The Magic Fish

In Vietnam, Hiền goes to her mother’s funeral. Her aunt says how proud Hiền’s mother would be of her for making a life out of nothing, just like Cinderella. Hiền says she doesn’t feel like she got a happy ending. Her aunt reminds her of their Cinderella story.

The panels shift to blue as the story of Tấm begins. Tấm’s father marries a widow and eventually passes away. The stepmother makes Tấm cook and clean, always asking if Tấm loves her. In the little garden apart from the house, Tấm can finally be alone. One day, sitting near its small pond, she hears a voice asking her why she is crying. She looks down to see a fish, who says that her mother used to feed him. As they become friends, Tấm grows happier. Her stepmother notices the change. Her daughter, Cám, spies on Tấm, discovering that she speaks to the water, and that it speaks back to her. One night, the stepmother invites Tấm for dinner, where she serves a fish stew made from the magic fish. She forces Tấm to eat. Tấm buries the bones, grieving the loss of her friend.

An invitation eventually arrives from a merchant, inviting all young women to a party. The stepmother forces Tấm to stay home and separate grains of white and brown rice, asking, as always, if Tấm loves her.

For a moment, the panels flick back to red, with Hiền asking if that’s how the story goes. Her aunt tells her that sometimes stories change. Hiền calls home from a payphone, asking Tiền what he was going to tell her before she left. He says that it isn’t important.

When Tiền walks home from school the next day, Claire asks if he’s mad and if that’s why he didn’t sit with her and Julian. He says that he needs some space and that he’s just trying to figure out some things. He explains he doesn’t know how to ask for help because everyone’s problems seem bigger than his. Claire gives him a hug, and he thanks her. 

Hiền’s aunt resumes the fairytale. Tấm sweeps while her sister and stepmother are at the merchant’s party. A bird coos: “Unbury the bones” (151). Tấm digs up the jar where she had buried the bones of the magic fish under a peach tree. Suddenly, her outfit is transformed. Birds carry her to the party on a sheet, telling her that they will sort the grains.

That night, Tiền goes with Claire and Julian to the dance. Tiền wears his patched jacket. Claire says that it’s his way of bringing his mom with him since she never went to a school dance.

The dance and fairytale party are juxtaposed: The merchant dances with Tấm and Tiền dances with Julian. Tiền discovers that Julian had always suspected that he was gay, and Julian has no problem dancing with Tiền even though he is straight. As they dance, another adult points out the two boys to Mrs. Flynn.

In the fairytale, Tấm flees the party when she sees her stepsister watching her and leaves behind a single shoe. The merchant eventually finds her, despite her stepmother’s insistence that she couldn’t have been at the party.

Hiền asks if they lived happily ever after, and her aunt reminds her that “[t]here’s always more” (164).

After marrying the merchant, Tấm returns on the anniversary of her father’s death to pay her respects. Her mother stabs her and buries her under a nearby tree. 

At school, Tiền goes to detention. Mrs. Flynn says that his schoolwork is suffering and asks what’s going on at home. He says that his mom went to Vietnam for his grandmother’s funeral. Mrs. Flynn offers her condolences, then says that she saw him dancing with Julian.

In the fairytale, the merchant comes looking for Tấm, and the stepmother claims not to have seen her. After he leaves, the tree under which Tấm is buried whispers: “Murder” (168). It keeps repeating the word, and the stepmother tells her daughter Cám to chop it down if she loves her. When Cám does, a bird starts saying, “Murder” (169). The stepmother tells Cám to capture it. When she succeeds, the stepmother bites its head, killing it. She says: “It is done. We are rid of her forever” (170).

At school, a priest speaks to Tiền. He says that Mrs. Flynn told him that Tiền is “experiencing some confusing feelings” (171). Tiền feels dejected and doesn’t engage with his friends.

When the priest talks to him again, he asks if Tiền has told his parents about being gay. He says it’s a blessing Tiền has not because “[a]ll the parents I’ve counseled described the heartbreak of their children coming out the same way. It always feels like a death in the family” (172). He likens the pain to grief, and Tiền thinks about his mom, who is grieving for her own mom. He is afraid to make her feel that way again, not knowing how much Hiền wants him to be honest about what he is feeling and thinking.

The story flashes to Hiền. Her aunt continues the fairytale. The merchant dreams of a peach tree, and, suddenly, Tấm returns to life “as though she never left” (175). Hiền’s aunt asks if she remembers the rest. Hiền says she doesn’t and that her Vietnamese is weakening. She is “changing,” caught in the middle between past and present, her American self and her Vietnamese self. The panel shows the red, present Hiền against the yellow-toned panel of her past self. She feels separate from Tiền. She’s afraid he doesn’t feel like he can confide in her because they’re from two different worlds. She wonders if her mother felt that way. Her aunt decides to finish the story. 

On the anniversary of her mother’s death, Tấm returns home again, greeting her stepmother. Cám wonders: “How does she remain so beautiful?” (178). A bird whispers that Tấm bathes each night in boiling, salted sesame oil. Cám does this, dying from the scalding oil. The bird put her remains in a jar, the smell of which entices the stepmother, who eats it. The bird says to her, “Unbury the bones,” then asks, “[D]id you love your daughter?” (181). As the stepmother lunges to kill the bird, the pot tips; she sees a human jaw and her daughter’s pearl necklace. At the sight, she drops dead. Tấm lives happily ever after.

Hiền asks if that’s how the story ends, to which her aunt replies: “How should I know? It’s an old, old story. Details change” (184). Her words are juxtaposed with Hiền’s plane as it makes its way back to the United States. This shows how she is still thinking of her aunt’s words.