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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!
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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...
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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...
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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.
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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...
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Danh sách truyện cổ tích việt nam

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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....
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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 ...
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