Tấm and Cám were half sisters born to the same father but different mothers. Tấm was the daughter of the first wife, while Cám was the child of the second wife. After their father died, Tấm was forced to live with her stepmother, Cám’s biological mother, who treated her with cruelty and favoritism. From a young age, Tấm lived a life of quiet hardship, obedience, and endurance, while Cám was spoiled and protected.
One day, the stepmother gave each girl a basket and sent them to the fields to catch shrimp and small fish. She promised a reward, saying that whoever caught more would receive a red bodice. Tấm worked patiently and caught a full basket, while Cám was lazy and caught very little. Seeing this, Cám deceived her sister by chanting a rhyme, pretending that Tấm’s hair was dirty and needed washing. Trusting her sister, Tấm dove into the water, and while she was submerged, Cám secretly poured all of Tấm’s catch into her own basket and returned home first. When Tấm came up and saw her empty basket, she collapsed in tears.
As Tấm cried by the field, the Buddha appeared and asked about her sorrow. After hearing the story, he told her to look again in her basket. At the bottom, there was still one small goby fish left behind. The Buddha instructed Tấm to bring the fish home, raise it in the well, and feed it twice a day with rice, teaching her a gentle chant to call the fish. Tấm followed his words faithfully, saving part of her own meals to feed the fish. The fish became her only friend and comfort, responding whenever she called.
Eventually, the stepmother discovered the secret and sent Cám to spy on Tấm. Cám memorized the chant and reported everything. One day, the stepmother tricked Tấm into taking the buffalo to a distant field, creating the perfect opportunity. While Tấm was gone, the stepmother and Cám lured the fish out of the well and killed it for food. That evening, Tấm returned to feed the fish as usual, but nothing appeared except a bloodstain on the water. Heartbroken, she cried again, and the Buddha returned, explaining that the fish had been eaten. He instructed her to collect the fish bones, place them into four jars, and bury them beneath the legs of her bed.
Tấm searched for the bones but could not find them at first. A rooster suddenly spoke, offering to help in exchange for a handful of rice. With its help, Tấm gathered the bones, placed them into four jars, and buried them as instructed. She followed every instruction with trust and patience, not knowing what blessing would come.
Some time later, the king announced a grand festival for everyone in the kingdom. The stepmother and Cám prepared fine clothes, but Tấm was deliberately prevented from attending. The stepmother mixed rice with husks and ordered Tấm to sort them all before she could go. Overwhelmed and humiliated, Tấm cried once more. The Buddha appeared again and sent a flock of sparrows to separate the rice from the husks in moments. When the task was finished, Tấm still wept, saying she had no beautiful clothes to wear. The Buddha told her to dig up the jars beneath her bed.
When Tấm opened the jars, no ordinary items lay inside. Instead, a gentle magical light appeared, and from it elegant clothes slowly took shape, followed by a beautiful horse and a pair of exquisitely embroidered shoes, all created as if meant for her alone. Dressed in the radiant clothing, Tấm mounted the horse and rode to the festival, transformed from a poor servant into a graceful young woman. On the way, she accidentally dropped one shoe into a pond, and at that very moment, the king’s elephant suddenly stopped and refused to move. Soldiers searched the water and retrieved the delicate shoe, prompting the king to declare that any woman who could wear it perfectly would become his queen. Many tried and failed, but when Tấm stepped forward, the shoe fit her foot exactly, revealing her true place beside the king.
Tấm was brought to the palace and crowned queen. For a time, she lived in happiness, but tragedy struck when she returned home to honor her father’s death anniversary. The stepmother, still filled with hatred, ordered Tấm to climb a betel tree and then cut it down while Tấm was near the top, causing her to fall into a pond and drown. The stepmother dressed Cám in royal clothes and sent her to replace Tấm at the palace.
Tấm’s spirit transformed into a golden oriole, which returned to the palace and revealed the truth through its songs whenever Cám touched the king’s belongings. The king sensed that the bird was connected to his lost wife and treasured it. Enraged with jealousy, Cám and her mother killed the bird, but Tấm’s soul continued to return, transforming into trees, then a loom, and finally a single fragrant quince fruit.
An elderly woman found the quince and took it home. Each day she returned from the market to find her house clean and meals prepared. One day, she discovered Tấm emerging from the quince in human form. The old woman destroyed the fruit’s skin, allowing Tấm to live permanently as a human. They lived together in peace, loving each other like mother and daughter.
One day, the king stopped at the old woman’s stall and noticed betel leaves prepared exactly as Tấm once did. After questioning her, he was reunited with Tấm. Justice was finally restored, and Tấm returned to the palace as queen. Though the king wished to punish Cám and her mother severely, Tấm showed compassion and asked for mercy. They were banished from the palace, and as they left the city, a violent storm struck, killing them both, bringing the story to its final and inevitable end.