by Kim So-Un
29 The Tiger of Kumgang Mountains
THERE once lived a very famous marksman and hunter. He was such a fine marksman that he could shoot down any bird in flight, almost without taking aim. Deer and wild boar were no match for this hunter once they entered the sights of his gun. He was never known to have missed anything.
In those days the Kumgang Mountains were full of tigers. Often the beasts would come down from the fastnesses and steal, not only horses and cattle, but even human beings. But there was not a single man who could conquer the tigers. Many hunters had said, "I'll get those tigers," and had set out. But none had ever returned. Instead they had become the prey of the tigers of the Kumgang Mountains.
One day, the famous marksman said: "Now it's my turn. I shall kill every tiger in the mountains." The hunter, so saying, set out, refusing to listen to those who tried to hold him back.
The proud hunter went on and on. At the foot of the mountains he came to a lonely inn. The proprietress of the inn saw the hunter and said: "Alas, are you also going to the tigers to have them eat you up? Listen to what I say. It is for your good that I tell you. If you value your life, give up your foolish idea."
However, the hunter refused to listen. In his heart, he said proudly: "What with my skill, there isn't a tiger anywhere that can beat me."
Out loud, the hunter said to the woman: "Old woman, just wait and see. I shall come back in a little while, carrying a tiger as big as a mountain on my back." And, laughing to himself, the hunter continued up into the mountains.
That was the last ever seen of him. Five years passed. Ten years went by. But the hunter did not return.
When the hunter left home, he left behind a male child who had just been born. Now he had grown into a young lad, skilled with the gun. In fact he had become almost as good a marksman as his father. The young man knew well the reason why he was fatherless. He had long ago decided in his heart that he himself would shoot down the tiger that had eaten his father.
When he reached his fifteenth birthday, the boy went to his mother and said: "I would like to set out for the Kumgang Mountains. Mother, please let me go."
But the mother did not want to lose her son. With tears in her eyes, she tried to stop him: "Even a famous marksman like your father was eaten by the tigers. How can you avenge your father's death? If you go, you will never return. That is as clear as daylight. Quit thinking about such things and stay forever by your mother's side."
"Don't worry, Mother. I shall surely find the tiger who ate my father. I shall shoot it down and avenge his death." And the son earnestly begged his mother to let him go.
Finally the mother said: "If you want to go so much, do as you wish. But first let me ask you one thing. Your father used to have me stand with a water jug on my head. Then he would aim at the handle of the water jug from a distance of one league and shoot off only the handle without spilling any water. Can you do the same thing?"
When he heard this, the young son immediately tried to match his father's feat. He had his mother stand one whole league away, with a water jug on her head. He took careful aim, but he missed the mark entirely. So he gave up his idea of going to the mountains and practiced three more years with his gun.
After three years, he tried again. This time he succeeded in knocking off the handle of the water jug on his mother's head without spilling a drop of water.
Then the mother said: "Son, your father was able to shoot the eye out of a needle from a distance of one league. Can you do this?"
The son asked his mother to stand with a needle in her outstretched hand. Then he walked back a distance of one league and, taking careful aim, let go a shot. But he failed to shoot the eye out of the needle. Once again, he gave up his idea of going to the Kumgang Mountains and settled down to another three years of practicing.
At the end of three years, he again tried the same trick. This time, with the crack of his gun, the eye of the needle fell to the ground.
Of course, what the mother had told her son were all lies. The mother had thought that if she told him such tales about his father, he would give up his idea of going to avenge his father. But her son had now successfully performed each of the feats she ascribed to her husband. Even the mother could not help being moved by her son's single-minded desire to avenge his father's death, and she finally gave him permission to leave for the Kumgang Mountains.
The son was overjoyed. He immediately set out for the mountains. At the foothills he came across the same small inn where his father had stopped years ago. The same old woman was still living. The old woman asked the young man what he intended to do. He told her how his father had been eaten by the tigers and how he had practiced for years to avenge his death.
The old woman then said: "Yes, I knew your father. He was the greatest marksman in all the land. Can you see that tall tree over in the distance? Why, your father used to turn his back to that tree and then shoot down the highest leaf on the highest branch from over his shoulder. If you can't do the same thing, how can you expect to avenge his death?"
The hunter's son, when he heard this, said he also would try. He placed his gun over his shoulder and took aim and shot. But he missed. He knew then that this wouldn't do, and he asked the old woman to let him stay with her a while. From that day, he kept practicing shooting over his shoulder at the tree. Finally, after three years had passed, he was able to shoot down the highest leaf on the highest branch.
Again the old woman told the hunter's son: "Just because you can do that, it still does not mean you can outshoot your father. Why, your father used to set an ant on the side of a cliff and then, from a distance of one league, shoot that ant off without even scratching the surface of the cliff. No matter what a fine marksman you may be, you can't match that."
The young man then tried to do what the old woman said his father had done. Again he failed at first and had to practice three more years before succeeding.
