The 17th Hung Vuong Emperor

An Tiem Prince

     Mrs. Ba - An Tiem’s wife and children

Once upon a time, in the reign of Hung King the 17th, Vietnam had many high mountains and long rivers, but did not have many fields. Flowers and fruits were not as diverse as they are now.

The King had a son named An Tiem who was exceptionally skillful and smart.

The King loved An Tiem so much that he usually granted him many precious things and delicacies.

“Only things made by yourself are worthy. Gifts are worries. Presents are debts” – An Tiem said and he always worked hard and did not expect to receive anything from King.

Some dishonest courtiers who had envied An Tiem for a long time took advantage of what he said to backbite An Tiem with the King.

The King was very angry, he said, “Let me see. Will he be able to live if he only relies on himself?”

The King had his soldiers rush to An Tiem’s house and escort his whole family to a boat without letting them bring along anything.

An Tiem had to beg humbly again and again until they allowed him to bring a blunt sword for self-protection.

Wind filled the sails and the boat floated slowly to the sea. White sands and green trees on the land were gradually out of sight.

The trace of inhabitants was no longer seen. There were only the blue colour of the sky and the sea.

Next day, the boat reached a small island.

Mrs. Ba - An Tiem’s wife - held her children in her arms looking at the boat slowly floating away with her tearful eyes.

She did not know how to live on this island. However, An Tiem calmly encouraged his wife.

He took her and their children to find a small cave to live temporarily. Then he took his sword and went around to explore the island.

This place was absolutely desolate.

Their life was extremely tough! However, An Tiem still believed that someday things would be alright.

An Tiem’s elder child also followed his father to trap birds.

But later on, the birds were all alert to the traps so they avoided them. There were days when An Tiem’s son could not catch any bird at all.

There were a lot of fish in the sea but there was no net to catch them and fruits were out of season.

Therefore, the family’s main food was still the wild vegetables planted by An Tiem.

One day, a bird was eating on the beach. When it saw An Tiem coming, it was scared and flew away hurriedly, leaving a red piece of its food.

An Tiem picked it up to see and realized that it was a small piece of a kind of melon.

He thought that if birds could eat it, then men might be able to eat it as well, so he tasted it and found that it was quite sweet.

He ate it up and collected the seeds. After resting for a while, he felt his stomach fulled and that made him less hungry.

He was excited and used the sword to dig a small hole on the ground and planted the seeds.

A few days later, the seeds grew and the leaves sprouted. The vines crept along the ground.

An Tiem watched them growing and growing, but he did not know when to harvest them.

At first the fruits were as small as little fingers. Soon they grew to the size of a mouse. Then they became bigger like piggies.

One early morning, they heard the sounds of ravens outside. 

Ba said, “This is a desert island. Ravens have never gathered here before. They are croaking loudly now. There must be something strange happening outside.”

When An Tiem walked out to check, the ravens had flown away, leaving a watermelon on which they had pecked some holes.