Korean Children's Favorite Stories

by Kim So-Un

  "Well," he said at last, "I might as well go to a shop and ask for help"

  So the young farmer entered a shop and said, "Good day, Mr. Shopkeeper. Please give me something that looks like the moon, something a woman uses."

  The shopkeeper laughed at this strange request. Then he looked around at the goods on his shelf, and his eyes lighted on a small, round hand mirror.

  "Oh, I know," the shopkeeper said. "This must be what you want. Look, it's round and looks just like the full moon. You look into it and you can see yourself. A young bride would want it when she pretties herself. I am sure it could be nothing else."

  Now, the bridegroom had never seen a mirror before, as they were very rare then. But he thought that surely his wife, the daughter of a rich old farming family, would know what it was. "Yes, this must be what my wife asked me to get," he answered, proud that he could get what his wife wanted.

  Soon he was back home in the country again. As soon as he entered the house, his wife asked, "Did you remember to do my shopping for me?"

  "Yes," he answered. "Here." And he handed her what he had bought.

  The bride, expecting to receive a comb, wondered at the strange round object her husband handed her. She peered into the smooth glass. And what should she see there but the reflection of a young woman and a very pretty woman at that.

  "What thing is this!" she cried. "I only asked for a comb, and here you bring home a pretty young woman." The wife turned angrily and ran to her mother.

  "Mother, can you imagine anything so silly? I asked my husband to buy me a comb in town, and look what he brought home—a strange young woman!"

  "Where? Where is she?" the mother asked, taking the mirror and peering into it.

  Of course, the mother saw reflected only the face of a wrinkled old woman. "Why, my child," she said, "what are you talking about? This must be an old relative of ours from a neighboring village."

  "No, you are wrong. It's a young woman," the young wife cried.

  "No, it's you who are wrong. Look, she's an old, wrinkled woman," the mother retorted angrily. Thus the two began quarreling.

  Just then a small boy came into the room, eating a rice cake. The boy picked up the mirror and peered into it. There he saw another boy eating a rice cake. The boy thought the stranger had taken his.

  "Give me back my rice cake," he shouted, "it's mine!" He threw up his hand to strike the boy. The boy in the mirror also raised his arm. The bewildered child, scared by what he saw, began to cry loudly.

  The room was filled with din, the two women arguing away at the top of their voices, and the boy crying his head off.

  Just then the grandfather passed by and heard the commotion. Wondering what it was all about, he poked his head in the doorway. "What's going on here? What's the matter?" he asked. Then he caught sight of the boy looking at a round object and crying, "Give me back my rice cake!" The grandfather flared with anger to think that someone or something should have taken rice cakes from a small boy.

  "Where, where?" he asked. "Show me the thief!" He grabbed the mirror and peered into it. There, staring at him, was a fierce-looking old man, anger written all over his face.

  "Why, it's an old man. You ought to be ashamed at your age to jump out and interfere in a quarrel between boys." With these words the grandfather rolled up his sleeves and was about to hit the old man in the mirror.

  Suddenly the mirror slipped from his hand and fell to the floor with a loud crash. The grandfather, the boy, the two women, and the bridegroom all fell silent and stood staring dumbly at hundreds of pieces of broken glass beneath their feet.

  In a great forest there once lived a very bad tiger. Every night he would come out of his lair and steal into a radish patch kept by a poor old woman. There the bad tiger would trample all over the garden, eating the choicest and fattest radishes. The poor woman came every morning to her radish patch and cried at the damage caused by the bad tiger. But she didn't know what to do, for the tiger was as strong as he was bad. She wondered and wondered how she could stop the tiger from eating her radishes every night. Finally, she hit upon a good plan.

  One day, she met the tiger and said, "Mr. Tiger, why do you have to eat radishes all the time? Please come to my house, and I shall make some delicious, nourishing red bean gruel for you to eat."

  The tiger was overjoyed at the prospect of a red bean gruel, for it was his favorite dish. "Thank you. I shall be over tonight," he said, licking his lips at the thought of the feast.