Of course, all that the old woman had told him had been made up because she wanted to save the man. But the hunter's son, not questioning her once, had practiced till he could do whatever she said his father had done. The old woman was filled with amazement and admiration.
"It's safe now. With your skill, you will surely avenge your father's death." So saying, the old woman made many balls of cooked rice for him to eat along the way.
The hunter's son thanked her sincerely and started out along the path leading into the heart of the Kumgang Mountains.
Eating as he went the rice-balls made for him by the old woman, the young man pressed deeper and deeper into the mountains. For days and days he wandered through the wilderness. After all, the Kumgang Mountains have twelve thousand peaks and stretch over a vast area, and he had no means of knowing where the tiger lay hidden. In this heart he kept praying that he would be able to find the tiger that had eaten his father, and he continued wandering, without any exact destination, through the vast mountain ranges.
One day, while the hunter's son was seated on a big rock taking a rest, a lone priest came up to him and asked: "Excuse me, sir. If you have a flint and stone, may I borrow it?"
The hunter's son brought out his flint and stone from the leather purse hanging from his belt and handed it to the priest. The priest struck fire with the flint and stone and lighted his tobacco pipe. As he opened his mouth to take the first puff, the young man caught a glimpse inside the priest's mouth. There he saw sharp fangs such as tigers have.
"Human beings don't have such fangs. He must be a tiger in disguise," the young man thought, and, without letting the priest see, he picked up his gun. "But what if he really is a man?" the young man pondered. He hesitated for a moment or two but suddenly felt sure of his suspicion and, raising his gun, let loose a shot at the priest's breast.
With a cry, the priest fell to the ground. When the young man looked down, there, instead of a priest lay the dead body of a huge tiger.
After making sure the tiger was quite dead, the hunter's son cont
inued along the mountain trail. In a little while he came to an old woman digging potatoes in her potato patch. Since the young man was hungry, he asked: "Old woman, please give me one potato."
"I haven't any time to waste," the old woman replied. "My husband was just killed by a bad man. His soul just came to me and said that I must hurry and dig up some potatoes and take them to him to eat. Once he eats these potatoes he will become alive again. That's why I have to hurry."
"That's funny," the young man thought, and he looked carefully at the hands of the woman digging potatoes. He saw, not human hands, but the hairy paws of a tiger. The hunter's son immediately lifted his gun and took aim. "Bang!" went the gun, and the old woman in the potato patch toppled over and turned into an old she-tiger.
The hunter's son continued on his way. In a short while he came upon a young girl carrying a water jug balanced on her head. The young man was thirsty and asked: "Please kindly give me a drink of water."
The young girl answered: "I'm sorry, but I can't stop. I'm in a terrible hurry. The souls of my father-in-law and mother-in-law came to me and said they have been killed by an evil person and asked me to bring them water. I must hurry with this water and give it to them so they can come alive again."
So saying, the girl started hurrying on. From the front she was surely a young girl, but from behind she was tiger with a long tail. The hunter's son raised his gun and let fly a shot. Down came, not a girl, but a young she-tiger.
The hunter's son continued on. Down the road he saw a young man walking hurriedly toward him. The hunter's son called: "Say, won't you sit down with me? Let's exchange talk of our travels."
"No, I can't waste any time. My parents and my wife just came to me in a dream and told me that they have been shot down by a bad man. They asked me to come and offer sacrifices for them. If I delay longer, it'll be too late for them to come alive."
This young man too had a long tail hanging behind him. The hunter's son immediately raised his gun and shot the man dead. By the time the man's body hit the ground it had changed into a splendid young tiger.
The hunter's son was pleased with himself for having got rid of four tigers in such a short time. He felt greatly encouraged and continued on his journey, wondering what next lay in store for him. After a short while he saw a huge white animal, as big as a mountain, squatting in the distance. It was a huge, huge grandfather tiger that must have been alive for a thousand years.
The white-haired grandfather tiger opened its great mouth to swallow the hunter. The young man quickly took aim and shot a bullet at the tiger's mouth. But the tiger did not even blink. The young man kept shooting one shot after another at the tiger. But, each time, the grandfather tiger would clench his teeth, draw back his lips, and let the bullets bounce off his fangs harmlessly. Undaunted, the young man kept shooting at the tiger. But, in the end, he ran out of bullets, and was swallowed in one gulp, gun and all, by the great grandfather tiger.
The tiger's throat was one black tunnel. Once the hunter had passed through this tunnel, he came to a vast room as large as a fairground. This was the giant tiger's stomach. The hunter was surprised to see scattered here and there the bones of people the tiger had eaten. He wondered whether he might not be able to find the bones of his father and started searching here and there. Just as he had thought, he found his father's bones beside a hunting rifle on which his father's name was engraved. The son carefully gathered the bones together and lovingly placed them in the bag at his belt.
