Sự tích quả dưa hấu (Song ngữ)

An Tiêm sống vào đời vua Hùng thứ mười tám. Ông vốn là người ở một vùng biển xa xôi phương Nam, bị bọn thuyền buôn bắt làm nô lệ rồi đem dâng vua từ hồi nhỏ. Lớn lên An Tiêm tỏ ra thông minh, tháo vát và có tính kiên nhẫn lạ thường, được giao việc gì đều làm kỳ được mới yên lòng.

Nhà vua rất tin dùng: tên Mai An Tiêm chính là do vua ban cho. Nhà vua còn cho Mai An Tiêm một người thiếp và nhiều bổng lộc khác. Vợ chồng An Tiêm ăn ở với nhau hòa thuận sinh được một trai, một gái.

Ông thường nói: “Mọi thứ của cải trên đời đều do sức mình làm ra cả”. Có kẻ bảo ông: “Làm bề tôi, cơm áo vua ban cho, bổng lộc vua ban cho, nói như vậy là vong ân bội nghĩa”. Mai An Tiêm nghe vậy chỉ cười, không trả lời. Bọn nịnh thần liền tâu những chuyện như thế lên vua Hùng. Bọn chúng nói:

– Nay ông dám thổ lộ những lời bất bình như thế, mai kia chưa biết chừng đem làm phản trắc. Xin cho đầy ra một đảo ở ngoài biển khơi, thử xem ông ta có làm ra cái mà ăn không?

Nhà vua tuy mến An Tiêm, nhưng lo mất ngôi báu, nên nghe lời, đầy An Tiêm ra một hòn đảo ngoài cửa biển Nga Sơn thuộc tỉnh Thanh Hóa bây giờ. Vợ con An Tiêm cũng theo ra đảo. Thấy quang cảnh hoang vắng, bốn về sóng cỗ, người vợ ôm con mà khóc, An Tiêm lựa lời khuyên nhủ rồi vào rừng săn thú, hái quả, đem về nuôi vợ, con.

Một hôm, thấy trên tảng đá có ít phân chim, trong phân có những hạt đen nhánh, ông nhặt lên, lật đi, lật lại trong lòng bàn tay, mừng thầm. Ông nghĩ: “Đã là hạt, đem gieo chắc phải nảy mầm. Đã là quả chim ăn được, chắc người cũng phải ăn được”.

Hai vợ chồng bèn làm đất gieo hạt, chăm sóc. Cây mọc rồi lan ra khắp bãi. Rồi cây đơm hoa, kết quả, quả nào quả nấy lớn, to bằng đầu người, vỏ xanh mượt. An Tiêm lấy một quả bổ đôi ra thấy bên trong màu đỏ hồng, hạt đẹp, đen nhánh, ăn vào miệng vừa ngọt vừa thơm mát.

Hai vợ chồng vô cùng mừng rỡ, hái quả cất vào hang, tính chuyện ăn dần.

An Tiêm và vợ lại vỡ thêm đất, gieo hạt. Năm này qua năm khác, dưa mọc xanh um khắp đảo, kín đảo. Thuyền buôn qua lại ghé vào đảo, đổi các thứ lấy những trái dưa đó. Đời sống của vợ chồng con cái An Tiêm ngày càng sung túc.

Nhớ đất liền, An Tiêm lấy hàng trăm quả, khắc chữ, ký tên vào vỏ rồi thả xuống bể, hy vọng những quả dưa ngon lành này sẽ trôi dạt tới quê hương.

Có một lần, quân lính đi tuần trên bờ biển nhặt được, thấy chữ Mai An Tiêm đêm trình lên nhà vua. Vua cho sứ giả ra đảo tìm. Sứ giả về, đem chuyện ngoài đảo thuật lại và dâng vua một thuyền đầy những quả dưa lạ.

