Korean Children's Favorite Stories Read online

  The student pondered over the strange dream that he had had and waited in restless anticipation for the day to break. And, sure enough, as dawn broke a wild tiger appeared in the city and ran wild through the streets.

  The capital was in an uproar. Bowmen and gunmen were dispatched to kill the tiger. But no matter how carefully they aimed their weapons, they could not hit the animal. The people were now in a terrible panic. Many had been hurt. Finally the king sent out a messenger to announce a royal proclamation. "Hear ye! Hear ye!" the messenger cried. "The King proclaims that anyone who shoots the tiger shall be greatly rewarded. A high court rank shall be bestowed upon him and a great treasure of rice shall be his."

  The student was surprised to hear this. A high court rank, and a treasure of rice. The rice alone would be enough to maintain a large retinue of retainers. And then he remembered the dream of the night before.

  So the young student went before the king and said, "O King! I shall kill the tiger." The king gladly gave his consent for the student to hunt the rampaging animal.

  The student went to the main street of the capital where the tiger was prowling about. Without even taking aim, the student took one shot at the animal. The wild tiger, that had the whole city in confusion, dropped dead.

  That very day the student was made a nobleman and given his reward of a treasure of rice. Nor did the student forget about the bean paste from the Temple of Hungryung. He got the paste and applied it to the wounds of the people who had been hurt. Their injuries healed so quickly that his fame spread throughout the country.

  Now, the story doesn't say so, but it is easy to imagine that the famous nobleman found for his wife the same beautiful girl whose shape the tiger had used in the young student's dreams—and that they lived together happily for many, many long years.

  Once there was a king who had three daughters. All three of the princesses were gentle, noble, and beautiful. But of the three the youngest was regarded by all as the loveliest girl in the land.

  One moonlit night the three princesses climbed a small hill behind their father's castle to view the beautiful moon. Suddenly, a huge eagle swept down as if from nowhere and, in a flash, snatched the three princesses up in its giant talons. Then it rose into the air and disappeared with the princesses.

  The whole castle was thrown into turmoil. The king's bowmen and gunmen came rushing up the hill. But it was too late. The eagle was nowhere to be seen. All they could do was to gaze into the sky and bemoan the fate of the three girls.

  The king's sorrow at losing all three of his daughters at one stroke was pitiful to behold. He immediately sent out his soldiers to proclaim throughout the land that anyone who succeeded in saving the three princesses would be given half his kingdom. In addition, he promised to give the savior of the girls his youngest and most beautiful daughter in marriage.

  But who was there to save the princesses?

  There was one, and only one, man in the whole country who knew where the princesses had been taken. He was a young warrior living deep in the mountains. This young man had left all human habitation behind and gone far into the mountain wilderness to improve his martial skills. At night this solitary warrior used to mount his horse and practice with his spear and sword.

  One night, as usual, the warrior had put on his armour and helmet and was spurring his horse in mock combat when he saw a huge eagle flying toward him. When it came near he saw, clutched in its talons, three young girls. By the light of the full moon, the warrior followed the flight of the great bird, and spurred his horse over hills and valleys in pursuit. All night long he chased the giant bird and, near dawn, he saw the eagle alight at the base of a huge cliff and disappear from sight.

  The warrior whipped his horse on, and after a time reached the spot at the bottom of the high cliff where the eagle had disappeared. Here he spotted a hole in the base of the cliff. This, the warrior thought, must be the entrance to the Land-below-the-earth, a place he had heard about only in rumors. After carefully studying the entrance, the warrior was certain that he was right.

  The warrior had also heard that in the Land-below-the-earth there lived a terrible ogre who slept, once he fell asleep, for three months and ten days. This ogre had many henchmen and kept a large number of eagles, which he used to steal lots of treasures and kidnap people from the earth above. Before he returned to his lonely home, the warrior marked with great care the entrance to the Land-below-the-earth.

  By next morning the story of the disappearance of the three princesses and the king's proclamation had reached even this remote part of the mountains where the warrior was in training. The young man set off immediately for the king's palace and was allowed to see the king.

  "O King," the young man said, "I shall bring back the three princesses."

  The king answered, "Please do whatever you can."

  The young warrior then asked the king for the loan of the five strongest men among the king's soldiers. Then he began preparations for his venture into the Land-below-the-earth. He prepared a strong rope 300 miles in length, a basket large enough to hold one person, and a silver bell. Then the young warrior set off for the mountains, accompanied by the five soldiers.

  After many days, he came once again to the entrance of the Land-below-the-earth. He tied the basket to one end of the rope and at the other end the silver bell. His idea was to lower the basket by the rope, and when the bell was rung, to pull it up.

