The Tale of Kiều
by Nguyễn Du
Ch. 56: Kim Met Kiều’s Parents  
Translated by Vuong Thanh 

Chapter 56: Kim Met Kiều’s Parents 

Weeping and wailing, they told Kim their woes:

“Young man, do you know what’d happened to us?

Our daughter Kiều, her fate was so fragile. 

She failed her promise to be your betrothed.

Faced with a terrible family disaster,

she sold herself to have the means to save her father. 

She was torn with sorrow and regret when she left home. 

With tears in her eyes, she told us her wish time and again.

Since she’d exchanged solemn oaths with you,

she asked her sister to take her place. 

This’d be to repay a little of what she owes you.

But the sorrow in her heart would last forever!

In this life, she had let you down.

In her next life, she’d repay you.

Those were the words she said time and again,

and they were engraved in our hearts before she left. 

What an ill fate you have, my darling daughter.

Your beloved Kim had returned but where have you gone?”

The more they talked, the deeper their grief.

The more Kim listened, the more heartbroken he got.

His body shook violently as if unable to accept the facts.

His eyes flooded with tears, his spirit seemed absent.

His mind so distressed, he fainted many times.  

On awakening, he sobbed and sobbed then fainted again. 

Seeing Kim so distressed, old Vương

restrained his own grief and tried to console Kim:

The plank is now already nailed into the boat. 

With her poor fate, she cannot return your love.

Although you love and care for her so much, 

you must not throw away your precious life. 

They tried and tried to comfort him in hundreds of ways. 

But the fire of anguish, when smothered, only grew stronger.

They showed him the golden bracelets, 

and the incense and the lute of last year. 

Kim, on seeing these keepsakes, missed her even more.

His heart more distressed, his anger grew.  

Kim said, “It’s because of my being away 

that the flower, the water fern had drifted downstream. 

We had sworn many oaths with each other.

Those words of gold were not idle words.

Although we haven’t share a bed, we’re still husband and wife. 

How could my heart bear the thought of cutting the bonds with her?

No matter how much time or gold I need to spend, 

while I’m still alive, I will have to see her again!”

His grief can never be in words fully expressed.

Kim, still sobbing, took leave of Kieu’s family. 

He hurried home, and had a lodge built in the flower garden.

Then invited Kieu’s parents to come and live there.

Day and night, he would inquire after their health, 

like their own son, so as to fulfill Kieu’s love for her parents.