The Legend of Mai An Tiem

Long ago, during the reign of the 17th Hung King, in Phong Chau citadel there was a handsome, resourceful, agile, and intelligent boy, so the king adopted him as his son and named him Mai Yen (also known as An Tiem). An Tiem was inherently intelligent and upright, so the king often gave him many delicious and rare foods.

During a banquet given by the King, seeing the courtiers competing to flatter, follow, and flatter, saying many sweet words, An Tiem, who was an upright person, frankly said: “What is given is a worry, what is given is a debt.” These words were originally to warn the courtiers who flattered and followed him that the gifts they were given must be grateful to the King, and were debts that needed to be paid to the country and the King. But the flatterers thought that he was looking down on the things given by the King, that they were like debts, that what Mai An Tiem had was all due to what he had done and he did not want to owe anyone.

This news reached the king’s ears and made his father very angry. He thought An Tiem was arrogant and ungrateful, so he ordered Mai An Tiem and his wife to be exiled to a deserted island to see if he could rely on himself to survive if he had nothing.

Mai An Tiem’s ​​entire family was exiled to the offshore island of Nga Son (Thanh Hoa). Although exiled to the deserted island, An Tiem was still very optimistic and comforted his wife and children: “Heaven created me, life and death are up to Heaven and me, why should I worry?”

This was a deserted and uninhabited island, so An Tiem’s ​​family had to use their own strength and intelligence to earn a living. Every day, he went around the island to find wild vegetables and fruits to eat. At the same time, his wife and he also worked hard to reclaim land and cultivate crops around their home. His wife often went to the sea to catch clams and snails, and the eldest child also helped his parents reclaim land and hunt on the island. Thanks to their diligence and hard work, the whole family, despite their poverty, still had food to eat every day.

One day, while walking around looking for wild vegetables, he suddenly saw a bird eating a strange fruit with a green skin and red flesh. When he approached, the bird was frightened and flew away. He thought: “If birds can eat it, then humans can probably eat it too.” Then he tasted it and found the fruit extremely fresh, sweet, and cooling. An Tiem immediately took the seeds of the strange tree home and told his wife the story. After that, the couple planted the seeds everywhere they had reclaimed. This type of tree was very easy to grow, grew quickly, and after a short time, it sprouted and spread vines all around. Soon, the strange tree garden grew lushly, the strange tree blossomed and bore fruit, the outer skin gradually became thinner and the flesh of the melon became redder and sweeter. An Tiem often carved words on the melons and let them drift at sea in the hope that a merchant ship would pick them up and exchange them for food and rice for his family.

Luckily, passing merchant ships saw the strange fruit with engraved words and took it to eat. Thanks to its delicious, sweet taste and good reputation, many merchant ships stopped by to buy the strange fruit and bring it to the mainland. From then on, An Tiem’s ​​family had a better life.

Because the bird brought seeds from the West to this place, he named this fruit Tay Qua. Later, the Chinese people found it delicious and praised it as “good”, so it was named watermelon.

At this time, on the mainland, King Hung was presented with a strange fruit by a minister, engraved with the words “Mai An Tiem”. The king sent someone to the island for Mai An Tiem to inspect. When he learned that the strange fruits planted by Mai An Tiem were all over the island. Seeing the strange fruits engraved with the words “Mai An Tiem”, the king realized that Mai An Tiem’s ​​heart was always thinking of him. The king felt that the words Mai An Tien had said before were not bad. At this time, the king knew he was wrong, so he sent someone to take An Tiem and his wife back to the mainland.

When An Tiem and his wife returned, they brought the best melons to present to the King. At the same time, he also brought many seeds to distribute to the people and taught them how to plant and care for them. Since then, watermelons have been grown all over the country and have become a familiar fruit to the people. Nowadays, people often tell each other that only Nga Son district grows the best watermelons because after a thousand years of sand deposition, Mai An Tiem island has become attached to the land.

Story Analysis

The Story of Mai An Tiem is a legendary story, a real historical figure. In addition to explaining the origin of Watermelon in Vietnam. The story gives us the will to live, life is sometimes difficult but those who try, are optimistic will always have new paths. Honest, upright people always encounter good things in life.