  The warrior ordered one of the soldiers to go down in the basket first. The man had gone down only 3 miles when the bell rang "Tinkle, tinkle." The man was hauled up to the surface. He was white with terror.

  A second soldier went down as far as 15 miles, but he too became afraid and was pulled back. A third, and then a fourth, was sent down, but each was overcome with fear part way down and had to be hauled out. Even the strongest of the soldiers, the fifth man, could only go down 150 miles.

  Finally the young warrior himself entered the basket and was lowered into the hole. Down, down he went. There seemed no end. Just as the 300-mile-long rope ran out, the warrior touched bottom. He had reached the Land-below-the-earth!

  There he found thousands of large and small houses lined up, row after row. Among them he noticed one that was larger than the rest. It stood without any roof. "This," he thought, "must be the home of the ogre." The young warrior racked his brains for some scheme by which he could enter the house of the ogre, who was chief of the Land-below-the-earth.

  As he approached the house, he noticed a well in the yard, and beside the well there stood a large willow tree. The warrior climbed up the tree and carefully hid himself in the branches. Then he waited to see what would take place.

  Soon a young girl came to draw water from the well. She filled her jar with water and lifted it in both hands to place it on her head. Just then the young warrior plucked four or five of the willow leaves and let them flutter down. The leaves fell into the water which had just been drawn from the well. The young girl emptied the jar and drew fresh water from the well.

  The warrior again dropped leaves into the jar. Again the girl threw the leaves out and refilled her container. Once again the leaves came fluttering down, and once again the girl emptied the jar and refilled it.

  "My, what a strong wind!" she said, and glanced up into the tree. At the sight of the warrior hidden there, she was startled. "Are you from the earth above? Why have you come to this place?" she asked.

  The warrior then told her how the three princesses had been kidnapped by a giant eagle and how he had been sent to save them.

  The girl suddenly started to cry and said, "To tell you the truth, I am the youngest of the three princesses who were seized by the eagle. I was brought here with my two sisters. I had given up all hope of ever returning home. You cannot imagine how happy I am to see you. The ogre has just gone out. Once he sets out he does not return for three months and ten days. But, if we run away now, it would mean that the ogre would still be living, and, as long as he li
ves, he will try to steal us away again. You must wait until the ogre comes back and then get rid of him for good. But can you do that?"

  "Yes," the warrior answered, "of course, I can. That's why I came all this way."

  "I'm glad to hear that," the princess answered.

  "Come, I'll show you how to get into the ogre's house."

  The youngest princess then led the young warrior to the ogre's house and hid him there in the storehouse. In the storehouse there was a large iron pestle. The princess pointed to it and said, "Let me see how strong you are. Try and lift that pestle."

  The young warrior grabbed the iron pestle with both hands, but he couldn't budge the heavy pestle an inch.

  "At that rate, you'll never be able to take the ogre's head," the princess said. She went into the ogre's house and returned with a bowl full of mandrake juice kept by the ogre, and told the young warrior to drink it. He drank the juice in one gulp, and when he grabbed the pestle again, he was able to move it just about an inch.

  The young warrior stayed hidden in the storehouse. Every day he drank mandrake juice and wrestled with the iron pestle. Day after day he practiced and tested his strength. Finally, he was able to lift the iron pestle with one hand and fling it about as if it were a pair of chopsticks. But still the young warrior continued to drink the juice of the mandrake as he waited impatiently for the return of the ogre.

  One day the ground began to tremble and the house to shake. The ogre had finally come home, together with his many henchmen. They brought with them many treasures which they had stolen. When they finished carrying everything into the house, they prepared a mighty banquet. That night, they feasted on delicacies of the mountains and the seas and drank wine by the barrel full. All night long they wined and danced, and the warrior watched them from the hidden place.

  One by one the henchmen went to sleep, completely drunk. The ogre also finally toppled over in a drunken sleep. He lay snoring away.

  "Now's my chance," the warrior thought and, drawing his sword, crept up to the sleeping ogre. But imagine the warrior's surprise! The ogre lay with his eyes wide open, although he was snoring loudly.

  The princess, who had followed the young warrior into the room, then said in a small voice, "You don't have to worry. The ogre always sleeps with his eyes open."

  Then with a tremendous shout, the warrior slashed with all his might at the ogre's neck. At this, the ogre jumped up, pulled out his sword, and tried to stop the blows. But the warrior's sharp blade had already bitten deep into the ogre's neck, and he could not move as quickly as usual. Under the strength of the warrior's repeated blows, the ogre finally toppled over again. The warrior sat on top of the huge giant and finally succeeded in cutting off his head.

  The severed head, however bounded up and tried to attach itself to the bleeding neck. Just then the princess took out some fine ashes of burnt straw, which she had kept hidden under her dress, and threw them over the stump of the neck. The head let out one sad wail, then leaped up in one powerful jump, crashed through the ceiling, and disappeared.