  The old woman hurried home to prepare for the arrival of the bad tiger. First she lit a fire and heated up a large amount of charcoal. She put the glowing coals in a brazier and took the brazier outside to the back of her home.

  Then, she floated some red-hot cayenne pepper on the water in her kitchen water jug.

  Next, she stuck a large number of needles in the kitchen towel.

  She then scattered cow dung all around the kitchen door, and spread a large straw mat, used in drying unhulled rice, out in the yard.

  Finally, she brought out an A-frame, used on the back when carrying heavy loads and so-called because it is shaped like the letter "A" turned upside down. She propped the A-frame up against the back fence.

  Now everything was ready. The old woman went back to her kitchen and pretended she was preparing the evening dinner.

  Soon it was dark, and the bad tiger came sneaking to her house. The old woman heard the tiger outside and said, "Oh, it's you, Mr. Tiger. Please do come in." And she opened the front door, smiling her welcome at the bad tiger.

  "My, it's cold tonight, isn't it, Mr. Tiger?" she said. "You won't mind, will you, bringing the charcoal brazier into the house from the back for me?"

  "Of course," the bad tiger said, for he was in a good mood thinking of the feast he was about to have.

  He went out back and was about to lift the brazier up when he noticed that the charcoal was almost out. "Say, old woman. The charcoal is almost out. There are hardly any red embers left."

  The old woman answered from inside the house; "Is that so? Will you blow the embers for me? The charcoal will soon become red."

  The bad tiger put his nose to the brazier and puffed and puffed. He blew so hard that some ashes whirled up and dropped into his eyes. The bad tiger hurriedly rubbed his eyes, but the more he rubbed the more they hurt. In pain, the bad tiger cried, "Old woman, old woman! I've got some ashes in my eyes. Help me!"

  "Oh dear, I'm sorry," she said. "Try washing your eyes with water. You'll find some in the kitchen jug there."

  The tiger did as he was told. But, as you will remember, the old woman had floated some red pepper on the water. The pepper got in both the tiger's eyes, and he was in greater pain than before. He thought he would surely go blind.

  "Old woman, old woman!" he called, "my eyes are worse than before. What can I do?" Then, "Ooh! Ooh!" the bad tiger moaned, pressing his eyes with his front paws and stamping his feet in pain.

  "Oh, is it that painful? Try wiping them with this kitchen towel."

  The bad tiger was in great pain. He grabbed the towel she handed him and began rubbing his eyes frantically. But the needles in the towel pricked his eyes. Now the bad tiger became truly mad with pain.

  Suddenly the bad tiger realized how he had been tricked by the old woman. Blindly he tried to run away. But, as soon as he stepped out the kitchen door, he slipped on the cow dung and fell head over heels on the ground.

  The straw mat, which the old woman had laid out in the back yard, saw all this and came flying through the air. It quickly wrapped the bad tiger in an incredible tight roll.

  Next, the A-frame came trotting out from the back fence and threw the tightly wrapped tiger on its back. Then, without a word, the old woman put the frame on her back, went right down to the sea and threw the bad tiger headlong into the waves.

  That was the end of the bad tiger. Thereafter the old woman was able to raise her radishes in peace. There was no longer a bad tiger to come and dig up her r
adish patch.

  Tnce upon a time, long, long ago, there lived a handsome boy named Talltree. He was called this because his father was a tree—a tree so tall that it almost reached the sky. His mother was a celestial being, a beautiful creature from Heaven who came down to earth from time to time. She often used to rest in the shade of the tall tree. In time she became the tree's wife and bore a healthy boy child, who became the Talltree of this story.

  When Talltree was about eight years old, his mother left him beside his father, the great, tall tree, and returned to her home in the heavens.

  One day a terrible storm arose suddenly. For days on end the rains poured down on earth, until all the ground was under water. Soon mountainous waves began sweeping toward the tall tree, the father of the young boy.

