{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_51002/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_51002","id":"gutenberg_51002","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/51002","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Category: Short Stories","Folklore -- Korea","Tales -- Korea"],"text":"KOREAN FOLK TALES\n                        IMPS, GHOSTS AND FAIRIES\n\n\n                       TRANSLATED FROM THE KOREAN\n                         OF IM BANG AND YI RYUK\n                            BY JAMES S. GALE\n\n\n\n                    London: J. M. DENT & SONS, Ltd.\n                   New York: E. P. DUTTON & CO. 1913\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n                                   TO\n                             MY LITTLE SON\n                          GEORGE JAMES MORLEY\n                        THE DAYS OF WHOSE YEARS\n                                  ARE\n                    TWO EASTERN SPRINGS AND AUTUMNS\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nPREFACE\n\n\nTo any one who would like to look somewhat into the inner soul of the\nOriental, and see the peculiar spiritual existences among which he\nlives, the following stories will serve as true interpreters, born\nas they are of the three great religions of the Far East, Taoism,\nBuddhism and Confucianism.\n\nAn old manuscript copy of Im Bang's stories came into the hands of the\ntranslator a year ago, and he gives them now to the Western world that\nthey may serve as introductory essays to the mysteries, and, what many\ncall, absurdities of Asia. Very gruesome indeed, and unlovely, some\nof them are, but they picture faithfully the conditions under which\nIm Bang himself, and many past generations of Koreans, have lived.\n\nThe thirteen short stories by Yi Ryuk are taken from a reprint of old\nKorean writings issued last year (1911), by a Japanese publishing\ncompany. Three anonymous stories are also added, \"The Geomancer,\"\nto show how Mother Earth has given anxiety to her chicks of children;\n\"Im, the Hunter,\" to tell of the actualities that exist in the upper\nair; and \"The Man who lost his Legs,\" as a sample of Korea's Sinbad.\n\nThe biographical notes that accompany the stories are taken very\nlargely from the Kuk-cho In-mul-chi, \"Korea's Record of Famous Men.\"\n\n\nJ. S. Gale.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\n\n                                                        PAGE\n\n    I       CHARAN                                         1\n    II      THE STORY OF CHANG TO-RYONG                   18\n    III     A STORY OF THE FOX                            26\n    IV      CHEUNG PUK-CHANG, THE SEER                    29\n    V       YUN SE-PYONG, THE WIZARD                      36\n    VI      THE WILD-CAT WOMAN                            41\n    VII     THE ILL-FATED PRIEST                          44\n    VIII    THE VISION OF THE HOLY MAN                    47\n    IX      THE VISIT OF THE MAN OF GOD                   52\n    X       THE LITERARY MAN OF IMSIL                     54\n    XI      THE SOLDIER OF KANG-WHA                       58\n    XII     CURSED BY THE SNAKE                           60\n    XIII    THE MAN ON THE ROAD                           63\n    XIV     THE OLD MAN WHO BECAME A FISH                 66\n    XV      THE GEOMANCER                                 69\n    XVI     THE MAN WHO BECAME A PIG                      73\n    XVII    THE OLD WOMAN WHO BECAME A GOBLIN             78\n    XVIII   THE GRATEFUL GHOST                            80\n    XIX     THE PLUCKY MAIDEN                             83\n    XX      THE RESOURCEFUL WIFE                          90\n    XXI     THE BOXED-UP GOVERNOR                         92\n    XXII    THE MAN WHO LOST HIS LEGS                    100\n    XXIII   TEN THOUSAND DEVILS                          104\n    XXIV    THE HOME OF THE FAIRIES                      111\n    XXV     THE HONEST WITCH                             125\n    XXVI    WHOM THE KING HONORS                         130\n    XXVII   THE FORTUNES OF YOO                          133\n    XXVIII  AN ENCOUNTER WITH A HOBGOBLIN                141\n    XXIX    THE SNAKE'S REVENGE                          146\n    XXX     THE BRAVE MAGISTRATE                         150\n    XXXI    THE TEMPLE TO THE GOD OF WAR                 153\n    XXXII   A VISIT FROM THE SHADES                      157\n    XXXIII  THE FEARLESS CAPTAIN                         162\n    XXXIV   THE KING OF YOM-NA (HELL)                    165\n    XXXV    HONG'S EXPERIENCES IN HADES                  171\n    XXXVI   HAUNTED HOUSES                               177\n    XXXVII  IM, THE HUNTER                               182\n    XXXVIII THE MAGIC INVASION OF SEOUL                  188\n    XXXIX   THE AWFUL LITTLE GOBLIN                      191\n    XL      GOD'S WAY                                    194\n    XLI     THE OLD MAN IN THE DREAM                     196\n    XLII    THE PERFECT PRIEST                           198\n    XLIII   THE PROPITIOUS MAGPIE                        200\n    XLIV    THE 'OLD BUDDHA'                             202\n    XLV     A WONDERFUL MEDICINE                         204\n    XLVI    FAITHFUL MO                                  205\n    XLVII   THE RENOWNED MAING                           208\n    XLVIII  THE SENSES                                   210\n    XLIX    WHO DECIDES, GOD OR THE KING?                211\n    L       THREE THINGS MASTERED                        213\n    LI      STRANGELY STRICKEN DEAD                      215\n    LII     THE MYSTERIOUS HOI TREE                      217\n    LIII    TA-HONG                                      219\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nBIOGRAPHICAL\n\n\nIm Bang was born in 1640, the son of a provincial governor. He was\nvery bright as a boy and from earliest years fond of study, becoming\na great scholar. He matriculated first in his class in 1660, and\ngraduated in 1663. He was a disciple of Song Si-yol, one of Korea's\nfirst writers. In 1719, when he was in his eightieth year, he became\ngovernor of Seoul, and held as well the office of secretary of the\nCabinet. In the year 1721 he got into difficulties over the choice\nof the Heir Apparent, and in 1722, on account of a part he played\nin a disturbance in the government, he was exiled to North Korea,\nwhere he died.\n\n(From Kuk-cho In-mul-chi, \"Korea's Record of Famous Men.\")\n\n\n\nYi Ryuk lived in the reign of King Se-jo, matriculated in 1459, and\ngraduated first in his class in 1564. He was a man of many offices\nand many distinctions in the way of literary excellence.\n\n\"Korea's Record of Famous Men.\"\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nKOREAN IMPS, GHOSTS AND FAIRIES\n\nI\n\nCHARAN\n\n\n[Some think that love, strong, true, and self-sacrificing, is not to\nbe found in the Orient; but the story of Charan, which comes down\nfour hundred years and more, proves the contrary, for it still has\nthe fresh, sweet flavour of a romance of yesterday; albeit the setting\nof the East provides an odd and interesting background.]\n\n\n\nIn the days of King Sung-jong (A.D. 1488-1495) one of Korea's noted\nmen became governor of Pyong-an Province. Now Pyong-an stands first\nof all the eight provinces in the attainments of erudition and polite\nsociety. Many of her literati are good musicians, and show ability\nin the affairs of State.\n\nAt the time of this story there was a famous dancing girl in Pyong-an\nwhose name was Charan. She was very beautiful, and sang and danced to\nthe delight of all beholders. Her ability, too, was specially marked,\nfor she understood the classics and was acquainted with history. The\nbrightest of all the geisha was she, famous and far-renowned.\n\nThe Governor's family consisted of a son, whose age was sixteen,\nand whose face was comely as a picture. Though so young, he was\nthoroughly grounded in Chinese, and was a gifted scholar. His\njudgment was excellent, and he had a fine appreciation of literary\nform, so that the moment he lifted his pen the written line took on\nadmirable expression. His name became known as Keydong (The Gifted\nLad). The Governor had no other children, neither son nor daughter,\nso his heart was wrapped up in this boy. On his birthday he had all\nthe officials invited and other special guests, who came to drink\nhis health. There were present also a company of dancing-girls and a\nlarge band of musicians. The Governor, during a lull in the banquet,\ncalled his son to him, and ordered the chief of the dancing-girls to\nchoose one of the prettiest of their number, that he and she might\ndance together and delight the assembled guests. On hearing this,\nthe company, with one accord, called for Charan, as the one suited\nby her talents, attainments and age to be a fitting partner for his\nson. They came out and danced like fairies, graceful as the wavings\nof the willow, light and airy as the swallow. All who saw them were\ncharmed. The Governor, too, greatly pleased, called Charan to him,\nhad her sit on the dais, treated her to a share in the banquet, gave\nher a present of silk, and commanded that from that day forth she be\nthe special dancing maiden to attend upon his son.\n\nFrom this birthday forth they became fast friends together. They\nthought the world of each other. More than all the delightful stories\nof history was their love--such as had never been seen.\n\nThe Governor's term of office was extended for six years more, and so\nthey remained in the north country. Finally, at the time of return, he\nand his wife were in great anxiety over their son being separated from\nCharan. If they were to force them to separate, they feared he would\ndie of a broken heart. If they took her with them, she not being his\nwife, they feared for his reputation. They could not possibly decide,\nso they concluded to refer the matter to the son himself. They called\nhim and said, \"Even parents cannot decide as to the love of their son\nfor a maiden. What ought we to do? You love Charan so that it will be\nvery hard for you to part, and yet to have a dancing-girl before you\nare married is not good form, and will interfere with your marriage\nprospects and promotion. However, the having of a second wife is a\ncommon custom in Korea, and one that the world recognizes. Do as you\nthink best in the matter.\" The son replied, \"There is no difficulty;\nwhen she is before my eyes, of course she is everything, but when\nthe time comes for me to start for home she will be like a pair of\nworn shoes, set aside; so please do not be anxious.\"\n\nThe Governor and his wife were greatly delighted, and said he was a\n\"superior man\" indeed.\n\nWhen the time came to part Charan cried bitterly, so that those\nstanding by could not bear to look at her; but the son showed not the\nslightest sign of emotion. Those looking on were filled with wonder at\nhis fortitude. Although he had already loved Charan for six years, he\nhad never been separated from her for a single day, so he knew not what\nit meant to say Good-bye, nor did he know how it felt to be parted.\n\nThe Governor returned to Seoul to fill the office of Chief Justice,\nand the son came also. After this return thoughts of love for Charan\npossessed Keydong, though he never expressed them in word or manner. It\nwas almost the time of the Kam-see Examination. The father, therefore,\nordered his son to go with some of his friends to a neighbouring\nmonastery to study and prepare. They went, and one night, after\nthe day's work was over and all were asleep, the young man stole\nout into the courtyard. It was winter, with frost and snow and a\ncold, clear moon. The mountains were deep and the world was quiet,\nso that the slightest sound could be heard. The young man looked\nup at the moon and his thoughts were full of sorrow. He so wished\nto see Charan that he could no longer control himself, and fearing\nthat he would lose his reason, he decided that very night to set out\nfor far-distant Pyong-an. He had on a fur head-dress, a thick coat,\na leather belt and a heavy pair of shoes. When he had gone less than\nten lee, however, his feet were blistered, and he had to go into a\nneighbouring village and change his leather shoes for straw sandals,\nand his expensive head-cover for an ordinary servant's hat. He went\nthus on his way, begging as he went. He was often very hungry, and\nwhen night came, was very, very cold. He was a rich man's son and had\nalways dressed in silk and eaten dainty fare, and had never in his\nlife walked more than a few feet from his father's door. Now there\nlay before him a journey of hundreds of miles. He went stumbling along\nthrough the snow, making but poor progress. Hungry, and frozen nearly\nto death, he had never known such suffering before. His clothes were\ntorn and his face became worn down and blackened till he looked like\na goblin. Still on he went, little by little, day after day, till at\nlast, when a whole month had gone by, he reached Pyong-an.\n\nStraight to Charan's home he went, but Charan was not there, only\nher mother. She looked at him, but did not recognize him. He said he\nwas the former Governor's son and that out of love for Charan he had\nwalked five hundred lee. \"Where is she?\" he asked. The mother heard,\nbut instead of being pleased was very angry. She said, \"My daughter is\nnow with the son of the new Governor, and I never see her at all; she\nnever comes home, and she has been away for two or three months. Even\nthough you have made this long journey there is no possible way to\nmeet her.\"\n\nShe did not invite him in, so cold was her welcome. He thought to\nhimself, \"I came to see Charan, but she is not here. Her mother refuses\nme; I cannot go back, and I cannot stay. What shall I do?\" While\nthus in this dilemma a plan occurred to him. There was a scribe in\nPyong-an, who, during his father's term of office, had offended,\nand was sentenced to death. There were extenuating circumstances,\nhowever, and he, when he went to pay his morning salutations, had\nbesought and secured his pardon. His father, out of regard for his\nson's petition, had forgiven the scribe. He thought, \"I was the means\nof saving the man's life, he will take me in;\" so he went straight\nfrom Charan's to the house of the scribe. But at first this writer\ndid not recognize him. When he gave his name and told who he was, the\nscribe gave a great start, and fell at his feet making obeisance. He\ncleared out an inner room and made him comfortable, prepared dainty\nfare and treated him with all respect.\n\nA little later he talked over with his host the possibility of his\nmeeting Charan. The scribe said, \"I am afraid that there is no way\nfor you to meet her alone, but if you would like to see even her face,\nI think I can manage it. Will you consent?\"\n\nHe asked as to the plan. It was this: It being now a time of snow,\ndaily coolies were called to sweep it away from the inner court of\nthe Governor's yamen, and just now the scribe was in charge of this\nparticular work. Said he, \"If you will join the sweepers, take a\nbroom and go in; you will no doubt catch a glimpse of Charan as she\nis said to be in the Hill Kiosk. I know of no other plan.\"\n\nKeydong consented. In the early morning he mixed with the company\nof sweepers and went with his broom into the inner enclosure, where\nthe Hill Kiosk was, and so they worked at sweeping. Just then the\nGovernor's son was sitting by the open window and Charan was by\nhim, but not visible from the outside. The other workers, being all\npractised hands, swept well; Keydong alone handled his broom to no\nadvantage, knowing not how to sweep. The Governor's son, watching the\nprocess, looked out and laughed, called Charan and invited her to see\nthis sweeper. Charan stepped out into the open hall and the sweeper\nraised his eyes to see. She glanced at him but once, and but for a\nmoment, then turned quickly, went into the room, and shut the door,\nnot appearing again, to the disappointment of the sweeper, who came\nback in despair to the scribe's house.\n\nCharan was first of all a wise and highly gifted woman. One look\nhad told her who the sweeper was. She came back into the room and\nbegan to cry. The Governor's son looked in surprise and displeasure,\nand asked, \"Why do you cry?\" She did not reply at once, but after\ntwo or three insistent demands told the reason thus: \"I am a low\nclass woman; you are mistaken in thinking highly of me, or counting\nme of worth. Already I have not been home for two whole months and\nmore. This is a special compliment and a high honour, and so there\nis not the slightest reason for any complaint on my part. But still,\nI think of my home, which is poor, and my mother. It is customary on\nthe anniversary of my father's death to prepare food from the official\nquarters, and offer a sacrifice to his spirit, but here I am imprisoned\nand to-morrow is the sacrificial day. I fear that not a single act of\ndevotion will be paid, I am disturbed over it, and that's why I cry.\"\n\nThe Governor's son was so taken in by this fair statement that he\ntrusted her fully and without a question. Sympathetically he asked,\n\"Why didn't you tell me before?\" He prepared the food and told her to\nhurry home and carry out the ceremony. So Charan came like flaming fire\nback to her house, and said to her mother, \"Keydong has come and I have\nseen him. Is he not here? Tell me where he is if you know.\" The mother\nsaid, \"He came here, it is true, all the way on foot to see you, but\nI told him that you were in the yamen and that there was no possible\nway for you to meet, so he went away and where he is I know not.\"\n\nThen Charan broke down and began to cry. \"Oh, my mother, why had you\nthe heart to do so cruelly?\" she sobbed. \"As far as I am concerned\nI can never break with him nor give him up. We were each sixteen\nwhen chosen to dance together, and while it may be said that men\nchose us, it is truer still to say that God hath chosen. We grew into\neach other's lives, and there was never such love as ours. Though he\nforgot and left me, I can never forget and can never give him up. The\nGovernor, too, called me the beloved wife of his son, and did not once\nrefer to my low station. He cherished me and gave me many gifts. 'Twas\nall like heaven and not like earth. To the city of Pyong-an gentry and\nofficials gather as men crowd into a boat; I have seen so many, but\nfor grace and ability no one was ever like Keydong. I must find him,\nand even though he casts me aside I never shall forget him. I have not\nkept myself even unto death as I should have, because I have been under\nthe power and influence of the Governor. How could he ever have come so\nfar for one so low and vile? He, a gentleman of the highest birth, for\nthe sake of a wretched dancing-girl has endured all this hardship and\ncome so far. Could you not have thought, mother, of these things and\ngiven him at least some kindly welcome? Could my heart be other than\nbroken?\" And a great flow of tears came from Charan's eyes. She thought\nand thought as to where he could possibly be. \"I know of no place,\"\nsaid she, \"unless it be at such and such a scribe's home.\" Quick as\nthought she flew thence, and there they met. They clasped each other\nand cried, not a word was spoken. Thus came they back to Charan's\nhome side by side. When it was night Charan said, \"When to-morrow\ncomes we shall have to part. What shall we do?\" They talked it over,\nand agreed to make their escape that night. So Charan got together\nher clothing, and her treasures and jewels, and made two bundles, and\nthus, he carrying his on his back and she hers on her head, away they\nwent while the city slept. They followed the road that leads toward\nthe mountains that lie between Yang-tok and Maing-san counties. There\nthey found a country house, where they put up, and where the Governor's\nson became a sort of better-class servant. He did not know how to do\nanything well, but Charan understood weaving and sewing, and so they\nlived. After some time they got a little thatched hut by themselves in\nthe village and lived there. Charan was a beautiful sewing-woman, and\nceased not day and night to ply her needle, and sold her treasures and\nher jewels to make ends meet. Charan, too, knew how to make friends,\nand was praised and loved by all the village. Everybody felt sorry\nfor the hard times that had befallen this mysterious young couple, and\nhelped them so that the days passed peacefully and happily together.\n\nTo return in the story: On awaking in the morning in the temple where\nhe and his friends had gone to study, they found Keydong missing. All\nwas in a state of confusion as to what had become of the son of the\nChief Justice. They hunted for him far and wide, but he was nowhere\nto be found, so word was sent to the parents accordingly. There was\nuntold consternation in the home of the former governor. So great a\nloss, what could equal it? They searched the country about the temple,\nbut no trace or shadow of him was to be found. Some said they thought\nhe had been inveigled away and metamorphosed by the fox; others that he\nhad been eaten by the tiger. The parents decided that he was dead and\nwent into mourning for him, burning his clothing in a sacrificial fire.\n\nIn Pyong-an the Governor's son, when he found that he had lost Charan,\nhad Charan's mother imprisoned and all the relatives, but after a\nmonth or so, when the search proved futile, he gave up the matter\nand let them go.\n\nCharan, at last happy with her chosen one, said one day to him, \"You,\na son of the gentry, for the sake of a dancing-girl have given up\nparents and home to live in this hidden corner of the hills. It is a\nmatter, too, that touches your filial piety, this leaving your father\nand mother in doubt as to whether you are alive or not. They ought to\nknow. We cannot live here all our lives, neither can we return home;\nwhat do you think we ought to do?\" Keydong made a hopeless reply. \"I\nam in distress,\" said he, \"and know not.\"\n\nCharan said brightly, \"I have a plan by which we can cover over the\nfaults of the past, and win a new start for the future. By means of\nit, you can serve your parents and look the world in the face. Will\nyou consent?\"\n\n\"What do you propose?\" asked he. Her reply was, \"There is only one\nway, and that is by means of the Official Examination. I know of no\nother. You will understand what I mean, even though I do not tell\nyou more.\"\n\nHe said, \"Enough, your plan is just the thing to help us out. But\nhow can I get hold of the books I need?\"\n\nCharan replied, \"Don't be anxious about that, I'll get the books.\" From\nthat day forth she sent through all the neighbourhood for books, to be\nsecured at all costs; but there were few or none, it being a mountain\nvillage. One day there came by, all unexpectedly, a pack-peddler, who\nhad in his bundle a book that he wished to sell. Some of the village\npeople wanted to buy it for wall-paper. Charan, however, secured it\nfirst and showed it to Keydong. It was none other than a special work\nfor Examinations, with all the exercises written out. It was written\nin small characters, and was a huge book containing several thousand\nexercises. Keydong was delighted, and said, \"This is enough for all\nneeded preparation.\" She bought it and gave it to him, and there he\npegged away day after day. In the night he studied by candle-light,\nwhile she sat by his side and did silk-spinning. Thus they shared\nthe light together. If he showed any remissness, Charan urged him\non, and thus they worked for two years. To begin with, he, being a\nhighly talented scholar, made steady advancement day by day. He was\na beautiful writer and a master of the pen. His compositions, too,\nwere without a peer, and every indication pointed to his winning the\nhighest place in the Kwago (Examination).\n\nAt this time a proclamation was issued that there would be a special\nexamination held before His Majesty the King, so Charan made ready\nthe food required and all necessaries for him to go afoot to Seoul\nto try his hand.\n\nAt last here he was, within the Palace enclosure. His Majesty came\nout into the examination arena and posted up the subject. Keydong took\nhis pen and wrote his finished composition. Under the inspiration of\nthe moment his lines came forth like bubbling water. It was finished.\n\nWhen the announcement was made as to the winner, the King ordered\nthe sealed name of the writer to be opened. It was, and they found\nthat Keydong was first. At that time his father was Prime Minister\nand waiting in attendance upon the King. The King called the Prime\nMinister, and said, \"It looks to me as though the winner was your son,\nbut he writes that his father is Chief Justice and not Prime Minister;\nwhat can that mean?\" He handed the composition paper to the father,\nand asked him to look and see. The Minister gazed at it in wonder,\nburst into tears, and said, \"It is your servant's son. Three years ago\nhe went with some friends to a monastery to study, but one night he\ndisappeared, and though I searched far and wide I have had no word of\nhim since. I concluded that he had been destroyed by some wild animal,\nso I had a funeral service held and the house went into mourning. I\nhad no other children but this son only. He was greatly gifted and\nI lost him in this strange way. The memory has never left me, for it\nseems as though I had lost him but yesterday. Now that I look at this\npaper I see indeed that it is the writing of my son. When I lost him\nI was Chief Justice, and thus he records the office; but where he has\nbeen for these three years, and how he comes now to take part in the\nexamination, I know not.\"\n\nThe King, hearing this, was greatly astonished, and at once before all\nthe assembled ministers had him called. Thus he came in his scholar's\ndress into the presence of the King. All the officials wondered at this\nsummoning of a candidate before the announcement of the result. The\nKing asked him why he had left the monastery and where he had been\nfor these three years. He bowed low, and said, \"I have been a very\nwicked man, have left my parents, have broken all the laws of filial\ndevotion, and deserve condign punishment.\" The King replied, saying,\n\"There is no law of concealment before the King. I shall not condemn\nyou even though you are guilty; tell me all.\" Then he told his story to\nthe King. All the officials on each side bent their ears to hear. The\nKing sighed, and said to the father, \"Your son has repented and made\namends for his fault. He has won first place and now stands as a\nmember of the Court. We cannot condemn him for his love for this\nwoman. Forgive him for all the past and give him a start for the\nfuture.\" His Majesty said further, \"The woman Charan, who has shared\nyour life in the lonely mountains, is no common woman. Her plans,\ntoo, for your restoration were the plans of a master hand. She is\nno dancing-girl, this Charan. Let no other be your lawful wife but\nshe only; let her be raised to equal rank with her husband, and let\nher children and her children's children hold highest office in the\nrealm.\" So was Keydong honoured with the winner's crown, and so the\nPrime Minister received his son back to life at the hands of the\nKing. The winner's cap was placed upon his head, and the whole house\nwas whirled into raptures of joy.\n\nSo the Minister sent forth a palanquin and servants to bring up\nCharan. In a great festival of joy she was proclaimed the wife of the\nMinister's son. Later he became one of Korea's first men of State,\nand they lived their happy life to a good old age. They had two sons,\nboth graduates and men who held high office.\n\n\nIm Bang.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nII\n\nTHE STORY OF CHANG TO-RYONG\n\n\n[Taoism has been one of the great religions of Korea. Its main\nthought is expressed in the phrase su-sim yon-song, \"to correct the\nmind and reform the nature\"; while Buddhism's is myong-sim kyon-song,\n\"to enlighten the heart and see the soul.\"\n\nThe desire of all Taoists is \"eternal life,\" chang-saing pul-sa;\nthat of the Buddhists, to rid oneself of fleshly being. In the Taoist\nworld of the genii, there are three great divisions: the upper genii,\nwho live with God; the midway genii, who have to do with the world\nof angels and spirits; and the lower genii, who rule in sacred places\non the earth, among the hills, just as we find in the story of Chang\nTo-ryong.]\n\n\n\nIn the days of King Chung-jong (A.D. 1507-1526) there lived a beggar\nin Seoul, whose face was extremely ugly and always dirty. He was\nforty years of age or so, but still wore his hair down his back like\nan unmarried boy. He carried a bag over his shoulder, and went about\nthe streets begging. During the day he went from one part of the city\nto the other, visiting each section, and when night came on he would\nhuddle up beside some one's gate and go to sleep. He was frequently\nseen in Chong-no (Bell Street) in company with the servants and\nunderlings of the rich. They were great friends, he and they, joking\nand bantering as they met. He used to say that his name was Chang,\nand so they called him Chang To-ryong, To-ryong meaning an unmarried\nboy, son of the gentry. At that time the magician Chon U-chi, who\nwas far-famed for his pride and arrogance, whenever he met Chang, in\npassing along the street, would dismount and prostrate himself most\nhumbly. Not only did he bow, but he seemed to regard Chang with the\ngreatest of fear, so that he dared not look him in the face. Chang,\nsometimes, without even inclining his head, would say, \"Well, how\ngoes it with you, eh?\" Chon, with his hands in his sleeves, most\nrespectfully would reply, \"Very well, sir, thank you, very well.\" He\nhad fear written on all his features when he faced Chang.\n\nSometimes, too, when Chon would bow, Chang would refuse to notice him\nat all, and go by without a word. Those who saw it were astonished,\nand asked Chon the reason. Chon said in reply, \"There are only\nthree spirit-men at present in Cho-sen, of whom the greatest is\nChang To-ryong; the second is Cheung Puk-chang; and the third is Yun\nSe-pyong. People of the world do not know it, but I do. Such being\nthe case, should I not bow before him and show him reverence?