Then the young man continued his search. He came upon an unconscious girl who lay huddled in a heap. The young hunter took the girl in his arms and nursed her back to consciousness. She looked into his face and thanked him with gratitude. She then revealed that she was the daughter of the king's minister, who was famous in the capital. The young girl told him how the old grandfather tiger had stolen her away, just the night before, while she was washing her hair on the verandah of her home.
The two talked over their plight and decided to join forces in finding a way out of the tiger's stomach. The young hunter took a knife from his belt and cut a small hole near the tiger's tail. Through it they could see outside. They decided that the girl should stay beside the hole and tell the young man whether the tiger was walking through a field, or up some craggy cliff, or along the seashore. The hunter's son men started cutting through the walls of the tiger's stomach. Because the stomach wall was so thick, he could not make much progress with his small knife. He cut with all his might and main and slowly started widening the cut that he had started.
The tiger at first bore his stomach pains. But as the pains increased, he could no longer keep still. He went to his doctor friend, an old bear, and said: "My stomach pains me terribly. Haven't you any good medicine?"
The bear answered: "That's nothing to worry about. Just eat a lot of fruit and you'll soon be well."
The tiger then started eating apples and pears right and left. The tiger's stomach became like one great fruit market. After all, being the huge animal that he was, the grandfather tiger was not content to eat only one hundred or two hundred apples or pears. He simply went into orchards and uprooted whole trees. The young girl and the man joyfully plucked the fruit from the trees swallowed whole by the tiger and filled their own stomachs. Now that they had eaten, they felt much stronger and took courage. With redoubled zeal the young man fell to his work of cutting away the tiger's stomach.
No matter how much fruit he ate, the tiger continued to feel greater and greater pains in his stomach. He again went to see the bear.
"I don't feel well at all. The pains in my stomach seem to be even worse man before."
The bear then said: "Go to the mineral spring and drink the water there. It's good for stomachaches."
The giant grandfather tiger went to the spring and gulped down great volumes of water. The young man and the girl in the tiger's stomach drank the clear sweet water and felt greatly refreshed. The young hunter again redoubled his efforts and kept slashing furiously away at the tiger's stomach.
Soon the tiger could no longer stand the pain in his stomach. He ran around like a crazed animal.
He jumped from high cliffs, and ran blindly through forests, knocking himself against rocks and trees. But no matter how he writhed and twisted, he could not get rid of the pain. Finally, even the grandfather tiger came to the end of his strength and stopped moving.
The young girl peeked out from her hole and found that they were by good fortune in the middle of a large field. She ran to the young man and helped him rip open the last remaining bit of flesh separating them from freedom. They then stepped outside safe and sound.
The young man skinned the tiger, for he wanted to take home the beautiful white tiger-skin as a present. Then, taking the young girl by the hand, he returned to his home, where his mother was waiting for him. His mother cried with tears of joy to see her son come back safely.
After burying the bones of his father in the family graveyard, the young hunter took the young girl back to her home in the capital city. Words cannot describe the joy the king's minister felt when he saw his daughter, returned home safe and sound. In gratitude the king's minister adopted the young hunter into his family to become his daughter's husband and to be heir to his name and fortune.
The young man returned to fetch his mother and the old woman of the mountain inn. And the whole family lived together happily ever after in the mansion of the king's minister.
30 The Silver Spoon
THE only son of a wealthy family had a tutor to help him in his studies. The tutor was a fine scholar, but he had only one eye and his nose was somewhat crooked. Because of this the servants of the house continually made fun of him. Even the food which the servants brought to him morning and night was not like that served the others. When he asked for anything, the servants would pretend they had not heard him. He would have to ask two or three times before the servants would do his bidding. The tutor was greatly troubled by the way the servant
s treated him.
But even more troubled was the young man of the house, the tutor's pupil. "I can't bear to see my tutor made fun of like this," he thought. "I've thought of a plan that will teach the servants a good lesson." The young master slipped quietly into the kitchen, so as not to be seen by the servants, and took from the kitchen cupboard his father's favorite silver spoon.
Next morning the servants were in an uproar. The kitchen maids were white with fear. What would happen to them if the master were to learn of the loss of the spoon? The servants consulted a witch. They also went to see a fortuneteller, to see if he might not tell them what had happened to the spoon and where it could be found. But neither witch nor fortuneteller were of any help. The servants searched high and low. The house was a welter of confusion.
The young son, with the most innocent expression on his face, casually asked one of the servants: "What's the matter? Everybody seems so upset this morning."
"Upset is not the word. The master's silver spoon is missing."
The youth suppressed his laughter and said: "Why, what a terrible thing! I wonder what could have happened to it?"
"If we knew, we wouldn't be in such a state now."
"That is bad." The youth was quiet for a while, as if in deep thought. Then he suddenly brightened, as if struck by a good idea, and said: "Hah! I know! My tutor is an amazing fortuneteller. He would surely be able to help you."
The servants had always made fun of the one-eyed, crooked-nosed tutor, but now they could do nothing in their plight but go ask him for help. The servants then did as the young master suggested.
