In this column of foreign folk tales today I would like to
tell you a traditional story of Vietnam.
It is called ‘one hundred-joint bamboo’. This is one of the most popular folk
tales in the country and it is widely narrated at homes and taught at the schools.
However, before going to tell you this great story, I would like to give young
children a brief depiction about bamboo. Bamboo is a tropical tall green tree
that grows many hot parts of the world especially in Asia including Vietnam. It is
very solid and strong. For these characteristics, it has been widely used for
building bamboo houses, especially in hundred years ago. This story of ‘one
hundred-joint bamboo’ educates young people about kindness and loyalty.
Let’s read this wonderful story. Once upon a time, in a
small village in Vietnam,
there is a very poor young man called Cay. He was working as a slavery for a
local rich man. This rich man was very famous for his parsimoniousness and
brutality. Cay worked very hard for him but he just paid him a very little.
However, Cay was too poor that he had to live with him for foods and money
despite hard works and harsh treatments. He and the rich man’s daughter fell in
love with each other. The rich man knew their love affairs and he wanted to
play a trick on Cay to prevent this love. In stead of sacking Cay, the rich man
played him a trick by telling him to go to the forests and bring home a one
hundred-joint bamboo for building a new house. He also vowed to Cay that he
would allow Cay to marry his daughter and give Cay all of his possessions if he
brought the one hundred-joint bamboo. Listening to the news, Cay was very sad
because there were not any bamboo tall as one hundred joints. Naturally,
tallest bamboos were just as tall as 30 to 40 joints. However, he loved the
rich man’ daughter so much that he believed in a magic that he could find the
tall bamboo. Tomorrow morning, he set off and went to the jungles. He went to
that jungle to another jungle for 3 months but he could not see any hints of
the bamboo. He was so tired but he still tried his best. Suddenly, at one
night, in his dream he saw an angle to tell him the exact position of the one
hundred-joint bamboo. He woke up and followed the instruction of the angel the
dream. He went their and it was so amazing that a one hundred joint bamboo was
actually there. He chopped it down and brought it home in the amaze of the rich
man. Then he and the rich man’s daughter got married and lived in happiness.
If you want to find out more stories, please visit
the site of moral stories
