Two Cakes Fit for a King: Folktales from Vietnam (A Latitude 20 Book) (Paperback)

~ Nguyen Nguyet Cam (Author), Dana Sachs (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

For centuries, Vietnamese have sustained the history of their nation, both actual and mythic, through their folklore. These stories, passed from generation to generation, contain not only the national saga, but also fundamental cultural values that Vietnamese hold dear. Some stories, like "A Daughter's Love," are imaginative accounts of early Vietnamese history. Others, like "The Anger of the Waters" and the title story, "Two Cakes Fit for a King," provide colorful explanations of the world and how it works. "The Story of Watermelon Island" offers readers a glimpse of the traditional agrarian values and way of life that are the foundation of Vietnamese society. Imaginative and captivating, funny and sometimes tragic, these tales have remained popular and culturally significant for Vietnamese, young and old, for hundreds of years. The intricate illustrations draw on centuries-old painting styles and on natural imagery and everyday life in Vietnam.

About the Author

Nguyen Nguyet Cam is instructor in Vietnamese language at the University of California, Berkeley. She has published numerous translations of works from English into Vietnamese, including two of E.B. White's classic children's novels, Charlotte's Web and The Trumpet of the Swan. Dana Sachs is the author of The House on Dream Street: Memoir of an American Woman in Vietnam and co-translator of Le Minh Khue's collection of short fiction, The Stars, the Earth, the River. Bui Hoai Mai, a graduate of the Hanoi Fine Arts College, has exhibited his paintings and photographs in Vietnam and Europe. He lives in Hanoi and Bac Ninh, Vietnam.

Product Details

• Paperback: 128 pages
• Publisher: University of Hawaii Press; illustrated edition edition (October 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 082482668X
• ISBN-13: 978-0824826680
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 6.4 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.1 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #473,071 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A good contribution., October 9, 2003

By	alainviet "alainviet" (Indianapolis, IN United States) - See all my reviews

The authors are to be thanked for bringing to us ten folktales from Vietnam.

The stories dealt with love, betrayal, hope, but also disappointment. There were kings, lovely princesses, as well as smart commoners. Like in any folktale, the good guy ended up winning. The story about the "three drops of blood" does not seem to be genuinely Vietnamese though.

This is a good introductory book for readers who would like to understand a little more about the Vietnamese and their folklore.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ten Tales Fit for Everyone, December 10, 2007

By	Crazy Fox (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

"Two Cakes Fit for a King" is a delightfully entertaining and informative little volume featuring ten Vietnamese folktales, each fascinating in its own way. Something about these deceptively simple stories vividly reveals the worldview and attitudes of the many anonymous people who passed them down from generation to generation by word of mouth while also in their own very particular idiom addressing universal concerns that speak to us all--hard work and self-reliance, love and heartbreak, loyalty and patriotism, filial respect and family solidarity, and so on, to say nothing of a healthy regard for the many forces of nature in all of their awesome and yet precariously capricious power.

The translations are straightforward and have a nice storytelling feel to them in an unpretentiously authentic manner. An introduction by Bui Hoai Mai (whose wonderfully if self-consciously folkish illustrations grace each tale) helpfully describes the characteristics and history of Vietnamese folklore in general and then gives a brief outline of each tale's background and context of ideas and ideals. The tone throughout is very clear and accessible, making this a great book for the interested generalist as well as for those who wish to leapfrog from this introduction onto more detailed and specific treatments of Vietnamese culture and/or folklore studies. It's a thin, short little book but sitting back with it makes for an afternoon well spent.

Included in this book are the following folk tales:
1. A Daughter's Love
2. The Anger of the Waters
3. The Golden Voice
4. Princess Lieu Hanh, Tea-Seller of Ngang Mountain
5. The Infant General of Phu Dong Village
6. Three Drops of Blood
7. The Toad Is the Uncle of the King of Heaven
8. Two Cakes Fit for a King
9. The Story of Watermelon Island
10. The Story of Thach Sanh