Vietnamese Stories for Language Learners. Tri C. Tran

is very easy to find in almost any village. Young boys herding a water buffalo used to play the flute while sitting on the back of the animal during their workday in the fields. Quiet summer afternoons or evenings in the countryside would also be accented by the melodious sounds of a flute played by someone who wanted to express their emotions through it.

      2 Checking a patient’s pulse is a medical method used by oriental physicians to diagnose his or her health problems. The physician would check the pulse by slightly pressing his fingers on the blood vessels in the patient’s wrist area. A complete prognosis also involves the examination of the patient’s facial color and his or her “spirit,” expressed by facial expressions (especially around the eyes).

       Vocabulary and Expressions

       NOUNS

      công nương daughter of a mandarin

      danh y famed physician

      nghề chài lưới fishing

      ngọc gem

      quả cầu ball

      sáo flute

      tâm bệnh depression

      thân phận condition

      thầy thuốc physician

      tinh thần spirit

      tư dinh residence

      tướng mạo countenance

       ADJECTIVES

      ai oán plaintive

      bị ám ảnh obsessed

      bổng treble, high

      chạnh lòng touched

      cô quạnh solitary

      dặt dìu presto and largo

      êm đềm tranquil

      huyền hoặc fantastic

      phấn chấn cheerful

      quyền quý noble

      réo rắc melodious

      tầm thường mediocre

      thất vọng disappointed

      tội nghiệp pitiful

      trầm bass, low

      trong suốt transparent

      tương tư lovesick

      vỡ mộng disillusioned

      xấu trai not handsome

       VERBS

      bắt mạch to feel the pulse

      chữa lành to cure

      đề nghị to suggest

      diện kiến to meet in person

      đoái hoài to condescend to take notice

      e to be afraid

      khám bệnh to examine a patient

      mường tượng to imagine

      ngưng bặt to stop abruptly

      thêu thùa to embroider

      thơ thẩn to wander

       ADVERBS

      bất giác suddenly

      khắc khoải anxiously

      lung linh sparklingly

      may ra hopefully

      quả nhiên indeed

      rất đỗi extremely

      tình thật honestly

      trầm ngâm pensively

       IDIOMATIC EXPRESSIONS

      chiều lại qua chiều evening after evening

      ngày ngày day in, day out

      sinh lòng luyến ái to fall in love

      văn võ song toàn all-round, well-rounded

      xưa thật là xưa long, long ago

       Discussion Questions

      1 The story shows that My Nuong’s love for Truong Chi was based on her imagination (a handsome flute player) as well as on a reality (the sound of his flute). Discuss the interaction between reality and imagination that brings about love.

      2 Can a powerful, albeit imaginative, love like My Nuong’s be easily extinguished by an unembellished truth, like that of Truong Chi’s ugliness? Elaborate on your answer.

      3 What does the disappearance of both the teacup and the flute player’s silhouette symbolize, in your opinion?

      The Woman with a Cursed Life

       Clinging Adversity

       People can come to religion for various reasons, but some find solace and escape from the injustice they face in their everyday lives. Others find that adversity seems to follow them no matter where they go. Such seems to be the fate of one particular married woman who has left her husband over a regrettable misunderstanding to seek haven in the house of Buddha. Ironically, she keeps running into misunderstandings and thus ends her life on a lamentable note.

      Long ago, there was a young lady named Thi Kinh, who had a kind nature and a beauty that was pleasant to the eyes. She was pious, always thoughtfully cared for her parents, and proved able to manage a household. When she came of age, her parents betrothed her to a student named Thien Si. Her young husband was a gentle person, who studied diligently day and night for his exam. Thi Kinh thriftily helped care for him while he studied. Their married life was happy and peaceful. At night he would sit at his desk reading while she sat next to him embroidering and sewing. After he finished his studies, the couple would have good conversations with each other.

      After much reading one evening, Thien Si fell half-asleep. He lay his head on his desk and napped for a bit. As Thi Kinh watched her husband sleeping, she suddenly saw a long strand of ingrown hair on his chin, a real eyesore. Thi Kinh mumbled to herself, “Oh, this ingrown hair does not make him look good one bit! I need to pluck it for him.” She took a penknife from her sewing basket and held it next to her husband’s face. She was about to cut the hair, when unexpectedly Thien Si woke up and became terrified that his wife was holding a knife to his throat.

      He grabbed her hand and yelled, “Hey! Were you trying to kill me in my sleep or what?”

      Thi Kinh was no less terrified. She made an effort to explain herself, but Thien Si stubbornly did not believe her. Her mother-in-law heard the commotion from inside their room and ran out to see what was happening. Thien Si and Thi Kinh each told her their side of the story. Naturally, the mother had to believe her son. After the woman viciously scolded and criticized her daughter-in-law, she sent Thi Kinh back home to her own parents.

      Thi Kinh, heartbroken at this injustice, left her marital home. She then shaved her head, disguised herself as a male, and took shelter in a Buddhist temple, to be far away from worldly matters. The elderly monk, not suspecting that she was a woman, accepted her into the temple and gave her a religious name “Kinh Tam.” Day and night from then on, Kinh Tam chanted prayers and immersed herself in Buddha’s teachings.

      Among the group of Buddhist followers who diligently went to the temple was a girl named Thi Mau. Although