1. Textual Correction and Literal Meaning The correct common version of this satirical lục bát couplet is: “Ta nuôi lợn bốn mươi, mười, Chỉ muốn đem ta đưa vào ngục giam.” Literal translation: “I raise pigs: forty, ten — Just wanting them to put me in prison.”
A masterpiece of Vietnamese satirical folk poetry — three seconds to recite, a century to unpack. ta nuoi lon bon muoi muoi chi muon dem ta dua vao nguc giam
The line “bốn mươi, mười” is not random. It mocks the bureaucratic absurdity: tax officials would count pigs one by one, recording numbers as if the pigs themselves were the enemy. The speaker ironically claims that raising 50 pigs is not for selling, but as a deliberate act to get arrested — because if you raise pigs without paying the tax (or if you refuse to hand them over for taxation), the colonial government will imprison you. It mocks the bureaucratic absurdity: tax officials would