The Story Bag

by Kim So-Un

  First they served the tutor a special dinner with wine and the best of food to put the tutor in a good mood. Then the chief servant said: "The master's silver spoon has disappeared. Will you tell us where it is to be found?"

  "What? You say a spoon has been lost? H'm..." The tutor cocked his head in thought, while he plied the wine glass to his lips in pleasure.

  "Please," the servant implored, "you must help us! I am sure you can help us." And he bowed humbly many times before the tutor.

  "Wait, wait. I shall try," the tutor said condescendingly. He sat down before his desk and pretended to be reading the future. After a while, he said confidently: "Well, well. The spoon is hidden quite near the house. Yes, it is under a stone that lies in a southeasterly direction. Let's see. A stone to the southeast? That must be the stones beside the well. Yes, that's it. If you look under the stones by the well, I am sure the spoon will be found."

  The servants immediately went to the wellside and searched under all the stones. And there, sure enough, was the silver spoon. Of course, the spoon was found there. Everything had been planned long in advance by the youth. He himself had taken the spoon and hidden it under the well-stones. He had, of course, told the tutor of his scheme and where the spoon had been hidden.

  But the servants knew nothing of this scheming. Thus they naturally came to regard the tutor as a superior being. The servants, who up till then had been making fun of the tutor behind his back, now suddenly changed and began treating him with great respect. When mealtime came, the food served the tutor was much better than that served anyone else. Each time the servants brought in the food on trays, the youth and the tutor would look at each other and smile quietly together.

  All good things are followed by bad, so the saying goes, and in the case of the tutor a matter of great concern arose.

  After the silver spoon was found, the story of the tutor's magic powers spread throughout the house. It finally reached the ears of the head of the house.

  Now, the young student's father, the master of the house, was a state minister in the king's court. Just at that time in the neighboring country of China, the Chinese emperor lost his official seal. The whole country was in a turmoil. Unless the emperor recovered his seal he would have to give up his throne to another man.

  All the fortunetellers and the soothsayers in China were gathered together. Yet not one of them could tell who had stolen this valuable seal. A messenger was then sent to Korea who, after explaining the situation to the king, asked:' "Please send us your very best soothsayer."

  The king called his state ministers together to consider who should be dispatched to China. One of the ministers spoke up. It was the father of the youth who had hidden the spoon.

  "We have a tutor who just recently located the whereabouts of a lost silver spoon. He is supposed to be a very famous fortuneteller. What about sending this tutor of mine?"

  "That's most fortunate."

  "Let's follow your advice." The other ministers of state all agreed to this suggestion.

  The youth's father returned home and called the tutor before him. "It will be a hard trip, but I would like you to go to China on a mission," the minister said, and then he told the tutor in detail the story of the Chinese emperor's loss of his imperial seal.

  "Oh, no! Not me. It's absurd!" the tutor said, and declined over and over again.

  However, the minister had undertaken to send a soothsayer to China and he simply wouldn't take no for an answer. He was fully convinced the tutor was a great soothsayer. The greater a man, the more humble he is, the minister thought. Take this tutor for instance. Although he had the power to tell at one crack where the silver spoon had been hidden, not even once had he made known his ability. The tutor simply acted as any ordinary man would act. Thus, the minister was convinced that the tutor really was an extraordinary soothsayer.

  "You don't have to be shy," the minister said. "Please do go. I beg you. There is nobody except you who can undertake this grave mission. Also, they say they will reward you with one hundred gold pieces. If you should succeed in finding the seal, imagine the honors that will be heaped upon you." In this way the minister finally forced upon the tutor the task of going to China whether he would or no.

  The tutor did not care a thing about the reward of a hundred pieces of gold. But he could hardly bear the thought of the shame that would come to him when he was exposed. Of course, he thought, even if he could bear the shame, when they found out he had lied about his abilities, he would certainly be punished heavily.

  "This is a terrible predicament," he thought, with pain in his heart. He went back to his room to ponder over the difficult position in which he found himself.

  A few minutes later, his pupil came into his room, all smiles. "You needn't worry, tutor," he said. "This is what I would do." Then the young lad put his mouth to the tutor's ear and began whispering to him in a very low voice.

  The tutor kept nodding his head and saying, "H'm, h'm." The worried expression on his face gradually disappeared, and suddenly a cheerful smile lit up his featurers.

  The tutor did not reveal his plans to anyone. He completed his preparations and then departed with the emissary from the Chinese court. The two crossed the Yalu River and entered China. When they reached the Chinese capital, the tutor was ushered into the emperor's presence.

  In a voice filled with confidence he told the emperor: "I shall find the seal for you within three months, so please put your mind at ease about it."

  The emperor was very pleased and answered in a cheerful voice: "I cannot thank you enough." Then the emperor commanded that the tutor be treated with all due respect and his residence be closely guarded lest any mishap overtake him.

  Two months soon passed for the tutor, who was living a life of luxury and splendor. Each morning he went through his act of telling fortunes and divining the whereabouts of the seal. One morning, after he had gone through this act, the tutor sighed with great concern and murmured: "Oh, a terrible thing has happened."

