Two Cakes Fit for a King: Folktales from Vietnam

Dana Sachs

University of Hawaii Press, 2003 - Fiction - 113 pages

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.

What people are saying

Review: Two Cakes Fit for a King: Folktales from Vietnam

User Review  - Erin - Goodreads

Not that I need to compare Vietnamese folktales to the British/German folktales that I grew up with, but it's hard, when reading stories about princesses and adventures, not to compare. And I have to ...

Review: Two Cakes Fit for a King: Folktales from Vietnam

User Review  - Elizabeth - Goodreads

This was exactly what I needed -- short, clever little stories that I had never encountered before. I can't say there are any standouts in this collection, but the translation is lighthanded and based ...

Contents

• A Daughters Love: 19
• The Golden Voice: 33
• The Infant General of Phu Dong Village: 55
• The Toad Is the Uncle of the King of Heaven: 71
• The Story of Watermelon Island: 87

About the author

Dana Sachs is the author of the novel If You Lived Here and two books of nonfiction, The House on Dream Street: Memoir of an American Woman in Vietnam and The Life We Were Given: Operation Babylift, International Adoption, and the Children of War in Vietnam. Born in Memphis, Tennessee, she lives in Wilmington, North Carolina, with her husband and two sons.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Two Cakes Fit for a King: Folktales from Vietnam; A Latitude 20 Book
• Editor: Dana Sachs
• Translated by: Nguyệt Cầm Nguyễn, Dana Sachs
• Compiled by: Dana Sachs
• Edition: illustrated
• Publisher: University of Hawaii Press, 2003
• ISBN: 082482668X, 9780824826680
• Length: 113 pages
• Subjects: Fiction / Fairy Tales, Folk Tales, Legends & Mythology; Social Science / Folklore & Mythology