The Crystal Heart: A Vietnamese Legend

by Aaron Shepard, Joseph Daniel Fiedler (Illustrator)

The sheltered and privileged daughter of a mandarin comes to understand the consequences of her naive, yet cruel, words to a fisherman.

Genres: Picture Books

32 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 1998

About the author

Aaron Shepard is the author of many books, stories, and scripts for young people, as well as professional books and resources for writers and educators. He has also worked professionally in both storytelling and reader's theater, as a performer, director, and teacher trainer. Aaron's lively and meticulous retellings of folktales and other traditional literature have found homes with more than a dozen children's book publishers, large and small, and with the world's top children's literary magazines, winning him honors from the American Library Association, the New York Public Library, the Bank Street College of Education, the National Council for the Social Studies, and the American Folklore Society. His extensive Web site, visited by thousands of teachers and librarians each week, is known internationally as a prime resource for folktales, storytelling, and reader's theater, while his stories and scripts have been featured in textbooks from publishers worldwide, including Scholastic, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, SRA, The College Board, Pearson Education, National Geographic, Oxford University Press, Barron's, Hodder Education, and McGraw-Hill.

Reviews

[Abigail · Rating 4 out of 5]

The beautiful young daughter of a Mandarin leads a sheltered life in this retelling of a Vietnamese legend, until the day she hears an enchanting song from her tower window and, imagining it is sung by a handsome young man, falls in love. When she doesn't hear the song again, she goes into a decline, worrying her powerful father, who tracks down the fisherman. But when the maiden sees the fisherman - poor, ugly and old - she closes the door in his face, unaware that, in that brief moment, he had fallen in love with her. The fisherman dies shortly thereafter of grief, and his heart, now a crystal because of the suffering it had endured, is made into a tea cup for the maiden, who realizes her unkindness...

There is a haunting quality to The Crystal Heart: A Vietnamese Legend, which offers no easy (and unrealistic) "happily ever after" endings. In thinking about the story, and the way in which it encourages the reader to sympathize with the fisherman, I was struck by the fact that both he and the maiden fell in love with an illusion, either of voice or of appearance. The difference between the two lies in kindness, or the lack thereof, and the legend highlights how our own acts of cruelty, however unintentional, can have unintended consequences, and stay with us for the rest of our lives. The melancholy tone here suited me, and the darker-toned but beautiful illustrations from Joseph Daniel Fiedler were well matched with the story. Recommended to young folklore loves, and picture-book readers interested in Vietnamese lore.

[Elisabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a legend I had never heard before and it’s so sad.

[Eden Silverfox · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mi Nuong hears a beautiful one night, from a man on a boat on the water. She cannot see him clearly since it is dark, but she believes he must be young, handsome and the one she is to marry.
She thinks he will come back, but night after night, week after week, he does not return. Mi Nuong becomes weak and ill. Her father learns of the man who sang that night and sends one of his men to find him.

I was at the library and this book caught my eye. It was a story I had never read before and although it is very sad, it is also a beautiful story and teaches a wonderful lesson. I enjoyed reading this very much.

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Crystal Heart is about a lonely mandarin’s daughter and a fisherman who sings beautifully. Their story touches the themes of depression, desire, status, beauty, youth, wisdom, rejection, fantasy, and the deep melancholy that rests in many of our broken hearts, for the simple fact of being.

For a children’s book, it is sad and profound in a way you don’t understand until you are older. I believe that’s a refreshing change, though. Children need to know about sorrow, instead of endlessly basking in positivity’s shallow sweetness.

Even though it upset my happily-ever-after state of mind as a little girl, I am glad my mother had me read this.

[Lasineuluv · Rating 3 out of 5]

Been a long time since I read something but the teachers made us read a story in our textbooks and found this. It was only 4 pages and it was actually great. I will probably update every Thursday to update people on stories I just read on the textbook

[Ryan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thought it was going to head the direction Rapunzel or sleeping beauty. I was wrong. A beautiful story unfolded about the human heart, love and heart break.

[Shmuel Myers · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reminds me of W.B. Yeats’ beautiful poem “The Cap and Bells.” Wonderful story, illustrations, and lesson.

[Abby Malecha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Book Title: The Crystal Heart
Lexile: 400
Paragraph #1: I like this book because the daughter and fisherman were both love sick for each other, but for different reasons. One reason I liked this was because one was for look and the other for singing. At first you would think that the person who fell in love with the voice is better but hen she laughs in his face and he falls in love with her.
Paragraph #2: My least favorite part was when the daughter laughed in the fishermen's face because it was really mean and if hurt him. I think that people how like story's with a good moral would like this book because it teaches a go lesson.

[Cindi · Rating 4 out of 5]

There is a shelf in the library that houses the fairy tales and legends in picture book form. My daughter goes there every time and is finding some very nice renditions of familiar tales AND some new stories we've never heard before. This legend comes from vietnam. It's beautiful and sad and teaches a big lesson about how we treat others.

[Thomas Andrikus · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Vietnamese legend with an unexpected twist at the ending. If only it could be retold in a longer version, methinks it would be better...

[B-zee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Extra star for the illustrations.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a delicate and poignant legend. I loved the book.