  Someone nearby who overheard his words asked: "What is the matter?"

  "Oh, nothing to trouble you with. But last night a fire broke out in my house in Korea and burnt it to the ground. I don't care about the house, but the votive tablets of my ancestors were all destroyed too," the tutor answered, as if he had actually been at the scene of the fire.

  "Can you tell such things too?" the person asked in surprise.

  "Of course I can. If I couldn't tell such things, I wouldn't have come all this distance to look for the emperor's lost seal.'

  The tutor's answer was so surprising that the person was filled with doubt. Even if the tutor were the best fortuneteller under the sun, he surely wouldn't be able to tell of a fire which happened thousands of miles away. And to say that the name-tables of his ancestors were also destroyed! How could anyone believe such a thing?

  The person went straight to the emperor and told him of the incident. The emperor decided to send a messenger to Korea. The messenger was dispatched ostensibly to pay the emperor's sympathies to the tutor's family. But, actually, the emperor wanted to find out for sure whether there had really been a fire on that day.

  After a while the messenger returned with the report that there actually had been a fire on the very day the tutor had said. In addition, the messenger confirmed that the ancestral name-tablets had also been lost, because the family had not been able to get them out of the house quickly enough.

  When this news got around, everyone in the capital was deeply impressed. "The fortuneteller from Korea is really a remarkable man... He even knew of a fire that had taken place thousands of miles away... That isn't all! Once that fortuneteller gets started, they say he can foretell events that will take place a hundred years from now... Isn't he a remarkable person? He is sure to find the emperor's seal... They say he already knows who stole the seal. Well, we can look forward to seeing the robber executed soon…" Such tales spread quickly all over the city, with embellishments
added here and there, until the capital buzzed with the supernatural powers of the wizard from Korea.

  The fire had actually been planned between the tutor and his pupil long before. They had set a date for the fire to take place, and the house had been set afire on schedule. So there really was nothing to marvel at. But the people of China, of course, did not know this. They thought the tutor was a god and treated him as if he were one.

  As the stories of the tutor's prowess spread throughout the country, the person most impressed was naturally the man who had stolen the emperor's seal. Not only was he impressed but also no little worried. The tutor had said he would find the thief within three months. The thief now felt that he must do something quickly. He knew he would be found out sooner or later, with the all-seeing eye of the tutor reading into the hearts and souls of everyone. So the thief said to himself: "If I am to be found out eventually, I might as well give myself up now and ask for mercy. In this way I might at least save my life."

  It was the next to the last day of the three-month period the tutor had set for himself. A man slipped fearfully into the tutor's room. He was the thief who had stolen the emperor's seal. Making sure that no one else was around, the thief bowed low before the tutor and said: "Please spare my life."

  His one eye flashing with anger, the tutor said: "You miserable fool! I was going to wait just one more day to see what you would do, and then I planned to go and tell the emperor your name. But now that you have come out and confessed your crime, I shall have pity on you and spare your life."

  The thief was cowed by the solemn voice of the tutor, but with great relief he answered: "You will truly spare my life? Thank you from the bottom of my heart. The emperor's seal is hidden at the bottom of the pool in the middle of the Imperial Palace grounds."

  "I knew that from before," the tutor said sternly. "I shall close my eyes to your crime this time, but you must never do such a thing again." The tutor then sent the man home.

  Next day, the last of the three-month period, the tutor appeared before the emperor, who asked eagerly: "Have you discovered where the seal is hidden?"

  The tutor answered: "Of course! Your worries are all over. I shall have it in your hands this very day. However, you must promise never to ask me who stole the seal. If you do, I will not be able to return the seal to you."

  The emperor wanted the seal back so badly that he willingly agreed to the tutor's proposal.

  "The seal is in the palace pool," the tutor said. "Please have the pool drained."

  Immediately workers were set to work draining the pool. A thousand men busied themselves scooping out the water, and the bottom soon came into sight. And there the seal was!

  Thus the seal was once again safe in the hands of the emperor. Thanks to the tutor, the entire country was freed from anxiety and fear. In addition to the promised hundred pieces of gold, the tutor was showered with many, many gifts.

  His mission successfully completed, the tutor returned once more to Korea. There, his fame grew greater and greater than ever before. But his worries grew in proportion to his reputation. He could never tell when he would again be asked to tell fortunes or to divine secrets. Thus he was still in danger of being found out.

  Once again, his pupil came up with a good idea. "Tell the people that you are sick, and stay out of sight for one month. After a month is over, tell them mat you have recovered, but that because of your illness, you have lost all your powers of divination."

  The tutor followed the youngster's suggestion and took to his bed. People kept coming from all over the country to ask for his help. But he refused to see any of them, saying that he was ill.

  Then, blaming his illness, the tutor never again told any fortunes. As a result he was able to spend the rest of his life in peace, enjoying the great wealth he'd brought from China.

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