Luu Thuy, the contributor of the following folk song, wrote me: "Phu ong is a special imaginary character in folktales. He is a little fellow who is very dull. People often give the name Bom to someone who is stupid and naive. Phu ong is an old word that means rich man. This humorous story wants to tell also about the stupidity of the rich man.

This folk-song is quite famous all over the country. And mothers or grandmothers sing it to lull their little babies to sleep."

Notes

* "This fan was very common in the past. In fact, it is a part of a leaf from a tree called areca tree. In this case, the story is funny because he is only a poor guy and he has a fan (which is very common and very easy to get), but Phu Ong, the rich but stupid man, absolutely wants to get it by exchanging for it anything he can afford."

** "In the past, even now, some fishers go fishing and then when they get some fish, they take a string, put their spoils (fish) together with the string and go to the market or go home proudly."

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Thanks and Acknowledgements

Many thanks to Luu Thuy for contributing and translating this folk song and for providing such interesting commentary.

Cám ón!