\"\n\nThose who heard this explanation, knowing that Chon himself was a\nstrange being, paid no attention to it.\n\nAt that time in Seoul there was a certain literary undergraduate\nin office whose house joined hard on the street. This man used to\nsee Chang frequently going about begging, and one day he called him\nand asked who he was, and why he begged. Chang made answer, \"I was\noriginally of a cultured family of Chulla Province, but my parents\ndied of typhus fever, and I had no brothers or relations left to\nshare my lot. I alone remained of all my clan, and having no home of\nmy own I have gone about begging, and have at last reached Seoul. As\nI am not skilled in any handicraft, and do not know Chinese letters,\nwhat else can I do?\" The undergraduate, hearing that he was a scholar,\nfelt very sorry for him, gave him food and drink, and refreshed him.\n\nFrom this time on, whenever there was any special celebration at his\nhome, he used to call Chang in and have him share it.\n\nOn a certain day when the master was on his way to office, he\nsaw a dead body being carried on a stretcher off toward the Water\nGate. Looking at it closely from the horse on which he rode, he\nrecognized it as the corpse of Chang To-ryong. He felt so sad that\nhe turned back to his house and cried over it, saying, \"There are\nlots of miserable people on earth, but who ever saw one as miserable\nas poor Chang? As I reckon the time over on my fingers, he has been\nbegging in Bell Street for fifteen years, and now he passes out of\nthe city a dead body.\"\n\nTwenty years and more afterwards the master had to make a journey\nthrough South Chulla Province. As he was passing Chi-i Mountain, he\nlost his way and got into a maze among the hills. The day began to\nwane, and he could neither return nor go forward. He saw a narrow\nfootpath, such as woodmen take, and turned into it to see if it\nled to any habitation. As he went along there were rocks and deep\nravines. Little by little, as he advanced farther, the scene changed\nand seemed to become strangely transfigured. The farther he went the\nmore wonderful it became. After he had gone some miles he discovered\nhimself to be in another world entirely, no longer a world of earth\nand dust. He saw some one coming toward him dressed in ethereal green,\nmounted and carrying a shade, with servants accompanying. He seemed\nto sweep toward him with swiftness and without effort. He thought to\nhimself, \"Here is some high lord or other coming to meet me, but,\"\nhe added, \"how among these deeps and solitudes could a gentleman come\nriding so?\" He led his horse aside and tried to withdraw into one\nof the groves by the side of the way, but before he could think to\nturn the man had reached him. The mysterious stranger lifted his two\nhands in salutation and inquired respectfully as to how he had been\nall this time. The master was speechless, and so astonished that he\ncould make no reply. But the stranger smilingly said, \"My house is\nquite near here; come with me and rest.\"\n\nHe turned, and leading the way seemed to glide and not to walk, while\nthe master followed. At last they reached the place indicated. He\nsuddenly saw before him great palace halls filling whole squares of\nspace. Beautiful buildings they were, richly ornamented. Before the\ndoor attendants in official robes awaited them. They bowed to the\nmaster and led him into the hall. After passing a number of gorgeous,\npalace-like rooms, he arrived at a special one and ascended to the\nupper storey, where he met a very wonderful person. He was dressed in\nshining garments, and the servants that waited on him were exceedingly\nfair. There were, too, children about, so exquisitely beautiful that\nit seemed none other than a celestial palace. The master, alarmed\nat finding himself in such a place, hurried forward and made a low\nobeisance, not daring to lift his eyes. But the host smiled upon him,\nraised his hands and asked, \"Do you not know me? Look now.\" Lifting his\neyes, he then saw that it was the same person who had come riding out\nto meet him, but he could not tell who he was. \"I see you,\" said he,\n\"but as to who you are I cannot tell.\"\n\nThe kingly host then said, \"I am Chang To-ryong. Do you not know\nme?\" Then as the master looked more closely at him he could see\nthe same features. The outlines of the face were there, but all the\nimperfections had gone, and only beauty remained. So wonderful was\nit that he was quite overcome.\n\nA great feast was prepared, and the honoured guest was\nentertained. Such food, too, was placed before him as was never seen\non earth. Angelic beings played on beautiful instruments and danced\nas no mortal eye ever looked upon. Their faces, too, were like pearls\nand precious stones.\n\nChang To-ryong said to his guest, \"There are four famous mountains\nin Korea in which the genii reside. This hill is one. In days gone\nby, for a fault of mine, I was exiled to earth, and in the time of\nmy exile you treated me with marked kindness, a favour that I have\nnever forgotten. When you saw my dead body your pity went out to\nme; this, too, I remember. I was not dead then, it was simply that\nmy days of exile were ended and I was returning home. I knew that\nyou were passing this hill, and I desired to meet you and to thank\nyou for all your kindness. Your treatment of me in another world is\nsufficient to bring about our meeting in this one.\" And so they met\nand feasted in joy and great delight.\n\nWhen night came he was escorted to a special pavilion, where he\nwas to sleep. The windows were made of jade and precious stones,\nand soft lights came streaming through them, so that there was no\nnight. \"My body was so rested and my soul so refreshed,\" said he,\n\"that I felt no need of sleep.\"\n\nWhen the day dawned a new feast was spread, and then farewells were\nspoken. Chang said, \"This is not a place for you to stay long in;\nyou must go. The ways differ of we genii and you men of the world. It\nwill be difficult for us ever to meet again. Take good care of yourself\nand go in peace.\" He then called a servant to accompany him and show\nthe way. The master made a low bow and withdrew. When he had gone but\na short distance he suddenly found himself in the old world with its\ndusty accompaniments. The path by which he came out was not the way\nby which he had entered. In order to mark the entrance he planted a\nstake, and then the servant withdrew and disappeared.\n\nThe year following the master went again and tried to find the citadel\nof the genii, but there were only mountain peaks and impassable\nravines, and where it was he never could discover.\n\nAs the years went by the master seemed to grow younger in spirit, and\nat last at the age of ninety he passed away without suffering. \"When\nChang was here on earth and I saw him for fifteen years,\" said the\nmaster, \"I remember but one peculiarity about him, namely, that his\nface never grew older nor did his dirty clothing ever wear out. He\nnever changed his garb, and yet it never varied in appearance in all\nthe fifteen years. This alone would have marked him as a strange being,\nbut our fleshly eyes did not recognize it.\"\n\n\nIm Bang.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nIII\n\nA STORY OF THE FOX\n\n\n[The Fox.--Orientals say that among the long-lived creatures are the\ntortoise, the deer, the crane and the fox, and that these long-lived\nones attain to special states of spiritual refinement. If trees exist\nthrough long ages they become coal; if pine resin endures it becomes\namber; so the fox, if it lives long, while it never becomes an angel,\nor spiritual being, as a man does, takes on various metamorphoses,\nand appears on earth in various forms.]\n\n\n\nYi Kwai was the son of a minister. He passed his examinations and\nheld high office. When his father was Governor of Pyong-an Province,\nKwai was a little boy and accompanied him. The Governor's first wife\nbeing dead, Kwai's stepmother was the mistress of the home. Once when\nHis Excellency had gone out on an inspecting tour, the yamen was left\nvacant, and Kwai was there with her. In the rear garden of the official\nquarters was a pavilion, called the Hill Pagoda, that was connected by\na narrow gateway with the public hall. Frequently Kwai took one of the\nyamen boys with him and went there to study, and once at night when it\nhad grown late and the boy who accompanied him had taken his departure,\nthe door opened suddenly and a young woman came in. Her clothes were\nneat and clean, and she was very pretty. Kwai looked carefully at her,\nbut did not recognize her. She was evidently a stranger, as there\nwas no such person among the dancing-girls of the yamen.\n\nHe remained looking at her, in doubt as to who she was, while she\non the other hand took her place in the corner of the room and said\nnothing.\n\n\"Who are you?\" he asked. She merely laughed and made no reply. He\ncalled her. She came and knelt down before him, and he took her by the\nhand and patted her shoulder, as though he greeted her favourably. The\nwoman smiled and pretended to enjoy it. He concluded, however, that\nshe was not a real woman, but a goblin of some kind, or perhaps a fox,\nand what to do he knew not. Suddenly he decided on a plan, caught\nher, swung her on to his back, and rushed out through the gate into\nthe yamen quarters, where he shouted at the top of his voice for his\nstepmother and the servants to come.\n\nIt was midnight and all were asleep. No one replied, and no one\ncame. The woman, then, being on his back, bit him furiously at the\nnape of the neck. By this he knew that she was the fox. Unable to\nstand the pain of it, he loosened his grasp, when she jumped to the\nground, made her escape and was seen no more.\n\nWhat a pity that no one came to Kwai's rescue and so made sure of\nthe beast!\n\n\nIm Bang.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nIV\n\n\nCHEUNG PUK-CHANG, THE SEER\n\n[Cheung Puk-chang.--The Yol-ryok Keui-sul, one of Korea's noted\nhistories, says of Cheung Puk-chang that he was pure in purpose\nand without selfish ambition. He was superior to all others in his\nmarvellous gifts. For him to read a book once was to know it by\nheart. There was nothing that he could not understand--astronomy,\ngeology, music, medicine, mathematics, fortune-telling and Chinese\ncharacters, which he knew by intuition and not from study.\n\nHe followed his father in the train of the envoy to Peking, and\nthere talked to all the strange peoples whom he met without any\npreparation. They all wondered at him and called him \"The Mystery.\" He\nknew, too, the meaning of the calls of birds and beasts; and while he\nlived in the mountains he could see and tell what people were doing\nin the distant valley, indicating what was going on in each house,\nwhich, upon investigation, was found in each case to be true. He was\na Taoist, and received strange revelations.\n\nWhile in Peking there met him envoys from the Court of Loochoo,\nwho also were prophets. While in their own country they had studied\nthe horoscope, and on going into China knew that they were to meet\na Holy Man. As they went on their way they asked concerning this\nmysterious being, and at last reached Peking. Inquiring, they went\nfrom one envoy's station to another till they met Cheung Puk-chang,\nwhen a great fear came upon them, and they fell prostrate to the earth.\n\nThey took from their baggage a little book inscribed, \"In such a year,\non such a day, at such an hour, in such a place, you shall meet a\nHoly Man.\" \"If this does not mean your Excellency,\" said they, \"whom\ncan it mean?\" They asked that he would teach them the sacred Book of\nChanges, and he responded by teaching it in their own language. At\nthat time the various envoys, hearing of this, contended with each\nother as to who should first see the marvellous stranger, and he\nspoke to each in his own tongue. They all, greatly amazed, said,\n\"He is indeed a man of God.\"\n\nSome one asked him, saying, \"There are those who understand the sounds\nof birds and beasts, but foreign languages have to be learned to be\nknown; how can you speak them without study?\"\n\nPuk-chang replied, \"I do not know them from having learned them,\nbut know them unconsciously.\"\n\nPuk-chang was acquainted with the three religions, but he considered\nConfucianism as the first. \"Its writings as handed down,\" said he,\n\"teach us filial piety and reverence. The learning of the Sages\ndeals with relationships among men and not with spiritual mysteries;\nbut Taoism and Buddhism deal with the examination of the soul and the\nheart, and so with things above and not with things on the earth. This\nis the difference.\"\n\nAt thirty-two years of age he matriculated, but had no interest in\nfurther literary study. He became, instead, an official teacher of\nmedicine, astrology and mathematics.\n\nHe was a fine whistler, we are told, and once when he had climbed to\nthe highest peak of the Diamond Mountains and there whistled, the\nechoes resounded through the hills, and the priests were startled\nand wondered whose flute was playing.]\n\n\n\n[There is a term in Korea which reads he-an pang-kwang, \"spiritual-eye\ndistant-vision,\" the seeing of things in the distance. This pertains\nto both Taoists and Buddhists.\n\nIt is said that when the student reaches a certain stage in his\nprogress, the soft part of the head returns to the primal thinness\nthat is seen in the child to rise and fall when it breathes. From\nthis part of the head go forth five rays of light that shoot out and\nup more and more as the student advances in the spiritual way. As far\nas they extend so is the spiritual vision perfected, until at last a\nKorean sufficiently advanced could sit and say, \"In London, to-day,\nsuch and such a great affair is taking place.\"\n\nFor example, So Wha-tam, who was a Taoist Sage, once was seen to laugh\nto himself as he sat with closed eyes, and when asked why he laughed,\nsaid, \"Just now in the monastery of Ha-in [300 miles distant] there\nis a great feast going on. The priest stirring the huge kettle of\nbean gruel has tumbled in, but the others do not know this, and are\neating the soup.\" News came from the monastery later on that proved\nthat what the sage had seen was actually true.\n\nThe History of Confucius, too, deals with this when it tells of his\ngoing with his disciple An-ja and looking off from the Tai Mountains\nof Shan-tung toward the kingdom of On. Confucius asked An-ja if he\ncould see anything, and An-ja replied, \"I see white horses tied at\nthe gates of On.\"\n\nConfucius said, \"No, no, your vision is imperfect, desist from\nlooking. They are not white horses, but are rolls of white silk hung\nout for bleaching.\"]\n\n\n\n\nThe Story\n\nThe Master, Puk-chang, was a noted Korean. From the time of his\nbirth he was a wonderful mystery. In reading a book, if he but glanced\nthrough it, he could recall it word for word. Without any special study\nhe became a master of astronomy, geology, medicine, fortune-telling,\nmusic, mathematics and geomancy, and so truly a specialist was he\nthat he knew them all.\n\nHe was thoroughly versed also in the three great religions,\nConfucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism. He talked constantly of what\nother people could not possibly comprehend. He understood the sounds\nof the birds, the voices of Nature, and much else. He accompanied\nhis father in his boyhood days when he went as envoy to Peking. At\nthat time, strange barbarian peoples used also to come and pay their\ntribute. Puk-chang picked up acquaintance with them on the way. Hearing\ntheir language but once, he was readily able to communicate with\nthem. His own countrymen who accompanied him were not the only\nones astonished, nor the Chinamen themselves, but the barbarians\nas well. There are numerous interesting stories hinted at in the\nhistory of Puk-chang, but few suitable records were made of them,\nand so many are lost.\n\nThere is one, however, that I recall that comes to me through\ntrustworthy witnesses: Puk-chang, on a certain day, went to visit\nhis paternal aunt. She asked him to be seated, and as they talked\ntogether, said to him, \"I had some harvesting to do in Yong-nam\nCounty, and sent a servant to see to it. His return is overdue and\nyet he does not come. I am afraid he has fallen in with thieves,\nor chanced on a fire or some other misfortune.\"\n\nPuk-chang replied, \"Shall I tell you how it goes with him, and how\nfar he has come on the way?\"\n\nShe laughed, saying, \"Do you mean to joke about it?\"\n\nPuk-chang, from where he was sitting, looked off apparently to the far\nsouth, and at last said to his aunt, \"He is just now crossing the hill\ncalled Bird Pass in Mun-kyong County, Kyong-sang Province. Hallo! he\nis getting a beating just now from a passing yangban (gentleman),\nbut I see it is his own fault, so you need not trouble about him.\"\n\nThe aunt laughed, and asked, \"Why should he be beaten; what's the\nreason, pray?\"\n\nPuk-chang replied, \"It seems this official was eating his dinner at the\ntop of the hill when your servant rode by him without dismounting. The\ngentleman was naturally very angry and had his servants arrest your\nman, pull him from his horse, and beat him over the face with their\nrough straw shoes.\"\n\nThe aunt could not believe it true, but treated the matter as a joke;\nand yet Puk-chang did not seem to be joking.\n\nInterested and curious, she made a note of the day on the wall after\nPuk-chang had taken his departure, and when the servant returned,\nshe asked him what day he had come over Bird Pass, and it proved to\nbe the day recorded. She added also, \"Did you get into trouble with\na yangban there when you came by?\"\n\nThe servant gave a startled look, and asked, \"How do you know?\" He\nthen told all that had happened to him, and it was just as Puk-chang\nhad given it even to the smallest detail.\n\n\nIm Bang.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nV\n\nYUN SE-PYONG, THE WIZARD\n\n\n[Yun Se-pyong was a man of Seoul who lived to the age of over\nninety. When he was young he loved archery, and went as military\nattach\u00e9 to the capital of the Mings (Nanking). There he met a prophet\nwho taught him the Whang-jong Kyong, or Sacred Book of the Taoists,\nand thus he learned their laws and practised their teachings. His\nlife was written by Yi So-kwang.]\n\n\n\n[Chon U-chi was a magician of Songdo who lived about 1550, and was\nassociated in his life with Shin Kwang-hu. At the latter's residence\none day when a friend called, Kwang-hu asked Chon to show them one\nof his special feats. A little later they brought in a table of rice\nfor each of the party, and Chon took a mouthful of his, and then blew\nit out toward the courtyard, when the rice changed into beautiful\nbutterflies that flew gaily away.\n\nChang O-sa used to tell a story of his father, who said that one day\nChon came to call upon him at his house and asked for a book entitled\nThe Tu-si, which he gave to him. \"I had no idea,\" said the father,\n\"that he was dead and that it was his ghost. I gave him the book,\nthough I did not learn till afterwards that he had been dead for a\nlong time.\"\n\nThe History of Famous Men says, \"He was a man who understood heretical\nmagic, and other dangerous teachings by which he deceived the\npeople. He was arrested for this and locked up in prison in Sin-chon,\nWhang-hai Province, and there he died. His burial was ordered by the\nprison authorities, and later, when his relatives came to exhume his\nremains, they found that the coffin was empty.\"\n\nThis and the story of Im Bang do not agree as to his death, and I am\nnot able to judge between them.--J. S. G.]\n\n\n\n[The transformation of men into beasts, bugs and creeping things\ncomes from Buddhism; one seldom finds it in Taoism.]\n\n\n\n\nThe Story\n\nYun Se-Pyong was a military man who rose to the rank of minister in\nthe days of King Choong-jong. It seems that Yun learned the doctrine\nof magic from a passing stranger, whom he met on his way to Peking in\ncompany with the envoy. When at home he lived in a separate house,\nquite apart from the other members of his family. He was a man so\ngreatly feared that even his wife and children dared not approach\nhim. What he did in secret no one seemed to know. In winter he was\nseen to put iron cleats under each arm and to change them frequently,\nand when they were put off they seemed to be red-hot.\n\nAt the same time there was a magician in Korea called Chon U-chi, who\nused to go about Seoul plying his craft. So skilful was he that he\ncould even simulate the form of the master of a house and go freely\ninto the women's quarters. On this account he was greatly feared and\ndetested. Yun heard of him on more than one occasion, and determined\nto rid the earth of him. Chon heard also of Yun and gave him a wide\nberth, never appearing in his presence. He used frequently to say,\n\"I am a magician only; Yun is a God.\"\n\nOn a certain day Chon informed his wife that Yun would come that\nafternoon and try to kill him, \"and so,\" said he, \"I shall change my\nshape in order to escape his clutches. If any one comes asking for\nme just say that I am not at home.\" He then metamorphosed himself\ninto a beetle, and crawled under a crock that stood overturned in\nthe courtyard.\n\nWhen evening began to fall a young woman came to Chon's house, a very\nbeautiful woman too, and asked, \"Is the master Chon at home?\"\n\nThe wife replied, \"He has just gone out.\"\n\nThe woman laughingly said, \"Master Chon and I have been special\nfriend's for a long time, and I have an appointment with him\nto-day. Please say to him that I have come.\"\n\nChon's wife, seeing a pretty woman come thus, and ask in such a\nfamiliar way for her husband, flew into a rage and said, \"The rascal\nhas evidently a second wife that he has never told me of. What he\nsaid just now is all false,\" so she went out in a fury, and with a\nclub smashed the crock. When the crock was broken there was the beetle\nunderneath it. Then the woman who had called suddenly changed into a\nbee, and flew at and stung the beetle. Chon, metamorphosed into his\naccustomed form, fell over and died, and the bee flew away.\n\nYun lived at his own house as usual, when suddenly he broke down\none day in a fit of tears. The members of his family in alarm asked\nthe reason.\n\nHe replied, \"My sister living in Chulla Province has just at this\nmoment died.\" He then called his servants, and had them prepare\nfuneral supplies, saying, \"They are poor where she lives, and so I\nmust help them.\"\n\nHe wrote a letter, and after sealing it, said to one of his attendants,\n\"If you go just outside the gate you will meet a man wearing a\nhorsehair cap and a soldier's uniform. Call him in. He is standing\nthere ready to be summoned.\"\n\nHe was called in, and sure enough he was a Kon-yun-no (servant of the\ngods). He came in and at once prostrated himself before Yun. Yun said,\n\"My sister has just now died in such a place in Chulla Province. Take\nthis letter and go at once. I shall expect you back to-night with\nthe answer. The matter is of such great importance that if you do\nnot bring it as I order, and within the time appointed, I shall have\nyou punished.\"\n\nHe replied, \"I shall be in time, be not anxious.\"\n\nYun then gave him the letter and the bundle, and he went outside the\nmain gateway and disappeared.\n\nBefore dark he returned with the answer. The letter read: \"She died\nat such an hour to-day and we were in straits as to what to do, when\nyour letter came with the supplies, just as though we had seen each\nother. Wonderful it is!\" The man who brought the answer immediately\nwent out and disappeared. The house of mourning is situated over ten\ndays' journey from Seoul, but he returned ere sunset, in the space\nof two or three hours.\n\n\nIm Bang.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nVI\n\nTHE WILD-CAT WOMAN\n\n\n[Kim Su-ik was a native of Seoul who matriculated in 1624 and\ngraduated in 1630. In 1636, when the King made his escape to Nam-han\nfrom the invading Manchu army, Kim Su-ik accompanied him. He opposed\nany yielding to China or any treaty with them, but because his counsel\nwas not received he withdrew from public life.]\n\n\n\n[Tong Chung-so was a Chinaman of great note. He once desired to\ngive himself up to study, and did not go out of his room for three\nyears. During this time a young man one day called on him, and while\nhe stood waiting said to himself, \"It will rain to-day.\" Tong replied\nat once, \"If you are not a fox you are a wild cat--out of this,\"\nand the man at once ran away. How he came to know this was from the\nwords, \"Birds that live in the trees know when the wind will blow;\nbeasts that live in the ground know when it is going to rain.\" The\nwild cat unconsciously told on himself.]\n\n\n\n\nThe Story\n\nThe former magistrate of Quelpart, Kim Su-ik, lived inside of the\nSouth Gate of Seoul. When he was young it was his habit to study\nChinese daily until late at night. Once, when feeling hungry, he\ncalled for his wife to bring him something to eat.\n\nThe wife replied, \"We have nothing in the house except seven or eight\nchestnuts. Shall I roast these and bring them to you?\"\n\nKim replied, \"Good; bring them.\"\n\nThe servants were asleep, and there was no one on hand to answer a\ncall, so the wife went to the kitchen, made a fire and cooked them\nherself. Kim waited, meanwhile, for her to come.\n\nAfter a little while she brought them in a handbasket, cooked and\nready served for him. Kim ate and enjoyed them much. Meanwhile\nshe sat before his desk and waited. Suddenly the door opened, and\nanother person entered. Kim raised his eyes to see, and there was the\nexact duplicate of his wife, with a basket in her hand and roasted\nchestnuts. As he looked at both of them beneath the light the two\nwomen were perfect facsimiles of each other. The two also looked back\nand forth in alarm, saying, \"What's this that's happened? Who are you?\"\n\nKim once again received the roasted nuts, laid them down, and then\ntook firm hold of each woman, the first one by the right hand and\nthe second by the left, holding fast till the break of day.\n\nAt last the cocks crew, and the east began to lighten. The one whose\nright hand he held, said, \"Why do you hold me so? It hurts; let me\ngo.\" She shook and tugged, but Kim held all the tighter. In a little,\nafter struggling, she fell to the floor and suddenly changed into\na wild cat. Kim, in fear and surprise, let her go, and she made her\nescape through the door. What a pity that he did not make the beast\nfast for good and all!\n\n\n\nNote by the writer.--Foxes turning into women and deceiving people is\ntold of in Kwang-keui and other Chinese novels, but the wild cat's\ntransformation is more wonderful still, and something that I have\nnever heard of. By what law do creatures like foxes and wild cats so\nchange? I am unable to find any law that governs it. Some say that\nthe fox carries a magic charm by which it does these magic things,\nbut can this account for the wild cat?\n\n\nIm Bang.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nVII\n\nTHE ILL-FATED PRIEST\n\n\nA certain scribe of Chung-chong Province, whose name was Kim Kyong-jin,\nonce told me the following story. Said he: \"In the year 1640, as I\nwas journeying past Big Horn Bridge in Ta-in County, I saw a scholar,\nwho, with his four or five servants, had met with some accident and all\nwere reduced to a state of unconsciousness, lying by the river side. I\nasked the reason for what had befallen them, and they at last said in\nreply, 'We were eating our noon meal by the side of the road, when a\nBuddhist priest came by, a proud, arrogant fellow, who refused to bow\nor show any recognition of us. One of the servants, indignant at this,\nshouted at him. The priest, however, beat him with his stick, and when\nothers went to help, he beat them also, so that they were completely\nworsted and unable to rise or walk. He then scolded the scholar,\nsaying, \"You did not reprimand your servants for their insult to me,\nso I'll have to take it out of you as well.\" The Buddhist gave him a\nnumber of vicious blows, so that he completely collapsed;' and when\nI looked there was the priest a li or two ahead.\n\n\"Just then a military man, aged about forty or so, came my way. He was\npoor in flesh and seemed to have no strength. Riding a cadaverous pony,\nhe came shuffling along; a boy accompanying carried his hat-cover and\nbow and arrows. He arrived at the stream, and, seeing the people in\ntheir plight, asked the cause. The officer was very angry, and said,\n'Yonder impudent priest, endowed with no end of brute force, has\nattacked my people and me.'\n\n\"'Indeed,' said the stranger, 'I have been aware of him for a long\ntime, and have decided to rid the earth of him, but I have never had an\nopportunity before. Now that I have at last come on him I am determined\nto have satisfaction.' So he dismounted from his horse, tightened his\ngirth, took his bow, and an arrow that had a 'fist' head, and made\noff at a gallop after the priest. Soon he overtook him. Just as the\npriest looked back the archer let fly with his arrow, which entered\ndeep into the chest. He then dismounted, drew his sword, pierced the\ntwo hands of the priest and passed a string through them, tied him to\nhis horse's tail, and came triumphantly back to where the scholar lay,\nand said, 'Now do with this fellow as you please. I am going.'\n\n\"The scholar bowed before the archer, thanked him, asked his place of\nresidence and name. He replied, 'My home is in the County of Ko-chang,'\nbut he did not give his name.\n\n\"The scholar looked at the priest, and never before had he seen so\npowerful a giant, but now, with his chest shot through and his hands\npierced, he was unable to speak; so they arose, made mincemeat of him,\nand went on their way rejoicing.\"\n\n\nIm Bang.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nVIII\n\nTHE VISION OF THE HOLY MAN\n\n\nYi Chi-Ham (Master To-jong).--A story is told of him that on the day\nafter his wedding he went out with his topo or ceremonial coat on,\nbut came back later without it. On inquiry being made, it was found\nthat he had torn it into pieces to serve as bandages for a sick child\nthat he had met with on his walk.