Vietnamese Culture Copyright 1998 Tran Thong Issue 35: The story of Ta^'m and Ca'm Please direct all questions to [email protected] ==================================================================== Issue #1: Tet 1971 in Vietnam! by Phu Si, VB710118 Issue #2: The Unicorn dance at Tet, by Minh Tam, VB710118. Issue #3: The origin of Tao Quan, the three kitchen gods, by George F. Schultz, VB710118. Issue #4: 1971 - The year of the Pig, by Van Ngan, VB710118. Issue #5 The Joy of "first writing of the new year", by Thuy Ngoc, VB710208. Issue #6: Traditional Vietnamese male attire, by Van Ngan, VB710208 Issue #7: The legend of Princess Lieu Hanh, George F. Schultz, VB710215 Issue #8: The dialogue on Mount Na-Son, George F. Schultz, VB710222 Issue #9: The secret housewife, George F. Schultz, VB710301 Issue #10: The golden axe, George F. Schultz, VB710308 Issue #11: Golden age of Viet Nam under the Hung Kings, Pham Tung, TAS720506. Issue #12: The legend of Chu Van Dich, George F Schutlz, VB701221 Issue #13: The sandalwood maiden, George F. Schultz, VB7010?? Issue #14: Legend about Emperor Ly Thai-To, George F Schultz, VB7010?? Issue #15. Chu Dong-Tu and Princess Tien Dung, George F. Schultz, VB701005 Issue #16. The husband's most difficult task: teaching his wife, Van Ngan, VB 691216 Issue #17: Superstition in Viet Nam, Van Ngan, VB6911?? - May 8, 1996. Issue #18: Hair: VN style, VB7007?? - May 15, 1996 Issue #19: Funeral rites in Viet-Nam, Van Ngan, VB7006?? - May 22, 1996. Issue #20: "Non Bai Tho" or the "Poetical Leaf", ???, VB7011??. Issue #21: The different systems of writings in Viet-Nam, ???, VB710201. Issue #22: Vietnamese literature in "Chu Nom", ???, VB710201. Issue #23: The boat of illusion, Nguyet Cam, Heritage Sept/Oct 1995. Issue #24: Tran Hung Dao's proclamation to his officers, George F. Schultz, VB 710201. Issue #25: The refined pleasure of tea-drinking, Tuong Minh, The Saigon Times Weekly, No. 238. Issue #26: The hero of Phu Dong, ADT Issue #27: The genie of Ta?n Vie^n, ADT Issue #28: The magic crossbow, ADT Issue #29: The legend of tra^`u cau, ADT Issue #30: Tu+` Thu+'c and Gia'ng Hu+o+ng , ADT Issue #31: Tru+o+ng's wife, ADT Issue #32: The legend of ba'nh chu+ng, ba'nh da^`y and the watermelon. Issue #33: Vietnamese folk songs: tha(`ng bo+`m, ???, VB710201. Issue #34: The hundred knot bamboo Issue #35: The story of Ta^'m and Ca'm =================================================================== The Story of Ta^'m and Ca'm (Vietnamese Cinderalla) Ta^'m and Ca'm were two half sisters. Tam was the daughter of the first wife. Ca'm was the daughter of the second wife. Both parents of Tam passed away when she was very young. So, she lived with her step-mother, Cam's mother. They were fifteen and fourteen. Tam had to do all the household work while Cam, spolied by her mother, spent the day relaxing and playing in the field. One day, Cam's mother gave to both Tam and Cam baskets for catching fish. She told them to go in the filed and catch small river shrimp. She promised to give to the one who returns first with a full basket a red blouse. Tam did not mind the hard sun, and was busy skimming for the shrimps. Soon, her basket was full with large and small shrimps. In the mean time, Cam was busy running around picking flowers and catching butterflies. It was evening and Cam's basket was still empty. When Cam saw her sister's basket was full, she told her: "Tam, you head is full of mud. You may want to and wash your hair in the middle of the river. Else Mother will reprimand you." Tam believing her sister, when out to the river to wash herself. When she returned to the river bank, her basket was now empty. Cam has emptied her basket into hers and went home. Tam was desolated. She sat and cried by the river bank. She suddenly saw a flash. Buddha appeared and asked her: "Daughter, why are you weeping?" Tam told Buddha her story. Buddha asked her "Look in your basket. What do you see?" Tam looked and replied "I only see a goby fish. Take the fish home and drop it in your well. Each day, instead of eating your usual three bowls of rice, eat two and spare one for the fish. Each time you feed the fish call out to it: goby, goby, you eat my golden and silver rice, don't eat the left over rice or the gruel from others" Then Buddha disappeared. Tam followed Buddha's instruction. She hid one bowl of rice at each meal for the goby. Each time, when the fish heard Tam's voice, it would surface and ate all the rice before disappearing in the depth of the well. Her step mother noticed that after each meal Tam went out to the well. She became suspicious and told Cam to spy on her sister. Thus, Cam hid behind a bush by the well after the meal. She heard Tam called Goby. Cam memorized the words and then reported what she saw and heard to her mother. The next morning, Cam's mother called Tam and gave her a pack of rice and told her "Today you should take the buffalo in the far way fields to feed them. Don't leave them in the nearby fields. The village is looking for a buffalo to use in the upcoming celebration." Tam following those orders rid the buffalo to the farthest field. At home, the two