Here are the legends that are on my mind at the moment:

Lac Long Quan-Au Co
Trong Thuy-My Chau
Thanh Giong
The story about a princess marrying a guy she found naked in the sand, later married him and they went to heaven afterwards
Thach Sung
Nguoi Hoa De
Tam Cam

There's "Su Tich Trau Cau" and "Banh Trung, Banh Giay", oh yes, "Son Tinh Thuy Tinh"

I like Tam Cam the most, but I love my sister very much though hehehe.

Thach Sung is actually a vietnamized cambodian character

can anyone tell me the story of Su Tich Trau Cau again... i forgot

I'll try Hy:
There's two brothers who fell in love with the same girl and the younger brother left home because he wanted the two to be happy and for his brother to marry her. He left and went across the desert and turned into a trau, cau tree? There's a very very good song about this legend.
Tuan, help, I know you know.

Here's more:

Cong Da Trang - Da Trang lap bien (futile efforts)
Su tich trai dua hau
Su tich on bim bip

thx Trang.. --blah

There legend was that there were two identical brothers who loved the same girl. The elder brother married the girl and they all lived in the same house. One day, both the brothers went to the fields and the wife was at home.

When the younger brother came back, the wife mistaken him as her husband so she told him sweet words and acted like a typical Vietnamese wife. The younger brother was saddened and ran away. When the elder brother home did she realise that she's been mistaken the younger brother as her husband. She told her husband and so her husband ran away to find her brother.

The brother ran very far and stopped. He sat down and cried. Later turned into "voi", a type of rock that Vietnamese ground it into a paste to eat with trau cau.

The husband found his brother and realised that he's turned into a rock. He was very sad and later died as well, turning into the "cau" tree next to her brother.

The wife ran after her husband and later died of exhaustion and sadness. She turned into the "trau" climber, embracing him her husband, the "cau" tree.

One day a Vietnamese king come pass, he somehow was told of the legend. He tried it and really liked it. He issued a decree that it is to be used as "sinh le" for weddings as a symbol of the wife and husband's love for one another as well as "tinh huynh de" between the two brothers.

pheww

And how would you know that?

My favorite is Thanh Giong.

oh yes.. it's coming back..
boy, i forgot most of these lengends

I love Vietnamese legends. So full of hidden meanings and epitomise the Vietnamese characters, culture and tradition.

I know good times, these stories and food helped me grow into adulthood hahaha.
Thach Sanh was Khmer Krom hunter, hence the name Thach which is a popular Cambodian last name.

Thach Sung and Thach Sanh are two different legends.

Oh really? Hehehe oops, then bad supernovasp.

Tell me about Thach Sung then.

It's Thạch Sanh and Lý Thông - not Sung. Yes, it's indeed a Cambodian tale.

Thach Sanh - Ly Thong

Once upon a time, there was a tall strong young man named Thach Sanh. An orphan, Thach Sanh lived alone at the edge of a forest. He made his living by gathering and cutting wood in exchange for rice and some other food. He was dirt-poor and owned nothing but a loincloth and an ax, but he was happy and kind-hearted.

Thach Sanh had a very dear friend, Ly Thong, whom he looked up to as if he were his older brother. Ly Thong was a dishonest man and a cheat. He lived in the village with his mother whom Thach Sanh loved as if she were his own. Thach Sanh came to visit her very often because he missed the love of a family.

In the area near the village was a beast that looked like a serpent. It had magic power and frequently terrified the villagers. The King sent many troops to kill it but none could get near the beast. Finally, the King had to make peace with it and promise to offer it a human being every year at its temple.

That year, it was Ly Thong's misfortune to draw the lot and become the human offering to the beast. Ly Thong, being a cheat, thought of a way to fool Thach Sanh who was very naive in taking his place.
Ly Thong invited Thach Sanh to his house for a feast. He offered Thach Sanh some wine, and then said:

"It is my turn to guard the beast's temple tonight but my mother is sick, I don't want to leave her alone. Could you please go in my place?"

It was only a small favor to do for his friend, so Thach Sanh gladly accepted. At midnight, the beast came to eat his feast of the year. The wind blew in a terrible smell. All the trees around the temple trembled. Thach Sanh suddenly noticed a beast in the form of a huge serpent opening its large mouth to eat him. Thach Sanh fought the beast with all his might and killed it.

