Skip to main content

“Vạn Lịch” coins

Once upon a time, that had a business man named Vạn Lịch. He had so much money and was richest person in his country. He had dozens of ships which were used to bring goods. The ship which he used to stay in had compartment which were convenient as like houses placed on ground. He decorated his compartment with shiny golden furniture which attracted deep sights.
Lich had a young beautiful wife named Mai Thị. His work required they had to go away long time so he used to suspect that   his wife did not loved him by whole her heart. Therefore, he always stayed nearly and observed each her action that made the wife felt heart-broken.
vietnamese fairy tales
vietnamesefairytales.blogspot.com
One day, their ship stopped by a wild riverside. Mai Thi stood at top of the ship looked out. A fishing man came to asked her a rolled betel. Mai Thi saw a man only wore a lion-cloth felt compassionate so she asked him few questions then gave him some rolled betel. The sight was seen by Lịch he felt upset. Waited the fishing man went away he shouted at his wife violently. Though his wife tried to explain but he did not believed. He ordered her went away with a gold bar and a silver bar he threw down the ground.
Mai Thi was left lonely in the riverside. She went around to find some help, tears dropped from from her eyes. She met the fishing man again who was living alone in a hut by the riverside. She said him what happened after he went. The fishing man still did not understand she added:
“He said I and you had unclean things. Maybe my fate can not live in wealth so I will marry with you and accept a poor life.”
The fishing man did not know how to refuse her so he led her to his hut by the riverside. They became a couple. Day by day, the fishing man went fishing Mai Thị stayed at home bred chicken. Though they were poor but they had never had an argument.
Three years passed. One day it rained the fishing man did not go fishing he stayed at home by Mai Thị who was sewing. He saw chickens was eating rice in panniers he grabbed the gold bar which was put into his wife clothes basket and threw toward chickens. The gold bar dropped into the river.
As Mai Thi saw she scolded: “You are so stupid. Do you know what have you thrown?”
“I don’t know.”, said the fishing man.
“That is gold the most precious in the world.”, said Mai Thị.
“Oh, I have seen things like that a lot which lay on river bottom I have taken many but I have never known how to use so I have thrown all them.”, said the fishing man.
Mai Thị was speechless for few seconds her jaw dropped. She asked his husband went to collect gold bars.
The fishing man came back with gold bars in his basket. They were exactly gold. Gold bars with “Vạn Lịch” characters were notched on them. There gold bars belonged to Vạn Lịch the first husband of Mai Thị who had been in a storm which had broken all his ships. Vạn Lịch had escaped from death but all his assets had sank in water, some of gold bars had been brought to the river where the fishing man fished.  
Had money Mai Thị and the fishing man built a big house. Mai Thi bought luxurious clothes for his husband the fishing man. She asked his husband went and made friend with others to learn   good things but he couldn’t make conversation with any body because he was known as the most stupid person in the region. He went few days then came back.
“How many friends did you get?”, asked Mai Thị.
“None.”, he replied.
Mai Thị shook her head.
“So idiot you can not have gotten a friend for days. I think you only made friend with statues.”, said Mai Thị.
The fishing man heard. He believed that his wife asked him to be friend with statues. He went to a wild temple away his village. He met statues which was set in front yard of the temple to make   friend. Saw statues smiled he also smiled then he threw his arm over statuse’s shoulder and said with them as real people. He bought food and fed statues. At last he felt bored because the statues didn’t said any thing. He pushed the statues down then went to home.
As Mai Thi asked he replied her what he did. Mai Thi couldn’t said any more word she had never thought that had a stupid as his husband on the world. Therefore, she decided kept him at home to teach.  
Oddly the king of country was paralyzed half body from that time the statues were pushed down. Doctors were called to cure the king but none could. Then a mage was called. The mage said a temple was ruin. He also found out where was the temple. Immediately, the king ordered province mandarin went to the temple and repaired. The mandarin went with his soldiers. The fallen statues attracted their noticing. The mandarin ordered his soldiers to took up the statues but dozens of solders couldn’t. The news was spread to the king. The king was worried. At last the king announced that anybody who could took up the statue would be gotten deserving award. Mai Thi on her way to market crossed announcing board. She came home asked her husband.
“How could you make the statues fall down?”
“I only pushed them.”, said the fishing man.
“Can you take up them?”, said Mai Thi.
“Course, I can.” Said the fishing man.
Then Mai Thi asked him went to take the notification. The mandarin let him went in to take up. When the fishing man touched the statues immediately stood up.
King’s disease disappeared. He ordered to gift the fishing man gold bars but Mai Thi and his husband didn’t take. They asked for a position, tax mandarin the position didn’t require people had high education. The king agreed.  
Mai Thị and her husband built a house by outfall. They collected taxes from merchant ships. One day, Vạn Lịch’s ships went passed the outfall. He stopped to pay taxes. A servant went to pay but Mai Thi knew there were Vạn Lịch’s ships so she required the boss of ships to come. Vạn Lịch came and was surprised as who front his eyes now was Mai Thị his old wife and who next to her was none else but the fishing man. Mai Thị sneered:
“I know you will continue trading so I sent myself to mandarin house. Though you go away to trade you can not avoid this place.”
Vạn Lịch was embarrassed. He went back ship. What had happened made him feel upset. He thought he could not meet Mai Thi any more time. At last, he listed all his assets and gave them to Mai Thị. He said there things were used to pay for his fault. Then Van Lịch disappeared. People said he ended his life.
Mai Thị felt sorry. So she changed Vạn Lịch’s assets to money the she asked the king to let her make a kind of coin which was named “Vạn Lịch” to divide poor people in country.
This story expresses the appearance of “Vạn Lịch” coin a kind of money which was used in ancient time.
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!

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...

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. 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. 

Danh sách truyện cổ tích việt nam

Dưới  đây là những câu truyện cổ tích chắc có lẽ chỉ quen thuộc với mọi người. Bởi lẽ, ngày nay chúng ta đã quá quen với các phương tiện giải trí khác như smart phone, internet có thể dễ dàng cập nhật những bộ phim hay, trò chơi điện tử hấp dẫn. Những câu truyện cổ tích vì vậy không còn quá nhiều sức hấp dẫn đối với chúng ta. Tuy nhiên, mỗi câu chuyện ở đây đều mang trong mình một ý nghĩa riêng. Nếu bạn là người yêu thích những thứ liên quan tới văn hóa dân gian Việt nam; từng một lần ghé qua đây, hãy đọc những câu chuyện dưới đây và nhận lấy cho mình một ý nghĩa trong mỗi câu chuyện dưới đây.

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 ...

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...

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.

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 ...

Story 12: General Thuong Kiet Ly

His birth name is Tuan Ngo, an offspring of Quyen Ngo. He was borned in 1019 at Thai Hoa ward, Thang Long (now Hanoi). When he was child, he early showed brave and martial spirit what were inherited from his family who had been generals, dedicating to Ly dynasty. His father, An Ngu Ngo was also one of them he was a great general. When he was 13 years old, he lost his father and was taken care by his aunt and her husband. Tuan Ngo was taught by Cong An Ly, a royal great teacher at that time. His teacher complimented that he had talent but he headed to be a general instead of a mandarin. Therefore, he studied literature in daytime and research art of warfare in night time. When he was enough 18 years old, he opened a martial class. People coming and studying were crowded. The news came to the recent king who summoned him to castle and conferred him to be a low martial mandarin. Two years later, he became the king’s guard staying by the king entire day. That time, the king realize...