The Tale of Kim Van Kieu

The Tale of Kim Van Kieu

Ladies and gentlemen!
Before you is the version in Nom characters of “The New Tale of Kim Van Kieu”, printed by Lieu Van Duong in the 19th year of Tu Duc (1866). This is considered the oldest version of The Tale of Kieu still existing today, found in March 2004 by a family in Nghe An. This version measures 13 centimeters in length and 19 centimeters in width, with over 180 pages. On each page, 12 six-syllable verses and 12 eight-syllable verses are clearly engraved. After its discovery, this ancient version was brought back to be preserved and displayed at the Nguyen Du Memorial Site. The Tale of Kieu researcher and collector Nguyen Khac Bao and linguist Nguyen Tri Son collaborated to transcribe, revise, and publish this Nom version of Kieu in Nghe An - the province where this precious version of Kieu was preserved.