\n\nOnce on a time he had an impression that his father-in-law's home\nwas shortly to be overtaken by a great disaster; he therefore took\nhis wife and disappeared from the place. In the year following, for\nsome political offence, the home was indeed wiped out and the family\nwholly destroyed.\n\nTo-jong was not only a prophet, but also a magician, as was shown\nby his handling of a boat. When he took to sea the waters lay quiet\nbefore him, and all his path was peace. He would be absent sometimes\nfor a year or more, voyaging in many parts of the world.\n\nHe practised fasting, and would go sometimes for months without\neating. He also overcame thirst, and in the hot days of summer would\navoid drinking. He stifled all pain and suffering, so that when he\nwalked and his feet were blistered he paid no attention to it.\n\nWhile young he was a disciple of a famous Taoist, So Wha-dam. As\nhis follower he used to dress in grass cloth (the poor man's garb),\nwear straw shoes and carry his bundle on his back. He would be on\nfamiliar terms with Ministers of State, and yet show indifference to\ntheir greatness and pomp. He was acquainted with the various magic\npractices, so that in boating he used to hang out gourd cups at each\ncorner of the boat, and thus equipped he went many times to and from\nQuelpart and never met a wind. He did merchandising, made money,\nand bought land which yielded several thousand bags of rice that he\ndistributed among the poor.\n\nHe lived in Seoul in a little dug-out, so that his name became \"Mud\nPavilion,\" or To-jong. His cap was made of metal, which he used to\ncook his food in, and which he then washed and put back on his head\nagain. He used also to wear wooden shoes and ride on a pack saddle.\n\nHe built a house for the poor in Asan County when he was magistrate\nthere, gathered in all the needy and had them turn to and work at\nwhatever they had any skill in, so that they lived and flourished. When\nany one had no special ability, he had him weave straw shoes. He\nurged them on till they could make as many as ten pairs a day.\n\nYul-gok said of him that he was a dreamer and not suitable for this\nmatter-of-fact world, because he belonged to the realm of flowers\nand pretty birds, songs and sweet breezes, and not to the common\nclay of corn and beef and radishes. To-jong heard this, and replied,\n\"Though I am not of a kind equal to beans and corn, still I will rank\nwith acorns and chestnuts. Why am I wholly useless?\"\n\n\nKorea's Record of Famous Men.\n\n\n\n\nThe Story\n\nTeacher To-jong was once upon a time a merchant, and in his\nmerchandising went as far as the East Sea. One night he slept\nin a fishing village on the shore. At that time another stranger\ncalled who was said to be an i-in or \"holy man.\" The three met and\ntalked till late at night--the master of the house, the \"holy man\"\nand To-jong. It was very clear and beautifully calm. The \"holy man\"\nlooked for a time out over the expanse of water, then suddenly gave\na great start of terror, and said, \"An awful thing is about to happen.\"\n\nHis companions, alarmed at his manner, asked him what he meant. He\nreplied, \"In two hours or so there will be a tidal wave that will\nengulf this whole village, utterly destroying everything. If you do\nnot make haste to escape all will be as fish in a net.\"\n\nTo-jong, being something of an astrologer himself, thought first to\nsolve the mystery of this, but could arrive at no explanation.\n\nThe owner of the house would not believe it, and refused to prepare\nfor escape.\n\nThe \"holy man\" said, however, \"Even though you do not believe what I\nsay, let us go for a little up the face of the rear mountain. If my\nwords fail we can only come down again, and no one will be the worse\nfor it. If you still do not wish to trust me, leave your goods and\nfurniture just as they are and let the people come away.\"\n\nTo-jong was greatly interested, though he could not understand it. The\nmaster, too, could no longer refuse this proposal, so he took his\nfamily and a few light things and followed the \"holy man\" up the hill.\n\nHe had them ascend to the very top, \"in order,\" said he, \"to escape.\"\n\nTo-jong did not go to the top, but seated himself about half-way\nup. He asked the \"holy man\" if he would not be safe enough there.\n\nThe \"holy man\" replied, \"Others would never escape if they remained\nwhere you are, but you will simply get a fright and live through it.\"\n\nWhen cock-crow came, sure enough the sea suddenly lifted its face,\noverflowed its banks, and the waves came rolling up to the heavens,\nclimbing the mountain-sides till they touched the feet of To-jong. The\nwhole town on the seashore was engulfed. When daylight came the\nwaters receded.\n\nTo-jong bowed to the \"holy man\" and asked that he might become his\ndisciple. The \"holy man,\" however, disclaimed any knowledge, saying\nthat he had simply known it by accident. He was a man who did not speak\nof his own attainments. To-jong asked for his place of residence, which\nhe indicated as near by, and then left. He went to seek him on the\nfollowing day, but the house was vacant, and there was no one there.\n\n\nIm Bang.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nIX\n\nTHE VISIT OF THE MAN OF GOD\n\n\nIn the thirty-third year of Mal-yok of the Mings (A.D. 1605), being\nthe year Eulsa of the reign of Son-jo, in the seventh moon, a great\nrain fell, such a rain as had not been seen since the founding of\nthe dynasty. Before that rain came on, a man of Kang-won Province was\ncutting wood on the hill-side. While thus engaged, an angel in golden\narmour, riding on a white horse and carrying a spear, came down to\nhim from heaven. His appearance was most dazzling, and the woodman,\nlooking at him, recognized him as a Man of God. Also a Buddhist priest,\ncarrying a staff, came down in his train. The priest's appearance,\ntoo, was very remarkable.\n\nThe Man of God stopped his horse and seemed to be talking with the\npriest, while the woodcutter, alarmed by the great sight, hid himself\namong the trees.\n\nThe Man of God seemed to be very angry for some reason or other,\nraised his spear, and, pointing to the four winds, said, \"I shall\nflood all the earth from such a point to such a point, and destroy\nthe inhabitants thereof.\"\n\nThe priest following cried and prayed him to desist, saying, \"This\nwill mean utter destruction to mortals; please let thy wrath rest\non me.\" As he prayed thus earnestly the Man of God again said,\n\"Then shall I limit it to such and such places. Will that do?\"\n\nBut the priest prayed more earnestly still, till the Man replied\nemphatically, \"I have lessened the punishment more than a half already\non your account; I can do no more.\" Though the priest prayed still,\nthe Man of God refused him, so that at last he submissively said,\n\"Thy will be done.\"\n\nThey ended thus and both departed, passing away through the upper\nair into heaven.\n\nThe two had talked for a long time, but the distance being somewhat\ngreat between them and the woodman, he did not hear distinctly all\nthat was said.\n\nHe went home, however, in great haste, and with his wife and family\nmade his escape, and from that day the rain began to fall. In it\nMount Otai collapsed, the earth beneath it sank until it became a\nvast lake, all the inhabitants were destroyed, and the woodcutter\nalone made his escape.\n\n\nIm Bang.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nX\n\nTHE LITERARY MAN OF IMSIL\n\n\n[The calling of spirits is one of the powers supposed to be possessed\nby disciples of the Old Philosopher (Taoists), who reach a high\nstate of spiritual attainment. While the natural desires remain\nthey cloud and obstruct spiritual vision; once rid of them, even\nangels and immortal beings become unfolded to the sight. They say,\n\"If once all the obstructions of the flesh are eliminated even God\ncan be seen.\" They also say, \"If I have no selfish desire, the night\naround me will shine with golden light; and if all injurious thoughts\nare truly put away, the wild deer of the mountain will come down and\nplay beside me.\"\n\nHa Sa-gong, a Taoist of high attainment, as an old man used to go\nout fishing, when the pigeons would settle in flights upon his head\nand shoulders. On his return one day he told his wife that they were\nso many that they bothered him. \"Why not catch one of them?\" said his\nwife. \"Catch one?\" said he. \"What would you do with it?\" \"Why, eat it,\nof course.\" So on the second day Ha went out with this intent in heart,\nbut no birds came near or alighted on him. All kept a safe distance\nhigh up in mid-air, with doubt and suspicion evident in their flying.]\n\n\n\n\nThe Story\n\nIn the year 1654 there was a man of letters living in Imsil who\nclaimed that he could control spirits, and that two demon guards were\nconstantly at his bidding. One day he was sitting with a friend playing\nchess, when they agreed that the loser in each case was to pay a fine\nin drink. The friend lost and yet refused to pay his wager, so that the\nmaster said, \"If you do not pay up I'll make it hot for you.\" The man,\nhowever, refused, till at last the master, exasperated, turned his\nback upon him and called out suddenly into the upper air some formula\nor other, as if he were giving a command. The man dashed off through\nthe courtyard to make his escape, but an unseen hand bared his body,\nand administered to him such a set of sounding blows that they left\nblue, seamy marks. Unable to bear the pain of it longer, he yielded,\nand then the master laughed and let him go.\n\nAt another time he was seated with a friend, while in the adjoining\nvillage a witch koot (exorcising ceremony) was in progress, with drums\nand gongs banging furiously. The master suddenly rushed out to the\nbamboo grove that stood behind the official yamen, and, looking very\nangry and with glaring eyes, he shouted, and made bare his arm as if\nto drive off the furies. After a time he ceased. The friend, thinking\nthis a peculiar performance, asked what it meant. His reply was,\n\"A crowd of devils have come from the koot, and are congregating in\nthe grove of bamboos; if I do not drive them off trouble will follow\nin the town, and for that cause I shouted.\"\n\nAgain he was making a journey with a certain friend, when suddenly,\non the way, he called out to the mid-air, saying, \"Let her go, let\nher go, I say, or I'll have you punished severely.\"\n\nHis appearance was so peculiar and threatening that the friend asked\nthe cause. For the time being he gave no answer, and they simply went\non their way.\n\nThat night they entered a village where they wished to sleep, but the\nowner of the house where they applied said that they had sickness,\nand asked them to go. They insisted, however, till he at last sent a\nservant to drive them off. Meanwhile the womenfolk watched the affair\nthrough the chinks of the window, and they talked in startled whispers,\nso that the scholar overheard them.\n\nA few minutes later the man of the house followed in the most humble\nand abject manner, asking them to return and accept entertainment\nand lodging at his house. Said he, \"I have a daughter, sir, and she\nfell ill this very day and died, and after some time came to life\nagain. Said she, 'A devil caught me and carried my soul off down the\nmain roadway, where we met a man, who stopped us, and in fierce tones\ndrove off the spirit, who let me go, and so I returned to life.' She\nlooked out on your Excellency through the chink of the window, and,\nbehold, you are the man. I am at my wits' end to know what to say to\nyou. Are you a genii or are you a Buddhist, so marvellously to bring\nback the dead to life? I offer this small refreshment; please accept.\"\n\nThe scholar laughed, and said, \"Nonsense! Just a woman's haverings. How\ncould I do such things?\" He lived for seven or eight years more,\nand died.\n\n\nIm Bang.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nXI\n\nTHE SOLDIER OF KANG-WHA\n\n\n[The East says that the air is full of invisible constituents that,\nonce taken in hand and controlled, will take on various forms of\nlife. The man of Kang-wha had acquired the art of calling together the\nelements necessary for the butterfly. This, too, comes from Taoism,\nand is called son-sul, Taoist magic]\n\n\n\n\nThe Story\n\nThere was a soldier once of Kang-wha who was the chief man of his\nvillage; a low-class man, he was, apparently, without any gifts. One\nday his wife, overcome by a fit of jealousy, sat sewing in her inner\nroom. It was midwinter, and he was obliged to be at home; so, with\nintent to cheer her up and take her mind off the blues, he said to her,\n\"Would you like to see me make some butterflies?\"\n\nHis wife, more angry than ever at this, rated him for his impudence,\nand paid no further attention.\n\nThe soldier then took her workbasket and from it selected bits of\nsilk of various colours, tucked them into his palm, closed his hand\nupon them, and repeated a prayer, after which he threw the handful\ninto the air. Immediately beautiful butterflies filled the room,\ndazzling the eyes and shining in all the colours of the silk itself.\n\nThe wife, mystified by the wonder of it, forgot her anger. The\nsoldier a little later opened his hand, held it up, and they all\nflew into it. He closed it tight and then again opened his hand,\nand they were pieces of silk only. His wife alone saw this; it was\nunknown to others. No such strange magic was ever heard of before.\n\nIn 1637, when Kang-wha fell before the Manchus, all the people of\nthe place fled crying for their lives, while the soldier remained\nundisturbed at his home, eating his meals with his wife and family\njust as usual. He laughed at the neighbours hurrying by. Said he,\n\"The barbarians will not touch this town; why do you run so?\" Thus it\nturned out that, while the whole island was devastated, the soldier's\nvillage escaped.\n\n\nIm Bang.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nXII\n\nCURSED BY THE SNAKE\n\n\n[Ha Yon graduated in the year 1396, and became magistrate of Anak\nCounty. He built many pavilions in and about his official place of\nresidence, where people might rest. As he went about his district,\nseeing the farmers busy, he wrote many songs and verses to encourage\nthem in their work. He became later a royal censor, and King Tai-jong\ncommended him, saying, \"Well done, good and faithful servant.\" Later\nhe became Chief Justice. He cleared out the public offices of all\ndisreputable officials, and made the Court clean. When he had leisure\nit was his habit to dress in ceremonial garb, burn incense, sit at\nattention, and write prayer verses the livelong day.\n\nWhen he was young, once, in the Court of the Crown Prince, he\nwrote a verse which was commented upon thus: \"Beautiful writing,\nbeautiful thought; truly a treasure.\" He was a great student and a\ngreat inquirer, and grateful and lovable as a friend. He studied as\na boy under the patriot Cheung Mong-ju, and was upright and pure in\nall his ways. His object was to become as one of the Ancients, and\nso he followed truth, and encouraged men in the study of the sacred\nbooks. He used to awake at first cock-crow of the morning, wash, dress,\nand never lay aside his book. On his right were pictures, on his left\nwere books, and he happy between. He rose to be Prime Minister.]\n\n\n\n\nThe Story\n\nThe old family seat of Prince Ha Yun was in the County of Keum-chon. He\nwas a famous Minister of State in the days of peace and prosperity,\nand used frequently to find rest and leisure in his summer-house in\nthis same county. It was a large and well-ordered mansion, and was\noccupied by his children for many years after his death.\n\nThe people of that county used to tell a very strange story of Ha and\nhis prosperity, which runs thus: He had placed in an upper room a large\ncrock that was used to hold flour. One day one of the servants, wishing\nto get some flour from the jar, lifted the lid, when suddenly from the\ndepths of it a huge snake made its appearance. The servant, startled,\nfell back in great alarm, and then went and told the master what had\nhappened. The master sent his men-slaves and had the jar brought\ndown. They broke it open and let out a huge, awful-looking snake,\nsuch as one had never seen before. Several of the servants joined\nin with clubs and killed the brute. They then piled wood on it and\nset fire to the whole. Vile fumes arose that filled the house. From\nthe fumes all the people of the place died, leaving no one behind to\nrepresent the family. Others who entered the house died also, so that\nthe place became cursed, and was left in desolation. A little later\na mysterious fire broke out and burnt up the remaining buildings,\nleaving only the vacant site. To this day the place is known as\n\"haunted,\" and no one ventures to build upon it.\n\n\nIm Bang.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nXIII\n\nTHE MAN ON THE ROAD\n\n\nIn the Manchu War of 1636, the people of Seoul rushed off in crowds\nto make their escape. One party of them came suddenly upon a great\nforce of the enemy, armed and mounted. The hills and valleys seemed\nfull of them, and there was no possible way of escape. What to do\nthey knew not. In the midst of their perplexity they suddenly saw some\none sitting peacefully in the main roadway just in front, underneath\na pine tree, quite unconcerned. He had dismounted from his horse,\nwhich a servant held, standing close by. A screen of several yards\nof cotton cloth was hanging up just before him, as if to shield him\nfrom the dust of the passing army.\n\nThe people who were making their escape came up to this stranger,\nand said imploringly, \"We are all doomed to die. What shall we do?\"\n\nThe mysterious stranger said, \"Why should you die? and why are you\nso frightened? Sit down by me and see the barbarians go by.\"\n\nThe people, perceiving his mind so composed and his appearance devoid\nof fear, and they having no way of escape, did as he bade them and\nsat down.\n\nThe cavalry of the enemy moved by in great numbers, killing every\none they met, not a single person escaping; but when they reached\nthe place where the magician sat, they went by without, apparently,\nseeing anything. Thus they continued till the evening, when all had\npassed by. The stranger and the people with him sat the day through\nwithout any harm overtaking them, even though they were in the midst\nof the enemy's camp, as it were.\n\nAt last awaking to the fact that he was possessor of some wonderful\nmagic, they all with one accord came and bowed before him, asking\nhis name and his place of residence. He made no answer, however,\nbut mounted his beautiful horse and rode swiftly away, no one being\nable to overtake him.\n\nThe day following the party fell in with a man who had been captured\nbut had made his escape. They asked if he had seen anything special\nthe day before. He said, \"When I followed the barbarian army, passing\nsuch and such a point\"--indicating the place where the magician had\nsat with the people--\"we skirted great walls and precipitous rocks,\nagainst which no one could move, and so we passed by.\"\n\nThus were the few yards of cotton cloth metamorphosed before the eyes\nof the passers-by.\n\n\nIm Bang.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nXIV\n\nTHE OLD MAN WHO BECAME A FISH\n\n\nSome years ago a noted official became the magistrate of Ko-song\nCounty. On a certain day a guest called on him to pay his respects,\nand when noon came the magistrate had a table of food prepared for\nhim, on which was a dish of skate soup. When the guest saw the soup he\ntwisted his features and refused it, saying, \"To-day I am fasting from\nmeat, and so beg to be excused.\" His face grew very pale, and tears\nflowed from his eyes. The magistrate thought this behaviour strange,\nand asked him two or three times the meaning of it. When he could no\nlonger withhold a reply, he went into all the particulars and told\nhim the story.\n\n\"Your humble servant,\" he said, \"has in his life met with much\nunheard-of and unhappy experience, which he has never told to a\nliving soul, but now that your Excellency asks it of me, I cannot\nrefrain from telling. Your servant's father was a very old man,\nnearly a hundred, when one day he was taken down with a high fever,\nin which his body was like a fiery furnace. Seeing the danger he was\nin, his children gathered about weeping, thinking that the time of his\ndeparture had surely come. But he lived, and a few days later said to\nus, 'I am burdened with so great a heat in this sickness that I am\nnot able to endure it longer. I would like to go out to the bank of\nthe river that runs before the house and see the water flowing by,\nand be refreshed by it. Do not disobey me now, but carry me out at\nonce to the water's edge.'\n\n\"We remonstrated with him and begged him not to do so, but he grew\nvery angry, and said, 'If you do not as I command, you will be the\ndeath of me'; and so, seeing that there was no help for it, we bore\nhim out and placed him on the bank of the river. He, seeing the water,\nwas greatly delighted, and said, 'The clear flowing water cures my\nsickness.' A moment later he said further, 'I'd like to be quite alone\nand rid of you all for a little. Go away into the wood and wait till\nI tell you to come.'\n\n\"We again remonstrated about this, but he grew furiously angry, so\nthat we were helpless. We feared that if we insisted, his sickness\nwould grow worse, and so we were compelled to yield. We went a short\ndistance away and then turned to look, when suddenly the old father\nwas gone from the place where he had been seated. We hurried back\nto see what had happened. My father had taken off his clothes and\nplunged into the water, which was muddied. His body was already half\nmetamorphosed into a skate. We saw its transformation in terror,\nand did not dare to go near him, when all at once it became changed\ninto a great flatfish, that swam and plunged and disported itself\nin the water with intense delight. He looked back at us as though he\ncould hardly bear to go, but a moment later he was off, entered the\ndeep sea, and did not again appear.\n\n\"On the edge of the stream where he had changed his form we found his\nfinger-nails and a tooth. These we buried, and to-day as a family we\nall abstain from skate fish, and when we see the neighbours frying\nor eating it we are overcome with disgust and horror.\"\n\n\nIm Bang.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nXV\n\nTHE GEOMANCER\n\n\n[Yi Eui-sin was a specialist in Geomancy. His craft came into being\nevidently as a by-product of Taoism, but has had mixed in it elements\nof ancient Chinese philosophy. The Positive and the Negative, the\nTwo Primary Principles in Nature, play a great part; also the Five\nElements, Metal, Wood, Water, Fire and Earth. In the selection of a\nsite, that for a house is called a \"male\" choice, while the grave is\ndenominated the \"female\" choice.\n\nMillions of money have been expended in Korea on the geomancer and\nhis associates in the hope of finding lucky homes for the living and\nauspicious resting-places for the dead, the Korean idea being that, in\nsome mysterious way, all our fortune is associated with Mother Earth.]\n\n\n\n\nThe Story\n\nThere was a geomancer once, Yi Eui-sin, who in seeking out a special\nmountain vein, started with the Dragon Ridge in North Ham-kyong\nProvince, and traced it as far as Pine Mountain in Yang-ju County,\nwhere it stopped in a beautifully rounded end, forming a perfect\nsite for burial. After wandering all day in the hills, Yi's hungry\nspirit cried out for food. He saw beneath the hill a small house, to\nwhich he went, and rapping at the door asked for something to eat. A\nmourner, recently bereaved, came out in a respectful and kindly way,\nand gave him a dish of white gruel. Yi, after he had eaten, asked what\ntime the friend had become a mourner, and if he had already passed\nthe funeral. The owner answered, \"I am just now entering upon full\nmourning, but we have not yet arranged for the funeral.\" He spoke in\na sad and disheartened way.\n\nYi felt sorry for him, and asked the reason. \"I wonder if it's because\nyou are poor that you have not yet made the necessary arrangements,\nor perhaps you have not yet found a suitable site! I am an expert\nin reading the hills, and I'll tell you of a site; would you care to\nsee it?\"\n\nThe mourner thanked him most gratefully, and said, \"I'll be delighted\nto know of it.\"\n\nYi then showed him the end of the great vein that he had just\ndiscovered, also the spot for the grave and how to place its compass\npoints. \"After possessing this site,\" said he, \"you will be greatly\nenriched, but in ten years you will have cause to arrange for another\nsite. When that comes to pass please call me, won't you? In calling\nfor me just ask for Yi So-pang, who lives in West School Ward, Seoul.\"\n\nThe mourner did as directed, and as the geomancer had foretold, all\nhis affairs prospered. He built a large tiled house, and ornamented\nthe grave with great stones as a prosperous and high-minded country\ngentleman should do.\n\nAfter ten years a guest called one day, and saluting him asked, \"Is\nthat grave yonder, beyond the stream, yours?\" The master answered,\n\"It is mine.\" Then the stranger said, \"That is a famous site, but\nten years have passed since you have come into possession of it,\nand the luck is gone; why do you not make a change? If you wait too\nlong you will rue it and may meet with great disaster.\"\n\nThe owner, hearing this, thought of Yi the geomancer, and what he had\nsaid years before. Remembering that, he asked the stranger to remain\nas his guest while he went next day to Seoul to look up Yi in West\nSchool Ward. He found him, and told him why he had come.\n\nYi said, \"I already knew of this.\" So the two journeyed together to the\ninquirer's home. When there, they went with the guest up the hill. Yi\nasked of the guest, \"Why did you tell the master to change the site?\"\n\nThe guest replied, \"This hill is a Kneeling Pheasant formation. If\nthe pheasant kneels too long it cannot endure it, so that within a\nlimited time it must fly. Ten years is the time; that's why I spoke.\"\n\nYi laughed and said, \"Your idea is only a partial view, you have\nthought of only one thing, there are other conditions that enter.\" Then\nhe showed the peak to the rear, and said, \"Yonder is Dog Hill,\"\nand then one below, \"which,\" said he, \"is Falcon Hill,\" and then the\nstream in front, \"which,\" said he, \"is Cat River. This is the whole\ngroup, the dog behind, the falcon just above, and the cat in front,\nhow then can the pheasant fly? It dares not.\"\n\nThe guest replied, \"Teacher, surely your eyes are enlightened, and\nsee further than those of ordinary men.\"\n\nFrom that day forth the Yis of Pine Hill became a great and noted\nfamily.\n\n\nAnon.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nXVI\n\nTHE MAN WHO BECAME A PIG\n\n\n[Kim Yu was the son of a country magistrate who graduated with literary\nhonours in 1596. In 1623 he was one of the faithful courtiers who\njoined forces to dethrone the wicked Prince Kwang-hai, and place In-jo\non the throne. He was raised to the rank of Prince and became, later,\nPrime Minister. In the year 1624, when Yi Kwal raised an insurrection,\nhe was the means of putting it down and of bringing many of his\nfollowers to justice. In 1648, he died at the age of seventy-seven.\n\nIn the last year of Son-jo the King called his grandchildren together\nand had them write Chinese for him and draw pictures. At that time\nIn-jo was a little boy, and he drew a picture of a horse. King Son-jo\ngave the picture to Yi Hang-bok, but when the latter some years later\nwent into exile he gave the picture to Kim Yu. Kim Yu took it, and\nhung it up in his house and there it remained.\n\nPrince In-jo was one day making a journey out of the Palace when he was\novertaken by rain, and took refuge in a neighbouring gate-quarters. A\nservant-maid came out and invited him in, asking him not to stand\nin the wet, but Prince In-jo declined. The invitation, however, was\ninsisted on, and he went into the guest-room, where he saw the picture\nof a horse on the wall. On examining it carefully he recognized it as\nthe picture he had drawn when a lad, and he wondered how it could have\ncome here. Kim Yu then came in and they met for the first time. Prince\nIn-jo told him how he had been overtaken by rain and invited in. He\nasked concerning the picture of the horse that hung on the wall, and\nKim Yu in reply asked why he inquired. Prince In-jo said, \"I drew that\npicture myself when I was a boy.\" Just as they spoke together a rich\ntable of food was brought in from the inner quarters. Kim Yu, not\nknowing yet who his guest was, looked with wonder at this surprise,\nand after Prince In-jo had gone, he inquired of his wife why she\nhad sent such delicious fare in to a stranger. The wife replied,\n\"In a dream last night, I saw the King come and stand in front of our\nhouse. I was just thinking it over when the servant came in and said\nthat some one was standing before the door. I looked out, and lo,\nit was the man I had seen in my dream! so I have treated him to the\nbest of hospitality that I was able.\" Kim Yu soon learned who his\ncaller had been, and became from that time the faithful supporter of\nPrince In-jo, and later helped to put him on the throne.\n\nAfter In-jo became king he asked privately of Kim Yu where he had\ngot the picture. Kim Yu said, \"I got it from Prince Yi Hang-bok.\"\n\nKim Yu then called Yi's son and inquired of him as to how his\nfather had got it. The son said, \"In the last year of King Son-jo\nhe called my father along with all his grandchildren, and showed him\nthe writings and drawings of the young princes. My father looked at\nthem with interest, but the King gave him only one as a keepsake,\nnamely, the drawing of the horse.\" In the picture there was a willow\ntree and a horse tied to it. Kim Yu then recognized the thought that\nunderlay the gift of the picture, namely, that Prince Yi Hang-bok\nshould support In-jo in the succession to the throne.]