He cut off the beast's head and burned the rest. From the ashes he saw a golden bow and several golden arrows. Thach Sanh brought everything back to Ly Thong's house.

At that time, Ly Thong and his mother were sleeping, confident that Thach Sanh by now must be in the beast's stomach. Awakened by Thach Sanh's voice calling at the door, they became afraid and believed it to be Thach Sanh's spirit coming back to haunt them. Ly Thong quickly knelt on the floor and pleaded:
"Please forgive me and go away. We will give offerings to your soul and pray for you."

Upon hearing that, Thach Sanh knew that Ly Thong had fooled him. But being kind-hearted, he was not angry. He said:

"Don't be scared, I'm still alive. I have killed the beast and brought back his head."

Ly Thong was relieved. He immediately thought of another scheme. He opened the door for Thach Sanh and acted very concerned. He said:
"Oh! Didn't you know that the beast was worshipped by the King? You'll be in trouble for killing him. You'd better flee."

Thach Sanh believed him again. He fled to the forest. Ly Thong brought the beast's head to the King's court and announced that he was the one who killed the beast. He was rewarded with a lot of gold and was given official honors.

The King had only a daughter named Quynh Chau who had come of age. Royal princes had come to ask for her hand but she declined them all.
One day, she was strolling in the royal garden when suddenly a huge bird flew down from the sky and grabbed her then flew away.

Thach Sanh was cutting wood in the forest when he saw the bird with Quynh Chau in its claws. He shot a golden arrow at the bird. The bird was wounded. Its blood dropped on the ground. Thach Sanh followed the blood to a deep cave but there was no way he could climb down into the cave. He had to go home.

The King was devastated at the loss of his only daughter. He ordered Ly Thong, the hero who had killed the serpent beast, to find the princess and kill the bird. Ly Thong was afraid of the task. He tried to look for information by sending messengers all over the country.
Words reached Thach Sanh. He went into the capital to tell Ly Thong about his encounter with the bird and the girl. Ly Thong then ordered troops to go with him and Thach Sanh to the deep cave where the bird disappeared.

The cave was so deep that nobody would volunteer to go down. Thach Sanh told Ly Thong to drop a long rope into the cave so that he could climb down.

At the bottom of the cave Thach Sanh lighted a torch and followed the blood on the ground to a room. He saw a girl sitting at the door crying. Thinking she was the princess, Thach Sanh said:
"Please follow me, Your Highness. Don't be afraid."

The princess then told Thach Sanh that the huge bird was hurt badly and was resting in the room. He was still very dangerous and had magic power.
Thach Sanh led her to the rope and tied her to it. He then gave signals for Ly Thong to pull the rope up. The princess was pulled up to safety. Ly Thong again thought of a way to cheat. He simply did not drop the rope down to pull Thach Sanh up, but instead brought the princess back to the court after he had the troops push a large boulder to cover the cave.

Waiting at the bottom of the cave, Thach Sanh did not see the rope but only darkness as the boulder covered up the cave. Thach Sanh now knew that he had been tricked again. He had to look for a way out. He returned to the chamber where the bird was resting and courageously fought it. Thanks to the golden arrows, he killed the bird after a long fight.

As he was looking for a way out, Thach Sanh stumbled upon a large cage. There was a sad young man inside it. Thach Sanh asked for his name. The Young man replied:
"I am the son of the Dragon God, King of the Sea. I have been kidnapped and kept here for a long time. This cage neutralized my magic power. Please break it for me."

Thanh Sanh broke the cage. The Dragon Prince regained his magic power. He brought Thach Sanh and himself out of the cave. He then took Thach Sanh to the bottom of the sea to meet his father, the Dragon King. The King thanked Thach Sanh with all his heart. He gave Thach Sanh a magic lute and brought him back to land.

Thach Sanh now knew that Ly Thong never considered him a brother and was always ready to take advantage of him. He went to the capital to look for Ly Thong. When he reached Ly Thong's mansion, he was captured by Ly Thong's servants and put in prison. Once again, he was a lonely and poor woodcutter with no friends in the world.
Meanwhile, Ly Thong had drugged Quynh Chau with a special concoction that made her a mute so that she could not tell her father about what he did at the cave. Ly Thong told the King again that he was the one who killed the magic bird and rescued Quynh Chau. The King rewarded him with a lot of gold and gave him a promotion.

