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

Ebook Banner

Essential Reads: Engaging Books You Can't Miss!

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 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...

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 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.

205. Quan Âm Thị Kính

Ngày xửa ngày xưa, có một người trải đã nhiều kiếp, kiếp nào từ bé đến lớn cũng giữ mình đức hạnh và thành bậc chân tu. Cứ luân hồi chuyển kiếp như vậy liên tiếp đến 9 lần, nhưng chưa kiếp nào được thành Phật. Đến kiếp thứ 10, Đức Thích Ca muốn thử lòng, bắt vào đầu thai làm con gái một nhà họ Mãng ở nước Cao Ly.  Họ Mãng đặt tên nàng là Thị Kính. Lớn lên, nàng tài sắc nết na lại hiếu thảo hết lòng. Khi đến tuổi lấy chồng, nàng được bố mẹ gả cho thư sinh Sùng Thiện Sĩ. Sùng Thiện Sĩ rất đẹp trai, chăm học. Hai vợ chồng thật là trai tài gái sắc ăn ở với nhau rất mực kính ái và hòa thuận. Một đêm, Thiện Sĩ ngồi đọc sách, Thị Kính ngồi may bên cạnh. Thiện Sĩ bỗng thấy mệt mỏi, bèn ngả lưng xuống giường, kê đầu lên gối vợ truyện trò rồi thiếp ngủ. Thi Kính thương chồng học mệt nên lặng yên cho chồng ngủ. Nàng ngắm nhìn khuôn mặt tuấn tú của chồng, bỗng nhận ra ở cằm chồng có một sợi râu mọc ngược. Sẵn con dao nhíp trong thúng khảo đựng đồ may, Thị Kính liền cầm lên kề vào cằm chồn...

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....

Wise wife

Once  upon a time, a boy lived wealthy but he was stupid. One day, after he heard that had a ten – day - festival he hurriedly chose nice clothes, beautiful hat and shoes, wore them and mounted on a horse then rode toward the festival. Whenever the met other he asked them. “Do you think I am handsome?” He was pleasant whenever people said that he was handsome. When he arrived to stalls which were stood around the festival he met a swindler who stood aside to dodge his horse. The boy stopped to ask him. “Do you think I am handsome?” “Handsome but this way is not the way how a noble wear”, said the swindler “How, how can I wear as a noble?”, the boy stopped to insist the swindler, “help me, I will pay for that”. vietnamesefairytales.blogspot.com The swindler shouted: “Get down, take off your clothes then I will teach you”. The boy didn’t hesitate to do as the swindler said. He gave the swindler his clothes, hat, shoes and the swindler put on. “This is how a no...

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 ...

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...