\n\n\n\n\nThe Story\n\nA certain Minister of State, called Kim Yu, living in the County of\nSeung-pyong, had a relative who resided in a far-distant part of the\ncountry, an old man aged nearly one hundred. On a certain day a son\nof this patriarch came to the office of the Minister and asked to\nsee him. Kim ordered him to be admitted, and inquired as to why he\nhad come. Said he, \"I have something very important to say, a private\nmatter to lay before your Excellency. There are so many guests with\nyou now that I'll come again in the evening and tell it.\"\n\nIn the evening, when all had departed, he came, and the Minister\nordered out his personal retainers and asked the meaning of the\ncall. The man replied, saying, \"My father, though very old, was,\nas you perhaps know, a strong and hearty man. On a certain day he\ncalled us children to him and said, 'I wish to have a siesta, so now\nclose the door and all of you go out of the room. Do not let any one\nventure in till I call you.'\n\n\"We children agreed, of course, and did so. Till late at night there\nwas neither call nor command to open the door, so that we began to\nbe anxious. We at last looked through the chink, and lo, there was\nour father changed into a huge pig! Terrified by the sight of it we\nopened the door and looked in, when the animal grunted and growled\nand made a rush to get out past us. We hurriedly closed the door\nagain and held a consultation.\n\n\"Some said, 'Let's keep the pig just as it is, within doors, and\ncare for it.' Some said, 'Let's have a funeral and bury it.' We\nignorant country-folk not knowing just what to do under such peculiar\ncircumstances, I have come to ask counsel of your Excellency. Please\nthink over this startling phenomenon and tell us what we ought to do.\"\n\nPrince Kim, hearing this, gave a great start, thought it over for\na long time, and at last said, \"No such mysterious thing was ever\nheard of before, and I really don't know what is best to do under the\ncircumstances, but still, it seems to me that since this metamorphosis\nhas come about, you had better not bury it before death, so give up\nthe funeral idea. Since, too, it is not a human being any longer,\nI do not think it right to keep it in the house. You say that it\nwants to make its escape, and as a cave in the woods or hills is its\nproper abode, I think you had better take it out and let it go free\ninto the trackless depths of some mountainous country, where no foot\nof man has ever trod.\"\n\nThe son accepted this wise counsel, and did as the Minister advised,\ntook it away into the deep mountains and let it go. Then he donned\nsackcloth, mourned, buried his father's clothes for a funeral, and\nobserved the day of metamorphosis as the day of sacrificial ceremony.\n\n\nIm Bang.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nXVII\n\nTHE OLD WOMAN WHO BECAME A GOBLIN\n\n\nThere was a Confucian scholar once who lived in the southern part of\nSeoul. It is said that he went out for a walk one day while his wife\nremained alone at home. When he was absent there came by begging an\nold woman who looked like a Buddhist priestess, for while very old\nher face was not wrinkled. The scholar's wife asked her if she knew\nhow to sew. She said she did, and so the wife made this proposition,\n\"If you will stay and work for me I'll give you your breakfast and\nyour supper, and you'll not have to beg anywhere; will you agree?\"\n\nShe replied, \"Oh, thank you so much, I'll be delighted.\"\n\nThe scholar's wife, well satisfied with her bargain, took her in and\nset her to picking cotton, and making and spinning thread. In one\nday she did more than eight ordinary women, and yet had, seemingly,\nplenty of time to spare. The wife, delighted above measure, treated\nher to a great feast. After five or six days, however, the feeling\nof delight and the desire to treat her liberally and well wore off\nsomewhat, so that the old woman grew angry and said, \"I am tired of\nliving alone, and so I want your husband for my partner.\" This being\nrefused, she went off in a rage, but came back in a little accompanied\nby a decrepit old man who looked like a Buddhist beggar.\n\nThese two came boldly into the room and took possession, cleared out\nthe things that were in the ancient tablet-box on the wall-shelf,\nand both disappeared into it, so that they were not seen at all,\nbut only their voices heard. According to the whim that took them\nthey now ordered eatables and other things. When the scholar's wife\nfailed in the least particular to please them, they sent plague and\nsickness after her, so that her children fell sick and died. Relatives\non hearing of this came to see, but they also caught the plague,\nfell ill and died. Little by little no one dared come near the place,\nand it became known at last that the wife was held as a prisoner by\nthese two goblin creatures. For a time smoke was seen by the town-folk\ncoming out of the chimney daily, and they knew that the wife still\nlived, but after five or six days the smoke ceased, and they knew\nthen that the woman's end had come. No one dared even to make inquiry.\n\n\nIm Bang.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nXVIII\n\nTHE GRATEFUL GHOST\n\n\nIt is often told that in the days of the Koryo Dynasty (A.D. 918-1392),\nwhen an examination was to be held, a certain scholar came from a\nfar-distant part of the country to take part. Once on his journey\nthe day was drawing to a close, and he found himself among the\nmountains. Suddenly he heard a sneezing from among the creepers and\nbushes by the roadside, but could see no one. Thinking it strange, he\ndismounted from his horse, went into the brake and listened. He heard\nit again, and it seemed to come from the roots of the creeper close\nbeside him, so he ordered his servant to dig round it and see. He dug\nand found a dead man's skull. It was full of earth, and the roots of\nthe creeper had passed through the nostrils. The sneezing was caused by\nthe annoyance felt by the spirit from having the nose so discommoded.\n\nThe candidate felt sorry, washed the skull in clean water, wrapped\nit in paper and reburied it in its former place on the hill-side. He\nalso brought a table of food and offered sacrifice, and said a prayer.\n\nThat night, in a dream, a scholar came to him, an old man with white\nhair, who bowed, thanked him, and said, \"On account of sin committed in\na former life, I died out of season before I had fulfilled my days. My\nposterity, too, were all destroyed, my body crumbled back into the\ndust, my skull alone remaining, and that is what you found below the\ncreeper. On account of the root passing through it the annoyance was\ngreat, and I could not help but sneeze. By good luck you and your kind\nheart, blessed of Heaven, took pity on me, buried me in a clean place\nand gave me food. Your kindness is greater than the mountains, and\nlike the blessing that first brought me into life. Though my soul is\nby no means perfect, yet I long for some way by which to requite your\nfavour, and so I have exercised my powers in your behalf. Your present\njourney is for the purpose of trying the official Examination, so I\nshall tell you beforehand what the form is to be, and the subject. It\nis to be of character groups of fives, in couplets; the rhyme sound is\n'pong,' and the subject 'Peaks and Spires of the Summer Clouds.' I\nhave already composed one for you, which, if you care to use it,\nwill undoubtedly win you the first place. It is this--\n\n\n    'The white sun rode high up in the heavens,\n    And the floating clouds formed a lofty peak;\n    The priest who saw them asked if there was a temple there,\n    And the crane lamented the fact that no pines were visible;\n    But the lightnings from the cloud were the flashings of the\n                                                          woodman's axe,\n    And the muffled thunders were the bell calls of the holy temple.\n    Will any say that the hills do not move?\n    On the sunset breezes they sailed away.'\"\n\n\nAfter thus stating it, he bowed and took his departure.\n\nThe man, in wonder, awakened from his dream, came up to Seoul; and\nbehold, the subject was as foretold by the spirit. He wrote what had\nbeen given him, and became first in the honours of the occasion.\n\n\nIm Bang.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nXIX\n\nTHE PLUCKY MAIDEN\n\n\n[Han Myong-hoi.--We are told in the Yol-ryok Keui-sul that when\nHan was a boy he had for protector and friend a tiger, who used to\naccompany him as a dog does his master. One evening, when he started\noff into the hills, he heard the distant tramp of the great beast,\nwho had got scent of his going, and had come rushing after him. When\nHan saw him he turned, and said, \"Good old chap, you come all this\ndistance to be my friend; I love you for it.\" The tiger prostrated\nhimself and nodded with his head several times. He used to accompany\nHan all through the nights, but when the day dawned he would leave him.\n\nHan later fell into bad company, grew fond of drink, and was one of\nthe boisterous companions of King Se-jo.]\n\n\n\n\nThe Story\n\nHan Myong-hoi was a renowned Minister of the Reign of Se-jo\n(A.D. 1455-1468). The King appreciated and enjoyed him greatly, and\nthere was no one of the Court who could surpass him for influence\nand royal favour. Confident in his position, Han did as he pleased,\nwielding absolute power. At that time, like grass before the wind, the\nworld bowed at his coming; no one dared utter a word of remonstrance.\n\nWhen Han went as governor to Pyong-an Province he did all manner of\nlawless things. Any one daring to cross his wishes in the least was\ndealt with by torture and death. The whole Province feared him as\nthey would a tiger.\n\nOn a certain day Governor Han, hearing that the Deputy Prefect of\nSon-chon had a very beautiful daughter, called the Deputy, and said,\n\"I hear that you have a very beautiful daughter, whom I would like to\nmake my concubine. When I am on my official rounds shortly, I shall\nexpect to stop at your town and take her. So be ready for me.\"\n\nThe Deputy, alarmed, said, \"How can your Excellency say that your\nservant's contemptible daughter is beautiful? Some one has reported her\nwrongly. But since you so command, how can I do but accede gladly?\" So\nhe bowed, said his farewell, and went home.\n\nOn his return his family noticed that his face was clouded with\nanxiety, and the daughter asked why it was. \"Did the Governor call\nyou, father?\" asked she; \"and why are you so anxious? Tell me,\nplease.\" At first, fearing that she would be disturbed, he did not\nreply, but her repeated questions forced him, so that he said, \"I am\nin trouble on your account,\" and then told of how the Governor wanted\nher for his concubine. \"If I had refused I would have been killed,\nso I yielded; but a gentleman's daughter being made a concubine is\na disgrace unheard of.\"\n\nThe daughter made light of it and laughed. \"Why did you not think\nit out better than that, father? Why should a grown man lose his\nlife for the sake of a girl? Let the daughter go. By losing one\ndaughter and saving your life, you surely do better than saving your\ndaughter and losing your life. One can easily see where the greater\nadvantage lies. A daughter does not count; give her over, that's\nall. Don't for a moment think otherwise, just put away your distress\nand anxiety. We women, every one of us, are under the ban, and such\nthings are decreed by Fate. I shall accept without any opposition,\nso please have no anxiety. It is settled now, and you, father, must\nyield and follow. If you do so all will be well.\"\n\nThe father sighed, and said in reply, \"Since you seem so willing,\nmy mind is somewhat relieved.\" But from this time on the whole house\nwas in distress. The girl alone seemed perfectly unmoved, not showing\nthe slightest sign of fear. She laughed as usual, her light and happy\nlaugh, and her actions seemed wonderfully free.\n\nIn a little the Governor reached Son-chon on his rounds. He then called\nthe Deputy, and said, \"Make ready your daughter for to-morrow and all\nthe things needed.\" The Deputy came home and made preparation for the\nso-called wedding. The daughter said, \"This is not a real wedding; it\nis only the taking of a concubine, but still, make everything ready\nin the way of refreshments and ceremony as for a real marriage.\" So\nthe father did as she requested.\n\nOn the day following the Governor came to the house of the Deputy. He\nwas not dressed in his official robes, but came simply in the dress\nand hat of a commoner. When he went into the inner quarters he met the\ndaughter; she stood straight before him. Her two hands were lifted in\nceremonial form, but instead of holding a fan to hide her face she\nheld a sword before her. She was very pretty. He gave a great start\nof surprise, and asked the meaning of the knife that she held. She\nordered her nurse to reply, who said, \"Even though I am an obscure\ncountrywoman, I do not forget that I am born of the gentry; and though\nyour Excellency is a high Minister of State, still to take me by force\nis an unheard-of dishonour. If you take me as your real and true wife\nI'll serve you with all my heart, but if you are determined to take\nme as a concubine I shall die now by this sword. For that reason I\nhold it. My life rests on one word from your Excellency. Speak it,\nplease, before I decide.\"\n\nThe Governor, though a man who observed no ceremony and never brooked\na question, when he saw how beautiful and how determined this maiden\nwas, fell a victim to her at once, and said, \"If you so decide, then,\nof course, I'll make you my real wife.\"\n\nHer answer was, \"If you truly mean it, then please withdraw and write\nout the certificate; send the gifts; provide the goose; dress in\nthe proper way; come, and let us go through the required ceremony;\ndrink the pledge-glass, and wed.\"\n\nThe Governor did as she suggested, carried out the forms to the letter,\nand they were married.\n\nShe was not only a very pretty woman, but upright and true of soul--a\nrare person indeed. The Governor took her home, loved her and held\nher dear. He had, however, a real wife before and concubines, but he\nset them all aside and fixed his affections on this one only. She\nremonstrated with him over his wrongs and unrighteous acts, and he\nlistened and made improvement. The world took note of it, and praised\nher as a true and wonderful woman. She counted herself the real wife,\nbut the first wife treated her as a concubine, and all the relatives\nsaid likewise that she could never be considered a real wife. At\nthat time King Se-jo frequently, in the dress of a commoner, used\nto visit Han's house. Han entertained him royally with refreshments,\nwhich his wife used to bring and offer before him. He called her his\n\"little sister.\" On a certain day King Se-jo, as he was accustomed,\ncame to the house, and while he was drinking he suddenly saw the woman\nfall on her face before him. The King in surprise inquired as to what\nshe could possibly mean by such an act. She then told all the story of\nher being taken by force and brought to Seoul. She wept while she said,\n\"Though I am from a far-distant part of the country I am of the gentry\nby ancestry, and my husband took me with all the required ceremonies of\na wife, so that I ought not to be counted a concubine. But there is no\nlaw in this land by which a second real wife may be taken after a first\nreal wife exists, so they call me a concubine, a matter of deepest\ndisgrace. Please, your Majesty, take pity on me and decide my case.\"\n\nThe King laughed, and said, \"This is a simple matter to settle;\nwhy should my little sister make so great an affair of it, and bow\nbefore me? I will decide your case at once. Come.\" He then wrote\nout with his own hand a document making her a real wife, and her\nchildren eligible for the highest office. He wrote it, signed it,\nstamped it and gave it to her.\n\nFrom that time on she was known as a real wife, in rank and standing\nequal to the first one. No further word was ever slightingly spoken,\nand her children shared in the affairs of State.\n\n\nIm Bang.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nXX\n\nTHE RESOURCEFUL WIFE\n\n\nIn the last year of Yon-san terrible evils were abroad among the\npeople. Such wickedness as the world had never seen before was\nperpetrated, of which his Majesty was the evil genius. He even\ngave orders to his eunuchs and underlings to bring to him any women\nof special beauty that they might see in the homes of the highest\nnobility, and whoever pleased him he used as his own. \"Never mind\nobjections,\" said he, \"take them by force and come.\" Such were his\norders. No one escaped him. He even went so far as to publish abroad\nthat Minister So and So's wife preferred him to her husband and would\nlike to live always in the Palace. It was the common talk of the city,\nand people were dumbfounded.\n\nFor that reason all hearts forsook him, and because of this he was\ndethroned, and King Choong-jong reigned in his stead.\n\nIn these days of trouble there was a young wife of a certain minister,\nwho was very beautiful in form and face. One day it fell about that\nshe was ordered into the Palace. Other women, when called, would cry\nand behave as though their lives were forfeited, but this young woman\nshowed not the slightest sign of fear. She dressed and went straight\ninto the Palace. King Yon-san saw her, and ordered her to come close\nto him. She came, and then in a sudden manner the most terrible odour\nimaginable was noticeable. The King held his fan before his face,\nturned aside, spat, and said, \"Dear me, I cannot stand this one,\ntake her away,\" and so she escaped undefiled.\n\nHow it came about was thus: She knew that she was likely to be called\nat any moment, and so had planned a ruse by which to escape. Two slices\nof meat she had kept constantly on hand, decayed and foul-smelling, but\nalways ready. She placed these under her arms as she dressed and went\ninto the Palace, and so provided this awful and unaccountable odour.\n\nAll that knew of it praised her bravery and sagacity.\n\n\nIm Bang.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nXXI\n\nTHE BOXED-UP GOVERNOR\n\n\nA certain literary official was at one time Governor of the city of\nKyong-ju. Whenever he visited the Mayor of the place, it was his\ncustom, on seeing dancing-girls, to tap them on the head with his\npipe, and say, \"These girls are devils, ogres, goblins. How can you\ntolerate them in your presence?\"\n\nNaturally, those who heard this disliked him, and the Mayor himself\ndetested his behaviour and manners. He sent a secret message to\nthe dancing-girls, saying, \"If any of you, by any means whatever,\ncan deceive this governor, and put him to shame, I'll reward you\nrichly.\" Among them there was one girl, a mere child, who said\nshe could.\n\nThe Governor resided in the quarter of the city where the Confucian\nTemple was, and he had but one servant with him, a young lad. The\ndancing-girl who had decided to ensnare him, in the dress of a common\nwoman of the town, used frequently to go by the main gateway of the\nTemple, and in going would call the Governor's boy to her. Sometimes\nshe showed her profile and sometimes she showed her whole form, as she\nstood in the gateway. The boy would go out to her and she would speak\nto him for a moment or two and then go. She came sometimes once a day,\nsometimes twice, and this she kept up for a long time. The Governor\nat last inquired of the boy as to who this woman was that came so\nfrequently to call him.\n\n\"She is my sister,\" said the boy. \"Her husband went away on a peddling\nround a year or so ago, and has not yet returned; consequently she has\nno one else to help her, so she frequently calls and confers with me.\"\n\nOne evening, when the boy had gone to eat his meal and the Governor\nwas alone, the woman came to the main gateway, and called for the boy.\n\nHis Excellency answered for him, and invited her in. When she came,\nshe blushed, and appeared very diffident, standing modestly aside.\n\nThe Governor said, \"My boy is absent just now, but I want a smoke;\ngo and get a light for my pipe, will you, please.\"\n\nShe brought the light, and then he said, \"Sit down too, and smoke a\nlittle, won't you?\"\n\nShe replied, \"How could I dare do such a thing?\"\n\nHe said, \"There is no one else here now; never mind.\"\n\nThere being no help for it, she did as he bade her, and smoked a\nlittle. He felt his heart suddenly inclined in her favour, and he said,\n\"I have seen many beautiful women, but I surely think that you are\nthe prettiest of them all. Once seeing you, I have quite forgotten\nhow to eat or sleep. Could you not come to me to live here? I am\nquite alone and no one will know it.\"\n\nShe pretended to be greatly scandalized. \"Your Excellency is a noble,\nand I am a low-class woman; how can you think of such a thing? Do\nyou mean it as a joke?\"\n\nHe replied, \"I mean it truly, no joke at all.\" He swore an oath,\nsaying, \"Really I mean it, every word.\"\n\nShe then said, \"Since you speak so, I am really very grateful, and\nshall come.\"\n\nSaid he, \"Meeting you thus is wonderful indeed.\"\n\nShe went on to say, \"There is another matter, however, that I wish\nto call to your attention. I understand that where your Excellency\nis now staying is a very sacred place, and that according to ancient\nlaw men were forbidden to have women here. Is that true?\"\n\nThe Governor clapped her shoulder, and said, \"Well, really now, how\nis it that you know of this? You are right. What shall we do about it?\"\n\nShe made answer, \"If you'll depend on me, I'll arrange a plan. My home\nis near by, and I am also alone, so if you come quietly at night to me,\nwe can meet and no one will know. I shall send a felt hat by the boy,\nand you can wear that for disguise. With this commoner's felt hat on\nno one will know you.\"\n\nThe Governor was greatly delighted, and said, \"How is it that you\ncan plan so wonderfully? I shall do as you suggest. Now you be sure\nto be on hand.\" He repeated this two or three times.\n\nThe woman went and entered the house indicated. When evening came\nshe sent the hat by the boy. The Governor arrived as agreed, and\nshe received him, lit the lamp, and brought him refreshments and\ndrink. They talked and drank together, and he called her to come to\nhim. The woman hesitated for a moment, when suddenly there was a call\nheard from the outside, and a great disturbance took place. She bent\nher head to listen and then gave a cry of alarm, saying, \"That's the\nvoice of my husband, who has come. I was unfortunate, and so had this\nmiserable wretch apportioned to my lot. He is the most despicable\namong mortals. For murder and arson he has no equal. Three years ago\nhe left me and I took another husband, and we've had nothing to do\nwith each other since. I can't imagine why he should come now. He is\nevidently very drunk, too, from the sound of his voice. Your Excellency\nhas really fallen into a terrible plight. What shall I do?\"\n\nThe woman went out then and answered, saying, \"Who comes thus at\nmidnight to make such a disturbance?\"\n\nThe voice replied, \"Don't you know my voice? Why don't you open\nthe door?\"\n\nShe answered, \"Are you not Chol-lo (Brass Tiger), and have we not\nseparated for good, years ago? Why have you come?\"\n\nThe voice from without answered back, \"Your leaving me and taking\nanother man has always been a matter of deepest resentment on my part;\nI have something special to say to you,\" and he pounded the door open\nand came thundering in.\n\nThe woman rushed back into the room, saying, \"Your Excellency must\nescape in some way or other.\"\n\nIn such a little thatched hut there was no place possible for\nconcealment but an empty rice-box only. \"Please get into this,\"\nsaid she, and she lifted the lid and hurried him in. The Governor,\nin his haste and d\u00e9shabille, was bundled into the box. He then heard,\nfrom within, this fellow come into the room and quarrel with his\nwife. She said, \"We have been separated three years already; what\nreason have you to come now and make such a disturbance?\"\n\nSaid he, \"You cast me off and took another man, therefore I have come\nfor the clothes that I left, and the other things that belong to me.\"\n\nThen she threw out his belongings to him, but he said, pointing to\nthe box, \"That's mine.\"\n\nShe replied, \"That's not yours; I bought that myself with two rolls\nof silk goods.\"\n\n\"But,\" said he, \"one of those rolls I gave you, and I'm not going to\nlet you have it.\"\n\n\"Even though you did give it, do you mean to say that for one roll\nof silk you will carry away this box? I'll not consent to it.\" Thus\nthey quarrelled, and contradicted each other.\n\n\"If you don't give me the box,\" said he, \"I'll enter a suit against\nyou at the Mayor's.\"\n\nA little later the day dawned, and so he had the box carried off to\nthe Mayor's office to have the case decided by law, while the woman\nfollowed. When they entered the court, already the Mayor was seated\nin the judgment-place, and here they presented their case concerning\nthe box.\n\nThe Mayor, after hearing, decided thus: \"Since you each have a\nhalf-share in its purchase, there is nothing for me to do but to\ndivide it between you. Bring a saw,\" said he.\n\nThe servants brought the saw and began on the box, when suddenly from\nthe inner regions came forth a cry, \"Save me; oh, save me!\"\n\nThe Mayor, in pretended astonishment, said, \"Why, there's a man's\nvoice from the inside,\" and ordered that it should be opened. The\nservants managed to find the key, and at last the lid came back,\nand from the inner quarters there came forth a half-dressed man.\n\nOn seeing him the whole place was put into convulsions of laughter,\nfor it was none other than the Governor.\n\n\"How is it that your Excellency finds yourself in this box in this\nunaccountable way?\" asked the Mayor. \"Please come out.\"\n\nThe Governor, huddling himself together as well as he could, climbed on\nto the open verandah. He held his head down and nearly died for shame.\n\nThe Mayor, splitting his sides with laughter, ordered clothes\nto be brought, and the first thing that came was a woman's green\ndress-coat. The Governor hastily turned it inside out, slipped it on,\nand made a dash for his quarters in the Confucian Temple. That day\nhe left the place never to return, and even to the present time in\nKyong-ju they laugh and tell the story of the Boxed-up Governor.\n\n\nIm Bang.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nXXII\n\nTHE MAN WHO LOST HIS LEGS\n\n\nThere was a merchant in Chong-ju who used to go to Quelpart to buy\nseaweed. One time when he drew up on the shore he saw a man shuffling\nalong on the ground toward the boat. He crept nearer, and at last\ntook hold of the side with both his hands and jumped in.\n\n\"When I looked at him,\" said the merchant, \"I found he was an old man\nwithout any legs. Astonished, I asked, saying, 'How is it, old man,\nthat you have lost your legs?'\n\n\"He said in reply, 'I lost my legs on a trip once when I was\nshipwrecked, and a great fish bit them off.'\"\n\n\"However did that happen?\" inquired the merchant. And the old man said,\n\"We were caught in a gale and driven till we touched on some island\nor other. Before us on the shore stood a high castle with a great\ngateway. The twenty or so of us who were together in the storm-tossed\nboat were all exhausted from cold and hunger, and lying exposed. We\nlanded and managed to go together to the house. There was in it one man\nonly, whose height was terrible to behold, and whose chest was many\nspans round. His face was black and his eyes large and rolling. His\nvoice was like the braying of a monster donkey. Our people made\nmotions showing that they wanted something to eat. The man made no\nreply, but securely fastened the front gate. After this he brought\nan armful of wood, put it in the middle of the courtyard, and there\nmade a fire. When the fire blazed up he rushed after us and caught a\nyoung lad, one of our company, cooked him before our eyes, pulled him\nto pieces and ate him. We were all reduced to a state of horror, not\nknowing what to do. We gazed at each other in dismay and stupefaction.\n\n\"When he had eaten his fill, he went up into a verandah and opened\na jar, from which he drank some kind of spirit. After drinking it\nhe uttered the most gruesome and awful noises; his face grew very\nred and he lay down and slept. His snorings were like the roarings\nof the thunder. We planned then to make our escape, and so tried to\nopen the large gate, but one leaf was about twenty-four feet across,\nand so thick and heavy that with all our strength we could not move\nit. The walls, too, were a hundred and fifty feet high, and so we\ncould do nothing with them. We were like fish in a pot--beyond all\npossible way of escape. We held each other's hands, and cried.\n\n\"Among us, one man thought of this plan: We had a knife and he took\nit, and while the monster was drunk and asleep, decided to stab his\neyes out, and cut his throat. We said in reply, 'We are all doomed to\ndeath, anyway; let's try,' and we made our way up on to the verandah\nand stabbed his eyes. He gave an awful roar, and struck out on all\nsides to catch us. We rushed here and there, making our escape out of\nthe court back into the rear garden. There were in this enclosure pigs\nand sheep, about sixty of them in all. There we rushed, in among the\npigs and sheep. He floundered about, waving his two arms after us,\nbut not one of us did he get hold of; we were all mixed up--sheep,\npigs and people. When he did catch anything it was a sheep; and when\nit was not a sheep it was a pig. So he opened the front gate to send\nall the animals out.\n\n\"We then each of us took a pig or sheep on the back and made straight\nfor the gate. The monster felt each, and finding it a pig or a sheep\nlet it go. Thus we all got out and rushed for the boat. A little later\nhe came and sat on the bank and roared his threatenings at us. A lot\nof other giants came at his call. They took steps of thirty feet or\nso, came racing after us, caught the boat, and made it fast; but we\ntook axes and struck at the hands that held it, and so got free at\nlast and out to the open sea.\n\n\"Again a great wind arose, and we ran on to the rocks and were all\ndestroyed. Every one was engulfed in the sea and drowned; I alone got\nhold of a piece of boat-timber and lived. Then there was a horrible\nfish from the sea that came swimming after me and bit off my legs. At\nlast I drifted back home and here I am.