Similar to Vietnam, Japanese textbooks for elementary school students include many traditional folk tales of their culture and other nations, including Vietnam, as references in their language curriculum.
Vietnamese folk tales in Japanese reference books
Among the folk tales selected for Japanese elementary school textbooks, one story stands out as a unique Vietnamese folk tale. Interestingly, this tale is not commonly mentioned among the traditional stories taught in Vietnamese schools, such as “Tam Cam,” “Hai Cay Khe,” “So Dua,” “Cay Tre Tram Dot,” “Thach Sanh,” “Banh Chung Banh Day,” etc.
This raises the question: which Vietnamese folk tale has been translated and introduced to Japanese elementary students and their parents?
A Notable Selection
The answer is the folk tale “The Invisible Frog.” This story was translated and included in the book “Special Stories That Can Be Read in 10 Minutes for Second Grade Students,” compiled by authors Oda Nobuko (born in 1937, a writer specializing in children’s literature) and Kogure Masao (1939-2007, a children’s literature author), published by Gakken in 2005.
This book features 12 folk tales from Japan and other countries, including Mongolia and Vietnam. The story “The Invisible Frog” is detailed from pages 159 to 173 and is accompanied by illustrative drawings. Below the title, it is clearly labeled “A Story from Vietnam.”
The story is set near a river where a fisherman works. He is a cheerful person, and whether he catches fish or not, he remains happy and often helps everyone around him.
One evening while fishing, he hears the sound of a flute and the cheerful noise of children playing on the riverbank. Curious, he rows his boat upstream to find the source of the flute. Upon arrival, he sees an old man joyfully dancing in the rain along with 5 or 6 children.
When the fisherman sees the man dancing, the old man tells him that he knows him very well, and they both dance joyfully. The fisherman, excited and enchanted, dances under the moonlight.
When they part ways, the old man gives the fisherman his dancing cloak and his sandals before disappearing into the mist.
From that moment on, the fisherman wears the old man’s cloak and dances on the river. Hearing the sound of flutes, the villagers gather together to search for the fisherman, but no one can find him because when he wears the cloak and dances, he becomes invisible. As he dances, he transforms into a frog that can leap anywhere.
One year later, the fisherman disappears during the flood season. Many people die, but the king’s soldiers do not find enough rice in the granary for the people. Before that, the fisherman would often wear a cloak, go barefoot into the king’s granary, and steal rice to distribute to the villagers.
When the king saw rice in the granary diminishing, he ordered the soldiers to guard the granary.
One evening, the soldiers heard a noise from the granary, and when they came to investigate, they saw the rice overflowing and a large frog leaping out. The soldiers chased after it, but in the dark, the frog vanished.
Because the fisherman forgot to wear his cloak, he had transformed into a frog and was still visible. The next morning, soldiers followed the trail of rice and caught the fisherman.
The king immediately ordered the fisherman to be imprisoned. When the fisherman was imprisoned for a year, the neighboring country invaded. The soldiers guarding the palace were very concerned about the king’s safety. Knowing this, the fisherman told the king he would help drive the invading army away.
The king released the fisherman from prison. The fisherman immediately wore the cloak, went barefoot, and entered the enemy’s camp, causing chaos that led the invading army to retreat. The soldiers had to apologize and return to their homeland in peace.
The king was very pleased and immediately granted the fisherman a high position, as well as a beautiful daughter. However, the fisherman declined, wishing to maintain his freedom as a fisherman. The king had to yield. From that moment on, the villagers saw the young fisherman happily fishing on the river, singing cheerfully as he had before.
Different Versions in Vietnam
Upon reading this tale, many Vietnamese may be surprised, especially since they may not have heard of this folk tale before. After finishing reading and researching online, I found that this story resembles the stories “Quan Triều” or “Chiếc Áo Tàng Hình,” which were compiled by educator Nguyễn Đổng Chi in the book “Kho Tàng Truyền Cổ Tích Việt Nam.”
However, comparing them reveals many differences between the folk tale “The Invisible Frog” introduced in Japan and the story “Quan Triều,” along with its various interpretations.
For instance, in the Vietnamese version, the names of places and people are very specific, while in the Japanese book, it just refers to the fisherman in general.
The story in the Japanese book also does not include details about the fisherman wearing a special cloak to hide or the phrase “the rich man shares with the poor.”
The endings are also quite different. The young man in “Triều” in the Vietnamese book, after defeating the enemy, is rewarded by the king with a high position and the king’s daughter. Meanwhile, in “Quan Triều,” he is celebrated by the people as a hero. In contrast, the fisherman in the Japanese version chooses to quit being an official, preferring to live freely and happily as a fisherman.
This significant difference may lead to various interpretations as well. It is unclear whether the Japanese authors altered the story or adapted it from the original Vietnamese folk tale to better suit the mindset of Japanese students, or if they encountered this folk tale through some other source.
(According to Vietnamnet)
