Texts in Chữ Nôm

排bài歌ca⿰粦武răn棋cờ泊bạc Bài Ca Răn Cờ Bạc

A warning song against gambling, in the song thất lục bát metre (108 lines). It is spoken in the voice of the wives, who plead with the men who waste their days and money on cards and games, ruin their families and turn friends into enemies. 108 lines · 1921

𧊉Bướm花Hoa新Tân傳Truyện Bướm Hoa Tân Truyện

Story of Butterflies and Flowers (woodblock version) · A verse tale in dialogue between a butterfly and a flower, in the woodblock edition reprinted in January 1916 by Quán Văn Đường. In the spring the butterfly courts the flower, who answers with doubts about the sincerity and the fate of such love; the two talk of longing, loyalty and the sorrows of the world. 404 lines · reprint 01/1916

胡hồ春xuân香hương詩thi集tập Hồ Xuân Hương Thi Tập

A collection of short poems attributed to Hồ Xuân Hương, in 31 pages (poems), of which the transcription is still unfinished. The subjects are everyday objects and sights – a well, a fan, a sleeping woman, the moon, caves and mountain passes – treated with the wit and double meanings for which the poet is known. 196 lines · Hồ Xuân Hương · 31 pages · 89%

訓huấn女nữ演diễn歌ca Huấn Nữ Diễn Ca

A teaching poem “for the instruction of girls”. It sets out how a young woman should behave: gentle and calm, respectful to her parents, diligent in housework and needlework, peaceful with the sisters-in-law, careful in marriage and in bringing up her children, and warned against idle pleasures such as drink and cards. 184 lines · 1946-1956

𥙩lấy𫯳chồng終chung Lấy Chồng Chung

Sharing a Husband · A bitter poem of eight lines about being a co-wife. While one wife lies warm under the quilt, the other lies in the cold; the husband comes “twice a month, if at all”, and the effort she puts in is like work for hire without pay. She ends by thinking that, had she known, she would have stayed single. 8 lines · Hồ Xuân Hương

美Mỹ女nữ貢cống胡hồ Mỹ Nữ Cống Hồ

Story of a beautiful woman · A lament in the voice of a beautiful woman who is sent away as a tribute to the northern “Hồ” (barbarians). She compares herself with Tây Thi and other famous beauties, complains of flatterers at court and of the fate of women, and accepts her lot with sadness. It is transcribed in seven pages. 189 lines · 7 pages

阮nguyễn達đạt阮nguyễn生sinh新tân傳truyện Nguyễn Đạt Nguyễn Sinh Tân Truyện

A long verse tale of two poor brothers from Bình Lục, Nguyễn Đạt and Nguyễn Sinh, who leave home to study for the examinations. Sinh, burly and plain of face, is mocked by the daughter of a judge’s house, Ngọc Thanh, and ends up before the judge himself, where the servants jeer and he eats his bowl of rice unabashed; instead of driving him out the judge sets him a poem on the moon, finds a worthy man in him and keeps him in the house to study. Letters pass between the brothers, both take the prize at Sơn Nam and then pass as đồng tiến sĩ, and the judge gives Ngọc Thanh to Sinh – the tale closing on the lesson that good meets good and that the merit of the forebears brings worthy children. 251 lines

人nhân問vấn月nguyệt答đáp Nhân Vấn Nguyệt Đáp

Dialogue with the Moon · A poem in the form of a dialogue with the moon. On a clear spring night in an inn the poet asks “Aunt Moon” how old she is, why she is so carefree and how far her palace is; the moon answers that she shines for everyone and tells the good from the bad. The poet ends with the wish to reach the moon and marry Hằng Nga. 60 lines

桂quế山sơn三tam元nguyên詩thi集tập：改cải良lương賦phú Quế Sơn Tam Nguyên Thi Tập Cải Lương Phú

Vietnamese Folk Theatre · A rhymed prose piece (phú) on “reform” (cải lương), full of proverbs and in a lively, spoken style. It urges its readers to think and to work: to take up farming, trade and the crafts, to avoid idleness and show, and to hold fast to the old virtues while the times change. 153 lines · Nghè Liên Bạt

國Quốc音âm詩thi集tập Quốc Âm Thi Tập

Nguyễn Trãi’s collection of poems in Nôm, written around 1440 and here in the printing of 1868. The poems sing of a simple life in a hut at the corner of the citadel, of nature and the seasons, of loyalty to the old virtues and a distrust of the dangers of office. Twenty poems are transcribed, beginning with “Thủ vĩ ngâm”. 160 lines · Nguyễn Trãi · 1868, originally ca. 1440 · 20 pages

詩thơ陳trần濟tế昌xương Thơ Trần Tế Xương

Nine short poems by Trần Tế Xương (Tú Xương) on spring: four poems on a rainy spring night, two sets of New Year wishes – in which the poet’s wishes turn into sharp remarks on his time – an invitation to enjoy the spring, a night of reading and a poem on enjoying the season. 36 lines · Trần Tế Xương · 9 pages

𤿰trống軍quân新tân傳truyện Trống Quân Tân Truyện

Antiphon on Literature, AB. 31 · A song in the antiphonal folk style of trống quân. The singers invite each other to listen to one well-known tale after another (the stories of Lý Công, Tống Trân and Cúc Hoa, the Tale of Kiều, the Butterfly and the Flower and many more), each introduced by “or shall we hear the story of…?”. It reads like a playful catalogue of the popular literature of the time. 79 lines · ca. 1946-1956

