The Tale of Kieu

The Tale of Kiều (1813) is a Vietnamese epic poem written by Nguyễn Du (1766–1820). It is widely regarded as the most significant work of Vietnamese literature.

Quotations

 * Unless otherwise noted, English translations are from The Tale of Kiều, trans. Huỳnh Sanh Thông (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1983), ISBN 978-0300028737.



Chữ tài chữ mệnh khéo là ghét nhau. Trải qua một cuộc bể dâu, Những điều trông thấy mà đau đớn lòng. Lạ gì bỉ sắc tư phong, Trời xanh quen thói má hồng đánh ghen.'' talent and destiny are apt to feud. You must go through a play of ebb and flow and watch such things as make you sick at heart. Is it so strange that losses balance gains? Blue Heaven's wont to strike a rose from spite.'''
 * ''Trăm năm trong cõi người ta,
 * '''A hundred years—in this life span on earth
 * Opening lines

Phong tình có lục còn truyền sử xanh.'' a tale of love recorded in old books.'''
 * ''Cảo thơm lần giở trước đèn,
 * '''By lamplight turn these scented leaves and read
 * Lines 7–8

Cành lê trắng điểm một vài bông hoa.'' some blossoms marked pear branches with white dots.
 * ''Cỏ non xanh tận chân trời,
 * Young grass spread all its green to heaven's rim;
 * Lines 41–42

Lời rằng bạc mệnh cũng là lời chung.'' "We all partake of woe, our common fate."'''
 * ''Đau đớn thay phận đàn bà!
 * '''"How sorrowful is women's lot!" she cried.
 * Lines 83–84

Tình trong như đã, mặt ngoài còn e. Chập chờn cơn tỉnh cơn mê.'' what stirred their hearts their eyes still dared not say. They hovered, rapture-bound, 'tween wake and dream.
 * ''Người quốc sắc, kẻ thiên tài,
 * Beautiful girl and talented young man—
 * Lines 163–165

Trăm năm biết có duyên gì hay không?'' Does fate intend some tie between us two?
 * ''Người đâu gặp gỡ làm chi,
 * And who is he? Why did we chance to meet?
 * Lines 181–182

Đường xa nghĩ nỗi sau này mà kinh.'' she viewed the road ahead and dread seized her.
 * ''Một mình lưỡng lự canh chầy,
 * Alone with her dilemma in deep night,
 * Lines 217–218

Ba thu dồn lại một ngày dài ghê.'' one day without her seemed three autumns long.
 * ''Sầu đong càng lắc càng đầy,
 * He drained the cup of gloom: it filled anew—
 * Lines 247–248

Của tin gọi một chút này làm ghi.'' "Call these small gifts a token of my love."
 * ''Rằng: trăm năm cũng từ đây,
 * "Henceforth I'm bound to you for life," he said.
 * Lines 355–356; quoted by Barack Obama, in "Remarks by President Obama in Address to the People of Vietnam" (24 May 2016): "Please take from me this token of trust, so we can embark upon our 100-year journey together."

Vì hoa nên phải đánh đường tìm hoa. Bây giờ rõ mặt đôi ta, Biết đâu rồi nữa chẳng là chiêm bao?'' "for love of you I found my way to you. Now we stand face to face—but who can tell we shan't wake up and learn it was a dream?"
 * ''Nàng rằng: Khoảng vắng đêm trường,
 * "Along a lonesome, darkened path," she said,
 * Lines 441–444

Đinh ninh hai miệng một lời song song.'' as with one voice both mouths pronounced the oath.
 * ''Vầng trăng vằng vặc giữa trời,
 * The stark bright moon was gazing from the skies
 * Lines 449–450

Ðầu mày cuối mắt càng nồng tấm yêu.'' bemused his eyes, and kindled his desire.
 * ''Hoa hương càng tỏ thức hồng,
 * A fragrant rose, she sparkled in full bloom,
 * Lines 497–498

Dám xa xôi mặt mà thưa thớt lòng.'' not face to face, we shall stay heart to heart.
 * ''Trăng thề còn đó trơ trơ,
 * But it's still there, the moon that we swore by:
 * Lines 541–542

Cho đành lòng kẻ chân mây cuối trời.'' at the world's ends, may know some peace of mind.
 * ''Gìn vàng giữ ngọc cho hay,
 * Care for yourself, my gold, my jade, that I,
 * Lines 545–546

Bên tình bên hiếu, bên nào nặng hơn? Để lời thệ hải minh sơn, Làm con trước phải đền ơn sinh thành.'' and filial duty, which will turn the scale? She put aside all vows of love and troth— a child first pays the debts of birth and care.'''
 * ''Duyên hội ngộ, đức cù lao,
 * '''As you must weigh and choose between your love
 * Lines 601–604

Thân còn chẳng tiếc, tiếc gì đến duyên!'' would she still care for life, much less for love?
 * ''Đau lòng tử biệt sinh ly,
 * To part from Kim meant sorrow, death in life—
 * Lines 617–618

Dầu lòng đổi trắng thay đen khó gì!'' swaying men's hearts and turning black to white.
 * ''Trong tay đã sẵn đồng tiền,
 * When money's held in hand it's no great trick
 * Lines 689–690

Lệ rơi thấm đá tơ chia rũ tằm.'' tears drenched the steps as parting tugged at hearts.
 * ''Đau lòng kẻ ở người đi,
 * She grieved to go, they grieved to stay behind—
 * Lines 781–782

Chút lòng trinh bạch từ sau xin chừa!'' Hereafter I'll forget my maiden shame.
 * ''Thân lươn bao quản lấm đầu,
 * How can an eel mind muddying its head?
 * Lines 1147–1148; according to Huỳnh Sanh Thông, the line Thân lươn bao quản lấm đầu "has acquired the status of a proverb, meaning that a poor, helpless person may have to endure humiliation and degradation in order to save himself or herself and survive" (p. 187).