mother and daughter took a bowl of rice to the well and summoned Goby like Tam did. They caught it and cooked it for their lunch. In the evening, Tam brought the buffalo back. Like other evenings, she took a bowl of rice to the well. She called out to Goby for a long time, but the well surface remained placid. A while later, Tam saw a drop of blood appear on the surface of the water. She burst into tears. Suddenly Buddha appeared and asked "Why do you weep?" Tam told him the story. Buddha told her "Your goby has been killed. Go home and pick up the bones. Put them in four small containers and bury them under your bed posts." Tam went home and searched for the fish bones. She searched all over the house but could not find them. Finally a hen told her: "Cu. ta cu.c ta'c (the sound of a hen), give me a handful of rice and I will dig them for you". Tam gave the hen the rice. The hen went into the kitchen and dug. Soon, the fish bones appeared. Tam put them in four containers and bury them under the posts of her bed. Her step mother was pushing more and more duties on her frail shoulders. She had to take care of the buffalo, cut the grass, cook the rice. In the evening she had to unhusk the rice, and then grind it into the night. She was not fed regularly. She some time went to bed hungry. As soon as she was able to lie down, the rooster will be crowing and her step mother would wake her up. Cam and her mother in the mean time were enjoying life to the fullest and they did not do anything in the house. Shortly thereafter, there was an announcement that the King was holding a festival. Cam and her mother were busy shopping and preparing for the festivities. They boughht new clothes for the occasion. Meanwhile, Tam had only her dirty torn clothes. The day of the festival, Cam's mother mixed a bucket of of rice and a bucket of husk and told Tam: "You must first separate the rice from the husk, then you can go and attend the festival". Then she and Cam took off. After spending some time picking the rice, Tam burst into tears. Buddha appeared "Why are you weeping? Today is the festival. My stepmother mixed the husk and the rice and I had to separate them before I can go to the festival. Let me ask the sparrows to help you". The sparrows came down from the trees and separated the mixture into two piles of rice and husk. In the blink of an eye, the sparrows were done sorting. She was now free to go to the festival. However, looking at her ragged clothes, Tam again burst into tears. Buddha reappeared and told her: "Dig up the four containers under the posts of your bed. You will find new clothes". Tam dug the containers up and found new beautiful clothes, scarves and shoes. She now had a three color dress, a red skirt, a day lily brassiere, a pink belt, a three color scarf, an embroided slipper. The slipper was very small and only her small feet could get into them. Tam put on the dress and her shoes. Everything fit perfectly. In one of the containers, Tam found a tiny horse. As soon as the put in on the ground, the horse grew into a full size horse, with an ornate saddle. Tam was elated with joy. She washed herself and then set out for the festival. She had to cross a small river. During the crossing, she dropped one of her slipper. She stepped down from the horse to look for it. She searched and searched but could not find it. Shorly thereafter, the elephant of the king came by the crossing. But the elephant trumpeted and refused to cross the river. The king ordered his retainers to drag the river to find the cause. They came back with a beautifully crafted tiny slipper. The king admired the slipper and then gave the order: any woman or girl at the festival who can put on the slipper, will become his queen! Hearing the announcement, all the women and girls at the festival jostled each other to the palace grounds to try on the slipper. Both Cam and her mother tried it unsuccessfully. Then Tam tried it and it fit perfectly. Tam showed the other slipper she had. They were clearly a pair! Cam who was standing on the outside of the gates of the palace, saw a girl that looked like Tam trying the slipper. She called her mother: "Look, isn't that Tam? No way. Where would she get those dresses?" Only when the palenquin taking Tam back to the palace passed by, were the two able to ascertain that it was indeed Tam. They were surprised and could not figure out where did Tam get her dresses! To be continued in 2 weeks. ==== In the palace, Tam was very happy. However she remembered the buffalo that she took care, the garden that she used to cultivate, and the sunrise and sunset in the fields. So, on the anniversary of the death of her father, she asked the king to be allowed to go home. Her stepmother resented Tam happiness. But she hid her feeling and happily welcomed her back in the home. She told Tam "You are good at climbing the acacia tree. Why don't you climb it and bring down a bunch for the offering to your father". Tam obeyed and climbed the tree. As she was about to reach the acacia bunch, her step mother stated cutting down the tree. Tam feeling the tree moving, Tam shouted to her stepmother "Why is