  Father-tree became alarmed. He called to his child and said, "I shall soon be uprooted by this terrible storm. When I fall, you must climb into my branches and perch on my back. Otherwise, you will be drowned"

  The storm became more and more violent. Lashed by screaming winds, great waves thundered against the trunk of the tree. Then came the fiercest gust of all, and the kingly tree fell with a crash.

  Quickly the boy climbed on his father's back and held tightly to the branches. The great tree floated on the rushing waters. For days and days it drifted on and on, at the mercy of the angry waves.

  One day they came upon a great number of ants struggling in the water. The poor ants, on the point of drowning, cried, "Save us! Save us!"

  Talltree felt sorry for them and asked his father, "Shall we save the ants?"

  "Yes," his father replied. "Climb up on my father's back," Talltree called to the ants, "and you will be saved. Hurry! Hurry!"

  And Talltree helped the tired and weary ants get up out of the wind-whipped water onto the tree. The ants, of course, were very happy to be saved.

  Soon, a great cloud of mosquitoes came flying through the storm. They, too, were weary, for nowhere was there any place to land and rest their tired wings.

  "Help! Help!" the mosquitoes buzzed.

  Again, Talltree asked, "Father, shall we save the mosquitoes?"

  "Yes," his father replied.

  So Talltree helped the tired mosquitoes alight on the leaves and branches of his father's back. The mosquitoes were also very grateful to be saved from the storm.

  As Talltree and his father and the ants and the mosquitoes drifted along, they heard the cry of a child. In the waves they saw a boy about the same age as Talltree.

  "Save me! Save me!" cried the boy.

  Talltree felt sorry for the boy. "Let's save the boy too," he said.

  But this time his father didn't answer.

  Again the cries of the boy came pitifully across the raging waters. And again Talltree said, "Please, Father, let's save that boy."

  Still there was no answer from Father-tree. Talltree pleaded with his father a third time, "Father, we must save that poor boy!"

  The father finally answered: "Do as you wish. I leave it up to you."

  Talltree was overjoyed and called to the boy to come and climb up onto his father's back. So the boy was saved too.

  After a very long time, the father-tree, Talltree, the ants, the mosquitoes, and the boy who had been saved from the waves came to an island. It was the peak of the highest mountain in that country—a mountain as high as Paik Tu, the Mountain with a White Head, so-called because the snow never melted from its crest.

  As soon as the tree reached the island, the ants and the mosquitoes thanked Talltree and took their departure.

  The two boys were very hungry, for they had not eaten for many days. They wandered over the island searching for food and finally came upon a small straw-thatched hut.

  "Please give us some food," the boys cried out. An old woman and two young girls came out. They welcomed the boys into the house and gave them food. One of the girls was the daughter of the old woman and the other was the child of her neighbor.

  The great flood and storm had destroyed everything on earth except this little island. The only people left in the world were the two boys, the old woman, and the two girls. There was no other place where the boys could stay. So from that day on they lived with the old woman, working for her as servants.

  It was a peaceful life. The days slipped into weeks, the weeks into months, and the months into years, and the boys grew into strong, fine youths.

  As the old woman watched the boys grow into manhood, she thought to herself, "They will make fine husbands for my two girls."

  One day, she told the two boys, "Whichever of you is the more skillful shall have my own daughter for his wife, and the other shall have my neighbor's girl."

  Now the old woman's own daughter was very much the more beautiful of the two girls, and the boy who had been saved by Talltree during the flood wanted very much to marry her. He thought of a way to get her for his own wife.

  "Grandma," he said, "Talltree has a strange power which none of the rest of us has. For example, you can mix a whole sack of millet in a pile of sand, and he can have the millet and the sand separated in no time. Let him try it and show you."

  The old woman was surprised to hear this. "Is that so?" she said. "Come, Talltree, let me see if you really can do this amazing thing."

