An Analysis of Beliefs in Vietnamese Folktales

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the beliefs in 100 Vietnamese folktales collected in Tran Truong Minh’s book named “100 Vietnamese folktales” and published by the Literature Publishing House of Vietnam in 2012. The findings were as follows: a belief in magic was found to exist in the greatest number with 54 tales. Belief in scared items appeared in 31 tales. A belief in magical objects appeared in 18 others. A belief in magical animals appeared in 16 and a belief in magical people appeared in 2. Other beliefs included belief in the transformation or incarnation. This appeared in 16 tales. Beliefs in good deeds deserve good outcomes and bad deeds deserve bad outcomes appeared in 13 others. A belief in ghosts and revenants appeared in 7 tales and a belief in dreams appeared in 7. Less common beliefs were those related to the history of plants which appeared in 2 tales. There were 16 other tales that did not reflect any beliefs.

The analysis of the beliefs in Vietnamese folktales provides the opportunity to learn about the belief system of the Vietnamese people as well as to gain insights into the way of life of a society and the need for social role models. Reflects the important role of the folktales have played in transmitting the Vietnamese way of life from generation to generation.