Thach Sanh brought out the magic lute and started playing, pouring his sorrow into the music of the lute. Upon hearing the lute music, Quynh Chau suddenly found her voice. She told the King that Thach Sanh was the real hero, and that Ly Thong was a cheat. Hearing the truth, the King was so outraged at such lies that he ordered Ly Thong and his mother put in prison at once.

Thach Sanh was released and rewarded. He asked the King to forgive Ly Thong and his mother. As a favor to the hero, the King spared Ly Thong and his mother from the death sentence, but ordered them sent back to the village. On the way, they were caught in a storm and died when they were struck by lightning.

Thach Sanh married Princess Quynh Chau and became heir to the throne. When the King passed away, Thach Sanh became a kind-hearted King who brought enormous happiness to all his subjects. Thach Sanh and Quynh Chau lived happily ever after.

Thanks Doan Du, that's what I thought, I've only heard of Thach Sanh.

Jesus, have you ever heard of the Thach Sung legen? It's a story from rags to riches to rags again.

It's also known as "su tich con thang lang"

Oh, that Thach Sung...

Okay, anyone would like to share about that Thach Sung?

Tuấn, if you don't mind.

The Legend of Trầu Cau

During the Hùng Vương dynasty, there were the identical twin brothers Tân and Lang. They lived together after their parents passed away. Then one day Tân fell in love with a girl by the name of Phù, and they got married. Lang did not want to live far from his brother, so he built a small house next to the big house of their parents, that Tân and his wife now lived in. Phù would cook for the two brothers. They shared the tasks of farming and frequently went hunting together.

One hot day, after a long hunt, Lang decided to go home early. He took the birds that they have shot with him back home while Tân continued hunting for a while longer. Lang took the birds into the kitchen of the big house and left them on the kitchen table. Since he felt really tired, he stretched down on the bed of his brother and fell asleep.

Phù came back from the market and feeling tired and seeing her husband asleep decided to share the bed with him. She fell asleep next to Lang.

When Lang woke up, he found his brother's wife asleep next to him. He felt ashamed to have slept with his brother's wife and blamed himself for having fallen asleep in his brother's bed. He did not blame Phù because he understood that she could have easily mistaken him. He decided since he has dishonored his brother that he should leave never to return. So, he silently got out of bed and left. Ashamed about what happened, he wandered deep in the forest. After a few days of wandering, he felt down from exhaustion and died. His body turned into a lime (Vôi) rock.

When Tân came back from hunting, his wife woke up and asked where did he go to be so tired, why did he not stay in bed and rest on such a hot day. He was very surprised by the questions and after a few questions of his own, he realized the mistake that happened. He ran out to his brother's house but could not find him. A few days later, he realized that his brother has left their village to avoid the shame of the mistake. So, he set out to find Lang. After wandering many days in the forest looking for Lang, Tân felt down from exhaustion at the base of the lime rock that was the body of his brother. He passed away and became a tall areca palm tree (Cây Cau).

Phù in remorse over her mistake waiting impatiently for the return of her husband and his brother. Days passed by. She decided to go and look for her husband. After wandering the forest for days, she also felt exhausted on a lime rock next to an areca palm. And she died and became a betel vine (Lá Trầu) that would creep up and entwine the palm tree.

King Hùng Vương (one of many) passed by the location on a tour of his kingdom. He was told the legend of the rock, the palm tree and the vine. He asked his court if there was a way to prove the veracity of the legend. One of his ministers suggested a blood test since the blood of related people will mix. So, chunks of the lime rock, nuts of the palm tree and the leaves of the vine were ground and mixed together. From the mixture came a red liquid that looks like blood. The King thus was satisfied that the legend was true.

People in recognition of the couple's devotion to each other decided to use the betel and acacia nut as a wedding gift. Thus, trầu cau has become a traditional gift from the groom's family in Vietnamese wedding ceremonies.

The story went from my three sentences to this elaborate version, thank you thank you. I think the song's name is 'su tich trau cau' too.

Anyhoo, we had pretty advanced science back then huh?



Now, how about Thach Sung...

