Skip to main content

Tam and Tu

Once upon a time, there had a man named Tam. Tam was a musical instrument-maker. He used to bring musical instruments to other areas to sell. When all musical instruments were sold, he turned back home and made other musical instruments. One time, he went distantly. He met a man on his way. The man was under a tree resting. He felt tired so he approached the man and had a rest. They had a conversation and therefore, he knew the man was Tu. He was a trader but that time he lost all money. He was thinking about finding a new job to live, being a servant.
vietnamese fairy tales
Tam felt sorry for Tu so he gave him half of his food to Tu.
“Help me shoulder my musical instruments till you separate, I will pay you some money”, said Tam.
They went. Later, they both felt thirsty. They found the way to a well but the well was nearly dry, too deep to take water. Tu turned to Tam and said:
“We have only choice. One of us will stand here, keep a top of this rope so the other can follow this rope to the bottom of this well and drink. Later, when the person in the well goes up, the other will go down to drink”. 
So they did. Tu was the first person who went down. But, as Tam went down, Tu left him there, under the well, shouldered the musical instruments away. Tam had called Tu many times but he didn’t response. He knew that he was cheated so that he tried to scream, hoping someone could hear his voice. But, the well was the place very few people went cross. He screamed and creamed very long that made his throat pained. At last, some travelers went cross and heard his voice at the late afternoon. They helped him up then strode.
Tam shuffled on the road, trying to find somewhere to take a rest, so tired and feeling disappointed about Tu who he had tried to help but he seemed to be a bastard. Later, he reached an old temple. he knocked on the door and asked the guard to let him stay there one night.
“Hope you can let me stay here sir. I can not force my feet move anymore”, he said in exhausted breathes.
“I’m afraid that you can’t because here is the place four evils live. They will throttle any strange who dares to stay here in night. Move! Before you can’t”, said the guard.
Tam was too tired to move. His eyes nearly shut that he couldn’t think more much about other things but to have a sleep.
“I can’t move anymore sir. Please let me to the place that I can hide myself in”, he said
“Only at cave entrance that was where you can hide yourself. There had a hole on the wall next to the evils’ cave”. Said the guard.
Tam went in the hole, helped himself lay. He slept and was woken up by somebody’s voice. Four evils were standing at front of the cave entrance, taking.
“Behind this temple, ten steps to the left. There has six jars of silver”, said the first evil.
“Behind this temple, ten steps to the right. There has six jar of gold”, said the second evil.
“I know a pearl which can force us die immediately”, said the third evil.
“Where?”, said the fourth evil.
“Just next to our entrance”, said the third evil.
Suddenly, Tam felt something which was under his body. That was a shining pearl. He threw the pear to the evils at one. All evils fell down, motionless. He went out to check and they all had died.
The next morning, Tam made his way to the guard and thanked him. Later, he went toward his home and brought his family back the temple. They dug up the places which evils mentioned and found the things, six jars of gold and silver. From that time, Tam became richer and had a happy life.
You must wonder how about Tu. After Tu stole Tam’s instruments, he went toward a distant place. When sunset, he walked in an inn to rest but the owner prevented him.
“Go! Go away. Here isn’t safe” said the owner, “Recently, evils always come and stay here in nighttime. They will kill any stranger who dares to stay here at night”.
Though he was very scared, Tu still decided to stay there because it was too late to find other place. The owner led him to a secret cave. Tu set the instruments front of the cave entrance, went in and slept. Midnight, evils came.
“Bum! Bum!” evils ran to every direction after an evil stepped on a drum. One of them bursted onto the cave Tu was in. The evil killed him while he was sleeping.
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: 
List of Vietnamese fairy tales
Tale 139: Kill python
Tale 140: Hai Giap
Tale 142: Binh and Dinh
Tale 143: The hole contains gold or the hole contains silver 
Tale 144: The heir
-----
Truyện cổ tích Việt nam (For people who can read Vietnamese) 
Vietnamese historical stories (For people who love history)

Essential Reads: Engaging Books You Can't Miss!

