Lục Vân Tiên

The Tale of Lục Vân Tiên (蓼雲仙 or 陸雲僊; Truyện Lục Vân Tiên ) is a 19th-century Vietnamese-language epic poem written in vernacular nôm script by the blind poet Nguyễn Đình Chiểu (1822-1888).

The poem is one of the two most recognizable and influential epic poems in Vietnamese, the other being The Tale of Kiều written by Nguyễn Du. It is a narrative comprising 2,076 lines. The tale's reaffirmation of Vietnam's traditional moral virtues at a time when Vietnamese society was facing the challenges of the French invasion had great popular appeal.

The plot concerns Lục Vân Tiên who travels to the capital to take part in mandarin civil service examinations. On the way he saves a woman called Kiều Nguyệt Nga from bandits. Nguyệt Nga, in gratitude, offers to her deliverer her hairpin, but as Luc Van Tien refuses this she instead presents him a poem, to which he responds by exchanging one of his poems. Based on this encounter she later attempts suicide when her devotion to Tien is threatened but is saved by Quan Âm (Guanyin), the Buddhist Goddess of Mercy. The poem praises the power of true love, applauds bravery and fair justice, similarly to chivalric literature such as Sir Walter Scott's Ivanhoe.

The first six lines of the poem are:

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