Skip to main content

The tree, the accused

Once upon a time, a couple who worked as traders. They had no children and the husband usually went out to do his job so he hardly stayed at home. His wife, in other side, always stayed home alone because of that she caught eyes’s commune chief. By power the commune-chief seduced the wife and at last, she was committing adultery with him. The commune-chief always pretended as if he patrolled whenever he met the wife. Therefore, none suspected.
That time the husband spent more much time to go far bought items; he also earned more much money. Three years passed, he felt missing home then he managed all things and found his way to come home. When he set his foot on village it had been dark. He thought: “I have gone away for a long time. Maybe, all things changed including my wife” so he took out his money and wrapped it. He climbed up a tree which stood at village-head and hid the wrap into a hole. He muttered: “I live in this village. I have earned this money, now, I leave it here. Pray god keep looking it for me.”
Then he climbed down and went home. The wife saw her husband came back she seemed to be happy and treated him a delicious meal but when she saw his husband’s pocket she started complaining.
“You have left your wife at home for three year to go and now you came back with no money. Why does god treat us so bad?”, she screamed.
The husband thought that his wife still kept her love with him. He felt comfortable then he talked his wife about his business trip and the wrap of money he had put into the hole of tree at village head.
Unfortunately, that night commune-chief because of his habit came to the house. He had come many times that made dog be familiar with him. Therefore, he could went easily and hear the conversation. The commune-chief turned his way immediately and went toward the village head. He took the wrap of money easily.
The next early morning, the husband went to take the wrap but it had gone but that moment he didn’t knew who he could complained with so he only could creamed. Then he knew about a great mandarin nearly. Although he saw the case was very complex but the mandarin received. He asked the husband to go back home and come in tomorrow. The mandarin ordered immediately soldiers to make fence round the tree and kept people away then he asked to dig a hole under the tree in which a person would hide himself.             
The next morning, the mandarin stood an umbrella near the tree to judge. The plaintiff was the husband and the accused was the tree.
“Accused received the wrap but didn’t know who taken.”, asked the mandarin.
 The mandarin asked the accused times again but the tree didn’t talk. Therefore, the mandarin ordered soldiers to beat the accused. People standing away could hear the accused, the tree, screamed and prayed for stopping. Until the third day, the accused described the thief but only talked to the mandarin. The mandarin talked the husband to come home, three days later the thief would be caught but the husband had to hold a party to say thank to god and invited people to participate.
“Set free all dogs you have.”, added the mandarin.
The husband believed mandarin’s words held a buffalo and made marry. Whenever a person came he or she was frightened by horrid dogs but when the commune-chief came dogs in other hand waved their tails. The commune-chief was caught immediately and taken out.
Stood front the mandarin the commune-chief still didn’t admit his crime but the mandarin showed him clearly the reason he was caught and added that the tree had described the thief’s face. The commune couldn’t keep his mind and admit. The wrap of money was returned and the commune chief was prisoned.  
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!

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.

Yet Kieu

Once  upon a time, in Ha-bi village lived a man named Yet Kieu who worked as a fisher. One night, while he was strolling along the seaside he saw two large buffaloes fighting on the beach. He sprinted to poke them apart. Buffalos were beaten painful they ran toward to the sea then disappeared. “Those creatures aren’t normal”, he thought then he turned back where buffaloes had been fighting and picked up some fur they had left. He gazed them then suddenly swallowed them down. From that he had the strength that nobody could fight against. Especially, he could stay in the water longer than any people in the world. He spent six or seven days fishing whenever he dived in water. vietnamesefairytales.blogspot.com That moment, their enemies had an invasion. A hundred ships approached and covered seaside of Van  ninh. They caught all fishing boats and fired them. They robbed assets and took lives from people living around the beach. Warships following king of the countr...

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...

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 ...

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...

Truyện 142. Người học trò và con hổ

Một con hổ đi dạo trong rừng, vô tình bị lọt vào bẫy. Con vật hung hăng giãy giụa, hết húc đầu đến dùng răng gặm bẫy tìm cách chui ra, nhưng bẫy làm bằng những cây tre đực rất chắc nên không thể làm gì được. Đương cơn nguy khốn, bỗng có một người học trò đi qua. Thấy người học trò, hổ bèn lấy giọng ngọt ngào: - Chào thầy tú, làm sao thầy tú lại đi vào nơi nguy hiểm này. Chao ôi! Thầy không biết rằng bạn bè tôi hiện đang ở khắp mọi ngả để rình mồi đấy ư? Thôi, chúng ta hãy giao ước với nhau điều này nhé! Về phía thầy, thầy làm ơn mở nắp cho tôi ra. Về phía tôi, tôi sẽ luôn luôn bảo hộ thầy, không để cho một con hổ nào động đến. Mặt khác, tôi sẽ làm cho dân vùng quanh đây kính trọng thầy, tôn thờ thầy như một vị thần. Người học trò đáp: - Nhưng nếu ta mở cho ngươi ra, ngươi sẽ ăn thịt ta mất! Nghe nói thế, hổ một hai xin thề và nói: - Chao ôi! Thầy tú! Thầy há lại không biết rằng tôi là kẻ xưa nay chưa hề nói dối! Tôi đã nói không ăn thịt thầy thì lẽ nào...

Truyện 19. Tại sao sông Tô Lịch lại thu hẹp lại

Ngày xưa về đời nhà Lý có một ông vua bị bệnh đau mắt. Mấy ông thầy thuốc chuyên môn chữa mắt ở trong kinh thành cũng như ngoài nội đều được vời vào cung chạy chữa, trong số đó cũng có những tay lương y nổi tiếng, nhưng tất cả mọi cố gắng đều vô hiệu. Cặp mắt của vua cứ sưng húp lên, đêm ngày nhức nhối rất khó chịu. Đã gần tròn hai tháng vua không thể ra điện Kính-thiên coi chầu được. Triều đình vì việc vua đau mà rối cả lên. Những cung giám chạy khắp nơi tìm thầy chạy thuốc, và lễ bái các chùa đền nhưng mắt của thiên tử vẫn không thấy bớt. Một hôm có hai tên lính hầu đưa vào cung một ông thầy bói từ núi Vân-mộng về. Ông thầy chuyên bói dịch nổi tiếng trong một vùng. Sau khi gieo mấy đốt cỏ thi, ông thầy đoán: - Tâu bệ hạ, quẻ này có tượng vua rất linh nghiệm. Quả là bệ hạ bị "thủy phương càn tuất" xuyên vào mắt cho nên bệnh của bệ hạ không thể bớt được, trừ phi trấn áp nó đi thì mới không việc gì. Vua bèn sai hai viên quan trong bộ Lễ đi về phí...

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...