Nhà vua có ý hối hận đã buộc tội An Tiêm chỉ vì An Tiêm nói lời phải. Vua xuống chiếu cho An Tiêm về đất liền và nhận lại chức vụ cũ, trọng dụng như trước.

Mai An Tiêm was an adopted child of King Hùng. Although he was considered a prince, he always liked working and doing everything by himself. The King loved him very much and usually gave him many things. While other people looked at things that the King gave them as the most precious things, An Tiêm did not do like that. He usually said that something which was not made by himself meant nothing but a debt. Therefore, some people told the King what he said. The King was so furious that he told his men to take An Tiêm and his family to a wild place – an island – where no one lived “to see how he manages to survive without my help”, said the King. So, Mai An Tiêm, his wife and his children were brought into a boat to the wild island. After that, the escorted soldiers left them there. They could not see the mainland or any boats around. They had nothing there, no food, no water, nothing to work. The only thing An Tiêm was permitted to keep was an old blade that he had since he was a little boy. His children cried. His wife was so scared. An Tiêm told them not to be too worried: “Trees and animals can live here, so can us. We have our hands that help we survive.” They found a cave to stay. An Tiêm told his wife and his daughter to find some wild plants and wild fruits while he and his son tried to get some animals by traps. They lived that way, picked up wild plants, caught animals. They used the old blade as a thing to dig into soil to plant wild vegetables around the cave. Their hands got hurt. They were tired but they did not give up. However, after a short time, animals got used to with their traps so they knew how to avoid those traps. It became harder and harder to find food. One day, An Tiêm went to the beach while a bird was eating something, suddenly seeing him, the bird hurried and flew away, leaving a piece of fruit on the ground. That was a piece of a strange fruit that he had not ever seen before. The skin of the fruit was green, the flesh was red and the seeds were black. An Tiêm told himself that if a bird could eat this kind of fruit, so could him. He tasted a bit – it was sweet and made him feel comfortable. So he kept the seeds and planted them. Some days after that he saw the first sprouts show up. An Tiêm and his family were very happy. They looked after those plants very carefully. They watered them and protected them from animals. Those people were excited to see the first flowers and then, the first fruits were there. They saw those fruits bigger and bigger day by day. However, An Tiêm and his family did not when those fruits ripe. That morning, they were surprised to hear the noise of ravens and did not know what happened. They went out and saw some birds eating their fruits. When seeing An Tiêm and his family, those birds hurriedly flew away. Now they knew it was time to pick their fruit. So excited, they tasted the first fruit and were so happy to know that from now on, they did not have to worry about how to survive here. This kind of fruit could help them. They called the plant dưa hấu (watermelon). They kept planting dưa hấu and soon they had a large garden with many fruits waiting for them. Looking at ripe fruits and then, looking at the sea, An Tiêm wondered how he could tell other people about his situation. Finally, he had an idea. He picked up two fruits, came to the beach and used his blade to carve some words on the fruits. He put them into water, hope waves brought them to someone. Many fruits were thrown into the sea but no boat appeared. An Tiêm still kept sending his messenger every day. One day, a boat came to the island. The owner wanted to see who planted such a kind of delicious fruit and wanted to buy it to bring into the mainland. From that day, An Tiêm got rice and things to work. He even had enough things to build a small house. Many boats came to buy fruits. Many people came to learn how to plant dưa hấu. The island was no longer a wild place. An Tiêm still thought about the King as his father and he sent some fruits to the King’s palace. About the King, he missed An Tiêm a lot and soon felt regret about his action but he was too ashamed to admit. He thought An Tiêm was dead. One day, he tasted a very strange fruit that was really delicious. Curiously, he asked about it and was surprised to know that it was sent to him as An Tiêm’s presents. He was so glad An Tiêm was alive and could plant such a good kind of plant. The King sent a boat to bring An Tiêm and his family back to the mainland. He also apologized for what he had done before. An Tiêm and his family were very happy to come back to their house. They brought seeds of dưa hấu with them and taught others to plant.