Vietnamese fairy tales

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...

His  mother was a beautiful woman but Crown Prince Can Duc seemed not to inherit her beauty. People described that he had protruding eyes, a convex forehead and especially, his hands could reach over his knees as he stood straight. Though, people said that was shape of person who had rare talents. They might be right because Crown Prince matured sooner than children who had same age with him. When he was six, his father died, he had no choice but becoming the next king. Sat on the throne with  Empress Dowager Linh Nhan  staying in a veil behind him, he (now was King Nhan Tong Ly) solved national’s problems clearly front of mandarins and generals though his voice was still thin and weak. He used to have good ideas which none could think about. When he was 9 years old, he felt that his teacher could not teach him anymore. Though his mother had broad knowledge, couldn’t meet his learning desire. Therefore, he thought about competitions which used to find out the peopl...

Like  previous kings,  King ThanhTong Ly  worshiped Buddhism but he also interested in Confucianism, the system of philosophical and ethical was used as standards of living in China over one thousand years of history. According to Confucianism, an ideal model had to followed three rules or three Moral Bonds (there regulated about three relationships, people and king, father and his offspring, husband and wife) and five moral qualities or five constant virtues (these were benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, fidelity) King Thanh Tong Ly seemed to predict the development of Confucianism and he also realized that had no way to build talented people but Confucianism. Therefore, he was the first person who went on the way, developing Confucianism in the country. Vietnamese history had written: “In spring 1070, King Thanh Tong Le ordered builders to build Temple of Literature (Van Mieu), built statues which were Confucius (Khong Tu), Zhou ...

Being  royal concubine seemed to be god’s setting for Thi Yen Le, a country girl. She was born in Tho Loi village (in Duong Quang, Thuan Thanh which now is Gia Lam, Hanoi). She lost her mother when she was child. Every day, she busied weaving but she still kept the beauty and innocence. That year, in 1062 while mulberry trees was in harvest time, King Thanh Tong Ly was on his travel went to Dau temple in neighbor village, crossed Tho Loi. The temple was sacred temple and King Thanh Tong Le went to there to pray for a son (King Thanh Tong Ly that time was 40 years old but he still had never had a son. Therefore, having a son was the greatest wish). While Yen was picking up mulberry leaves in filed, a crowd of people went cross the field who were the king and his servants. King Thanh Tong Ly rode on a horse and was escorted by soldiers. People living the village didn’t want lose their chance seeing the king, sprinted to and rounded him. King Thanh Tong Ly stopped to meet the...

Prince   Nhat Ton was born in 1023 as his father was living as a prince who was chosen to be the next king. His father (later was Thai Tong Ly) lived in Long Duc palace. When his father ascended the throne and went to castle to live, Prince Nhat Ton was ordained to be the heir with appellation “Khai Hoang Vuong”. Though he was only five years old, he had to live in Long Duc palace alone, separated from his parents, the king and the queen. He was taught by teachers who were assigned by the king. Therefore, like his father and his grandpa, Nhat Ton grew up into a boy who was great in both knowledge and martial arts. Especially, he was calm and altruistic that made others not only respected but also loved him. King Thai Tong Ly was a person who always observed each Prince Nhat Ton’s step, his oldest son. King Thai Tong Ly believed in Prince Nhat Ton’s ability and had given the prince great responsibilities since the prince was very young. When Prince Nhat Ton was 15 y...

Vietnamese  history was written meagerly and only wrote about merits of kings, mandarins or generals. But history had written about one story which related to King Thai Tong Ly. It is his dream. The dream didn’t relate to war, soldiers but building. And that also was not building castle or citadel but a temple. Exactly, that is a part of temple.  Vietnamese history had written:  “At winter, 1049, King Thai Tong Ly ordered people to build Dien Huu temple. Before that, King Thai Tong Ly had had a dream that the Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva who sat on lotus flower appeared front his face. Then the Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva left the lotus flower and went to him and led him to lotus flower and let him sat on with her. When he woke up he said his courtiers about his dream and people said that was an ominous signal. Monk Thien Tue advised him to build pagoda, built a rock pillar at middle of pond and build a lotus flower on the pillar as he saw in his d...

All  kings desired that whole the country they dominated was a united entity. King Thai Tong Ly was also one of them. Along the time he ruled the country, Dai Viet, he had had many policies to achieve his purpose. One of policies was political marriages. Princesses were sent and married with patriarchs who lived in the north highland of the country and the king also married with daughters of patriarchs. The king ordained them and let them manage the area but they had to obey the king. Therefore, the king didn’t need any fighting to force them to obey him. Nung family had ruled provinces in the north highland long time. When Thai To Ly had been king he had ordained Ton Loc Nung to manage Thang Do area and his brother, Ton Loc Nung to manage Van Nhai area and his sister’s husband, Duong Dao to manage Vu Lac (now the areas were Cao Bang and Lang Son province) When King Thai Tong Ly ascended the throne in 1038, Ton Phuc Nung killed the others and ruled their areas. He thought ...

Just  felt in sleep after hours sat next to the bed where his father, the recent king was lying and waiting for his death, Phat Ma prince had a dream that Dong Co came in and said him that other princes would stood up to get the throne after his father died. The god said that he should prepare and he also had the god’s help. Phat Ma felt confused he had never thought that his brothers, Duc Thanh Vuong, Dong Chinh Vuong and Vu Duc Vuong would fight against him. Days later, Thai To Ly died, all things happened as his dream. vietnamesefairytales.blogspot.com Ten year ago from that day, when Phat Ma rode to fight against rebels in the south of the country he rode cross a temple respecting Dong CO in Thanh Hoa and rested at there. That night, he dreamt that Dong Co came in and promised that Dong Co would help him destroy rebels. Of course, the prince had the win. When he came back, he stopped at the temple and held a ceremony to thank to the god. Dong Co, it meant drum made o...

Spring , 1028 Phat Ma Ly (his name in the time before he was kingdom) inherited the throne with bad mood. He lost his father and his brother at the same time, besides, three remaining brothers planned to fight against him. He solved the conflict by the way persuading and forgiving them. Then he held a swearing – ceremony at Dong Co temple; the ceremony that people participated in would swore that they would be loyal with the king and filial with parents. That time, he could devote to the country. Thai Tong Ly had hard childhood. He was chosen to become the next king when he was 12 years old. That moment, he had to live in a private palace. He was allowed to meet his father and his mother but he had to study hardly under powerful mandarins’ leading. Thai To Ly, his father asked the mandarins to teach him strictly. Whenever rebels appeared, he had to followed soldiers to fight them. When he was 20 years old, he was authorized to lead all soldiers to Thua Thien – Hue and fought aga...

In  days of spring, 1010 Thai To Ly king and some courtiers went to his hometown on a ship. They went from Hoa Lu capital (Ninh Binh province) to Co Phap (now, Bac ninh province) on a ship. The king had delight as he saw the country seemed to change better. Fields were green and were going to give great harvests. Whenever, the ship arrived to a port, the king stopped to go on ground and had sightseeing and asked people about their lives. When the ship came to “Đông Bộ Đầu” port which was outside of Dai La citadel, the ship stopped, the king went on and realized Dai La was crowded place with convenient transportation. Dai La had been headquater of government when the country had been dominated by another country. Its name had been Tong Binh, had been rebuilt and repaired many times. Especially, it was repaired carefully when Cao Bien was the manager (See more about  CaoBien here ). The visit gave the king a deep thinking. Though the king had left Dai La and came to his ho...