\n\n\"When I think of it still, my teeth are cold and my bones shiver. My\nEight Lucky Stars are very bad, that's why it happened to me.\"\n\n\nAnon.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nXXIII\n\nTEN THOUSAND DEVILS\n\n\n[Han Chun-kyom was the son of a provincial secretary. He matriculated\nin the year 1579 and graduated in 1586. He received the last wishes of\nKing Son-jo, and sat by his side taking notes for seven hours. From\n1608 to 1623 he was generalissimo of the army, and later was raised\nto the rank of Prince.]\n\n\n\nA certain Prince Han of Choong-chong Province had a distant relative\nwho was an uncouth countryman living in extreme poverty. This relative\ncame to visit him from time to time. Han pitied his cold and hungry\ncondition, gave him clothes to wear and shared his food, urging him\nto stay and to prolong his visit often into several months. He felt\nsorry for him, but disliked his uncouthness and stupidity.\n\nOn one of these visits the poor relation suddenly announced his\nintention to return home, although the New Year's season was just\nat hand. Han urged him to remain, saying, \"It would be better for\nyou to be comfortably housed at my home, eating cake and soup and\nenjoying quiet sleep rather than riding through wind and weather at\nthis season of the year.\"\n\nHe said at first that he would have to go, until his host so\ninsistently urged on him to stay that at last he yielded and gave\nconsent. At New Year's Eve he remarked to Prince Han, \"I am possessor\nof a peculiar kind of magic, by which I have under my control all\nmanner of evil genii, and New Year is the season at which I call\nthem up, run over their names, and inspect them. If I did not do so\nI should lose control altogether, and there would follow no end of\ntrouble among mortals. It is a matter of no small moment, and that\nis why I wished to go. Since, however, you have detained me, I shall\nhave to call them up in your Excellency's house and look them over. I\nhope you will not object.\"\n\nHan was greatly astonished and alarmed, but gave his consent. The\npoor relation went on to say further, \"This is an extremely important\nmatter, and I would like to have for it your central guest hall.\"\n\nHan consented to this also, so that night they washed the floors and\nscoured them clean. The relation also sat himself with all dignity\nfacing the south, while Prince Han took up his station on the outside\nprepared to spy. Soon he saw a startling variety of demons crushing\nin at the door, horrible in appearance and awesome of manner. They\nlined up one after another, and still another, and another, till they\nfilled the entire court, each bowing as he came before the master,\nwho, at this point, drew out a book, opened it before him, and began\ncalling off the names. Demon guards who stood by the threshold\nrepeated the call and checked off the names just as they do in a\ngovernment yamen. From the second watch it went on till the fifth\nof the morning. Han remarked, \"It was indeed no lie when he told me\n'ten thousand devils.'\"\n\nOne late-comer arrived after the marking was over, and still another\ncame climbing over the wall. The man ordered them to be arrested,\nand inquiry made of them under the paddle. The late arrival said,\n\"I really have had a hard time of it of late to live, and so was\nobliged, in order to find anything, to inject smallpox into the home\nof a scholar who lives in Yong-nam. It is a long way off, and so I have\narrived too late for the roll-call, a serious fault indeed, I confess.\"\n\nThe one who climbed the wall, said, \"I, too, have known want and\nhunger, and so had to insert a little typhus into the family of a\ngentleman who lives in Kyong-keui, but hearing that roll-call was\ndue I came helter-skelter, fearing lest I should arrive too late,\nand so climbed the wall, which was indeed a sin.\"\n\nThe man then, in a loud voice, rated them soundly, saying,\n\"These devils have disobeyed my orders, caused disease and sinned\ngrievously. Worse than everything, they have climbed the wall of a\nhigh official's house.\" He ordered a hundred blows to be given them\nwith the paddle, the cangue to be put on, and to have them locked\nfast in prison. Then, calling the others to him, he said, \"Do not\nspread disease! Do you understand?\" Three times he ordered it and\nfive times he repeated it. Then they were all dismissed. The crowd\nof devils lined off before him, taking their departure and crushing\nout through the gate with no end of noise and confusion. After a long\ntime they had all disappeared.\n\nPrince Han, looking on during this time, saw the man now seated alone\nin the hall. It was quiet, and all had vanished. The cocks crew and\nmorning came. Han was astonished above measure, and asked as to the\nlaw that governed such work as this. The poor relation said in reply,\n\"When I was young I studied in a monastery in the mountains. In that\nmonastery was an old priest who had a most peculiar countenance. A\nman feeble and ready to die, he seemed. All the priests made sport of\nhim and treated him with contempt. I alone had pity on his age, and\noften gave him of my food and always treated him kindly. One evening,\nwhen the moon was bright, the old priest said to me, 'There is a\ncave behind this monastery from which a beautiful view may be had;\nwill you not come with me and share it?'\n\n\"I went with him, and when we crossed the ridge of the hills into\nthe stillness of the night he drew a book from his breast and gave\nit to me, saying, 'I, who am old and ready to die, have here a great\nsecret, which I have long wished to pass on to some one worthy. I have\ntravelled over the wide length of Korea, and have never found the man\ntill now I meet you, and my heart is satisfied, so please receive it.'\n\n\"I opened the book and found it a catalogue list of devils, with magic\nwriting interspersed, and an explanation of the laws that govern the\nspirit world. The old priest wrote out one magic recipe, and having\nset fire to it countless devils at once assembled, at which I was\ngreatly alarmed. He then sat with me and called over the names one\nafter the other, and said to the devils, 'I am an old man now, am\ngoing away, and so am about to put you under the care of this young\nman; obey him and all will be well.'\n\n\"I already had the book, and so called them to me, read out the new\norders, and dismissed them.\n\n\"The old priest and I returned to the Temple and went to sleep. I awoke\nearly next morning and went to call on him, but he was gone. Thus I\ncame into possession of the magic art, and have possessed it for a\nscore of years and more. What the world knows nothing of I have thus\nmade known to your Excellency.\"\n\nHan was astonished beyond measure, and asked, \"May I not also come\ninto possession of this wonderful gift?\"\n\nThe man replied, \"Your Excellency has great ability, and can do\nwonderful things; but the possessor of this craft must be one poor and\ndespised, and of no account. For you, a minister, it would never do.\"\n\nThe next day he left suddenly, and returned no more. Han sent a\nservant with a message to him. The servant, with great difficulty,\nat last found him alone among a thousand mountain peaks, living in\na little straw hut no bigger than a cockle shell. No neighbours were\nthere, nor any one beside. He called him, but he refused to come. He\nsent another messenger to invite him, but he had moved away and no\ntrace of him was left.\n\nPrince Han's children had heard this story from himself, and I,\nthe writer, received it from them.\n\n\nIm Bang.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nXXIV\n\nTHE HOME OF THE FAIRIES\n\n\nIn the days of King In-jo (1623-1649) there was a student of Confucius\nwho lived in Ka-pyong. He was still a young man and unmarried. His\neducation had not been extensive, for he had read only a little in\nthe way of history and literature. For some reason or other he left\nhis home and went into Kang-won Province. Travelling on horseback,\nand with a servant, he reached a mountain, where he was overtaken by\nrain that wet him through. Mysteriously, from some unknown cause,\nhis servant suddenly died, and the man, in fear and distress, drew\nthe body to the side of the hill, where he left it and went on his\nway weeping. When he had gone but a short distance, the horse he rode\nfell under him and died also. Such was his plight: his servant dead,\nhis horse dead, rain falling fast, and the road an unknown one. He\ndid not know what to do or where to go, and reduced thus to walking,\nhe broke down and cried. At this point there met him an old man with\nvery wonderful eyes, and hair as white as snow. He asked the young man\nwhy he wept, and the reply was that his servant was dead, his horse\nwas dead, that it was raining, and that he did not know the way. The\npatriarch, on hearing this, took pity on him, and lifting his staff,\npointed, saying, \"There is a house yonder, just beyond those pines,\nfollow that stream and it will bring you to where there are people.\"\n\nThe young man looked as directed, and a li or so beyond he saw a\nclump of trees. He bowed, thanked the stranger, and started on his\nway. When he had gone a few paces he looked back, but the friend had\ndisappeared. Greatly wondering, he went on toward the place indicated,\nand as he drew near he saw a grove of pines, huge trees they were, a\nwhole forest of them. Bamboos appeared, too, in countless numbers, with\na wide stream of water flowing by. Underneath the water there seemed\nto be a marble flooring like a great pavement, white and pure. As he\nwent along he saw that the water was all of an even depth, such as\none could cross easily. A mile or so farther on he saw a beautifully\ndecorated house. The pillars and entrance approaches were perfect in\nform. He continued his way, wet as he was, carrying his thorn staff,\nand entered the gate and sat down to rest. It was paved, too, with\nmarble, and smooth as polished glass. There were no chinks or creases\nin it, all was of one perfect surface. In the room was a marble table,\nand on it a copy of the Book of Changes; there was also a brazier\nof jade just in front. Incense was burning in it, and the fragrance\nfilled the room. Beside these, nothing else was visible. The rain\nhad ceased and all was quiet and clear, with no wind nor anything to\ndisturb. The world of confusion seemed to have receded from him.\n\nWhile he sat there, looking in astonishment, he suddenly heard the\nsound of footfalls from the rear of the building. Startled by it, he\nturned to see, when an old man appeared. He looked as though he might\nequal the turtle or the crane as to age, and was very dignified. He\nwore a green dress and carried a jade staff of nine sections. The\nappearance of the old man was such as to stun any inhabitant of the\nearth. He recognized him as the master of the place, and so he went\nforward and made a low obeisance.\n\nThe old man received him kindly, and said, \"I am the master and have\nlong waited for you.\" He took him by the hand and led him away. As they\nwent along, the hills grew more and more enchanting, while the soft\nbreezes and the light touched him with mystifying favour. Suddenly, as\nhe looked the man was gone, so he went on by himself, and arrived soon\nat another palace built likewise of precious stones. It was a great\nhall, stretching on into the distance as far as the eye could see.\n\nThe young man had seen the Royal Palace frequently when in Seoul\nattending examinations, but compared with this, the Royal Palace was\nas a mud hut thatched with straw.\n\nAs he reached the gate a man in ceremonial robes received him and\nled him in. He passed two or three pavilions, and at last reached a\nspecial one and went up to the upper storey. There, reclining at a\ntable, he saw the ancient sage whom he had met before. Again he bowed.\n\nThis young man, brought up poorly in the country, was never accustomed\nto seeing or dealing with the great. In fear, he did not dare to lift\nhis eyes. The ancient master, however, again welcomed him and asked\nhim to be seated, saying, \"This is not the dusty world that you are\naccustomed to, but the abode of the genii. I knew you were coming,\nand so was waiting to receive you.\" He turned and called, saying,\n\"Bring something for the guest to eat.\"\n\nIn a little a servant brought a richly laden table. It was such fare\nas was never seen on earth, and there was abundance of it. The young\nman, hungry as he was, ate heartily of these strange viands. Then the\ndishes were carried away and the old man said, \"I have a daughter who\nhas arrived at a marriageable age, and I have been trying to find a\nson-in-law, but as yet have not succeeded. Your coming accords with\nthis need. Live here, then, and become my son-in-law.\" The young man,\nnot knowing what to think, bowed and was silent. Then the host turned\nand gave an order, saying, \"Call in the children.\"\n\nTwo boys about twelve or thirteen years of age came running in and sat\ndown beside him. Their faces were so beautifully white they seemed\nlike jewels. The master pointed to them and said to the guest,\n\"These are my sons,\" and to the sons he said, \"This young man is\nhe whom I have chosen for my son-in-law; when should we have the\nwedding? Choose you a lucky day and let me know.\"\n\nThe two boys reckoned over the days on their fingers, and then together\nsaid, \"The day after to-morrow is a lucky day.\"\n\nThe old man, turning to the stranger, said, \"That decides as to the\nwedding, and now you must wait in the guest-chamber till the time\narrives.\" He then gave a command to call So and So. In a little\nan official of the genii came forward, dressed in light and airy\ngarments. His appearance and expression were very beautiful, a man,\nhe seemed, of glad and happy mien.\n\nThe master said, \"Show this young man the way to his apartments and\ntreat him well till the time of the wedding.\"\n\nThe official then led the way, and the young man bowed as he left\nthe room. When he had passed outside the gate, a red sedan chair was\nin waiting for him. He was asked to mount. Eight bearers bore him\nsmoothly along. A mile or so distant they reached another palace,\nequally wonderful, with no speck or flaw of any kind to mar its\nbeauty. In graceful groves of flowers and trees he descended to enter\nhis pavilion. Beautiful garments were taken from jewelled boxes, and\na perfumed bath was given him and a change made. Thus he laid aside\nhis weather-beaten clothes and donned the vestments of the genii. The\nofficial remained as company for him till the appointed time.\n\nWhen that day arrived other beautiful robes were brought, and\nagain he bathed and changed. When he was dressed, he mounted the\npalanquin and rode to the Palace of the master, twenty or more\nofficials accompanying. On arrival, a guide directed them to the\nspecial Palace Beautiful. Here he saw preparations for the wedding,\nand here he made his bow. This finished he moved as directed, further\nin. The tinkling sound of jade bells and the breath of sweet perfumes\nfilled the air. Thus he made his entry into the inner quarters.\n\nMany beautiful women were in waiting, all gorgeously apparelled,\nlike the women of the gods. Among these he imagined that he would\nmeet the master's daughter. In a little, accompanied by a host of\nothers, she came, shining in jewels and beautiful clothing so that\nshe lighted up the Palace. He took his stand before her, though her\nface was hidden from him by a fan of pearls. When he saw her at last,\nso beautiful was she that his eyes were dazzled. The other women,\ncompared with her, were as the magpie to the phoenix. So bewildered was\nhe that he dared not look up. The friend accompanying assisted him to\nbow and to go through the necessary forms. The ceremony was much the\nsame as that observed among men. When it was over the young man went\nback to his bridegroom's chamber. There the embroidered curtains,\nthe golden screens, the silken clothing, the jewelled floor, were\nsuch as no men of earth ever see.\n\nOn the second day his mother-in-law called him to her. Her age would be\nabout thirty, and her face was like a freshly-blown lotus flower. Here\na great feast was spread, with many guests invited. The accompaniments\nthereof in the way of music were sweeter than mortals ever dreamed\nof. When the feast was over, the women caught up their skirts, and,\nlifting their sleeves, danced together and sang in sweet accord. The\nsound of their singing caused even the clouds to stop and listen. When\nthe day was over, and all had well dined, the feast broke up.\n\nA young man, brought up in a country hut, had all of a sudden met\nthe chief of the genii, and had become a sharer in his glory and\nthe accompaniments of his life. His mind was dazed and his thoughts\novercame him. Doubts were mixed with fears. He knew not what to do.\n\nA sharer in the joys of the fairies he had actually become, and a\nyear or so passed in such delight as no words can ever describe.\n\nOne day his wife said to him, \"Would you like to enter into the inner\nenclosure and see as the fairies see?\"\n\nHe replied, \"Gladly would I.\"\n\nShe then led him into a special park where there were lovely walks,\nsurrounded by green hills. As they advanced there were charming\nviews, with springs of water and sparkling cascades. The scene grew\ngradually more entrancing, with jewelled flowers and scintillating\nspray, lovely birds and animals disporting themselves. A man once\nentering here would never again think of earth as a place to return to.\n\nAfter seeing this he ascended the highest peak of all, which was\nlike a tower of many stories. Before him lay a wide stretch of sea,\nwith islands of the blessed standing out of the water, and long\nstretches of pleasant land in view. His wife showed them all to him,\npointing out this and that. They seemed filled with golden palaces and\nsurrounded with a halo of light. They were peopled with happy souls,\nsome riding on cranes, some on the phoenix, some on the unicorn; some\nwere sitting on the clouds, some sailing by on the wind, some walking\non the air, some gliding gently up the streams, some descending from\nabove, some ascending, some moving west, some north, some gathering\nin groups. Flutes and harps sounded sweetly. So many and so startling\nwere the things seen that he could never tell the tale of them. After\nthe day had passed they returned.\n\nThus was their joy unbroken, and when two years had gone by she bore\nhim two sons.\n\nTime moved on, when one day, unexpectedly, as he was seated with\nhis wife, he began to cry and tears soiled his face. She asked in\namazement for the cause of it. \"I was thinking,\" said he, \"of how\na plain countryman living in poverty had thus become the son-in-law\nof the king of the genii. But in my home is my poor old mother, whom\nI have not seen for these years; I would so like to see her that my\ntears flow.\"\n\nThe wife laughed, and said, \"Would you really like to see her? Then go,\nbut do not cry.\" She told her father that her husband would like to go\nand see his mother. The master called him and gave his permission. The\nson thought, of course, that he would call many servants and send\nhim in state, but not so. His wife gave him one little bundle and\nthat was all, so he said good-bye to his father-in-law, whose parting\nword was, \"Go now and see your mother, and in a little I shall call\nfor you again.\"\n\nHe sent with him one servant, and so he passed out through the main\ngateway. There he saw a poor thin horse with a worn rag of a saddle\non his back. He looked carefully and found that they were the dead\nhorse and the dead servant, whom he had lost, restored to him. He\ngave a start, and asked, \"How did you come here?\"\n\nThe servant answered, \"I was coming with you on the road when some\none caught me away and brought me here. I did not know the reason,\nbut I have been here for a long time.\"\n\nThe man, in great fear, fastened on his bundle and started on his\njourney. The genie servant brought up the rear, but after a short\ndistance the world of wonder had become transformed into the old weary\nworld again. Here it was with its fogs, and thorn, and precipice. He\nlooked off toward the world of the genii, and it was but a dream. So\novercome was he by his feelings that he broke down and cried.\n\nThe genie servant said to him when he saw him weeping, \"You have been\nfor several years in the abode of the immortals, but you have not yet\nattained thereto, for you have not yet forgotten the seven things of\nearth: anger, sorrow, fear, ambition, hate and selfishness. If you\nonce get rid of these there will be no tears for you.\" On hearing\nthis he stopped his crying, wiped his cheeks, and asked pardon.\n\nWhen he had gone a mile farther he found himself on the main road. The\nservant said to him, \"You know the way from this point on, so I shall\ngo back,\" and thus at last the young man reached his home.\n\nHe found there an exorcising ceremony in progress. Witches and spirit\nworshippers had been called and were saying their prayers. The family,\nseeing the young man come home thus, were all aghast. \"It is his\nghost,\" said they. However, they saw in a little that it was really\nhe himself. The mother asked why he had not come home in all that\ntime. She being a very violent woman in disposition, he did not dare to\ntell her the truth, so he made up something else. The day of his return\nwas the anniversary of his supposed death, and so they had called the\nwitches for a prayer ceremony. Here he opened the bundle that his wife\nhad given him and found four suits of clothes, one for each season.\n\nIn about a year after his return home the mother, seeing him alone,\nmade application for the daughter of one of the village literati. The\nman, being timid by nature and afraid of offending his mother, did\nnot dare to refuse, and was therefore married; but there was no joy\nin it, and the two never looked at each other.\n\nThe young man had a friend whom he had known intimately from\nchildhood. After his return the friend came to see him frequently,\nand they used to spend the nights talking together. In their talks the\nfriend inquired why in all these years he had never come home. The\nyoung man then told him what had befallen him in the land of the\ngenii, and how he had been there and had been married. The friend\nlooked at him in wonder, for he seemed just as he had remembered him\nexcept in the matter of clothing. This he found on examination was\nof very strange material, neither grass cloth, silk nor cotton, but\ndifferent from them all, and yet warm and comfortable. When spring\ncame the spring clothes sufficed, when summer came those for summer,\nand for autumn and winter each special suit. They were never washed,\nand yet never became soiled; they never wore out, and always looked\nfresh and new. The friend was greatly astonished.\n\nSome three years passed when one day there came once more a servant\nfrom the master of the genii, bringing his two sons. There were\nalso letters, saying, \"Next year the place where you dwell will be\ndestroyed and all the people will become 'fish and meat' for the enemy,\ntherefore follow this messenger and come, all of you.\"\n\nHe told his friend of this and showed him his two sons. The friend,\nwhen he saw these children that looked like silk and jade, confessed\nthe matter to the mother also. She, too, gladly agreed, and so they\nsold out and had a great feast for all the people of the town, and\nthen bade farewell. This was the year 1635. They left and were never\nheard of again.\n\nThe year following was the Manchu invasion, when the village where\nthe young man had lived was all destroyed. To this day young and old\nin Ka-pyong tell this story.\n\n\nIm Bang.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nXXV\n\nTHE HONEST WITCH\n\n\n[Song Sang-in matriculated in 1601. He was a just man, and feared by\nthe dishonest element of the Court. In 1605 he graduated and became\na provincial governor. He nearly lost his life in the disturbances of\nthe reign of King Kwang-hai, and was exiled to Quelpart for a period\nof ten years, but in the spring of 1623 he was recalled.]\n\n\n\n\nThe Story\n\nThere was a Korean once, called Song Sang-in, whose mind was upright\nand whose spirit was true. He hated witches with all his might, and\nregarded them as deceivers of the people. \"By their so-called prayers,\"\nsaid he, \"they devour the people's goods. There is no limit to the\nfoolishness and extravagance that accompanies them. This doctrine of\ntheirs is all nonsense. Would that I could rid the earth of them and\nwipe out their names for ever.\"\n\nSome time later Song was appointed magistrate of Nam Won County in\nChulla Province. On his arrival he issued the following order: \"If\nany witch is found in this county, let her be beaten to death.\" The\nwhole place was so thoroughly spied upon that all the witches made\ntheir escape to other prefectures. The magistrate thought, \"Now we\nare rid of them, and that ends the matter for this county at any rate.\"\n\nOn a certain day he went out for a walk, and rested for a time at\nKwang-han Pavilion. As he looked out from his coign of vantage,\nhe saw a woman approaching on horseback with a witch's drum on her\nhead. He looked intently to make sure, and to his astonishment he\nsaw that she was indeed a mutang (witch). He sent a yamen-runner\nto have her arrested, and when she was brought before him he asked,\n\"Are you a mutang?\"\n\nShe replied, \"Yes, I am.\"\n\n\"Then,\" said he, \"you did not know of the official order issued?\"\n\n\"Oh yes, I heard of it,\" was her reply.\n\nHe then asked, \"Are you not afraid to die, that you stay here in\nthis county?\"\n\nThe mutang bowed, and made answer, \"I have a matter of complaint to\nlay before your Excellency to be put right; please take note of it\nand grant my request. It is this: There are true mutangs and false\nmutangs. False mutangs ought to be killed, but you would not kill an\nhonest mutang, would you? Your orders pertain to false mutangs; I do\nnot understand them as pertaining to those who are true. I am an honest\nmutang; I knew you would not kill me, so I remained here in peace.\"\n\nThe magistrate asked, \"How do you know that there are honest mutangs?\"\n\nThe woman replied, \"Let's put the matter to the test and see. If I\nam not proven honest, let me die.\"\n\n\"Very well,\" said the magistrate; \"but can you really make good,\nand do you truly know how to call back departed spirits?\"\n\nThe mutang answered, \"I can.\"\n\nThe magistrate suddenly thought of an intimate friend who had been\ndead for some time, and he said to her, \"I had a friend of such and\nsuch rank in Seoul; can you call his spirit back to me?\"\n\nThe mutang replied, \"Let me do so; but first you must prepare food,\nwith wine, and serve it properly.\"\n\nThe magistrate thought for a moment, and then said to himself, \"It\nis a serious matter to take a person's life; let me find out first\nif she is true or not, and then decide.\" So he had the food brought.\n\nThe mutang said also, \"I want a suit of your clothes, too,\nplease.\" This was brought, and she spread her mat in the courtyard,\nplaced the food in order, donned the dress, and so made all preliminary\narrangements. She then lifted her eyes toward heaven and uttered the\nstrange magic sounds by which spirits are called, meanwhile shaking\na tinkling bell. In a little she turned and said, \"I've come.\" Then\nshe began telling the sad story of his sickness and death and\ntheir separation. She reminded the magistrate of how they had played\ntogether, and of things that had happened when they were at school at\ntheir lessons; of the difficulties they had met in the examinations;\nof experiences that had come to them during their terms of office. She\ntold secrets that they had confided to each other as intimate friends,\nand many matters most definitely that only they two knew. Not a single\nmistake did she make, but told the truth in every detail.\n\nThe magistrate, when he heard these things, began to cry, saying,\n\"The soul of my friend is really present; I can no longer doubt or\ndeny it.\" Then he ordered the choicest fare possible to be prepared\nas a sacrifice to his friend. In a little the friend bade him farewell\nand took his departure.\n\nThe magistrate said, \"Alas! I thought mutangs were a brood of liars,\nbut now I know that there are true mutangs as well as false.\" He\ngave her rich rewards, sent her away in safety, recalled his order\nagainst witches, and refrained from any matters pertaining to them\nfor ever after.\n\n\nIm Bang.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nXXVI\n\nWHOM THE KING HONOURS\n\n\nIn the days of King Se-jong students of the Confucian College were\nhaving a picnic to celebrate the Spring Festival. They met in a wood\nto the north of the college, near a beautiful spring of water, and were\ndrinking and feasting the night through. While they were thus enjoying\nthemselves the rooms of the college were left deserted. One student\nfrom the country, a backwoodsman in his way, who was of no account to\nothers, thought that while the rest went away to enjoy themselves some\none ought to stay behind to guard the sacred precincts of the temple;\nso he decided that he would forgo the pleasures of the picnic, stay\nbehind and watch.\n\nThe King at that time sent a eunuch to the college to see how many of\nthe students had remained on guard. The eunuch returned, saying that\nall had gone off on the picnic, except one man, a raw countryman,\nwho was in sole charge. The King at once sent for the man, asking\nhim to come just as he was in his common clothes.\n\nOn his arrival his Majesty asked, \"When all have gone off for a gay\ntime, why is it that you remain alone?\"\n\nHe replied, \"I, too, would like to have gone, but to leave the sacred\ntemple wholly deserted did not seem to me right, so I stayed.\"\n\nThe King was greatly pleased with this reply, and asked again,\n\"Do you know how to write verses?\"\n\nThe reply was, \"I know only very little about it.\"\n\nThe King then said, \"I have one-half of a verse here which runs thus--\n\n\n    'After the rains the mountains weep.'