Dày dày sẵn đúc một tòa thiên nhiên.'' Her body stood as Heaven's masterwork.
 * ''Rõ màu trong ngọc trắng ngà!
 * Lo, such pure jade and such white ivory!
 * Lines 1311–1312

Thành xây khói biếc non phơi bóng vàng.'' walls wreathed in sapphire mist, peaks gilt with sun.
 * ''Long lanh đáy nước in trời,
 * Waters, all gleaming, mirrors for the sky,
 * Lines 1603–1604

Tro than một đống nắng mưa bốn tường.'' a pile of cinders, four rain-beaten walls.
 * ''Bước vào chốn cũ lầu thơ,
 * Where they'd hummed verse he now stepped in to find
 * Lines 1671–1672

Cũng liều ngọc nát hoa tàn mà chi.'' I'll pay as flowers must fade and jade must break.
 * ''Đã đành túc trái tiền oan,
 * I sinned in some past life and have to pay:
 * Lines 1765–1766

Trông vời cố quốc biết đâu là nhà.'' she peered far into space: where was her home?
 * ''Bốn phương mây trắng một màu,
 * All heaven was one white expanse of clouds—
 * Lines 1787–1788

Sầu dài ngày ngắn đông đà sang xuân.'' time softens grief, and winter turns to spring.
 * ''Sen tàn cúc lại nở hoa,
 * Just as the lotus wilts, the mums bloom forth—
 * Lines 1795–1796; quoted by Bill Clinton, in "Remarks at a State Dinner Hosted by President Tran Duc Luong of Vietnam in Hanoi" (17 November 2000): "Just as the lotus wilts, the mums bloom forth; time softens grief; and the winter turns to spring."

Mà trong nham hiểm giết người không dao.'' the heart will scheme to kill without a knife.
 * ''Bề ngoài thơn thớt nói cười,
 * The face displays sweet smiles, but deep inside
 * Lines 1815–1816

Dẫu lìa ngó ý còn vương tơ lòng!'' cut from her mind, it clung on to her heart.
 * ''Tiếc thay chút nghĩa cũ càng,
 * Oh, how she pined and mourned for her old love—
 * Lines 2241–2242


 * Chị sao phận mỏng phúc dày!
 * How frail your fate! Your virtues, though, how strong!
 * Line 2715

Xuân già còn khỏe huyên già còn tươi. Hai em phương trưởng hòa hai, Nọ chàng Kim đó là người ngày xưa!'' Father looked still quite strong, and Mother spry; Both sister Vân and brother Quan grown up; And over there was Kim, her love of yore.
 * ''Trông xem đủ mặt một nhà:
 * She glanced and saw her folks—they all were here:
 * Lines 3009–3012

Tan sương đầu ngõ vén mây giữa trời.'' all mists have cleared; on high, clouds roll away.
 * ''Trời còn để có hôm nay,
 * Heaven grants us this hour: now from our gate
 * Lines 3121–3122; quoted by Joe Biden, while welcoming Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong in Washington (July 2015), as reported in "The Tale of Kieu, lotus and the US President" by Bui Hoang Tam, dtinews.vn (25 May 2016): "Thank heaven we are here today, to see the sun through parting fog and clouds."

Chẳng trong chăn gối cũng ngoài cầm thơ. Khi chén rượu khi cuộc cờ, Khi xem hoa nở khi chờ trăng lên. Ba sinh đã phỉ mười nguyền, Duyên đôi lứa cũng là duyên bạn bầy.'' they shared no bed but joys of lute and verse. Now they sipped wine, now played a game of chess, admiring flowers, waiting for the moon. Their wishes all came true since fate so willed, and of two lovers marriage made two friends.
 * ''Hai tình vẹn vẽ hòa hai,
 * Of love and friendship they fulfilled both claims—
 * Lines 3221–3226

Chữ tâm kia mới bằng ba chữ tài.'' the heart outweighs all talents on this earth.'''
 * ''Thiện căn ở tại lòng ta,
 * '''Inside ourselves there lies the root of good:
 * Lines 3251–3252

Quotations about The Tale of Kieu

 * Weaving foreign and national elements into a seamless, shimmering fabric, the poet [Nguyễn Du] dressed Kiều the prostitute in clothing fit for a queen: his masterpiece is a celebration of the Vietnamese language in all its diversity, with all its resources of rhythm and tone, of sound and image, of terse and rich expression.
 * Huỳnh Sanh Thông, The Tale of Kiều (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1983), p. xxi


 * To the Vietnamese people themselves, The Tale of Kieu is much more than just a glorious heirloom from their literary past. It has become a kind of continuing emotional laboratory in which all the great and timeless issues of personal morality and political obligation are tested and resolved (or left unresolved) for each new generation. Western readers who are curious about Vietnam and the Vietnamese may well gain more real wisdom from cultivating a discriminating appreciation of this one poem than they will from reading the entire library of scholarly and journalistic writings upon modern Vietnam which has accumulated in the West in the past decade. As a vivid transcript of Vietnamese approaches to the dilemmas of the human condition, The Tale of Kieu has survived in, and gained new strength from, hundreds of different contexts.
 * Alexander B. Woodside, "The Historical Background" in The Tale of Kieu (New York: Vintage Books, 1973), p. ix