52. Well match

A boy was old enough to marry but he was very poor that meant it was very difficult to have a wife. Next to his house was house of a wealthy man who had a daughter also old enough to marry. He had sent letters to her but in his mind he had never thought the man would be pleasant to let him marry with her because their positions were too different.
“I have to married with her. But I have to have a plan to make it happen.”, he thought.
One day, he went to market and saw a person selling a couple ceramic crocodile . The items were cheap things. Suddenly he caught an idea then he bought the items and buried them. Few days later, he came to his neighborhood house to borrow a balance.
“What do you borrow for?”, asked the man.
“I have something to weigh.” He replied.
That afternoon he returned the balance with some mud on that made the man suspect. His suspicion went more increasingly when he sprinted to borrow the balance one more time after few days. That time when he returned the balance not only was stuck mud but also copper rust. The third time also happened as like the second time. Because of that the man decided to spy he saw the boy every night brought shovel went out and came back at early morning.
“He may have dug something.”, thought the man.
Few days later, the man went to boy’s house to take a look. The man felt surprised when he saw a couple “Con Sấu” on the altar in his house which was still tuck mud. He knew the boy had not ever collected antique items so he asked the boy. The boy, in other side, pretended to be embarrassed and at last, he said that he bought them at market.
The man came back his home.
“Boy have dug a lot of antique items. He is very clever to say that he bought but that can not cover my eyes.” said the man to his wife.
The man treated the boy more well from that time then he wanted to be related with him. Then the man asked a wedding-maker to come and send him a request. The boy agreed but he said that he was very poor and couldn’t organize a wedding. The man laughter after hearing that words he thought the boy hid his richness in purpose so he said he would pay all cost. Then the boy became the man’s daughter’s husband. The girl came with him to his house. She saw in the small house had only a big box which was locked and her husband always keep the key in his pocket. She thought that his assets were put into the box but after few days the wife realized that her husband seemed not to be a richness person. Therefore, she stole his key and unlocked the box when his husband went out. Then the box was unlocked it had nothing but rocks. Now she knew her and her family had been cheated but she now had been his wife. She waited for her husband back.
“You are so clever.  But now if you can find you way to marry with a girl who was rich than me I will lived with you forever, if you can not I and you will lie in bed together.”, said the wife.
He bowed his head then went away. He came to another province and became servant of a rich who had a mansion placed next to riverside. The rich had 3 beautiful daughters and all of them had no husband. The boy was work-hard so he got his master’s trust. One nightfall, while he was carrying water from river he saw a drowning man following water. He caught an idea then he pulled the drowning man up and hid. Few days later, he hired a person to pretend his uncle who would come and meet him. The fake uncle came his master because of him treated the uncle very well, he ordered people to cook a meal. Midnight, he asked the fake uncle to put off his clothes and go then he brought the drowning man came in, covered the drowning man by the clothes, set the drowning in the bed then he screamed.
People sprinted to.
“What did you give to my uncle?  He ate and now he can not wake.”, he asked his master.
His master was frightened he knew if that thing was showed his assets would be fat cake for greed mandarins. So he wanted to keep the thing in secret. He asked the boy to go with him to his room.
“If you keep the thing in secret I will give you all thing you want.”, said his master.
“A wife, I want one of your daughter to became my wife.”, he said.
His master agreed then the oldest girl became his wife. The wife of course was richer than his first wife. They lived in the mansion a short time then the boy took his wife to come his home. Two women met the other. They spoke to the other their story. At last, they only knew to shake their head.
“You because of drowning man, I because of antiques married with him.”, one of them said in boring.                 
The end.🎭🎭🎭
"Translated by Hung Nguyen"
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List of Vietnamese fairy tales

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