the tree shaking? Don't worry, I am just chasing the ants away from the base of the tree!". The tree toppled and Tam fell in the pond and died. The stepmother, stripped Tam's body of all her clothes and gave it to Cam. She then took Cam to the palace and weeping told the King that Tam has died suddenly, and she has brought Cam to replace Tam. Tam spirit took over an oriole that was standing by the pond. The oriole flew to the palace and followed the king wherever he went. The king was very disappointed with Cam, who was not even a tenth of here sister; she was lazy and lack household skills. Seeing the oriole that followed him, he remembered Tam and called out to the bird "Oriole, oriole, if you are my wife, come into my sleeves" As soon as he finished saying this, the oriole flew into his sleeves. The king was very surprised and decided that the oriole should be allowed to fly wherever it wanted in the palace. One day, while Cam was washing the king's dress, the oriole cried out: "If you are to wash my husband dress, it has better be clean! If you are to dry my husband dress, dry it on a pole, not on a bush by the pond because you will tear it". Cam was very surprised and afraid. The king loved the bird and always let it ride on his shoulder. This made Cam disliked the bird even more. One day, Cam went home to see her mother and told her about the oriole. The mother told her to kill the bird and feed it to the cat, then burry the bird feathers. Back in the palace, Cam waited until the oriole flew on one its tour of the palace and there was nobody around. She caught the bird, killed and fed it to the cats. The feathers were burried in an isolated corner of the palace garden. On the spot where the feathers were buried, a big tree grew quickly out of the ground. The king saw this fast growing tree with its big foliage and took a liking to it. He had his hammock strung under the tree. Whenever he liad under the tree, he would see an image of his dear wife. This made him like the tree even more and he neglected Cam. And this made Cam even more resentful of the tree. One stormy day when the king was out of the palace, Cam went out and cut down the tree. She blamed it on the storm. From the wood, she made a loom. As she was weaving one day, the shuttle suddenly cried out: " co't ca co't ke't (the sound of weaving) you stole my husband, I will bite your eyes!". Cam was taken back and threw the shuttle away, and never weaved again. When she saw her mother, she told her about the shuttle. She suggested that she burned the loom and threw the ash away from the palace. Cam did as she was told and threw the ashes on the road outside the palace. On the spot where the ashes was thrown, a persimmon tree grew. The tree grew many flowers but bore only one large fruit at a branch on top of the tree. There was an old woman who had a tea house in that neighborhood. Each time she passed the persimmon tree she would compliment on the very nice tree. One day she saw the golden persimmon on top of the tree. She mumbled: "Persimmon, persimmon. You come down in my bag. I will only smell you. I will not eat you". As soon as she finished, the persimmon felt right onto her lap. She took it home and smelled its sweet fragrance and true to her word she did not eat it. At night she put it at the head of her bed. Each day, when she left for the market, she would tell the persimmon "persimmon, you will watch the house. I will go to the market and I will buy you food". The persimmon kept its color unchanged. As soon as the old woman has left the house, a small girl will come out of the persimmon and grew up to a full size Tam. Tam then proceeded to clean the house, and cook a meal for the old woman. Each time she came home, the old woman will find everything in order and a meal ready. One day, she faked leaving for the market and instead turned around and spied outside the house. Tam came out of the persimmong and cleaned the house. The old woman was delighted to see such a yound and beautiful girl. She rushed into the house, embraced her and also ripped apart the persimmon. From then on, Tam stayed with the old woman and they loved each other like mother and daughter. People in the neighborhood thought that Tam was a niece that has come from far away. Tam took care of the making the quids of betel to sell to customers. Tam stayed inside the house, only the old woman would sell to customers. One day on one of his trip outside, the king passed by the teahouse. Seeing a neat teahouse, he decided to stop there and rest. The old woman served him tea and presented him with some betel. The king saw the quid of betel in the shape of a phoenix, just like those quids that his wife used to make. So, he asked the old woman: "Who made these quids of betel? My daughter, sire." The king asked to see her daughter and was very surprised to find Tam. He took her back to the palace. Cam came back to the palace. She decided not to prosecute her sister and stepmother and just had them banished to a far corner of the kingdom. ================================================================= BACK ISSUES Send me an e-mail at [email protected]