\n\n\nYou write me a mate for this line to go with it.\"\n\nAt once the student replied--\n\n\n    \"Before the wind the grass is tipsy.\"\n\n\nThe King, delighted, praised him for his skill and made him a special\ngraduate on the spot, gave him his diploma, flowers for his hat,\nand issued a proclamation saying that he had passed the Al-song\nExamination. At once he ordered for him the head-gear, the red coat,\na horse to ride on, two boys to go before, flute-players and harpers,\nsaying, \"Go now to the picnic-party and show yourself.\"\n\nWhile the picnickers were thus engaged, suddenly they heard the sound\nof flutes and harps, and they questioned as to what it could mean. This\nwas not the time for new graduates to go abroad. While they looked,\nbehold, here came a victorious candidate, dressed in ceremonial robes,\nheralded by boys, and riding on the King's palfrey, to greet them. On\ncloser view they saw that it was the uncouth countryman whom they had\nleft behind at the Temple. They asked what it meant, and then learned,\nto their amazement, that the King had so honoured him. The company,\nin consternation and surprise, broke up and returned home at once.\n\nThis special graduate became later, through the favour of the King,\na great and noted man.\n\n\nIm Bang.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nXXVII\n\nTHE FORTUNES OF YOO\n\n\nThere was a man of Yong-nam, named Yoo, who lived in the days of\nSe-jong. He had studied the classics, had passed his examinations,\nand had become a petty official attached to the Confucian College. He\nwas not even of the sixth degree, so that promotion was out of the\nquestion. He was a countryman who had no friends and no influence,\nand though he had long been in Seoul there was no likelihood of any\nadvancement. Such being the case, disheartened and lonely, he decided\nto leave the city and go back to his country home.\n\nThere was a palace secretary who knew this countryman, and who went\nto say good-bye to him before he left.\n\nTaking advantage of the opportunity, the countryman said, \"I have\nlong been in Seoul, but have never yet seen the royal office of the\nsecretaries. Might I accompany you some day when you take your turn?\"\n\nThe secretary said, \"In the daytime there is always a crowd of people\nwho gather there for business, and no one is allowed in without a\nspecial pass. I am going in to-morrow, however, and intend to sleep\nthere, so that in the evening we could have a good chance to look the\nPalace over. People are not allowed to sleep in the Palace as a rule,\nbut doing so once would not be specially noticed.\" The secretary then\ngave orders to the military guard who accompanied him to escort this\nman in the next day.\n\nAs the secretary had arranged, the countryman, on the evening\nfollowing, made his way into the Palace enclosure, but what was his\nsurprise to find that, for some reason or other, the secretary had not\ncome. The gates, also, were closed behind him, so that he could not\nget out. Really he was in a fix. There chanced to be a body-servant\nof the secretary in the room, and he, feeling sorry for the stranger,\narranged a hidden corner where he might pass the night, and then\nquietly take his departure in the morning.\n\nThe night was beautifully clear, and apparently every one slept but\nYoo. He was wide awake, and wondering to himself if he might not go\nquietly out and see the place.\n\nIt was the time of the rainy season, and a portion of the wall had\nfallen from the enclosure just in front. So Yoo climbed over this\nbroken wall, and, not knowing where he went, found himself suddenly in\nthe royal quarters. It was a beautiful park, with trees, and lakes,\nand walks. \"Whose house is this,\" thought Yoo, \"with its beautiful\ngarden?\" Suddenly a man appeared, with a nice new cap on his head,\ncarrying a staff in his hand, and accompanied by a servant, walking\nslowly towards him. It was no other than King Se-jong, taking a stroll\nin the moonlight with one of his eunuchs.\n\nWhen they met Yoo had no idea that it was the King. His Majesty asked,\n\"Who are you, and how did you get in here?\"\n\nHe told who he was, and how he had agreed to come in with the\nsecretary; how the secretary had failed; how the gates were shut\nand he was a prisoner for the night; how he had seen the bright\nmoonlight and wished to walk out, and, finding the broken wall,\nhad come over. \"Whose house is this, anyway?\" asked Yoo.\n\nThe King replied, \"I am the master of this house.\" His Majesty then\nasked him in, and made him sit down on a mat beside him. So they talked\nand chatted together. The King learned that he had passed special\nexaminations in the classics, and inquiring how it was that Yoo had\nhad no better office, Yoo replied that he was an unknown countryman,\nthat his family had no influence, and that, while he desired office,\nhe was forestalled by the powerful families of the capital. \"Who is\nthere,\" he asked, \"that would bother himself about me? Thus all my\nhopes have failed, and I have just decided to leave the city and go\nback home and live out my days there.\"\n\nThe King asked again, \"You know the classics so well, do you know\nsomething also of the Book of Changes?\"\n\nHe replied, \"The deeper parts I do not know, but the easier parts\nonly.\"\n\nThen the King ordered a eunuch to bring the Book of Changes. It was the\ntime when his Majesty was reading it for himself. The book was brought\nand opened in the moonlight. The King looked up a part that had given\nhim special difficulty, and this the stranger explained character by\ncharacter, giving the meaning with convincing clearness. The King\nwas delighted and wondered greatly, and so they read together all\nthrough the night. When they separated the King said, \"You have all\nthis knowledge and yet have never been made use of? Alas, for my\ncountry!\" said he, sighing.\n\nYoo remarked that he would like to go straight home now, if the master\nwould kindly open the door for him.\n\nThe King said, however, that it was too early yet, and that he\nmight be arrested by the guards who were about. \"Go then,\" said he,\n\"to where you were, and when it is broad daylight you can go through\nthe open gate.\"\n\nYoo then bade good-bye, and went back over the broken wall to his\ncorner in the secretary's room. When morning came he went out through\nthe main gateway and returned to his home.\n\nOn the following day the King sent a special secretary and had Yoo\nappointed to the office of Overseer of Literature. On the promulgation\nof this the officials gathered in the public court, and protested\nin high dudgeon against so great an office being given to an unknown\nperson.\n\nHis Majesty, however, said, \"If you are so opposed to it, I'll desist.\"\n\nBut the day following he appointed him to an office one degree still\nhigher. Again they all protested, and his Majesty said, \"Really,\nif you so object, I'll drop the matter.\"\n\nThe day following he appointed him to an office still one degree\nhigher. Again they all protested and he apparently yielded to them. But\nthe day following higher still he was promoted, and again the protests\npoured in, so much so that his Majesty seemed to yield. On the day\nfollowing this the King wrote out for him the office of Vice-President\nof all the Literati.\n\nThe high officials gathered again and inquired of one another as\nto what the King meant, and what they had better do about it. \"If\nwe do not in some way prevent it, he will appoint him as President\nof the Literati.\" They decided to drop the matter for the present,\nand see later what was best to do.\n\nA royal banquet was announced to take place, when all the officials\ngathered. On this occasion the high Ministers of State said quietly\nto the King, \"It is not fitting that so obscure a person have so\nimportant an office. Your Majesty's promoting him as you have done\nhas thrown the whole official body into a state of consternation. On\nour protest you have merely promoted him more. What is your Majesty's\nreason, please, for this action?\"\n\nThe King made no reply, but ordered a eunuch to bring the Book\nof Changes. He opened it at the place of special difficulty, and\ninquired as to its meaning. Even among the highest ministers not\none could give an answer. He inquired by name of this one and that,\nbut all were silent. The King then said, \"I am greatly interested\nin the reading of the Book of Changes; it is the great book of the\nsages. Any one who understands it surely ought to be promoted. You,\nall of you, fail to grasp its meaning, while Yoo, whom you protest\nagainst, has explained it all to me. Now what have you to say? Yoo's\nbeing promoted thus is just as it ought to be. Why do you object? I\nshall promote him still more and more, so cease from all opposition.\"\n\nThey were afraid and ashamed, and did not again mention it.\n\nYoo from that time on became the royal teacher of the Choo-yuk (Book\nof Changes), and rose higher and higher in rank, till he became Head\nof the Confucian College and first in influence, surpassing all.\n\n\n\nNote.--Many people of ability have no chance for promotion. It is\ndifficult to have one's gifts known in high places; how much more\ndifficult before a king? The good fortune that fell to the first\nscholar was of God's appointment. By caring for a vacant house the\nhonour came to him, and he was promoted. The other's going thus\nunbidden into the Palace was a great wrong, but by royal favour he\nwas pardoned, received and honoured.\n\nBy one line of poetry a man's ability was made manifest, and by\none explanation of the Choo-yuk another's path was opened to high\npromotion.\n\nIf Se-jong had not been a great and enlightened king, how could it\nhave happened? Very rare are such happenings, indeed! So all men\nwondered over what had befallen these two. I, however, wondered more\nover the King's sagacity in finding them. To my day his virtue and\naccomplishments are known, so that the world calls him Korea's King\nof the Golden Age.\n\n\nIm Bang.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nXXVIII\n\nAN ENCOUNTER WITH A HOBGOBLIN\n\n\nI got myself into trouble in the year Pyong-sin, and was locked up; a\nmilitary man by the name of Choi Won-so, who was captain of the guard,\nwas involved in it and locked up as well. We often met in prison and\nwhiled away the hours talking together. On a certain day the talk\nturned on goblins, when Captain Choi said, \"When I was young I met\nwith a hobgoblin, which, by the fraction of a hair, almost cost me\nmy life. A strange case indeed!\"\n\nI asked him to tell me of it, when he replied, \"I had originally no\nhome in Seoul, but hearing of a vacant place in Belt Town, I made\napplication and got it. We went there, my father and the rest of the\nfamily occupying the inner quarters, while I lived in the front room.\n\n\"One night, late, when I was half asleep, the door suddenly opened,\nand a woman came in and stood just before the lamp. I saw her clearly,\nand knew that she was from the home of a scholar friend, for I had\nseen her before and had been greatly attracted by her beauty, but had\nnever had a chance to meet her. Now, seeing her enter the room thus,\nI greeted her gladly, but she made no reply. I arose to take her by\nthe hand, when she began walking backwards, so that my hand never\nreached her. I rushed towards her, but she hastened her backward pace,\nso that she eluded me. We reached the gate, which she opened with a\nrear kick, and I followed on after, till she suddenly disappeared. I\nsearched on all sides, but not a trace was there of her. I thought\nshe had merely hidden herself, and never dreamed of anything else.\n\n\"On the next night she came again and stood before the lamp just as\nshe had done the night previous. I got up and again tried to take\nhold of her, but again she began her peculiar pace backwards, till\nshe passed out at the gate and disappeared just as she had done the\nday before. I was once more surprised and disappointed, but did not\nthink of her being a hobgoblin.\n\n\"A few days later, at night, I had lain down, when suddenly there\nwas a sound of crackling paper overhead from above the ceiling. A\nforbidding, creepy sound it seemed in the midnight. A moment later\na curtain was let down that divided the room into two parts. Again,\nlater, a large fire of coals descended right in front of me, while an\nimmense heat filled the place. Where I was seemed all on fire, with\nno way of escape possible. In terror for my life, I knew not what to\ndo. On the first cock-crow of morning the noise ceased, the curtain\nwent up, and the fire of coals was gone. The place was as though\nswept with a broom, so clean from every trace of what had happened.\n\n\"The following night I was again alone, but had not yet undressed\nor lain down, when a great stout man suddenly opened the door and\ncame in. He had on his head a soldier's felt hat, and on his body\na blue tunic like one of the underlings of the yamen. He took hold\nof me and tried to drag me out. I was then young and vigorous, and\nhad no intention of yielding to him, so we entered on a tussle. The\nmoon was bright and the night clear, but I, unable to hold my own,\nwas pulled out into the court. He lifted me up and swung me round\nand round, then went up to the highest terrace and threw me down,\nso that I was terribly stunned. He stood in front of me and kept\nme a prisoner. There was a garden to the rear of the house, and a\nwall round it. I looked, and within the wall were a dozen or so of\npeople. They were all dressed in military hats and coats, and they\nkept shouting out, 'Don't hurt him, don't hurt him.'\n\n\"The man that mishandled me, however, said in reply, 'It's none of\nyour business, none of your business'; but they still kept up the cry,\n'Don't hurt him, don't hurt him'; and he, on the other hand, cried,\n'Never you mind; none of your business.' They shouted, 'The man is\na gentleman of the military class; do not hurt him.'\n\n\"The fellow merely said in reply, 'Even though he is, it's none of\nyour business'; so he took me by the two hands and flung me up into\nthe air, till I went half-way and more to heaven. Then in my fall I\nwent shooting past Kyong-keui Province, past Choong-chong, and at last\nfell to the ground in Chulla. In my flight through space I saw all the\ncounty towns of the three provinces as clear as day. Again in Chulla\nhe tossed me up once more. Again I went shooting up into the sky and\nfalling northward, till I found myself at home, lying stupefied below\nthe verandah terrace. Once more I could hear the voices of the group\nin the garden shouting, 'Don't hurt him--hurt him.' But the man said,\n'None of your business--your business.'\n\n\"He took me up once more and flung me up again, and away I went\nspeeding off to Chulla, and back I came again, two or three times\nin all.\n\n\"Then one of the group in the garden came forward, took my tormentor\nby the hand and led him away. They all met for a little to talk and\nlaugh over the matter, and then scattered and were gone, so that they\nwere not seen again.\n\n\"I lay motionless at the foot of the terrace till the following\nmorning, when my father found me and had me taken in hand and cared\nfor, so that I came to, and we all left the haunted house, never to\ngo back.\"\n\n\n\nNote.--There are various reasons by which a place may be denominated\na \"haunted house.\" The fact that there are hobgoblins in it makes it\nhaunted. If a good or \"superior man\" enters such a place the goblins\nmove away, and no word of being haunted will be heard. Choi saw the\ngoblin and was greatly injured.\n\nI understand that it is not only a question of men fearing the goblins,\nbut they also fear men. The fact that there are so few people that\nthey fear is the saddest case of all. Choi was afraid of the goblins,\nthat is why they troubled him.\n\n\nIm Bang.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nXXIX\n\nTHE SNAKE'S REVENGE\n\n\nThere lived in ancient days an archer, whose home was near the\nWater Gate of Seoul. He was a man of great strength and famous for\nhis valour.\n\nWater Gate has reference to a hole under the city wall, by which the\nwaters of the Grand Canal find their exit. In it are iron pickets to\nprevent people's entering or departing by that way.\n\nOn a certain afternoon when this military officer was taking a walk,\na great snake was seen making its way by means of the Water Gate. The\nsnake's head had already passed between the bars, but its body, being\nlarger, could not get through, so there it was held fast. The soldier\ndrew an arrow, and, fitting it into the string, shot the snake in the\nhead. Its head being fatally injured, the creature died. The archer\nthen drew it out, pounded it into a pulp, and left it.\n\nA little time later the man's wife conceived and bore a son. From the\nfirst the child was afraid of its father, and when it saw him it used\nto cry and seem greatly frightened. As it grew it hated the sight of\nits father more and more. The man became suspicious of this, and so,\ninstead of loving his son, he grew to dislike him.\n\nOn a certain day, when there were just the two of them in the room,\nthe officer lay down to have a midday siesta, covering his face with\nhis sleeve, but all the while keeping his eye on the boy to see what\nhe would do. The child glared at his father, and thinking him asleep,\ngot a knife and made a thrust at him. The man jumped, grabbed the\nknife, and then with a club gave the boy a blow that left him dead\non the spot. He pounded him into a pulp, left him and went away. The\nmother, however, in tears, covered the little form with a quilt and\nprepared for its burial. In a little the quilt began to move, and she\nin alarm raised it to see what had happened, when lo! beneath it the\nchild was gone and there lay coiled a huge snake instead. The mother\njumped back in fear, left the room and did not again enter.\n\nWhen evening came the husband returned and heard the dreadful story\nfrom his wife. He went in and looked, and now all had metamorphosed\ninto a huge snake. On the head of it was the scar mark of the arrow\nthat he had shot. He said to the snake, \"You and I were originally\nnot enemies, I therefore did wrong in shooting you as I did; but your\nintention to take revenge through becoming my son was a horrible\ndeed. Such a thing as this is proof that my suspicions of you were\nright and just. You became my son in order to kill me, your father;\nwhy, therefore, should I not in my turn kill you? If you attempt\nit again, it will certainly end in my taking your life. You have\nalready had your revenge, and have once more transmigrated into your\noriginal shape, let us drop the past and be friends from now on. What\ndo you say?\"\n\nHe repeated this over and urged his proposals, while the snake with\nbowed head seemed to listen intently. He then opened the door and\nsaid, \"Now you may go as you please.\" The snake then departed, making\nstraight for the Water Gate, and passed out between the bars. It did\nnot again appear.\n\n\n\nNote.--Man is a spiritual being, and different from all other\ncreated things, and though a snake has power of venom, it is still an\ninsignificant thing compared with a man. The snake died, and by means\nof the transmigration of its soul took its revenge. Man dies, but I\nhave never heard that he can transmigrate as the snake did. Why is it\nthat though a spiritual being he is unable to do what beasts do? I have\nseen many innocent men killed, but not one of them has ever returned\nto take his revenge on the lawless one who did it, and so I wonder\nmore than ever over these stories of the snake. The Superior Man's\nknowing nothing of the law that governs these things is a regret to me.\n\n\nIm Bang.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nXXX\n\nTHE BRAVE MAGISTRATE\n\n\nIn olden times in one of the counties of North Ham-kyong Province,\nthere was an evil-smelling goblin that caused great destruction to\nlife. Successive magistrates appeared, but in ten days or so after\narrival, in each case they died in great agony, so that no man wished\nto have the billet or anything to do with the place. A hundred or\nmore were asked to take the post, but they all refused. At last one\nbrave soldier, who was without any influence socially or politically,\naccepted. He was a courageous man, strong and fearless. He thought,\n\"Even though there is a devil there, all men will not die, surely. I\nshall make a trial of him.\" So he said his farewell, and entered\non his office. He found himself alone in the yamen, as all others\nhad taken flight. He constantly carried a long knife at his belt,\nand went thus armed, for he noticed from the first day a fishy,\nstinking odour, that grew gradually more and more marked.\n\nAfter five or six days he took note, too, that what looked like a\nmist would frequently make its entry by the outer gate, and from this\nmist came this stinking smell. Daily it grew more and more annoying,\nso that he could not stand it longer. In ten days or so, when the\ntime arrived for him to die, the yamen-runners and servants, who had\nreturned, again ran away. The magistrate kept a jar of whisky by his\nside, from which he drank frequently to fortify his soul. On this\nday he grew very drunk, and thus waited. At last he saw something\ncoming through the main gateway that seemed wrapped in fog, three\nor four embraces in waist size, and fifteen feet or so high. There\nwas no head to it, nor were body or arms visible. Only on the top\nwere two dreadful eyes rolling wildly. The magistrate jumped up at\nonce, rushed toward it, gave a great shout and struck it with his\nsword. When he gave it the blow there was the sound of thunder, and\nthe whole thing dissipated. Also the foul smell that accompanied it\ndisappeared at once.\n\nThe magistrate then, in a fit of intoxication, fell prone. The\nretainers, all thinking him dead, gathered in the courtyard to prepare\nfor his burial. They saw him fallen to the earth, but they remarked\nthat the bodies of others who had died from this evil had all been\nleft on the verandah, but his was in the lower court. They raised him\nup in order to prepare him for burial, when suddenly he came to life,\nlooked at them in anger, and asked what they meant. Fear and amazement\npossessed them. From that time on there was no more smell.\n\n\nIm Bang.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nXXXI\n\nTHE TEMPLE TO THE GOD OF WAR\n\n\n[Yi Hang-bok.--When he was a child a blind fortune-teller came and\ncast his future, saying, \"This boy will be very great indeed.\"\n\nAt seven years of age his father gave him for subject to write a\nverse on \"The Harp and the Sword,\" and he wrote--\n\n\n   \"The Sword pertains to the Hand of the Warrior\n    And the Harp to the Music of the Ancients.\"\n\n\nAt eight he took the subject of the \"Willow before the Door,\"\nand wrote--\n\n\n   \"The east wind brushes the brow of the cliff\n    And the willow on the edge nods fresh and green.\"\n\n\nOn seeing a picture of a great banquet among the fierce Turks of\nCentral Asia, he wrote thus--\n\n\n   \"The hunt is off in the wild dark hills,\n      And the moon is cold and gray,\n    While the tramping feet of a thousand horse\n      Ring on the frosty way.\n    In the tents of the Turk the music thrills\n      And the wine-cups chink for joy,\n    'Mid the noise of the dancer's savage tread\n      And the lilt of the wild hautboy.\"\n\n\nAt twelve years of age he was proud, we are told, and haughty. He\ndressed well, and was envied by the poorer lads of the place, and once\nhe took off his coat and gave it to a boy who looked with envy on\nhim. He gave his shoes as well, and came back barefoot. His mother,\nwishing to know his mind in the matter, pretended to reprimand him,\nbut he replied, saying, \"Mother, when others wanted it so, how could\nI refuse giving?\" His mother pondered these things in her heart.\n\nWhen he was fifteen he was strong and well-built, and liked\nvigorous exercise, so that he was a noted wrestler and skilful at\nshuttlecock. His mother, however, frowned upon these things, saying\nthat they were not dignified, so that he gave them up and confined his\nattention to literary studies, graduating at twenty-five years of age.\n\nIn 1592, during the Japanese War, when the King escaped to Eui-ju,\nYi Hang-bok went with him in his flight, and there he met the Chinese\n(Ming) representative, who said in surprise to his Majesty, \"Do you\nmean to tell me that you have men in Cho-sen like Yi Hang-bok?\" Yang\nHo, the general of the rescuing forces, also continually referred to\nhim for advice and counsel. He lived to see the troubles in the reign\nof the wicked Kwang-hai, and at last went into exile to Puk-chong. When\nhe crossed the Iron Pass near Wonsan, he wrote--\n\n\n   \"From the giddy height of the Iron Peak,\n        I call on the passing cloud,\n      To take up a lonely exile's tears\n        In the folds of its feathery shroud,\n      And drop them as rain on the Palace Gates,\n        On the King, and his shameless crowd.\"]\n\n\n\n\nThe Story\n\nDuring the Japanese War in the reign of Son-jo, the Mings sent a great\narmy that came east, drove out the enemy and restored peace. At that\ntime the general of the Mings informed his Korean Majesty that the\nvictory was due to the help of Kwan, the God of War. \"This being\nthe case,\" said he, \"you ought not to continue without temples in\nwhich to express your gratitude to him.\" So they built him houses of\nworship and offered him sacrifice. The Temples built were one to the\nsouth and one to the east of the city. In examining sites for these\nthey could not agree on the one to the south. Some wanted it nearer\nthe wall and some farther away. At that time an official, called Yi\nHang-bok, was in charge of the conference. On a certain day when Yi\nwas at home a military officer called and wished to see him. Ordering\nhim in he found him a great strapping fellow, splendidly built. His\nrequest was that Yi should send out all his retainers till he talked\nto him privately. They were sent out, and then the stranger gave his\nmessage. After he had finished, he said good-bye and left.\n\nYi had at that time an old friend stopping with him. The friend\nwent out with the servants when they were asked to leave, and now\nhe came back again. When he came in he noticed that the face of the\nmaster had a very peculiar expression, and he asked him the reason of\nit. Yi made no reply at first, but later told his friend that a very\nextraordinary thing had happened. The military man who had come and\ncalled was none other than a messenger of the God of War. His coming,\ntoo, was on account of their not yet having decided in regard to the\nsite for the Temple. \"He came,\" said Yi, \"to show me where it ought\nto be. He urged that it was not a matter for time only, but for the\neternities to come. If we do not get it right the God of War will\nfind no peace. I told him in reply that I would do my best. Was this\nnot strange?\"\n\nThe friend who heard this was greatly exercised, but Yi warned him\nnot to repeat it to any one. Yi used all his efforts, and at last\nthe building was placed on the approved site, where it now stands.\n\n\nIm Bang.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nXXXII\n\nA VISIT FROM THE SHADES\n\n\n[Choi Yu-won.--(The story of meeting his mother's ghost is reported\nto be of this man.)\n\nChoi Yu-won matriculated in 1579 and graduated in 1602, becoming Chief\nJustice and having conferred on him the rank of prince. When he was a\nboy his great-aunt once gave him cloth for a suit of clothes, but he\nrefused to accept of it, and from this his aunt prophesied that he\nwould yet become a famous man. He studied in the home of the great\nteacher Yul-gok, and Yul-gok also foretold that the day would come\nwhen he would be an honour to Korea.\n\nYu-won once met Chang Han-kang and inquired of him concerning Pyon-wha\nKeui-jil (a law by which the weak became strong, the wicked good,\nand the stupid wise). He also asked that if one be truly transformed\nwill the soul change as well as the body, or the body only? Chang\nreplied, \"Both are changed, for how could the body change without\nthe soul?\" Yu-won asked Yul-gok concerning this also, and Yul-gok\nreplied that Chang's words were true.\n\nIn 1607 Choi Yu-won memorialized the King, calling attention to a\nletter received from Japan in answer to a communication sent by his\nMajesty, which had on its address the name of the Prime Minister,\nwritten a space lower than good form required. The Korean envoy had not\nprotested, as duty would require of him, and yet the King had advanced\nhim in rank. The various officials commended him for his courage.\n\nIn 1612, while he was Chief Justice, King Kwang-hai tried to degrade\nthe Queen Dowager, who was not his own mother, he being born of a\nconcubine, but Yu-won besought him with tears not to do so illegal\nand unnatural a thing. Still the King overrode all opposition, and\ndid according to his unfilial will. In it all Choi Yu-won was proven\na good man and a just. He used to say to his companions, even as a\nyouth, \"Death is dreadful, but still, better death for righteousness'\nsake and honour than life in disgrace.\" Another saying of his runs,\n\"All one's study is for the development of character; if it ends not\nin that it is in vain.\"\n\nKorea's ancient belief was that the blood of a faithful son served\nas an elixir of life to the dying, so that when his mother was at the\npoint of death Yu-won with a knife cut flesh from his thigh till the\nblood flowed, and with this he prepared his magic dose.]\n\n\n\n\nThe Story\n\nThere was a minister in olden days who once, when he was Palace\nSecretary, was getting ready for office in the morning. He had on\nhis ceremonial dress. It was rather early, and as he leaned on his\narm-rest for a moment, sleep overcame him. He dreamt, and in the\ndream he thought he was mounted and on his journey. He was crossing\nthe bridge at the entrance to East Palace Street, when suddenly he saw\nhis mother coming towards him on foot. He at once dismounted, bowed,\nand said, \"Why do you come thus, mother, not in a chair, but on foot?\"\n\nShe replied, \"I have already left the world, and things are not where\nI am as they are where you are, and so I walk.\"\n\nThe secretary asked, \"Where are you going, please?