or The Legend of Mai An Tiem
Retold by Clayton Graves & Nguyen bich Hoan
Pictures Google
Long ago, in the time of King Hung XVIII, there lived a bright young man named Mai An Tiem. He served the King, and proved to be both hard working and faithful to his royal master. King Hung trusted him completely. So you will not be surprised to learn that Mai An Tiem soon be the King’s favorite subject.
Everyone liked and respected the young man because he was kind, fair and generous to the poor . At length , An Tiem even received permission to marry the King’s beautiful daughter, whom he loved.
But in the royal palace of Vietnam there were other mandarins who were jealous of An Tiem .One of them began to plot against An Tiem and spread lies about him around the palace. He even claimed that An Tiem stole money from the king’s treasury.
It wasn’t long before some of the lies reached the ears of the King. At first the king did not believe the tales.But the jealous rascals kept up their lies. So, in time, the King,too, began to doubt his loyal servant.
And at long last, he decided to banish the young man to a deserted island, just off the shore from the province that is today called Thanh Hoa. There, he would pay for his crimes.
The Princess begged her father to allow her to go to the island with her husband
At first King Hung refused, but his heart could not bear the sadness of his child.
He also knew that tears could soon turn to bitterness. So ,after much thought he allowed his daughter to go.
An Tiem and the Princess found themselves quite alone on the dry and sandy island.Another person might have perished then and there, but An Tiem decided to make the best of their situation.
To survive, they hunted animals for food and now and then they found fresh fruits to eat. The days and the months passed, An Tiem wondered,”Will we ever return to the kingdom ?”
One day, as they walked along the seashore An Tiem spotted some dark seeds in some bird droppings .” We shall plant these black seeds and see what comes up,” he said.
In a few days ,the seeds began to sprout,
and soon they grew into healthy big plants,and shiny green leaves. And not long after that there appeared big round fruits with dark green skin ,the colour of precious emeralds .
An Tiem was curious .He cut open one of the fruits and what do you suppose he saw? Inside the fruit was a beautiful red color,with a pale edge. 
The center was dotted with shiny black seeds, sparkling and glossy like the eyes of his beautiful wife. But even more wonderful was the taste of the fruit. It was cool, sweet and delicious .Just the thing to quench your thirst after a hot day in the sun.An Tiem and his wife then decided to plant seeds all over the island. Soon the island was filled with the lustrous green plants.
The Princess and An Tiem liked nothing better on a hot day than to cut open one of the fruits and tasted its sweetness.
And that was exactly what happened. In a few day, a boat appeared at the shore. The boatmen had found the skin of the fruit and had come to the island in search of the ones who had carved their names.
An Tiem welcomed the strangers and he told them how he and his wife had first come to the island .He also told how they had planted the seeds. He even gave the boatmen some of the tasty fruit to eat. Everyone was amazed at how cool and delicious it was.
Soon the news of An Tiem spread around the kingdom. At sunset ,after their evening meal,families would chat about the island and the delicious fruit that grew there.
Merchant boats from all over the kingdom soon began to arrive at the island.They brought food and clothing and other things to trade for the fruit .
It wasn’t long before people to come there to live.The peaceful island was soon busy with trading boats and families
As you can imagine, the stories about An Tiem reached the royal palace.
This they did.And they also brought back some of the strange fruit that grew there.Imagine the King’s delight as he tasted the juicy red fruit for the first time. Immediately, he sent a messenger to the island to bring An Tiem and his wife back to the mainland.
Their meeting was full of joy. In fact the King was so moved by the sight of his former servant and his daughter that he restored An Tiem to his old position. The King was sorry that he believed the false stories about An Tiem.But he was also a wise and a just ruler,so it was only right that he punished the evildoers for their misdeeds.
The next morning, King Hung XVIII issued a royal decree that the seeds of the wonderful fruit should be planted all along the shores of Vietnam.
Soon the litlle bays and inlets which were once dry and barren were covered with the marvelous green plants.
An Tiem remained a servant of the good King for may years. And he often returned with his wife and children to his special island, where the watermelon plants grew in profusion.
LISTENING
1. The Watermelon ( Paula Le)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=468NSh6AWLU
2. The Watermelon
Long ago, in the time of King Hung XVIII, there lived a bright young man named Mai An Tiem.
He served the King, and proved to be both hard working and faithful to his royal master. King Hung trusted him completely. So you will not be surprised to learn that Mai An Tiem soon be the King’s favorite subject.
Everyone liked and respected the young man because he was kind, fair and generous to the poor . At length , An Tiem even received permission to marry the King’s beautiful daughter, whom he loved.