I can barely remember Thạch Sùng ...I'll work on it.

thx!!
i asked my mother about the legend of Thach Sung.. but she forgot.. but in exchange i got "Thach Sung con thieu me thau?, huong chi em bau mua du thu do". .. just thought i'd share.

Oh I just thought of a great one about friendship. It's not a legend but "Luu Binh Duong Le" has always fascinated me, comradeship has always been worthy of praises, especially since our history's been through so much war.

That's really neat.
What are some good sites where I can read those legends?
I know the one about how Vietnamese people are the sons and daughters of a dragon or something like that.
Jenny

erm.. i say we ask NQSH to tell us .. he should know them all!!...

That's the legend of Con Rong Chau Tien aka "Dragon and Fairy", which tells of the birth of the Vietnamese people.

According to legend, the Vietnamese are descendants of the dragon, and when the monarchy was established, it became the symbol of the king.

Legend has it that the dragon Lord Lac Long Quan married fairy Au Co, and their union gave birth to 100 children and the Kingdom of Bach Viet. One day Quan said to his wife : "I’m a dragon and you’re a fairy. We can’t remain together."

Quan took 50 of his sons with him to the plains and coastal regions, while the others followed their mother to the mountains. The eldest son was crowned King of Lac Viet and named himself King Hung Vuong and Lac Viet was renamed Van Lang - an ancient name for Vietnam which was formed 4,000 years ago.

The dragon has been sleeping for too long, and is only recently emerging from many decades of conflict and returning to economic growth. It is now awake and ready to soar to greater new heights.

Trong Thuy My Chau are not in legends but appeared in historical context.

It is a legend.

tell me the story about that

Trau and Cau is the traditional items people share to show friendship
as we share cigarettes nowaday. This custom is from people living
in the area from India to South China, and to Malayxia, Singapore.
In other words, this custom is from people who speak Mon Kh'me languages.

The legend is not so complecated and modernized such that. I retell the story.

Tan and Lang are the twin identical brother. They are sent by their parents to
take literature courses and live in the house of a teacher, who has a daugher.
The girl likes the twin, and wants to mary the elder one. To find out who is the
elder brother, at a lunch, she serves the twin 2 bowls of porridge and a pair of
chop-ticks. In secret she watches them eating and sees one waiting for the
chop-ticks after the other finishes his porridge first. She asks her father to marry
the elder brother (without asking his own oppinion?) who eats first.
(The story sounds as if the girl has a high politic rank in the family.)

After the marriage, the brothers are still live in the same house (of course,
different rooms, as other teacher family members), but the elder brother are
no longer as close to his brother as before.

The younger brother becomes sad and lonely. In a rainy day, he decides to leave
for his parents home, without saying farewell to anyone in the house. He goes
and comes to a floody stream, and he sits down, waiting for the water to lower
down. He dies and turn into a rock with the shape of a lonely man sitting.

The elder brother suddenly finds that his brother has left. In a hurry, he run
after his brother, tracing the footprints left on the muddy road. He is stopped by
the stream, feeling full of love and care to the rock by the bank of the stream.
He dies, and turn into a tall, thin tree, next to the rock.

His wife suddenly knows that her husband has left. She also follows the trace
and stops by the stream, embraces the tall tree, feeling full of love, dies and
turn into a vine around the tall tree from the root to the top.

Local people love them, building a temple to pay respect to them.

King Hung once goes by, knowing thei story, eats a piece from the fruit of the
tall tree with the leave from the vine. He feels warm, sweet, and when some
drops from his mouth falls on the rock, the juice turns red as fresh blood.

Since then, the Vietnamese take the fruits, the leaves, and eat them with some
paste from the rock being burned and then mixed with water. In north Vietnam
a lot of rocks are made of CaCO3, and the burned rock is CaO, the paste is
Ca(OH)2.

The story of Thach Sung:

Thach Sung in his early age is a very poor man. After some years of hard work
and successfully in business, he becomes a richest man in the country. He is very
proud of his richness, and he becomes elegant. One of the powerfull officer in
the King's court is very jelous of him. In one occassion, Thach Sung and his
opponent go to a bet, that who loses will give up all belongings to the other.

