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2. Birth and death

Sun was going downing. Birds turned back their nests. A woodcutter was heading his home on the winding road. Dark started covering the place. It got more and more silently. Bell tones echoing from distance seemed hurry people to get the scary forest. Howls coming out from deep forest frightened people who were in there. Night was the time monsters moved out from their hiding. An old monk was on his way from his place, the temple at the foot of mountain, to the edge where a couple lived. The people were the followers of the monk. The monk arrived to the tent when dark just covered whole the place.
vietnamese fairy tales
“Knock! Knock! Knock”, the monk knocked the door. The couple appeared. After greeting, the couple invited the monk in. The monk sat on a round carpet while others surrounded him. They all were enjoying tea.
“From the time you were followers”, said the monk, “I used to come here and directed you. I am very happy as I see you both progress every day. We meet and then we part that is the life. Tonight, I come to goodbye. I have come to other place ang help other people. I don’t know it will take me how much time so I don’t daresay whether we can meet again or not. So before I leave, I have some advices for you”, the monk stopped a while. “Don’t forget to recite the Buddhist scriptures. Live and work followed Buddaha’s direction. You both will meet things you don’t like but you have keep yourself calm, not being impatient. One of us will die early but the other doesn’t hurt too much. Have to help the dead recite the Buddhist scriptures. Only if you do that, the soul of the dead can reincarnate early. It’s difficult to do what I say. Many people also can’t do that. But, you have to remember the words and follow them”.
The monk left in the next morning.
Time passed. The monk had left the place for two years. The couple always followed the monk’s words. They recited the Buddhist scriptures everyday. They used to help others. They love people and was loved by people. Their family life was happy and peaceful. The days like that continued passed but,
One day, the husband got sick. The sick made him stay on bed whole day and seemed not to relieve. The wife had found all the ways to doctors around the place they lived but no one could cure. At last, a relative helped her invite famous doctor to come. The doctor examined and said:
“He won’t pass”, said the doctor, “His pulse’s very weak. You had better prepare for the thing’s going to come”.
The wife fell in hopelessness. Her mind turned confused. She forgot all the words. She bent her head down on her husband and cried. The last seconds the husband opened his eyes, looked at her, she cried more violently.
“Don’t leave me alone”, she scream, “Why can I live without you?” The wife cried loudly.
The husband listened mournful words, the feeling of sorry his wife made him could not be peaceful. He looked her awhile, tears dropped from his eyes then he died. His soul left out from eyes but she still bent down and cried on his face so the soul went in her nostril and changed into a worm.
   She did her duty after that. She held a funeral. People came and helped her very much. After her husband was buried, people found the ways to their home, left her alone in the empty house. The house now became too big with her. It’s so cold and quiet. Besides, the worm in her nostril got bigger each day, made her get more and pained. She felt unhappy and so that she cried. She cried whole day, daytime and including nighttime. The mournful cry came out from the house made people who lived surrounding felt sorry for her but they couldn’t do anything.
Then, the monk came back. The first thing he did was visited to her home. She burst into him as she just saw him. She started lamenting.
“Stop do the thing”, said the monk, “You’re one follower must know that birth and death are obvious. We are born and we all will die. With followers, death is a good thing that they are recused from blood and flesh. You should feel happy for him because of that. Why’d you still cry? You cry it mean you still don’t understand the dogma. Hear me. Stop crying and focus on practicing. You have to let the dead leave in peace”.
After heard monk’s words, she seemed to understand. She helped herself redress her clothes, comb her hair. Then, in the accident, she sneezed. The worm was pushed out.
The monk laughed. He said:
“There had very few people in the world who because of mercy husband, getting a worm in nostril”.
The wife felt ashamed, she planned to kill the worm. But, the monk prevented her.
“Stop”, said the monk, “Don’t do that. It’s your husband changing in”.
That seemed surprised her.
“Master”, said her, “My husband had done good deeds for all his life. Why’ d he change into a worm when he died? That’s nonsense”.
“You forgot my direction”, said the monk, “When your husband died, you forgot to recite the Buddhist scriptures, leading him to the right way. Instead of that you fell in sadness, you burst in tears. So, when he died, his soul couldn’t go, it was bounded by emotions. He changed into worm and lived as a worm in your nostril. His life was wasted. A follower want rescue but to be bound by emotions that like a bird want to fly up to escape from trap but it don’t know its legs are tied by a rope. It’s so pitiful”.
The monk approached the worm. He said gently:
“When you lived, you followed me doing good deeds but when you died, you were bounded by emotions so you couldn’t go on the right way. So that, you was changed in a worm. It’s so pitiful.
The worm lied still on ground. It heard and understood what the monk said. It felt ashamed. Later, the worm died. The monk helped him recite the Buddhist scriptures, telling all the good deeds it had done when it’s human. Its soul was led on the right way, another time going to the gate to become a human.

THE END

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

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2. Birth and death

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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

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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

Bài 1.2: Phân biệt tân ngữ và bổ ngữ.

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Danh sách truyện cổ tích việt nam

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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

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 the hut his p

Bài 14: Danh từ đếm được số ít và số nhiều và quy tắc thêm chuyển từ danh từ đếm được số ít sang số nhiều.

      Như chúng ta đã biết danh từ thường phân thành nhiều loại nhưng về mặt ngữ pháp bạn chỉ cần biết danh từ gồm hai loại: danh từ đếm được và danh từ không đếm được. Về cơ bản mình sẽ nói qua một chút về danh từ đếm được và danh từ không đếm được vì bài này chủ yếu xoay quanh danh từ đếm được. Về bản chất danh từ đếm được là những từ bạn có thể kiểm soát nó bằng mặt số lượng tức là bạn có thể đếm 1, 2, 3 cái gì đó và nó có sự phân biệt giữa số ít (một) và số nhiều (hơn một) của loại từ này trong ngữ pháp của câu. Ví dụ: I have  bananas và  I have  a banana  có sự khác biệt rõ ràng, bạn có nhận thất mạo từ  “a”  ở trước banana không? Thêm nữa Bananas  are  yellow và a banana  is  yellow bạn có nhận thấy động từ đi kèm có sự khác biệt không; danh từ số nhiều sẽ tương đương vói ư chỉ ngữ they và danh từ số ít sẽ tương đương vói it. Cơ bản là thế. Còn về danh không đếm được thì bạn phải cân, đo, đong như những thứ thuộc chất lỏng, chất rắn, hạt, hay những danh từ mang tính trừu tượn