排bài喝hát𡜤đĩ Bài Hát Đĩ A bold, humorous song in the voice of a courtesan (“đĩ”): heaven made her to play, her trade has its own pedigree and its fame runs from north to south and east to west; she wants to enjoy herself to the full and then settle down with a husband. A short text of 14 lines. 14 lines 侅cai鐄vàng新tân傳truyện Cai Vàng Tân Truyện A verse tale about Cai Vàng (Cai Tổng Vàng), of which a passage from the middle of the woodblock print is transcribed. He stands before the prefect, pleading that he has governed honestly and asking who has accused him; the prefect scolds him for abusing his power, over-levying and over-collecting, and fearing neither the spirits nor the king’s law. In anger – at the people who accused him and at the officials alike – he raises troops, holds out for half a year, drives the prefectural army back and breaks three citadels; then, half minded to reach for the throne, he asks his three young consorts whether to attack or to submit, and the first warns him against the rebel’s road: be loyal and leave a good name, for who praises Huang Chao and Wang Mang today? 76 lines · Khải Định Kỉ Mùi (1919) · 4 pages 董đổng天thiên王vương傳truyện喝hát妸ả𫱀đào Đổng Thiên Vương Truyện Hát Ả Đào A verse retelling, for ả đào singing, of the legend of Phù Đổng Thiên Vương (Thánh Gióng). A wealthy but childless man and his wife conceive after the wife steps into a giant footprint in the garden; a heavenly being comes down for three years to help the country of Văn Lang against invaders from the border, and then returns to heaven. 81 lines · ca. 1946-1956 · 7% 經Kinh𬒸Cúng四Tứ時Thời Kinh Cúng Tứ Thời Daily Prayers of Caodaism · The daily prayers of the Cao Đài religion in Nôm: the prayer of incense, the opening prayer, a prayer to the Jade Emperor, the poems of offering flowers, liquor and tea, and the five prayers. Under many lines the transcription has an English rendering by the transcriber; about 42 % of the text is transcribed so far. 27 lines · Đại Đạo Tam Kì Phổ Độ - Toà Thánh Tây Ninh · Circa 1926, reprinted 1992 · 7 pages · 42% 劉lưu平bình楊dương禮lễ新tân傳truyện Lưu Bình Dương Lễ Tân Truyện A long verse retelling of the well-known story of the scholar friends Lưu Bình and Dương Lễ. The text follows the two friends from poverty and trials to success in the examinations and honours, and so tells of friendship, faithfulness and a wife who stands by her husband. It is transcribed in 15 pages. 582 lines · 1919 · 15 pages · 100% 南na無mô新tân傳chuyện Na Mô Tân Chuyện A verse tale with the Buddhist invocation “na mô” as its refrain. It opens in spring with the thought that the Creator gave every sort of person their own nature – the noble and the wanderer, the soldier and the scholar, the pious and the lovers – and then laughs at the monk who spends his life on morning and evening sutras: in a bright old temple the sight of a great beauty troubles him, and when he kneels before the Buddha altar every line of his prayer begins with “na mô” but goes on about rosy cheeks, the red thread of matchmaking, Zhuangzi’s butterfly dream and the sea of love, down to a well-matched pair. A woodblock-print text from the papers of Maurice Durand. 47 lines · Durand, Maurice M · ca. 1946-1956 · 32% 潘phan佩bội珠châu小tiểu史sử（摘trích） Phan Bội Châu Tiểu Sử Trích An excerpt of a prose biography (1926) of Phan Bội Châu, the Vietnamese reformer and opponent of colonial rule: his mother and early life, his years abroad in Guangdong and Japan, the death sentence passed in his absence, his arrest by the French in Shanghai in 1925, and the public campaign – students, women’s petitions to the Governor-General, an appeal by a French socialist – for his release. 121 lines · 1926 · 8 pages 佛phật說thuyết大đại聖thánh末mạt刼kiếp真chân經kinh Phật Thuyết Đại Thánh Mạt Kiếp Chân Kinh A short Nôm verse rendering (“diễn âm”) of a Buddhist-style scripture on the end of the age, put into plain language “so that children and women can read it too”. The scripture is said to come from China, from the Guangxu years of the Qing: the village of Vương Gia near Lạc Dương in the prefecture of Tây Bình, where the town-god temple stands, and whoever holds the scripture will have honour and long life. The sky lies calm on all four sides when thunder suddenly rolls and all who hear it are afraid – the transcription breaks off there, after nineteen lines. 19 lines · 6% 雙song鳳phụng奇kỳ縁duyên Song Phụng Kỳ Duyên A verse tale of Chiêu Quân (Wang Zhaojun) in the Han dynasty. She is the only daughter of a couple from Việt Châu, beautiful and well taught; one autumn night she dreams that she meets the Han emperor, who asks about her family and name, and in the end he makes her a consort of the western palace. The transcription covers only the first part. 43 lines · ca. 1946-1956 · 3% 事Sự踢tích翁ông狀trạng瓊Quỳnh Sự Tích Ông Trạng Quỳnh Honoured Graduate Quỳnh · Four stories about Trạng Quỳnh (Nguyễn Quỳnh), the witty scholar from Yên Vực. They tell of his boyhood tricks and quick couplets, how he sharecrops the field of the goddess Liễu and borrows money from her by casting lots, and how he takes revenge on the learned Bà Thị Điểm. 218 lines · 1923 · 4 pages · 38%