn! Hình như hôm nay bão sắp về thì phải. Mình cảm thấy hơi uể oải nên có lẽ mình chỉ viết về một chỉ đề nhỏ mà thôi. Phân biệt a few và (very) few; a little và (very) little. Các bạn có thể gặp rất nhiều các từ trên những có lẽ không phải ai cũng hiểu và dùng đúng chúng.   Đầu tiên mình xin được nói luôn; đấy là: Few và (very) few chỉ sử dụng cho danh từ đếm được; còn little và (very) little chỉ sử dụng cho danh từ không đếm được .
Post a Comment
Read more

Truyện 9. Sự tích Con Dã Tràng

Có  hai vợ chồng một ông già tên là Dã Tràng. Trong vườn họ có một hang rắn. Thường ngày làm cỏ gần đấy, ông già vẫn thấy có một cặp vợ chồng rắn hổ  mang ra vào trong   hang. Một hôm, con rắn chồng bò ra khỏi hang một mình. Ông nhìn thấy rắn vợ nằm cuộn ở trong. Vì mới lột nên mình mẩy nó yếu ớt không cựa quậy được. Một lúc lâu, rắn chồng bò trở về, miệng tha một con nhái đút cho vợ ăn. Ít lâu sau, Dã Tràng lại thấy rắn vợ bò ra khỏi hang một mình. Lần này rắn chồng đến kỳ lột nằm im thim thíp, lốt da cũ còn bỏ lại bên hang. Hồi lâu, rắn vợ trở về, theo sau có một con rắn đực khác khá lớn. Dã Tràng thấy hai con bò đến cửa hang thì dừng lại rồi quấn lấy nhau như bện dây thừng. Một lát sau, con rắn đực một mình bò vào hang.
Read more