Vietnamese Folk Riddle collected and translated by Pham Van Binh

1. My body is both white and round

It goes up and down in water

Hard or soft, it’s all up to the maker

But I always keep my red heart unchanged

                                                 - What cake is it ?

(Thân em vừa trắng lại vừa tròn

Bảy nổi ba chìm với nước non

Rắn nát mặc dầu tay kẻ nặn

Riêng em vẫn giữ tấm lòng son

                                      - Là bánh gì ?)

2. It is a green house with a green door

People grow beans, onions and breed pigs inside it

                                                             - What cake is it ?

(Nhà xanh lại đóng đố xanh

Tra đỗ, giồng hành thả lợn vào trong

                                              - Là bánh gì ?)

3. What cake lives in the pond together with water-plants

                                                              - What cake is it ?

(Bánh gì sống ở ao cùng rong rêu

                                          - Là bánh gì ?)

4. There is a square lot of land

People build citadel walls in all four directions

And grow banana plants all around it

They also drive pigs into the core

And grow some beans and onions there with them

                                                             - What cake is it ?

(Một thửa đất vuông

Bốn phía xây thành

Xung quanh trồng chuối

Giữa đuổi lợn vô

Trồng thêm hành đậu

                      - Là bánh gì ?)

5. I am from the South so my body is cylindrical

You are from the North so your body is square

We were both born in the ricefield

And we are gifts in the Spring to bind people together in a deep love

Our ivory-white bodies are closely covered by green clothing

With transversal and longitudinal belts around for everyone’s love

     - What cake is it ?

(Em miền Nam tròn trịa

Anh đất Bắc vuông vuông

Cùng quê ở chốn ruộng nương

Quà xuân thắt chặt tình thương đậm đà

áo ta phủ kín da ngà

Thắt lưng ngang dọc, trẻ già đều yêu

                                             - Là bánh gì ?)

6. What cake is as pointed as a saw’s teeth ?

                                                    - What cake is it ?

(Bánh gì nhọn tựa răng cưa ?

                               - Là bánh gì ?)

7. The cake’s body is shinning black

With spotted sesames

Outside its coat, there is a belt which is green or red

Inside, there are beans

As well as fat and coconut pulp

In The New Year Festival, our parents often buy the cake

In the quantity of tens for the whole family to eat

Our eldest brother who is proposing marriage to a girl from the

neigbouring village

Also often buys it as a gift for her parents

It is really a type of cake symbolizing our common folks’ soul

For it is very delicious, so what cake is it ?

                                                 - What cake is it ?

(Mình đen nhanh nhánh

Lốm đốm hạt vừng

Ngoài áo thắt lưng

Hoặc xanh hoặc đỏ

Trong bụng có đỗ

Mỡ với cùi dừa

Ngày tết thầy mẹ thường mua

Một vài chục chiếc cả nhà đều ăn

Anh cả hỏi vợ làng bên

Cũng thường mua nó để đem làm quà

Nó là thứ bánh nước nhà

Ngon bùi ngọt béo, đó là bánh chi ?

                                              - Là bánh gì ?)

8. My body is both white and round

Why do you strip off my dress, dear ?

Even then you don’t let me be in peace

But you put a piece of meat between two part of my body

                                                              - What cake is it ?

(Thân em vừa trắng vừa tròn

áo em đang mặc lột trần ngay ra

Lột rồi anh lại chẳng tha

Anh lấy miếng thịt anh tra ngay vào

                                             - Là bánh gì ?)

9. A flock of very white chickens

Once they all jumped into a pond and turned into a flock of red ones

     - What cake is it ?

(Một bầy gà trắng phau phau

Đem nhảy xuống ao thành bầy gà đỏ

                                              - Là bánh gì ?)

10. It is flat and round

It is crispy when dry and flexible when get wet

Though only a small piece of it left

It is still called “plenty”

                           - What cake is it ?

(Dẹt dẹt tròn tròn

Khô ròn ướt dẻo

Dù còn tí tẹo

Cũng gọi rằng nhiều

                     - Là bánh gì ?)

11. My complexion is both white and silky

But pimples appear all over my body for I warm myself on  fire

My face is round and beautiful

And my name is as the same as the name of a tree often standing by the communal house in the village

                                                              - What cake is it ?

(Da em trắng trẻo mịn mà

Vì sưởi lửa, mụn nhọt ra khắp mình

Mặt em tròn trĩnh xinh xinh

Tên em : cây mọc đầu đình quê ta

                                             - Là bánh gì ?)

12. Her body is both round and white

Whenever she gets hot she at once throws out her breasts

But as soon as she eats chicken, her breasts get flattened right away

     - What cake is it ?

(Mình tròn da lại trắng tinh

Hễ nóng đến mình lại ưỡn vú ra

Ăn phải thịt gà thì tịt vú đi

                             - Là bánh gì ?)

13. The river is perfectly round and the water is as cold as marble

But the fairy-like girls still jump headlong to dive in it

                                                              - What cake is it ?

(Sông tròn vành vạnh, nước lạnh như tiền

Con gái như tiên, đâm đầu mà lặn

                                        - Là bánh gì ?)

14. Oh, lass ! Why do you lean against the door of a nuptial chamber

You look very beautiful with a wavy hair so I wonder whether you have got married or not

                                      - What cake is it ?

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