  Talltree knew he was being tricked. He knew he certainly could do no such thing and he knew the other youth was planning to get him into trouble. So he refused. But the old woman was adamant. She was determined that Talltree should show her his strange and amazing power.

  "If you don't do it, or if you can't do it, I won't let you marry my daughter," the old woman said.

  Talltree saw he couldn't escape and sighed. "Very well, then," he said, "I'll try."

  The old woman emptied a sack of millet into a pile of sand and thoroughly mixed them up together. Then she left, saying she would return in a short while to see how he was getting on.

  Talltree gazed hopelessly at the pile of millet and sand. What was he to do? It was not humanly possible to sort the millet from the sand.

  Suddenly, Talltree felt something bite his heel. He looked down, and there he saw a very large ant.

  "What is troubling you, Talltree?" the ant asked. "I suppose you no longer remember me, but I am one of the ants you saved a long time ago in the flood. Let me help. Tell me, what's the matter?"

  Talltree told the ant how he must separate the millet from the sand or else he would not be able to marry the old woman's daughter.

  "Is that all the trouble? Then your worries are over. Just leave it to me."

  No sooner had the ant said this than a great mass of ants came swarming from all over the place. They attacked the huge pile of sand and millet, each ant carrying a millet grain in its mouth and putting it into the sack placed nearby. Back and forth the ants hurried. In a twinkling of an eye all the millet was back in the sack.

  When the old woman came back, she was amazed to find that Talltree had finished an impossible task in so short a time.

  The other youth was surprised too, and annoyed that his trick had failed. But he still wished to marry the old woman's daughter and pleaded with her, "Please let me marry your child."

  The old woman hesitated. She thought for a moment and replied, "You are both very dear to me. I must be absolutely fair. Tonight will be a moonless night. I shall put my daughter and my neighbor's daughter each in a separate room. One will be in the east room and the other in the west room. You two will stay outside and when I say 'ready,' you will both come into the house and go to the room of your choice. The girl you find there will be your bride. I'm sure this is the best and fairest plan."

  That night the two youths waited outside for the old woman's command. Suddenly Talltree heard a mosquito flying close to his ear.

  "Buzz, buzz," said the mosquito, in a wee voice. "Talltree, you must go to the east room. Buzz, buzz. Remember, it is the east room."

  Talltree was overjoyed to hear this. He felt sure the mosquito was one he had sav
ed during the flood.

  "Ready!" the old woman cried out.

  The two boys went into the house. While the other boy was still hesitating, Talltree went straight to the east room. There he found the good and beautiful daughter of the old woman. She became his wife.

  The other youth could not complain. So he took the other girl for his wife.

  Both couples were very happy. They had many, many children and lived happily ever after. In time, their children, and their grandchildren, and their great-grandchildren spread throughout the world. And again the earth was filled with people.

  There once lived in the same village two brothers. The elder was greedy and miserly The younger was a gentle and open-hearted man. The older brother lived in a great mansion and had everything he wanted. Yet he was always complaining, as if by habit, that he led a hard life. On the other hand, his younger brother was poor and lived a humble life. But he never once complained.

  One spring, swallows from some faraway southern country came and made a nest under the eaves of the poor brother's house. By the time the early summer breeze was rippling the green rice seedlings, the swallow had hatched its eggs, and the nest was full of young birds. From morning to night, the baby birds made merry music under the eaves of the poor man's straw-thatched house. The kind-hearted younger brother placed a wide board under the nest to catch the baby birds, in case they fell from the nest to the ground below. The parent swallows busily carried food to their young and worked hard to make them grow big. And they did grow big, with each passing day.

  One day, while the parent birds were away looking for food, a large green snake slid down the roof of the hut. As it approached the swallow's nest, it raised its head and peered inside, as if to say, "Yum, yum! These young birds will make a tasty meal." The snake poised itself to strike, showing its fangs. Of course, the baby swallows had never seen such a horrible sight before. They flapped their small wings in fear and tried with all their might to fly away. But their wings were too weak. One little bird succeeded in taking off only to crash to the ground.