Tam and Cam were half sisters born to the same father but different mothers. Tam was the daughter of the first wife, while Cam was the child of the second wife. After their father died, Tam was forced to live with her stepmother, Cam’s biological mother, who treated her with cruelty and favoritism. From a young age, Tam lived a life of quiet hardship, obedience, and endurance, while Cam 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. Tam worked patiently and caught a full basket, while Cam was lazy and caught very little. Seeing this, Cam deceived her sister by chanting a rhyme, pretending that Tam’s hair was dirty and needed washing. Trusting her sister, Tam dove into the water, and while she was submerged, Cam secretly poured all of Tam’s catch into her own basket and returned home first. When Tam came up and saw her empty basket, she collapsed in tears.
As Tam 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 Tam 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. Tam 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 Cam to spy on Tam. Cam memorized the chant and reported everything. One day, the stepmother tricked Tam into taking the buffalo to a distant field, creating the perfect opportunity. While Tam was gone, the stepmother and Cam lured the fish out of the well and killed it for food. That evening, Tam 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.
Tam 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, Tam 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 Cam prepared fine clothes, but Tam was deliberately prevented from attending. The stepmother mixed rice with husks and ordered Tam to sort them all before she could go. Overwhelmed and humiliated, Tam 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, Tam still wept, saying she had no beautiful clothes to wear. The Buddha told her to dig up the jars beneath her bed.
When Tam 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, Tam 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 Tam stepped forward, the shoe fit her foot exactly, revealing her true place beside the king.
Tam 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 Tam to climb a betel tree and then cut it down while Tam was near the top, causing her to fall into a pond and drown. The stepmother dressed Cam in royal clothes and sent her to replace Tam at the palace.
Tam’s spirit transformed into a golden oriole, which returned to the palace and revealed the truth through its songs whenever Cam touched the king’s belongings. The king sensed that the bird was connected to his lost wife and treasured it. Enraged with jealousy, Cam and her mother killed the bird, but Tam’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 Tam emerging from the quince in human form. The old woman destroyed the fruit’s skin, allowing Tam 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 Tam once did. After questioning her, he was reunited with Tam. Justice was finally restored, and Tam returned to the palace as queen. Though the king wished to punish Cam and her mother severely, Tam 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.