Skip to main content

Two storks and turtle.

woman was haughty and always gave others venomous words when they made her unhappy. She not only scolded the people but also she scolded their parent and their grandparents.
When the woman died, the death god forced her to rebirth in a turtle. The turtle spent its life in a pond alone, having normal days with fish and shrimps, her food. One year, it didn’t rain. The pond turned dry until it was a pond of mud and still continued turning dry. One day, two storks flew to and landed on the pond. They waded in mud to find something to eat. And just caught some shrimps when they met the turtle.
vietnamese fairy tales
“Who are you? Get away, now or I will tear you in pieces”, shouted the turtle.
The storks felt unhappy as they were scolded but they kept their calm and conversed to make her calm.
“Ohh, you are also here, sister. We don’t come here to rob your food but to want to help you. Help you have food in this difficult time”, said the storks in happy voice.
“Sister! Who is your sister? Don’t try to be familiar with me. I myself am still alive without any help. So, get away, now”, snapped the turtle.
“But, you should know this pond is drying and when it has been dried, you will have nothing to eat”, said the first stork.
The turtle turned more angry, she scolded:
“Your business, isn't it? None asks you to take care of me”.
“Take easy, sister. We are not what you are thinking. On the way we fly to here, we have crossed many place, filled full by food. So, we don’t need to come here, the dried pond to find only something to eat”, said the second stork, lower its voice, “We come here to help you, inform you that pond is drying. And, you know it will never rain in short time. This pond will be dried and you—uhm you should know, you will die because of hunger”.
The turtle turned worry. She asked them in worry voice.
“So, What should I do now?”
“If you want, we will bring you to a place. It is not far away here. And we can make sure that the place is filled full by a lot of water, a lot of food which you will have never eaten all them”, said the first stork.
“How can I go to there? I can not fly, you know”, said the turtle.
“Ohh, don’t worry sister. We have an idea”, said one of stork while the other brought to a stick. “You will bite on middle of this stick tightly while we are flying and bringing you to the place but you must remember that you are not allowed to open your mouth though you see strange things on the way or anybody teases you. Opening your mouth means death. Understand?”
The turtle nodded. She thanked the storks and did what the storks said. The storks flew up, brought the turtle to go. Later, they flew cross a tea shop. People in the tea shop saw the strange thing so they laughed and said to others.
“Look! Two storks are bringing buffalo shit”.
The turtle was very angry but she forced herself not to talk any thing. Few minutes later, they flew cross a street market. People, that time, yelled:
“Look! Two storks are bringing a dead dog”.
That time, the turtle turned angrier and didn’t remember the storks’ words. She planned to scold them but she just opened her mouth, he fell down. Her body banged on ground and was broken in piece. She died.
The storks turned to the other and said:
“Omg! She forgets what we tried to warn her but maybe, it is worthy for her. Now, turn back the pond and find something to eat without any curse”.
 THE END
"Translator: 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: 
-----

Essential Reads: Engaging Books You Can't Miss!

Comments

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...

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 ...

The tale of "Banh Chung" and "Banh Day"

Once  upon a time, that had a king who was so old so he wanted to abdicate. He had had few wives who had given bird twelve sons. All of his sons had grown up and also were great people. The King was confused about choosing. “All of them are talent people. It is so difficult that I can choose a person and nobody can be jealous” said the King. vietnamesefairytales.blogspot.com “My Lord the king, we can have a contest” said a servant. “Oh, it is a good idea but what is subject of the contest?” said the king  “Meaning dishes, which we can put on ancestral altar” said the servant. “Great, let’s doing” said the king. The king called his son to come on and said:  “My sons, I don’t have many time and I want one of you to become the king. Now, anybody who can find dishes which not only are delicious but still have great meaning to put on ancestral altar will become the king.” 

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 ...

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.

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. 

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...