The treasure of Vietnamese old Folk tales as seen by a researcher
Hy Tue
The anthology Treasure of Vietnamese Old Folk Tales by Prof. Nguyen Dong Chi consists of five volumes which were published one after each other about 65 years ago. They were re-published by different publishers many times and in numerous forms. The complete edition itself, which includes the research work, the tales as well the comparison of different traditions of the stories, so far has been published in eight editions and The Tre Publishing House is preparing the 9th edition. Since its first edition many reviews as well as introductions about the anthology have been published, not only in Vietnam but abroad as well. In order to provide the reader with an inside view on this folklore research work and on the occasion of the forthcoming 100th birthday of the author (1915 – 2015), we would like to present below a paper by his son, Prof. Nguyen Hue Chi, under his pen name Hy Tue, which was originally published in 1996, plus the recently finalized English translation thereof by poet Duong Tuong.