Vietnamese folk stories explain origins, teach values, and give names to places — and most Vietnamese children hear a handful of them very early.
Lạc Long Quân and Âu Cơ is the origin story: a dragon lord of the sea and a mountain fairy have one hundred children born from a sac of eggs, then part ways, fifty children following each parent to the coast and the highlands. Vietnamese people are sometimes described as con Rồng cháu Tiên — children of the dragon, grandchildren of the fairy.
Sơn Tinh, Thủy Tinh tells of the mountain spirit and the water spirit competing for a princess, and explains the annual floods as the water spirit's continuing anger. Bánh chưng, bánh dày explains the Tết cakes through a prince who honored his parents with food representing earth and sky. The Tale of the Betel and Areca Nut explains why betel appears at weddings. Thánh Gióng tells of a silent child who grows into a giant to defend the country and then rides into the sky.
These stories are not only entertainment. They are woven into holidays, food, place names, and the way people describe the country's history to children.