Original language:
Vietnamese Translated from: Russian
Authors: Li Te Siuen
Translated by: Jasinevičius, Juozas
Published in: Vilnius
Published on: 1970
Publisher: Vaga
This book contains extracts from four of the ancient Vietnamese fictional prose collections that appeared in between the 14th and 16th centuries. The oldest set is called “The collection of magic and secrets of the land of Viet”, created by Li Te Siuen, curator of the royal books warehouse in the beginning of the 14th century. In Vietnam, the only books that were written up until this time were simply chronicles about various royal dynasties. The names of the heroes, dates of the events, even landmarks were taken from ancient chronicles. Even the manner of describing the heroes’ accomplishments is somewhat ancient. Even the novels end in a fashion that is based on historical events. Every year of “Double prosperity”, twenty-first year of “Uprising and plentitude” are famous dates in the history of Vietnam, dates of glorious military achievements.
Fourth collection – “Stories about wonderful things” were written at the beginning of the 16th century. The author – Nguen Zi, was a student of a famous Vietnamese philosopher Nguen Bin Kchiem. The concluding story, called “The lord of the demons of the night”, was taken from Nguen Zi’s collection.
The tales of Li Te Siuen are dedicated to induce patriotism and combativity. Heroes of most of these tales usually end up as spirits that show themselves in the dreams of the kings and generals. The spirits aid them in the upcoming battles against the attacking Chinese and Mongolians. The authors “collection of magic and secrets of the land of Viet”, has been rewritten and supplemented over the years, with the last known addition in the 18th century.
The second collection of the ancient Vietnamese prose – “The astounding tales of the earth of Lin-nam”, written in the end of 15th century. At first, the collection contained two parts, but in a century later, confucionist Doan added part three, and in the 18th century Woo Kchen Len added the fourth. The authors of these tales are considered to be Vi Kuini and Kieu Fu. They both had already finished some sort of higher education and both of them were serving in the king’s palace. Vu Kuini was very interested in legends, stories which he creatively used in his works, enrichening them with philosophical motives. Stories about a golden tortoise, new-year cakes and others. The episodes that the author has used are still present in the memory of the people.
The author of the third book was the king of Vietnam, Le Tchan Tong. He seized his throne at 18 years of age in the year 1460. He was a follower of Confucius and his time of lordship was considered to be the golden ages of Vietnam. He died in 1497. The current investigators of the Vietnamese prose are still unsure about the origins of the book, but everyone agrees that over time, the creations of Le Tchan Tong had been rewritten and somewhat altered to suit the times better.
All four collections of the ancient Vietnamese prose were written in literary Chinese, using Chinese characters which were common during those times. In year 1969 the characters were translated into present Vietnamese language. The most interesting stories were translated into Russian by M. Tkachev. It is the first translation of these papers into foreign languages.