But in the royal palace of Vietnam there were other mandarins who were jealous of An Tiem .One of them began to plot against An Tiem and spread lies about him around the palace. He even claimed that An Tiem stole money from the king’s treasury.
It wasn’t long before some of the lies reached the ears of the King. At first the king did not believe the tales. But the jealous rascals kept up their lies. So, in time, the King,too, began to doubt his loyal servant.
And at long last he decided to banish the young man to a deserted island, just off the shore from the province that is today called Thanh Hoa. There, he would pay for his crimes.
The Princess begged her father to allow her to go to the island with her husband.
At first King Hung refused, but his heart could not bear the sadness of his child
He also knew that tears could soon turn to bitterness. So ,after much thought he allowed his daughter to go.
An Tiem and the Princess found themselves quite alone on the dry and sandy island.
Another person might have perished then and there, but An Tiem decided to make the best of their situation.
To survive, they hunted animals for food
and now and then they found fresh fruits to eat.
The days and the months passed, An Tiem wondered ,”Will we ever return to the kingdom ?”
One day,as they walked along the seashore, An Tiem spotted some dark seeds in some bird droppings .” We shall plant these black seeds and see what comes up,” he said.
In a few days ,the seeds began to sprout ,
and soon they grew into healthy big plants,and shiny green leaves. And not long after that there appeared big round fruits with dark green skin ,the colour of precious emeralds .
An Tiem was curious .He cut open one of the fruits and what do you suppose he saw? Inside the fruit was a beautiful red color,with a pale edge.
The center was dotted with shiny black seeds, sparkling and glossy like the eyes of his beautiful wife. But even more wonderful was the taste of the fruit. It was cool, sweet and delicious .Just the thing to quench your thirst after a hot day in the sun.
An Tiem and his wife then decided to plant seeds all over the island.Soon the island was filled with the lustrous green plants.
The Princess and An Tiem liked nothing better on a hot day than to cut open one of the fruits and tasted its sweetness.
One evening, just for fun, An Tiem carved his own name and that of his wife, as well as a small map of the island into six pieces of the skin of the wonderful fruit. The Princess suggested that they should throw the pieces into the sea, saying,“ Perhaps someone will find one of these and come to our island.”
And that was exactly what happened. In a few day, a boat appeared at the shore. The boatmen had found the skin of the fruit and had come to the island in search of the ones who had carved their names.
An Tiem welcomed the strangers and he told them how he and his wife had first come to the island .He also told how they had planted the seeds. He even gave the boatmen some of the tasty fruit to eat. Everyone was amazed at how cool and delicious it was.
As they departed, An Tiem gave the visitors some of the fruit to take with them on their trip home.To show their gratitude,the boatmen promised,“ We will tell everyone your story.”
Soon the news of An Tiem spread around the kingdom. At sunset ,after their evening meal,families would chat about the island and the delicious fruit that grew there. .
Boys and girls dreamed of sailing to the island to see it for themselves.
Merchant boats from all over the kingdom soon began to arrive at the island.They brought food and clothing and other things to trade for the fruit . It wasn’t long before people to come there to live.The peaceful island was soon busy with trading boats and families.
As you can imagine,the stories about An Tiem reached the royal palace.The King was naturally curious to find out the truth. He said to his servants,”Go and visit the island and report everything back to me!”
This they did.And they also brought back some of the strange fruit that grew there.Imagine the King’s delight as he tasted the juicy red fruit for the first time. Immediately, he sent a messenger to the island to bring An Tiem and his wife back to the mainland.
Their meeting was full of joy. In fact the King was so moved by the sight of his former servant and his daughter that he restored An Tiem to his old position. The King was sorry that he believed the false stories about An Tiem.But he was also a wise and a just ruler,so it was only right that he punished the evildoers for their misdeeds.
The next morning, King Hung XVIII issued a royal decree that the seeds of the wonderful fruit should be planted all along the shores of Vietnam.
Soon the litlle bays and inlets which were once dry and barren were covered with the marvelous green plants.
An Tiem remained a servant of the good King for may years. And he often returned with his wife and children to his special island, where the watermelon plants grew in profusion.
From the day till this, the watermelon plants have continued to grow in Vietnam. They have transformed the shores of the country into a green paradise.And may people still say the Vietnamese watermelon is the best watermelon in the whole world./.
*****
Muốn chuyển âm một bản văn, quí vị có thể vào :1. https://translate.google.com ( miễn phí)
2. https://www.ispeech.org/create.text.to.speech.audio
( thu đuợc đọc chậm và bình thường- không miễn phí) Daniel Doan
