This article was written by Tran, van Dien in 1960
The place I always remember with
affection is the house where I was born, and spent my childhood.
It stands in the middle of a rather
large area surrounded with green bamboo-hedges. In front of it, is a yard where
wet clothes are dried and which is also a store-place for the rice-crop in
harvest time. Next to the yard, is a pond where the washing is done. Its water
is kept cool all day long, thanks to the shady trees with overhanging leafy
branches around it. Not far from there, is a beautiful garden full of pretty
flowers and fruit-trees. It is my favorite place. In the afternoon, I used to
run merrily along its flower-bordered walks, chasing gorgeous butterflies or
catching shining beetles. In doing so, I sometimes trod on a flowering plant,
and was scolded by my mother for being so carless. At the corner of the garden,
there is a small arbour with a seat where I spent much time reading some fairy
tales or doing my home-work. Behind the house, is another garden where grow
various kinds of vegetables.
The house itself is only a small
cottage. It consists of three rooms. The middle-room is the
most nicely furnished with a table, four chairs and a mahogany camp-bed. We eat
and receive the visitors there. It is also a room witnessing the sweet
gatherings of my family on the winter-evening when it rains outside. Far back
at the wall, is set up an altar for the cult of the ancestors. On the left is
the sleeping-room, a place crowded with beds and a wardrobe. On the right is a
lumber-room where all sorts of things are kept. As for the kitchen and the
toilet-room, they are all in an annexe not far from the main dwelling.
That is my house. Though it is only
a humble cottage, I still love it very much and always long to return to it
because it is a place where I had the happiest memories of my life.
