Long ago Vietnam was ruled by King Hung. In his palace lived his adopted son, Mai An Tiem. As a child he had been found, an orphan, on a ship belonging to foreign merchants. The king raised him as his own son and later made him one of his closest advisers.
Mai An Tiem grew up to be a hard-working, clever and honest young man. He did not like to sit idle in the palace. He preferred to work in the fields and grow a garden with his own hands. He married and lived happily with his wife and their two children.
One day the king held a great feast. The courtiers said to Mai An Tiem flatteringly, "How lucky you are! Thanks to the king, you have everything." Mai An Tiem smiled. "Yes, I owe the king a great deal. But a person's true wealth is the fruit of his own labour. Bread earned with your own hands is the sweetest of all."
A jealous nobleman twisted these words and repeated them to the king. "Your Majesty, Mai An Tiem does not respect you. He boasts that he has achieved everything by himself." The king grew angry. "Then let him try living by his own labour!"
The king sent Mai An Tiem, his wife and their children away to a faraway deserted island. They were left with food for only a few days and a single knife. The island was all sand and rock, with hardly any trees or fresh water.
His wife wept. "How will we live here?" But Mai An Tiem comforted her. "Don't be afraid. We have our hands and our heads. Heaven does not abandon those who work." He built a shelter from branches and covered it with leaves. He hollowed out a hole in a rock to collect rainwater. He caught fish and shellfish in the sea and fed his family.
One morning Mai An Tiem saw a flock of white birds fly to the island and drop a few black seeds onto the sand. Some time later a plant with green leaves grew in that spot, and big striped green fruits appeared on its stems.
His wife was frightened. "This fruit is strange to us. Perhaps it is poisonous." But Mai An Tiem said, "The birds are eating its seeds. If it doesn't harm birds, it won't harm people. Perhaps Heaven has sent us a gift." And he cut one of the fruits open with his knife.
Inside, the fruit was bright red, full of black seeds, sweet and juicy! On a hot day it quenched their thirst and gave them strength. The children were delighted. They smeared the juice on each other's cheeks and laughed. Mai An Tiem gathered the seeds and planted them all over the sandy island. Every day he watered the seedlings and tended them carefully.
A year later the whole island was covered in green watermelons. Then Mai An Tiem had an idea. He carved his name on the rinds of the watermelons and set them afloat on the sea. The waves carried them to faraway shores.
Fishermen and merchants on the mainland found these strange fruits, tasted them and marvelled. When they read the name carved on the rind, they searched for the island and found it. Soon merchant ships were sailing to the island to trade rice, cloth and tools for watermelons. The deserted island became a flourishing garden.
The news reached the king too. He tasted a watermelon and remembered Mai An Tiem's words. "He was right. The fruits of labour really are sweet," the king admitted. He brought Mai An Tiem and his family back to the palace and honoured him even more than before.
Mai An Tiem shared watermelon seeds throughout the country and taught every village how to grow them. Ever since, the watermelon has been the main fruit of Tet, the Vietnamese New Year. People believe that a red watermelon brings happiness and good fortune for the year ahead.
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