The officer asks Thach Sung to show some of expensive and rare things in the
world, and Thach Sung has all the challenging items. At last, the officer asks him
to show the cooking pot made of burned mud. There is impossible to find such
cheap things in his property. So, all Thach Sung belongings are lost to the officer.
Thach Sung dies turning into a small animal (like the alligator the size of a finger)
running on the house' ceiling and wall)s searching for his pot of burned mud, some
time to time, making the sound like human beating the tounge in memory of
his old richness.

The legend of the Dragon and the FairyMaid:
The Dragon from the sea meets the FairyMaid from the mountain. They loved,
married, and giving birth to a hundred eggs. The eggs hatch into 50 boys and
50 girls. When boys and girls grow up, the Dragon talked to the FairMaid that
"I am from the see, and you are from the mountain. We should be apart so that
our kids have better chance to develop." Then 50 men and women follow the
Dragon to live in the coastern areas, 50 men and women follow the FairyMaid
to live in the mountainous areas. All 100 childrens have their own families and
their desendents are the Vietnamese today, from mountains to the sea.

According to written historic legend, there is no dragon nor fairy maid.
They were a man and a woman from legendary characters in China.
In other words, written history says that the Vietnamese are descendents from
noble Chinese.

I just want Trong Thuy and My Chau

The word "magic" crossbow indicates it's a legend

Trong Thuy and My Chau is the last story in the series of
King An Duong Vuong and Co Loa castle
The Cross Bow
Trong Thuy and My Chau

King An Duong Vuong wanted to build a castle to fight against
the invaders from the North. Ghosts came, and disturbed the
building of the castle. The God of Golden Turtle came to help the
King distroy the ghosts and complete the building of the castle.

When the God of Golden Turle said farewell to the king, the king
asked the God for powerful weapons. The God gave the King a
turtle nail for the King to use as the trigger for a Cross Bow. This
Cross Bow can kill thousands of enemies in a single shoot. With
the special design of the castle, and the powerful cross bow, King
An Duong Vuong was no longer afraid of the invaders from the north .

Foreign King in the north was Trieu Da who wanted to take Vietnam
as his colony. Knowing that King An Duong Vuong had built a strong
castle and made a poweful cross bow, Trieu Da sent his son as
An Duong Vuong's son in law to live with King An Duong Vuong's
daughter in the castle. Trong Thuy (Trieu Da's son) and My Chau
(An Duong Vuong's daughter) loved each other dearly. My Chau
showed Trong Thuy everything in the castle, including the secret
of the cross bow. One day, Trong Thuy steal the trigger of the cross
bow, the one made of God of Golden Turle's nail, and replaced
it with a fake one. Then he asked My Chau for a vacation back to
his homeland. Before he left, Trong Thuy asked My Chau how to
communicate with him if the war occurs. My Chau told Trong Thuy
to follow the trail of the feathers from her coat which was made of
goose's feathers.

When Trong Thuy reached his home, Trieu Da started the war.
King An Duong Vuong was not afraid of him, making no preparation
to fight. At the last moment, when the enemies were at the castle's
gate, King An Duong Vuong brought the cross bow from the safe,
and shoot at the enemies. Seeing the cross bow was now powerless,
King An Duong Vuong could not do nothing rather than carrying
his dear daughther on horse back, and escaped from the casle.
In his surprised, no mater how many tricks he did to escape away
from the pursuit by the enemies, he cannot break away. At last,
he run to the sea, and shouted in dispair, "The God of Golden Turtle,
come to help me." On the sea waves, the God of Golden Turtle
appeared and talked to him, "Your enemy is at your back. How can
you escaped?" King An Duong Vuong turned his head, seeing his
daughter pulling feathers from her coat and scatter them on the road.
King An Duong Vuong killed his daughter with his sowrt and followed
the God of Golden Turtle in to the sea.

When Trong Thuy followed the trace of the feathers to the sea shore,
he found his wife dead in a pool of blood. He bought her back to the
castle and burry her, then he jumped into a well to suiside.

My Chau's blood run into the sea. The oysters eats her blood and
forms the pearls. People get the pearls and clean them with the water
from the well in which Trong Thuy commited suiside, the pearls
become esceptionally clear and bright.

Trong Thuy, My Chau, An Duong Vuong, and Co Loa historically existed (no legends or non-fiction)

Magic cross-bow and Golden Turtle are in legends only.