  The ogre's henchmen, when they learned what had happened to their chief, all surrendered meekly. The young warrior then threw open the many storehouses of the ogre, each filled to brimming with gold and silver, and divided up the treasure among the ogre's henchmen. Then he gathered together the three princesses and returned to the place where the basket had been lowered.

  The warrior pulled at the rope, ringing the bell at the other end. The king's soldiers, who had been waiting there all this time, began hauling away. One by one the princesses were pulled up to the earth above. At the very end, the warrior also came up safely.

  The king was so overjoyed at the return of his daughters that he ordered twenty-one days of celebration. The whole land also rejoiced that they were now safe from the terrors of the ogre from the Land-below-the-earth.

  The king did not forget his promise to the young warrior. He gave his youngest daughter, the most beautiful of the three princesses, to the warrior in marriage. He also gave the young man much land and wealth. The young warrior and his beautiful wife lived long and happily ever after.

  Long ago, there was once a young student. Now, it was the custom in those days for a student to go into the quiet of the mountains to some lonely temple and spend his days there studying in order to become a great scholar. So this young student left his home and went away to a mountain temple to read books and meditate for three long years. The days passed slowly at first. But one year passed, then two years, and in no time at all the three years were at an end. The student had completed his studies and could now go home to his parents.

  However, whom should he see upon his return? There was another young student in his home, identical to himself in appearance, speech, and manner. What a surprise for the student to find someone just like himself! But what really troubled him was the fact that his own parents would not accept him as a member of the family. They treated him as if he were an imposter. He had come home after all these years, but they would not even let him enter the house.

  "It's no joke," the young student said. "Can't you see I am your son? I've just returned from the temple after studying for three years This young man must be an evil spirit." In this way the young student pleaded with his parents and his brothers and sisters to let him in the house.

  The other student, however, did not remain silent. He shouted, "Be quiet, you imposter! You're just an old fox up to its trick of fooling people. Go away before we find you out."

  That voice! It was the same as his own. It seemed impossible, yet even his own family could not tell the difference between the two. They looked the two boys over carefully. But the two students wore the same clothing. They even had the same birthmarks, the same scars. They were exactly alike. The parents then asked them about their birthdays and small details of their childhood and memories of any special occasion that might help solve the problem.

  But the two boys gave the same answers. As a last resort, the parents then asked the two to name each article of furniture in the house, without leaving out an item.

  Unfortunately, the real son had been away for three whole years, and he could not answer so easily. The other boy, however, had been living in the house for some time and was able to list everything without any trouble.

  "Well, that decides it," the family said. "You are the imposter. Be on your way!" So saying, they finally drove their real son out of the house.

  The poor young man did not know what to do. He knew it was useless to argue, so he left. Day after day he wandered lonely here and there.

  One day, he met a priest who gazed kindly into his face and said, "You've had yourself stolen, haven't you? There is someone who looks exactly like you, isn't there? Someone who has taken your place?"

  "Here's someone who may be able to help me," thought the young man, surprised at the way the priest could read his troubles. So the young man opened up his heart and told the priest how he had returned home after three years of study only to find that someone else had taken his place in his home. He also told the priest how he had been chased out by his family.

  "H'm, h'm," the priest nodded, as he listened to this tale. "Did you ever throw away the clippings of your fingernails somewhere while you were studying at the temple?"

  "Yes," the student answered, "there was a river running right in front of the temple. I used to bathe in that river. Then after bathing, I would sit on the stones nearby and cut my nails. The clippings I left on the stony river bank."

  "Just as I thought," the priest said. "Whoever has eaten your fingernail clippings has taken over your identity. Go straight home once again. But this time take a cat with you. Hide it in the sleeve of your robe so that no one will know that you have it. When you get home, let the cat out right in front of the imposter. Then all will become known."

  The student did as the priest told him and returned home. His parents came out again. So did the imposter. But before they could say anything, the
young student let the cat out from his sleeve, right in front of the person who had taken his place in the family.

  The imposter suddenly turned white, and the cat pounced upon him and bit him on the neck. There was a great struggle. In the end, the imposter fell to the ground, right in the middle of the room, his throat cut open by the cat's sharp teeth. The parents and the brothers and sisters looked carefully. There, to their surprise, lay not their son and brother, but a large field rat!

  The rat had eaten the clippings of the young student's fingernails and had stolen his identity. The spirit of human beings dwells in the fingernails. Thus, the rat who ate the student's fingernail clippings had been able to change readily into the shape of the young man. But a cat can smell a rat, no matter how disguised. And so, thanks to the priest's wise advice, the story ends happily.