\"\n\nShe replied, \"We have a servant living at Yong-san, and they are\nhaving a witches' prayer service there just now, so I am going to\npartake of the sacrifice.\"\n\n\"But,\" said the secretary, \"we have sacrificial days, many of them,\nat our own home, those of the four seasons, also on the first and\nfifteenth of each month. Why do you go to a servant's house and not\nto mine?\"\n\nThe mother replied, \"Your sacrifices are of no interest to me, I like\nthe prayers of the witches. If there is no medium we spirits find no\nsatisfaction. I am in a hurry,\" said she, \"and cannot wait longer,\"\nso she spoke her farewell and was gone.\n\nThe secretary awoke with a start, but felt that he had actually seen\nwhat had come to pass.\n\nHe then called a servant and told him to go at once to So-and-So's\nhouse in Yong-san, and tell a certain servant to come that night\nwithout fail. \"Go quickly,\" said the secretary, \"so that you can be\nback before I enter the Palace.\" Then he sat down to meditate over it.\n\nIn a little the servant had gone and come again. It was not yet\nbroad daylight, and because it was cold the servant did not enter\nstraight, but went first into the kitchen to warm his hands before\nthe fire. There was a fellow-servant there who asked him, \"Have you\nhad something to drink?\"\n\nHe replied, \"They are having a big witch business on at Yong-san, and\nwhile the mutang (witch) was performing, she said that the spirit that\npossessed her was the mother of the master here. On my appearance she\ncalled out my name and said, 'This is a servant from our house.' Then\nshe called me and gave me a big glass of spirit. She added further,\n'On my way here I met my son going into the Palace.'\"\n\nThe secretary, overhearing this talk from the room where he was\nwaiting, broke down and began to cry. He called in the servant and made\nfuller inquiry, and more than ever he felt assured that his mother's\nspirit had really gone that morning to share in the koot (witches'\nsacrificial ceremony). He then called the mutang, and in behalf of\nthe spirit of his mother made her a great offering. Ever afterwards\nhe sacrificed to her four times a year at each returning season.\n\n\nIm Bang.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nXXXIII\n\nTHE FEARLESS CAPTAIN\n\n\nThere was formerly a soldier, Yee Man-ji of Yong-nam, a strong\nand muscular fellow, and brave as a lion. He had green eyes and a\nterrible countenance. Frequently he said, \"Fear! What is fear?\" On a\ncertain day when he was in his house a sudden storm of rain came on,\nwhen there were flashes of lightning and heavy claps of thunder. At\none of them a great ball of fire came tumbling into his home and went\nrolling over the verandah, through the rooms, into the kitchen and\nout into the yard, and again into the servants' quarters. Several\ntimes it went and came bouncing about. Its blazing light and the\naccompanying noise made it a thing of terror.\n\nYee sat in the outer verandah, wholly undisturbed. He thought\nto himself, \"I have done no wrong, therefore why need I fear the\nlightning?\" A moment later a flash struck the large elm tree in front\nof the house and smashed it to pieces. The rain then ceased and the\nthunder likewise.\n\nYee turned to see how it fared with his family, and found them all\nfallen senseless. With the greatest of difficulty he had them restored\nto life. During that year they all fell ill and died, and Yee came\nto Seoul and became a Captain of the Right Guard. Shortly after he\nwent to North Ham-kyong Province. There he took a second wife and\nsettled down. All his predecessors had died of goblin influences,\nand the fact that calamity had overtaken them while in the official\nquarters had caused them to use one of the village houses instead.\n\nYee, however, determined to live down all fear and go back to the\nold quarters, which he extensively repaired.\n\nOne night his wife was in the inner room while he was alone in the\npublic office with a light burning before him. In the second watch or\nthereabout, a strange-looking object came out of the inner quarters. It\nlooked like the stump of a tree wrapped in black sackcloth. There\nwas no outline or definite shape to it, and it came jumping along and\nsat itself immediately before Yee Man-ji. Also two other objects came\nfollowing in its wake, shaped just like the first one. The three then\nsat in a row before Yee, coming little by little closer and closer to\nhim. Yee moved away till he had backed up against the wall and could\ngo no farther. Then he said, \"Who are you, anyhow; what kind of devil,\npray, that you dare to push towards me so in my office? If you have\nany complaint or matter to set right, say so, and I'll see to it.\"\n\nThe middle devil said in reply, \"I'm hungry, I'm hungry, I'm hungry.\"\n\nYee answered, \"Hungry, are you? Very well, now just move back and I'll\nhave food prepared for you in abundance.\" He then repeated a magic\nformula that he had learned, and snapped his fingers. The three devils\nseemed to be afraid of this. Then Man-ji suddenly closed his fist\nand struck a blow at the first devil. It dodged, however, most deftly\nand he missed, but hit the floor a sounding blow that cut his hand.\n\nThen they all shouted, \"We'll go, we'll go, since you treat guests\nthus.\" At once they bundled out of the room and disappeared.\n\nOn the following day he had oxen killed and a sacrifice offered to\nthese devils, and they returned no more.\n\n\n\nNote.--Men have been killed by goblins. This is not so much due to the\nfact that goblins are wicked as to the fact that men are afraid of\nthem. Many died in North Ham-kyong, but those again who were brave,\nand clove them with a knife, or struck them down, lived. If they had\nbeen afraid, they too would have died.\n\n\nIm Bang.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nXXXIV\n\nTHE KING OF YOM-NA (HELL)\n\n\n[Pak Chom was one of the Royal Censors, and died in the Japanese War\nof 1592.]\n\n\n\n\nThe Story\n\nIn Yon-nan County, Whang-hai Province, there was a certain literary\ngraduate whose name I have forgotten. He fell ill one day and remained\nin his room, leaning helplessly against his arm-rest. Suddenly several\nspirit soldiers appeared to him, saying, \"The Governor of the lower\nhell has ordered your arrest,\" so they bound him with a chain about\nhis neck, and led him away. They journeyed for many hundreds of miles,\nand at last reached a place that had a very high wall. The spirits\nthen took him within the walls and went on for a long distance.\n\nThere was within this enclosure a great structure whose height reached\nto heaven. They arrived at the gate, and the spirits who had him in\nhand led him in, and when they entered the inner courtyard they laid\nhim down on his face.\n\nGlancing up he saw what looked like a king seated on a throne; grouped\nabout him on each side were attendant officers. There were also scores\nof secretaries and soldiers going and coming on pressing errands. The\nKing's appearance was most terrible, and his commands such as to fill\none with awe. The graduate felt the perspiration break out on his back,\nand he dared not look up. In a little a secretary came forward, stood\nin front of the raised dais to transmit commands, and the King asked,\n\"Where do you come from? What is your name? How old are you? What do\nyou do for a living? Tell me the truth now, and no dissembling.\"\n\nThe scholar, frightened to death, replied, \"My clan name is So-and-so,\nand my given name is So-and-so. I am so old, and I have lived for\nseveral generations at Yon-nan, Whang-hai Province. I am stupid and\nill-equipped by nature, so have not done anything special. I have\nheard all my life that if you say your beads with love and pity in\nyour heart you will escape hell, and so have given my time to calling\non the Buddha, and dispensing alms.\"\n\nThe secretary, hearing this, went at once and reported it to the\nKing. After some time he came back with a message, saying, \"Come\nup closer to the steps, for you are not the person intended. It\nhappens that you bear the same name and you have thus been wrongly\narrested. You may go now.\"\n\nThe scholar joined his hands and made a deep bow. Again the secretary\ntransmitted a message from the King, saying, \"My house, when on earth,\nwas in such a place in such and such a ward of Seoul. When you go\nback I want to send a message by you. My coming here is long, and\nthe outer coat I wear is worn to shreds. Ask my people to send me a\nnew outer coat. If you do so I shall be greatly obliged, so see that\nyou do not forget.\"\n\nThe scholar said, \"Your Majesty's message given me thus direct I\nshall pass on without fail, but the ways of the two worlds, the dark\nworld and the light, are so different that when I give the message\nthe hearers will say I am talking nonsense. True, I'll give it just\nas you have commanded, but what about it if they refuse to listen? I\nought to have some evidence as proof to help me out.\"\n\nThe King made answer, \"Your words are true, very true. This will\nhelp you: When I was on earth,\" said he, \"one of my head buttons [1]\nthat I wore had a broken edge, and I hid it in the third volume of\nthe Book of History. I alone know of it, no one else in the world. If\nyou give this as a proof they will listen.\"\n\nThe scholar replied, \"That will be satisfactory, but again, how shall\nI do in case they make the new coat?\"\n\nThe reply was, \"Prepare a sacrifice, offer the coat by fire, and it\nwill reach me.\"\n\nHe then bade good-bye, and the King sent with him two soldier\nguards. He asked the soldiers, as they came out, who the one seated\non the throne was. \"He is the King of Hades,\" said they; \"his surname\nis Pak and his given name is Oo.\"\n\nThey arrived at the bank of a river, and the two soldiers pushed him\ninto the water. He awoke with a start, and found that he had been\ndead for three days.\n\nWhen he recovered from his sickness he came up to Seoul, searched out\nthe house indicated, and made careful inquiry as to the name, finding\nthat it was no other than Pak Oo. Pak Oo had two sons, who at that\ntime had graduated and were holding office. The graduate wanted to\nsee the sons of this King of Hades, but the gatekeeper would not let\nhim in. Therefore he stood before the red gate waiting helplessly till\nthe sun went down. Then came out from the inner quarters of the house\nan old servant, to whom he earnestly made petition that he might see\nthe master. On being thus requested, the servant returned and reported\nit to the master, who, a little later, ordered him in. On entering,\nhe saw two gentlemen who seemed to be chiefs. They had him sit down,\nand then questioned him as to who he was and what he had to say.\n\nHe replied, \"I am a student living in Yon-nan County, Whang-hai\nProvince. On such and such a day I died and went into the other world,\nwhere your honorable father gave me such and such a commission.\"\n\nThe two listened for a little and then, without waiting to hear all\nthat he had to say, grew very angry and began to scold him, saying,\n\"How dare such a scarecrow as you come into our house and say such\nthings as these? This is stuff and nonsense that you talk. Pitch him\nout,\" they shouted to the servants.\n\nHe, however, called back saying, \"I have a proof; listen. If it fails,\nwhy then, pitch me out.\"\n\nOne of the two said, \"What possible proof can you have?\" Then the\nscholar told with great exactness and care the story of the head\nbutton.\n\nThe two, in astonishment over this, had the book taken down and\nexamined, and sure enough in Vol. III of the Book of History was the\nbutton referred to. Not a single particular had failed. It proved\nto be a button that they had missed after the death of their father,\nand that they had searched for in vain.\n\nAccepting the message now as true, they all entered upon a period\nof mourning.\n\nThe women of the family also called in the scholar and asked him\nspecially of what he had seen. So they made the outer coat, chose a\nday, and offered it by fire before the ancestral altar. Three days\nafter the sacrifice the scholar dreamed, and the family of Pak dreamed\ntoo, that the King of Hades had come and given to each one of them his\nthanks for the coat. They long kept the scholar at their home, treating\nhim with great respect, and became his firm friends for ever after.\n\nPak Oo was a great-grandson of Minister Pak Chom. While he held office\nhe was honest and just and was highly honoured by the people. When he\nwas Mayor of Hai-ju there arose a dispute between him and the Governor,\nwhich proved also that Pak was the honest man.\n\nWhen I was at Hai-ju, Choi Yu-chom, a graduate, told me this story.\n\n\nIm Bang.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nXXXV\n\nHONG'S EXPERIENCES IN HADES\n\n\nHong Nai-pom was a military graduate who was born in the year\nA.D. 1561, and lived in the city of Pyeng-yang. He passed his\nexamination in the year 1603, and in the year 1637 attained to\nthe Third Degree. He was 82 in the year 1643, and his son Sonn\nmemorialized the King asking that his father be given rank appropriate\nto his age. At that time a certain Han Hong-kil was chief of the Royal\nSecretaries, and he refused to pass on the request to his Majesty; but\nin the year 1644, when the Crown Prince was returning from his exile\nin China, he came by way of Pyeng-yang. Sonn took advantage of this to\npresent the same request to the Crown Prince. His Highness received\nit, and had it brought to the notice of the King. In consequence,\nHong received the rank of Second Degree.\n\nOn receiving it he said, \"This year I shall die,\" and a little later\nhe died.\n\nIn the year 1594, Hong fell ill of typhus fever, and after ten days\nof suffering, died. They prepared his body for burial, and placed\nit in a coffin. Then the friends and relatives left, and his wife\nremained alone in charge. Of a sudden the body turned itself and\nfell with a thud to the ground. The woman, frightened, fainted away,\nand the other members of the family came rushing to her help. From\nthis time on the body resumed its functions, and Hong lived.\n\nSaid he, \"In my dream I went to a certain region, a place of great fear\nwhere many persons were standing around, and awful ogres, some of them\nwearing bulls' heads, and some with faces of wild beasts. They crowded\nabout and jumped and pounced toward me in all directions. A scribe\nrobed in black sat on a platform and addressed me, saying, 'There are\nthree religions on earth, Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism. According\nto Buddhism, you know that heaven and hell are places that decide\nbetween man's good and evil deeds. You have ever been a blasphemer\nof the Buddha, and a denier of a future life, acting always as though\nyou knew everything, blustering and storming. You are now to be sent\nto hell, and ten thousand kalpas [2] will not see you out of it.'\n\n\"Then two or three constables carrying spears came and took me off. I\nscreamed, 'You are wrong, I am innocently condemned.' Just at that\nmoment a certain Buddha, with a face of shining gold, came smiling\ntoward me, and said, 'There is truly a mistake somewhere; this man\nmust attain to the age of eighty-three and become an officer of the\nSecond Degree ere he dies.' Then addressing me he asked, 'How is it\nthat you have come here? The order was that a certain Hong of Chon-ju\nbe arrested and brought, not you; but now that you have come, look\nabout the place before you go, and tell the world afterwards of what\nyou have seen.'\n\n\"The guards, on hearing this, took me in hand and brought me first\nto a prison-house, where a sign was posted up, marked, 'Stirrers up\nof Strife.' I saw in this prison a great brazier-shaped pit, built\nof stones and filled with fire. Flames arose and forked tongues. The\nstirrers up of strife were taken and made to sit close before it. I\nthen saw one infernal guard take a long rod of iron, heat it red-hot,\nand put out the eyes of the guilty ones. I saw also that the offenders\nwere hung up like dried fish. The guides who accompanied me, said,\n'While these were on earth they did not love their brethren, but\nlooked at others as enemies. They scoffed at the laws of God and\nsought only selfish gain, so they are punished.'\n\n\"The next hell was marked, 'Liars.' In that hell I saw an iron pillar\nof several yards in height, and great stones placed before it. The\noffenders were called up, and made to kneel before the pillar. Then I\nsaw an executioner take a knife and drive a hole through the tongues\nof the offenders, pass an iron chain through each, and hang them to\nthe pillar so that they dangled by their tongues several feet from the\nground. A stone was then taken and tied to each culprit's feet. The\nstones thus bearing down, and the chains being fast to the pillar,\ntheir tongues were pulled out a foot or more, and their eyes rolled in\ntheir sockets. Their agonies were appalling. The guides again said,\n'These offenders when on earth used their tongues skilfully to tell\nlies and to separate friend from friend, and so they are punished.'\n\n\"The next hell had inscribed on it, 'Deceivers.' I saw in it many\nscores of people. There were ogres that cut the flesh from their\nbodies, and fed it to starving demons. These ate and ate, and the\nflesh was cut and cut till only the bones remained. When the winds of\nhell blew, flesh returned to them; then metal snakes and copper dogs\ncrowded in to bite them and suck their blood. Their screams of pain\nmade the earth to tremble. The guides said to me, 'When these offenders\nwere on earth they held high office, and while they pretended to be\ntrue and good they received bribes in secret and were doers of all\nevil. As Ministers of State they ate the fat of the land and sucked\nthe blood of the people, and yet advertised themselves as benefactors\nand were highly applauded. While in reality they lived as thieves,\nthey pretended to be holy, as Confucius and Mencius are holy. They\nwere deceivers of the world, and robbers, and so are punished thus.'\n\n\"The guides then said, 'It is not necessary that you see all the\nhells.' They said to one another, 'Let's take him yonder and show\nhim;' so they went some distance to the south-east. There was a\ngreat house with a sign painted thus, 'The Home of the Blessed.' As\nI looked, there were beautiful haloes encircling it, and clouds of\nglory. There were hundreds of priests in cassock and surplice. Some\ncarried fresh-blown lotus flowers; some were seated like the Buddha;\nsome were reading prayers.\n\n\"The guides said, 'These when on earth kept the faith, and with\nundivided hearts served the Buddha, and so have escaped the Eight\nSorrows and the Ten Punishments, and are now in the home of the happy,\nwhich is called heaven.' When we had seen all these things we returned.\n\n\"The golden-faced Buddha said to me, 'Not many on earth believe in\nthe Buddha, and few know of heaven and hell. What do you think of it?'\n\n\"I bowed low and thanked him.\n\n\"Then the black-coated scribe said, 'I am sending this man away; see\nhim safely off.' The spirit soldiers took me with them, and while on\nthe way I awakened with a start, and found that I had been dead for\nfour days.\"\n\nHong's mind was filled with pride on this account, and he frequently\nboasted of it. His age and Second Degree of rank came about just as\nthe Buddha had predicted.\n\nHis experience, alas! was used as a means to deceive people, for the\nSuperior Man does not talk of these strange and wonderful things.\n\nYi Tan, a Chinaman of the Song Kingdom, used to say, \"If there is\nno heaven, there is no heaven, but if there is one, the Superior\nMan alone can attain to it. If there is no hell, there is no hell,\nbut if there is one the bad man must inherit it.\"\n\nIf we examine Hong's story, while it looks like a yarn to deceive\nthe world, it really is a story to arouse one to right action. I,\nIm Bang, have recorded it like Toi-chi, saying, \"Don't find fault\nwith the story, but learn its lesson.\"\n\n\nIm Bang.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nXXXVI\n\nHAUNTED HOUSES\n\n\nThere once lived a man in Seoul called Yi Chang, who frequently told\nas an experience of his own the following story: He was poor and\nhad no home of his own, so he lived much in quarters loaned him by\nothers. When hard pressed he even went into haunted houses and lived\nthere. Once, after failing to find a place, he heard of one such house\nin Ink Town (one of the wards of Seoul), at the foot of South Mountain,\nwhich had been haunted for generations and was now left vacant. Chang\ninvestigated the matter, and finally decided to take possession.\n\nFirst, to find whether it was really haunted or not, he called his\nelder brothers, Hugh and Haw, and five or six of his relatives,\nand had them help clean it out and sleep there. The house had one\nupper room that was fast locked. Looking through a chink, there was\nseen to be in the room a tablet chair and a stand for it; also there\nwas an old harp without any strings, a pair of worn shoes, and some\nsticks and bits of wood. Nothing else was in the room. Dust lay thick,\nas though it had gathered through long years of time.\n\nThe company, after drinking wine, sat round the table and played at\ngames, watching the night through. When it was late, towards midnight,\nthey suddenly heard the sound of harps and a great multitude of\nvoices, though the words were mixed and unintelligible. It was as\nthough many people were gathered and carousing at a feast. The company\nthen consulted as to what they should do. One drew a sword and struck\na hole through the partition that looked into the tower. Instantly\nthere appeared from the other side a sharp blade thrust out towards\nthem. It was blue in colour. In fear and consternation they desisted\nfrom further interference with the place. But the sound of the harp\nand the revelry kept up till the morning. The company broke up at\ndaylight, withdrew from the place, and never again dared to enter.\n\nIn the South Ward there was another haunted house, of which Chang\ndesired possession, so he called his friends and brothers once more to\nmake the experiment and see whether it was really haunted or not. On\nentering, they found two dogs within the enclosure, one black and\none tan, lying upon the open verandah, one at each end. Their eyes\nwere fiery red, and though the company shouted at them they did not\nmove. They neither barked nor bit. But when midnight came these two\nanimals got up and went down into the court, and began baying at the\ninky sky in a way most ominous. They went jumping back and forth. At\nthat time, too, there came some one round the corner of the house\ndressed in ceremonial robes. The two dogs met him with great delight,\njumping up before and behind in their joy at his coming. He ascended\nto the verandah, and sat down. Immediately five or six multi-coloured\ndemons appeared and bowed before him, in front of the open space. The\nman then led the demons and the dogs two or three times round the\nhouse. They rushed up into the verandah and jumped down again into the\ncourt; backwards and forwards they came and went, till at last all of\nthem mysteriously disappeared. The devils went into a hole underneath\nthe floor, while the dogs went up to their quarters and lay down.\n\nThe company from the inner room had seen this. When daylight came\nthey examined the place, looked through the chinks of the floor,\nbut saw only an old, worn-out sieve and a few discarded brooms. They\nwent behind the house and found another old broom poked into the\nchimney. They ordered a servant to gather them up and have them\nburned. The dogs lay as they were all day long, and neither ate nor\nmoved. Some of the party wished to kill the brutes, but were afraid,\nso fearsome was their appearance.\n\nThis night again they remained, desiring to see if the same phenomena\nwould appear. Again at midnight the two dogs got down into the court\nand began barking up at the sky. The man in ceremonial robes again\ncame, and the devils, just as the day before.\n\nThe company, in fear and disgust, left the following morning, and\ndid not try it again.\n\nA friend, hearing this of Chang, went and asked about it from Hugh\nand Haw, and they confirmed the story.\n\nThere is still another tale of a graduate who was out of house and\nhome and went into a haunted dwelling in Ink Town, which was said\nto have had the tower where the mysterious sounds were heard. They\nopened the door, broke out the window, took out the old harp, the\nspirit chair, the shoes and sticks, and had them burned. Before\nthe fire had finished its work, one of the servants fell down and\ndied. The graduate, seeing this, in fear and dismay put out the fire,\nrestored the things and left the house.\n\nAgain there was another homeless man who tried it. In the night a woman\nin a blue skirt came down from the loft, and acted in a peculiar and\nuncanny way. The man, seeing this, picked up his belongings and left.\n\nAgain, in South Kettle Town, there were a number of woodmen who in\nthe early morning were passing behind the haunted house, when they\nfound an old woman sitting weeping under a tree. They thinking her\nan evil bogey, one man came up behind and gave her a thrust with his\nsickle. The witch rushed off into the house, her height appearing to\nbe only about one cubit and a span.\n\n\nIm Bang.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nXXXVII\n\nIM, THE HUNTER\n\n\n[Im Kyong-up.--One of Korea's most famous generals, who fought in\nbehalf of China in 1628 against the Manchus. He is worshipped to-day\nin many parts of Korea.]\n\n\n\n\nThe Story\n\nWhen General Im Kyong-up was young he lived in the town of Tallai. In\nthose days he loved the chase, and constantly practised riding\nand hunting. Once he went off on an excursion to track the deer\nin Wol-lak Mountains. He carried only a sword, and made the chase\non foot. In his pursuit of the animal he went as far as Tai-paik\nMountain. There night overtook him, and the way was hidden in the\ndarkness. There were yawning chasms and great horns and cliffs on\nall sides. While he was in a state of perplexity he met a woodman,\nand asked him where the road was and how he ought to go. The woodman\ndirected him to a cliff opposite, \"where,\" said he, \"there is a\nhouse.\" Im heard this and crossed over to the farther ridge. On\napproaching more nearly he found a great tiled mansion standing alone\nwithout a single house about it. He went in by the main gateway, but\nfound all quiet and dark and no one in sight. It was a vacant house,\nevidently deserted. After travelling all day in the hills Im was full\nof fears and creepy feelings. So he viewed the place with mistrust,\nfearing that there might be hill goblins in it or tree devils,\nbut a moment later some one opened the room door and shouted out,\n\"Do you sleep here? Have you had something to eat?\"\n\nIm looked and discovered that it was the same person that had directed\nhim on his way. He said in reply, \"I have not eaten anything and am\nhungry.\" So the man opened the wall box and brought him out wine and\nmeat. He, being exceedingly hungry, ate all. Then they sat down to\ntalk together, and after a little the woodman got up, opened the box\nonce more, and took from it a great sword. Im asked, \"What is this\nyou have; do you intend to kill me?\"\n\nThe woodman laughed and said, \"No, no, but to-night there is something\non hand worth the seeing. Will you come with me and not be afraid?\"\n\nIm said, \"Of course I am not afraid; I want to see.\"\n\nIt was then about midnight, and the woodman, with the sword in\nhis hand, took Im and went to one side through a succession of\ngates that seemed never ending. At last they came to a place where\nlights were reflected on a pond of water. There was a high pavilion\napparently in the middle of the lake, and from the inside of it came\nthe lights. There were sounds, too, of laughter and talking that came\nfrom the upper storey. Through the sliding doors he could distinguish\ntwo people seated together. There was another pavilion to the right\nof the lake and a large tree near it, up which the woodman told Im\nto climb.\n\n\"When you get well up,\" said he, \"take your belt, tie yourself fast\nto the trunk and keep perfectly still.\"\n\nIm climbed the tree as directed, and made himself secure. From this\npoint of vantage he looked intently, and the first thing he saw was\nthe woodman give a leap that cleared the lake and landed him in the\npavilion. At once he ascended to the upper storey, and now Im could\ndistinguish three persons sitting talking and laughing. He heard the\nwoodman, after drinking, say to his neighbour, \"We have made our wager,\nnow let's see it out.\" The man replied, \"Let's do so.\" Then both arose,\ncame down to the entrance, and vaulted off into mid-air, where they\ndisappeared from sight. Nothing could be distinguished now but the\nclashing of steel and flashes of fire, which kept up for a long time.\n\nIn beholding this from the tree top, where he was stationed, his\nbones grew cold and his hair stood stiff on end. He knew not what to\ndo. Then a moment later he heard something fall to the ground with\na great thud. A cry of victory arose too, and he recognized that it\nwas the woodman's voice. Chills ran all over him, and goose-flesh\ncovered his skin; only after a long time could he gain control of\nhimself. He came down from the tree and the woodman met him, took him\nsuddenly under his arm, and vaulted over into the pavilion. Here he\nmet a beautiful woman with hair like fleecy clouds. Before the fight\nthe woman's voice was evidently full of hilarity, but now she was\novercome with grief and tears.\n\nThe woodman spoke roughly to her, saying, \"Do you not know that you,\na wicked woman, have caused the death of a great man?\" The woodman\nsaid also to Im, \"You have courage and valour in your way, but it is\nnot sufficient to meet a world like this. I will now give you this\nwoman, and this house, so you can bid farewell to the dusty world\nand live here in peace and quiet for the rest of your days.\"\n\nIm replied, \"What I have seen to-night I am at a loss to\nunderstand. I'd like to know the meaning of it first; please tell\nme. After hearing that I'll do what you ask.