Nhãn:

Comments

Post a Comment

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

GIỠ HAO JRANG chapter 4

Their fighting was very noisy. When their knives hit against the others or hit again shields it rumbled as thunders. The place between sky and ground where they fought was covered by dusts. They wrestled, punched and kicked other by their feet. They burked others by their huge hands. Daytime as like nighttime they fought without resting. Sometime, GiỡTuKrong and his fellows got advantage but sometime, they lost. Long time had passed but they still didn’t find out the winner. BokKiekLaDiaKlaKong clawed on GiỡTuKrong’s face by his pointed hard fingernails but all his fingernails were broken while GiỡTuKrong’s face had no scratch. GiỡTuKrong raised his hexagonal rod which was made of brass and lashed on BokKiekLaDiaKlaKong’s face. BokKiekLaDiaKlaKong dizzied and fell on ground he fainted.
Post a Comment
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

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

Thach Sanh and Ly Thong Chapter 1

Chap 1:  fight with huge snake  Once upon a time, a woodcutter and  his wife were over sixty years old but they had had not any children. Although they were sad, they still did good thing and hoped God would give them one child. At last, their kindness had come to King of heaven who requested his son to fly down and reincarnate to be the old couple’son. They had just enjoyed the happiness for a short time. Then, the old man died, before his son was born. Vietnamesefairytales.blogspot.com After that, the woman gave birth to a beautiful, strength boy. She named him Thach Sach. The poor boy grew up with no father then his mother also left after few years living with him. They only left him an ax and a pair of shorts. Day by day, he went to forest, cut tree, split them then took to market to get money. When he was thirteen, king of heaven forced his servants down to teach him magic and martial arts. Then they was back heaven, Thach Sanh continued living alone in...
Read more

GIỠ HAO JRANG chapter 8

“All right!” said Giông and GiỡHreng, “We will go in. If we stain your community house by blood, you don’t hate us or if we made your community house shake or ruin it, you don’t say that we want to do it. Or if you also want to fight with us, let us know immediately”. “I am gentle person”, said AtauYangBul, “Who have never gotten argument with anyone. I have asked BokKiekLaDiaKlaKong but he don’t listen he still lie on floor under blanket shaking. Come on and fight with him on floor. I will go and sleep at garret”. While BiaBơngBơh, BiaSơngLong, BiaSơdrăngMatAnar found shade under trees resting, Giông, GiỡTuKrong, DamPhan, GiỡHreng, MaKlen, MaJong started stepping up community house. “MaKlen, MaJong shut the doors up.” said GiỡTuKrong “Today we will fight with BokKiekLaDiaKlaKong in this community house”.
Post a Comment
Read more

Golden hole or silver hole

Their  parent died, left them valuable assets. They were two boys. They still lived together in their parent’s house till the old brother got married. After the old brother married, he wanted to divide their parent’s assets. Therefore, he wrote an agreement paper. “This is the time we need to divide our parent’s assets.” He said, “We both need private lives”.  “How will we divide?” said the young brother. “All things our parent left were in three types:  male, female and neutral. Because you are younger then me, I will give you all things which were male I will get things which were female and neutral. If you agreed, sign you name on this paper”, said the old brother. The young innocently thought that his brother was very kind, giving him good things so he signed his name on the paper. They started separating. “This house is mine. This female buffalo is mine. This plow is mine, This jar is mine….” said the old brother. From morning to afternoon, almo...
Post a Comment
Read more

Three boys

Once  upon a time, Le family had daughter who was not only beautiful but also great in knowledge and skillful that none could be better than her. When he was old enough to marry, many people had come, mandarins, landlords, students… but her father refused all of them. He said to them: “My daughter doesn’t need to be mandarin’s wife, landlord’s wife. She only wants a husband who had a skill but he has to be great in the skill. If people who don’t have the thing don’t come to my home”. The news the girl need a husband spread largely so many people came and tried but nobody could made the father satisfied. vietnamesefairytales.blogspot.com One day, three boys came to meet him. All of them were young, handsome and healthy. After the father heard them introduce themselves, he knew that they came from three places and just met the others as they arrived to there. One of them was an archer who could shoot any thing though it was far away or close, big or small. The second ...
Post a Comment
Read more

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...
Read more