\"\n\nThe woodman said, \"I am not an ordinary mortal of the world, but am an\noutlaw of the hills and woods. I am a robber, really, and by robbing\nhave many such a house as this. Not only here but in all the provinces\nI have homes abundant, a beautiful woman in each, and rich and dainty\nfare. All unexpectedly this woman has neglected me for another man,\nand he and she have several times tried to kill me. There being no\nhelp for it, I had to kill him. I have killed the man, but I ought\ntruly to have killed the woman. Take this place, then, off my hands,\nwill you, and the woman too?\"\n\nBut Im asked, \"Who was the man, and where did he live?\"\n\n\"There were,\" said the woodman, \"mighty possibilities in him,\nthough he lived humbly inside the South Gate of Seoul and sold cut\ntobacco. He came here frequently, and I knew it, though I winked at\nit all until they attempted to kill me, and that brought matters\nto a head. It was not my wish to kill him,\" and here the woodman\nbroke down and cried. \"Alas, alas!\" said he, \"I have killed a great\nand gifted man. Think it over,\" said he; \"you have courage, but\nnot enough to make any mark in the world. You will fail half-way,\nthe Fates have so decided. Cease from any vain ambitions, for there\nis no way by which your name can ever become famous. Do what I say,\nthen, and take over this woman and this home.\"\n\nIm, however, shook his head and said, \"I can't do it.\"\n\nThe woodman asked, \"Why can you not? If you do not, there is nothing\nfor this woman but death, so here I'll have done with it,\" and he\nstruck her with his sword and cut off her head.\n\nThe day following he said to Im, \"Since you are determined to go\nforth and do valiantly, I cannot stop you, but if a man goes forth\nthus and does not know the use of the sword he is helpless, and at\nthe mercy of the foe. Stay with me a little and learn. I'll teach you.\"\n\nIm stayed for six days and learned the use of the sword.\n\n\nAnon.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nXXXVIII\n\nTHE MAGIC INVASION OF SEOUL\n\n\nA gentleman of Seoul was one day crossing the Han River in a boat. In\nthe crossing, he nodded for a moment, fell asleep and dreamed a\ndream. In his dream he met a man who had Gothic eyebrows and almond\neyes, whose face was red as ripened dates, and whose height was eight\ncubits and a span. He was dressed in green and had a long beard that\ncame down to his belt-string. A man of majestic appearance he was,\nwith a great sword at his side and he rode on a red horse.\n\nHe asked the gentleman to open his hand, which he did, and then the\naugust stranger dashed a pen-mark on it as the sign of the God of\nWar. Said he, \"When you cross the river, do not go direct to Seoul,\nbut wait at the landing. Seven horses will shortly appear, loaded with\nnetwork hampers, all proceeding on their journey to the capital. You\nare to call the horsemen, open your hand, and show them the sign. When\nthey see it they will all commit suicide in your very presence. After\nthat, you are to take the loads and pile them up, but don't look\ninto them. Then you are to go at once and report the matter to the\nPalace and have them all burned. The matter is of immense importance,\nso do not fail in the slightest particular.\"\n\nThe gentleman gave a great start of terror and awoke. He looked at\nhis hand and there, indeed, was the strange mark. Not only so, but the\nink had not yet dried upon it. He was astonished beyond measure, but\ndid as the dream had indicated, and waited on the river's bank. In a\nlittle there came, as he was advised, the seven loads on seven horses,\ncoming from the far-distant South. There were attendants in charge,\nand one man wearing an official coat came along behind. When they had\ncrossed the river the gentleman called them to him and said, \"I have\nsomething to say to you; come close to me.\" These men, unsuspecting,\nthough with somewhat of a frightened look, closed up. He then showed\nthem his hand with the mark, and asked them if they knew what it\nwas. When they saw it, first of all, the man in the official coat\nturned and with one bound jumped over the cliff into the river. The\neight or nine who accompanied the loads likewise all rushed after\nhim and dashed into the water.\n\nThe scholar then called the boatmen, and explained to them that the\nthings in the hampers were dangerous, that he would have to make it\nknown to the Palace, and that in the meantime they were to keep close\nguard, but that they were not to touch them or look at them.\n\nHe hurried as fast as possible, and reported the matter to the Board\nof War. The Board sent an official, and had the loads brought into\nSeoul, and then, as had been directed, they were piled high with wood\nand set on fire. When the fire developed, the baskets broke open,\nand little figures of men and horses, each an inch or so long, in\ncountless numbers, came tumbling out.\n\nWhen the officials saw this they were frozen with fear; their hearts\nceased beating and their tongues lolled out. In a little, however,\nthe hampers were all burned up.\n\nThese were the creation of a magician, and were intended for a monster\ninvasion of Seoul, until warned by Kwan.\n\nFrom that time on the people of Seoul began faithful offerings to\nthe God of War, for had he not saved the city?\n\n\nIm Bang.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nXXXIX\n\nTHE AWFUL LITTLE GOBLIN\n\n\nThere was an occasion for a celebration in the home of a nobleman\nof Seoul, whereupon a feast, to which were invited all the family\nfriends, was prepared. There was a great crowd of men and women. In\nfront of the women's quarters there suddenly appeared an uncombed,\nugly-looking boy about fifteen years of age. The host and guests,\nthinking him a coolie who had come in the train of some visitor, did\nnot ask specially concerning him, but one of the women guests, seeing\nhim in the inner quarters, sent a servant to reprimand him and put\nhim out. The boy, however, did not move, so the servant said to him,\n\"Who are you, anyway, and with whom did you come, that you enter the\nwomen's quarters, and even when told to go out do not go?\"\n\nThe boy, however, stood stock-still, just as he had been, with no\nword of reply.\n\nThe company looked at him in doubt, and began to ask one another\nwhose he was and with whom he had come. Again they had the servant\nmake inquiry, but still there was no reply. The women then grew very\nangry, and ordered him to be put out. Several took hold of him and\ntried to pull him, but he was like a fixed rock, fast in the earth,\nabsolutely immovable. In helpless rage they informed the men.\n\nThe men, hearing this, sent several strong servants, who took hold\nall at once, but he did not budge a hair. They asked, \"Who are you,\nanyway?\" but he gave no reply. The crowd, then enraged, sent ten strong\nmen with ropes to bind him, but like a giant mountain he remained fast,\nso that they recognized that he could not be moved by man's power.\n\nOne guest remarked, \"But he, too, is human; why cannot he be\nmoved?\" They then sent five or six giant fellows with clubs to smash\nhim to pieces, and they laid on with all their might. It looked as\nthough he would be crushed like an egg-shell, while the sound of\ntheir pounding was like reverberating thunder. But just as before,\nnot a hair did he turn, not a wink did he give.\n\nThen the crowd began to fear, saying, \"This is not a man, but a god,\"\nso they entered the courtyard, one and all, and began to bow before\nhim, joining their hands and supplicating earnestly. They kept this\nup for a long time.\n\nAt last the boy gave a sarcastic smile, turned round, went out of\nthe gate and disappeared.\n\nThe company, frightened out of their wits, called off the feast. From\nthat day on, the people of that house were taken ill, including host\nand guests. Those who scolded him, those who tied him with ropes,\nthose who pounded him, all died in a few days. Other members of the\ncompany, too, contracted typhus and the like, and died also.\n\nIt was commonly held that the boy was the Too-uk Spirit, but we cannot\ndefinitely say. Strange, indeed!\n\n\n\nNote.--When the time comes for a clan to disappear from the earth,\ncalamity befalls it. Even though a great spirit should come in at\nthe door at such a feast time, if the guests had done as Confucius\nsuggests, \"Be reverent and distant,\" instead of insulting him and\nmaking him more malignant than ever, they would have escaped. Still,\ndevils and men were never intended to dwell together.\n\n\nIm Bang.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nXL\n\nGOD'S WAY\n\n\nIn a certain town there lived a man of fierce and ungovernable\ndisposition, who in moments of anger used to beat his mother. One\nday this parent, thus beaten, screamed out, \"Oh, God, why do you not\nstrike dead this wicked man who beats his mother?\"\n\nThe beating over, the son thrust his sickle through his belt and\nwent slowly off to the fields where he was engaged by a neighbour\nin reaping buckwheat. The day was fine, and the sky beautifully\nclear. Suddenly a dark fleck of cloud appeared in mid-heaven, and\na little later all the sky became black. Furious thunder followed,\nand rain came on. The village people looked out toward the field,\nwhere the flashes of lightning were specially noticeable. They seemed\nto see there a man with lifted sickle trying to ward them off. When\nthe storm had cleared away, they went to see, and lo, they found the\nman who had beaten his mother struck dead and riven to pieces.\n\nGod takes note of evil doers on this earth, and deals with them as\nthey deserve. How greatly should we fear!\n\n\nYi Ryuk.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nXLI\n\nTHE OLD MAN IN THE DREAM\n\n\nKwon Jai was a man high in rank and well advanced in years. He was,\nhowever, much given to sport and various kinds of pleasure. One\nnight he had a dream, when an old man came to him, who bowed low,\nand in tears said, \"Sir, Minister Hong wishes to kill off me and all\nmy posterity. Please save me, won't you?\"\n\nKwon asked, \"How can I save you?\" The old man replied, \"Hong will\nassuredly ask Your Excellency to help him. Desist from it, please,\nfor if you do, Hong will give it up and I shall live and all mine.\"\n\nA little later there came a rap at the door, when Kwon awakened\nand asked, \"Who is there?\" It was Hong, who that day had planned\nan excursion to Lotus Lake to fish for turtles, and now had come\nspecially to invite Kwon to go with him.\n\nThen Kwon knew that the turtle had appeared to him in a dream in\nthe form of an old man, so he declined, saying he was ill. I learned\nlater that Hong also did not go.\n\n\nYi Ryuk.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nXLII\n\nTHE PERFECT PRIEST\n\n\nThere was once a priest called Namnu who had perfected his ways in\nthe Buddhistic doctrine. Whenever he had clothing of his own he would\nwillingly undress and give it to those who were cold. His spirit was\ngentle with no creases or corners in it. Everybody, high and low,\nrich and poor, called him by the nickname of Softy. Whenever he saw\nany one sentenced to a flogging in the temple or official yamen,\nNamnu invariably begged that he might take the culprit's place. Once,\nwhen there was a great function in progress at Pagoda Temple and many\nhigh officials were assembled, Softy, too, was seen kneeling at the\nside and taking part. He suddenly remarked to Prince Hong of Yon-san,\n\"You are indeed a very great man.\"\n\nHong replied, \"What do you mean by 'great man,' you impudent brat? Take\nthat,\" and he gave him a box with his fist on the ear. Softy laughed,\nand said, \"Please, Hong, don't do that, it hurts! it hurts!\"\n\nLater I was in the train of Prince Yi of Yun-song, and other high\nofficials were present, when we stopped for a little before the\nTemple. Softy was there, and he looked at Yi and said, \"I know your\nface, but I have forgotten your name.\" Afterwards he said, \"Oh,\nI remember now, you are Yi Sok-hyong.\" The priests of the monastery\nwho heard this familiarity were scandalized, and hurried to make no\nend of apology to the Prince, saying, \"Softy was born so, God made\nhim so. Please, Your Excellency, forgive him.\" The Prince forgave\nhim and so he was not disturbed.\n\n\nYi Ryuk.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nXLIII\n\nTHE PROPITIOUS MAGPIE\n\n\nPeople say that when the magpie builds its nest directly south of a\nhome that the master of the house will be promoted in office. King\nT'ai-jong had a friend once who was very poor and had failed in all\nhis projects. After various fruitless attempts he decided to wait till\nthe King went out on procession and then to send a servant to build\nan imitation magpie's nest in some propitious place before him. The\nKing saw it and asked the man what he was doing. He said in reply that\nwhen a magpie builds its nest straight south of a home the master of\nthe house instantly gets promotion. His master, he said, had waited so\nlong and nothing had come, that he was building an imitation nest to\nbring it about. The King took pity on him and ordered his appointment\nat once.\n\nWhen I was young myself a magpie built its nest before our home,\nbut I, along with other boys, cut off the branch so that the whole\nnest fell to the ground, and there were the young with their pitiful\nyellow mouths. I felt sorry and afraid that they would die, so on a\npropitious site to the south I had the nest hung up on a neutie tree,\nwhere the young all lived and flourished and flew away. In that very\nwinter my father was promoted three degrees in rank and was attached\nto the office of the Prime Minister.\n\nAfterwards I built a summer-house at Chong-pa, and before the house,\ndirectly facing south, magpies built a nest in a date tree. I had\na woman slave, and she pulled it down and used the nest for fuel,\nbut they came again the next year and built once more. The year\nfollowing was 1469 when Ye-jong came to the throne. That year again\nI was promoted. In the spring of 1471 magpies came and built their\nnest in a tree just south of my office. I laughed and said, \"There is\na spiritual power in the magpie surely, as men have said from olden\ntimes and as I myself have proven.\"\n\n\nYi Ryuk.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nXLIV\n\nTHE \"OLD BUDDHA\"\n\n\nPrime Minister Choi Yun-tok was in mourning once for his mother. With\na single horse and one servant he made a journey to the south where\nthe road led through the county of Kai-ryong. At that very time two\nor three of the district magistrates had pitched a tent on the bank\nof the river and were having refreshments. They said to one another,\n\"Who is that mourner that goes riding by without dismounting? It must\nbe some country farmer who has never learned proper manners. We shall\ncertainly have to teach him a lesson.\"\n\nThey sent an attendant to arrest and bring his servant, whom they\nasked, \"Who is your master?\"\n\nHe replied, \"Choi, the Old Buddha.\"\n\n\"But what's his real name?\" they demanded.\n\n\"The old Buddha,\" was the reply.\n\nThen they grew very angry at this, and said, \"Your master has offended\nin not dismounting, and you offend in concealing his name. Both\nslave and master are equally ill-mannered.\" And so they beat him over\nthe head.\n\nThen the servant said slowly, \"He is called Choi the Buddha, but his\nreal name is Yun-tok, and he is now on his way to his country home\nin Chang-won.\" At once they recognized that it was no other than the\nPrime Minister, and great fear overcame them. They struck their tent,\ncleared away the eatables, and ran to make their deepest salaam and\nto ask pardon for their sin.\n\nThe old Buddha was a special name by which this famous minister\nwas known.\n\n\nYi Ryuk.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nXLV\n\nA WONDERFUL MEDICINE\n\n\nPrince Cheung had been First Minister of the land for thirty years. He\nwas a man just and upright, now nearly ninety years of age. His son\nwas called Whal, and was second in influence only to his father. Both\nwere greatly renowned in the age in which they lived, and His Majesty\ntreated them with special regard. Prince Cheung's home was suddenly\nattacked by goblins and devils, and when a young official came to call\non him, these mysterious beings in broad daylight snatched the hat\nfrom his head and crumpled it up. They threw stones, too, and kept on\nthrowing them so that all the court was reduced to confusion. Prince\nCheung made his escape and went to live in another house, where he\nprepared a special medicine called sal-kwi-whan (kill-devil-pills),\nwhich he offered in prayer. From that time the goblins departed, and\nnow after five or six years no sign of them has reappeared. Prince\nCheung, too, is well and strong and free from sickness.\n\n\nYi Ryuk.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nXLVI\n\nFAITHFUL MO\n\n\nPrince Ha had a slave who was a landed proprieter and lived in Yang-ju\ncounty. He had a daughter, fairest of the fair, whom he called Mo\n(Nobody), beautiful beyond expression. An Yun was a noted scholar,\na man of distinction in letters. He saw Mo, fell in love with her\nand took her for his wife. Prince Ha heard of this and was furiously\nangry. Said he, \"How is it that you, a slave, dare to marry with\na man of the aristocracy?\" He had her arrested and brought home,\nintending to marry her to one of his bondsmen. Mo learned of this\nwith tears and sorrow, but knew not what to do. At last she made her\nescape over the wall and went back to An. An was delighted beyond\nexpression to see her; but, in view of the old prince, he knew not\nwhat to do. Together they took an oath to die rather than to be parted.\n\nLater Prince Ha, on learning of this, sent his underlings to arrest\nher again and carry her off. After this all trace of her was lost\ntill Mo was discovered one day in a room hanging by the neck dead.\n\nMonths of sorrow passed over An till once, under cover of the night,\nhe was returning from the Confucian Temple to his house over the\nridge of Camel Mountain. It was early autumn and the wooded tops were\nshimmering in the moonlight. All the world had sunk softly to rest and\nno passers were on the way. An was just then musing longingly of Mo,\nand in heartbroken accents repeating love verses to her memory, when\nsuddenly a soft footfall was heard as though coming from among the\npines. He took careful notice and there was Mo. An knew that she was\nlong dead, and so must have known that it was her spirit, but because\nhe was so buried in thought of her, doubting nothing, he ran to her\nand caught her by the hand, saying, \"How did you come here?\" but she\ndisappeared. An gave a great cry and broke into tears. On account\nof this he fell ill. He ate, but his grief was so great he could not\nswallow, and a little later he died of a broken heart.\n\nKim Champan, who was of the same age as I, and my special friend, was\nalso a cousin of An, and he frequently spoke of this. Yu Hyo-jang,\nalso, An's nephew by marriage, told the story many times. Said he,\n\"Faithful unto death was she. For even a woman of the literati,\nwho has been born and brought up at the gates of ceremonial form,\nit is a difficult matter enough to die, but for a slave, the lowest\nof the low, who knew not the first thing of Ceremony, Righteousness,\nTruth or Devotion, what about her? To the end, out of love for her\nhusband, she held fast to her purity and yielded up her life without\na blemish. Even of the faithful among the ancients was there ever a\nbetter than Mo?\"\n\n\nYi Ryuk.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nXLVII\n\nTHE RENOWNED MAING\n\n\nMinister of State Maing Sa-song once upon a time, dressed in plain\nclothes, started south on a long journey. On the way he was overtaken\nby rain, and turned into a side pavilion for rest and shelter. There\nwas a young scholar already in the pavilion by the name of Whang\nEui-hon, who with his two hands behind his back was reading the\npavilion inscription board, on which verses were written. Long he read\nand long he looked about as though no one else were there. At last\nhe turned to the old man, and said, \"Well, grand-dad, do you know\nthe flavour of verses like these?\" The famous Minister, pretending\nignorance, arose and said, \"An old countryman like myself, could you\nexpect him to know? Please tell me the meaning.\"\n\nWhang said, \"These verses were written by the great men of the\npast. What they saw and experienced they wrote down to inspire the\nsouls of those who were to come after them. They are like pictures\nof sea and land, for there are living pictures in poetry, you know.\"\n\nThe Minister said, \"Indeed, that's wonderful; but if it were not for\nmen like yourself how should I ever come to know these things?\"\n\nA little later came pack-horses loaded with all sorts of things;\nservants and retainers, too, a great company of them, tent poles,\ncanvas packs and other equipment, a long procession.\n\nWhang, surprised by this, made inquiry, when, to his\namazement, he learned that the old man was none other than Maing\nSa-song. Unconsciously he dropped on to his knees in a deep and long\nobeisance. The Minister laughed and said, \"That will do; there is no\ndifference in the value of mere men, they are high or low according\nto the thoughts that prompt them, but unfortunately all are born with\na proud heart. You are not a common scholar, why, therefore, should\nyou be so proud to begin with and so humble now?\" The Minister took\nhim by the hand, led him to his mat, made him sit down, comforted\nhim and sent him away.\n\n\nYi Ryuk.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nXLVIII\n\nTHE SENSES\n\n\nThe eyes are round like gems, so that they can roll about and see\nthings; the ears have holes in them so that they can hear; the nose has\nopenings by which it can perceive smell; and the mouth is horizontal\nand slit so that it can inhale and exhale the breath; the tongue is\nlike an organ reed so that it can make sounds and talk. Three of the\nfour have each their particular office to fulfil, while the mouth has\ntwo offices. But the member that distinguishes the good from the bad\nis the heart, so that without the heart, even though you have eyes\nyou cannot see, though you have ears you cannot hear, though you\nhave a nose you cannot smell, and though you have a mouth you cannot\nbreathe, so they say that without the heart \"seeing you cannot see,\nand hearing you cannot hear.\"\n\n\nYi Ryuk.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nXLIX\n\nWHO DECIDES, GOD OR THE KING?\n\n\nKing Tai-jong was having a rest in Heung-yang Palace, while outside\ntwo eunuchs were talking together over the law that governs the\naffairs of men, as to whether it is man or God. A said, \"Riches and\nhonour are all in the king's hand.\" B said, \"Nothing of the kind;\nevery atom of wealth and every degree of promotion are all ordered\nof God. Even the king himself has no part in it and no power.\"\n\nSo they argued, each that he was right, without ever coming to an\nagreement.\n\nThe King, overhearing what was said, wrote a secret despatch, saying,\n\"Raise the Bearer of this letter one degree in rank.\" He sealed it\nand commanded A to take it to Se-jong, who was then in charge of this\noffice. A made his bow and departed, but just when he was about to\nleave the palace enclosure a furious pain took him in the stomach,\nso that he begged B to take his place and go into the city.\n\nThe next day, when the record of promotions was placed before the King,\nhe read how B had been advanced, but not one word was there about A.\n\nKing Tai-jong made inquiry, and when he knew the circumstances he\ngave a sudden start of wonder and remained long in deep thought.\n\n\nYi Ryuk.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nL\n\nTHREE THINGS MASTERED\n\n\nThere was a relative of the king, named Im Sung-jong, who was a gifted\nman in thought and purpose. He was the first performer of his time on\nthe harp. King Se-jong said of him, \"Im's harp knows but one master,\nand follows no other man.\"\n\nHis home was outside the South Gate, and every morning he was seen\nkneeling on the sill of his front door beating his hands upwards and\ndownwards on his knees, and this practice he carried on for three\nyears. People could not imagine what he meant by it, but thought him\nmad. Thus he learned the motions required for the harp.\n\nAlso he blew with his mouth and practised with his fingers day and\nnight without stopping, so that when people called on him he would\nsee them but would not perceive them. He kept this up for three years\nand so learned the motions for the flute.\n\nHe was a lightly built man in body, and poor at riding and at\narchery. He often sighed over this defect, and said, \"Though I am\nweak and stupid and not able to shoot a long distance, I shall yet\nknow how to hit the target and make the bull's-eye. This also must be\nacquired by practice.\" So every morning he took his bow and arrows\nand went off into the hills. There he shot all day long, keeping it\nup for three years, till he became a renowned archer. Thus you may\nperceive the kind of man he was.\n\n\nYi Ryuk.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nLI\n\nSTRANGELY STRICKEN DEAD\n\n\nThere was once a man called Kim Tok-saing, a soldier of fortune, who\nhad been specially honoured at the Court of Tai-jong. He had several\ntimes been generalissimo of the army, and on his various campaigns\nhad had an intimate friend accompany him, a friend whom he greatly\nloved. But Kim had been dead now for some ten years and more, when one\nnight this friend of his was awakened with a start and gave a great\noutcry. He slept again, but a little later was disturbed once more by\na fright, at which he called out. His wife, not liking this, inquired\nas to what he meant. The friend said, \"I have just seen General Kim\nriding on a white horse, with bow and arrows at his belt. He called\nto me and said, 'A thief has just entered my home, and I have come to\nshoot him dead.' He went and again returned, and as he drew an arrow\nfrom his quiver, I saw that there were blood marks on it. He said,\n'I have just shot him, he is dead.'\" The husband and wife in fear\nand wonder talked over it together.\n\nWhen morning came the friend went to General Kim's former home to\nmake inquiry. He learned that that very night Kim's young widow had\ndecided to remarry, but as soon as the chosen fianc\u00e9 had entered her\nhome, a terrible pain shot him through, and before morning came he\ndied in great agony.\n\n\nYi Ryuk.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nLII\n\nTHE MYSTERIOUS HOI TREE\n\n\nPrince Pa-song's house was situated just inside of the great East Gate,\nand before it was a large Hoi tree. On a certain night the Prince's\nson-in-law was passing by the roadway that led in front of the archers'\npavilion. There he saw a great company of bowmen, more than he could\nnumber, all shooting together at the target. A moment later he saw\nthem practising riding, some throwing spears, some hurling bowls, some\nshooting from horseback, so that the road in front of the pavilion was\nblocked against all comers. Some shouted as he came by, \"Look at that\nimpudent rascal! He attempts to ride by without dismounting.\" They\ncaught him and beat him, paying no attention to his cries for mercy,\nand having no pity for the pain he suffered, till one tall fellow came\nout of their serried ranks and said in an angry voice to the crowd,\n\"He is my master; why do you treat him so?\" He undid his bonds,\ntook him by the arm and led him home. When the son-in-law reached\nthe gate he looked back and saw the man walk under the Hoi tree and\ndisappear. He then learned, too, that all the crowd of archers were\nspirits and not men, and that the tall one who had befriended him was a\nspirit too, and that he had come forth from their particular Hoi tree.\n\n\nYi Ryuk.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nLIII\n\nTA-HONG\n\n\n[Sim Heui-su studied as a young man at the feet of No Su-sin, who was\nsent as an exile to a distant island in the sea. Thither he followed\nhis master and worked at the Sacred Books. He matriculated in 1570\nand graduated in 1572. In 1589 he remonstrated with King Son-jo over\nthe disorders of his reign, and was the means of quelling a great\nnational disturbance; but he made a faux pas one day when he said\nlaughingly to a friend--\n\n\n    \"These sea-gull waves ride so high,\n        Who can tame them?\"\n\n\nThose who heard caught at this, and it became a source of unpopularity,\nas it indicated an unfavourable opinion of the Court.\n\nIn 1592, when the King made his escape to Eui-ju, before the invading\nJapanese army, he was the State's Chief Secretary, and after the\nreturn of the King he became Chief Justice. He resigned office, but the\nKing refused to accept his resignation, saying, \"I cannot do without\nyou.\" He became chief of the literati and Special Adviser. Afterwards\nhe became Minister of the Right, then of the Left, at which time\nhe wrote out ten suggestions for His Majesty to follow. He saw the\nwrongs done around the King, and resigned office again and again,\nbut was constantly recalled.\n\nIn 1608 Im Suk-yong, a young candidate writing for his matriculation,\nwrote an essay exposing the wrongs of the Court. Sim heard of this, and\ntook the young man under his protection. The King, reading the essay,\nwas furiously angry, and ordered the degradation of Im, but Sim said,\n\"He is with me; I am behind what he wrote and approve; degrade me and\nnot him,\" and so the King withdrew his displeasure. He was faithful\nof the faithful.\n\nWhen he was old he went and lived in Tun-san in a little tumble-down\nhut, like the poorest of the literati. He called himself \"Water-thunder\nMuddy-man,\" a name derived from the Book of Changes.\n\nHe died in 1622 at the age of seventy-four, and is recorded as one\nof Korea's great patriots.]\n\n\n\n\nThe Story\n\n\nMinister Sim Heui-su was, when young, handsome as polished marble, and\nwhite as the snow, rarely and beautifully formed. When eight years of\nage he was already an adept at the character, and a wonder in the eyes\nof his people. The boy's nickname was Soondong (the godlike one). From\nthe passing of his first examination, step by step he advanced,\ntill at last he became First Minister of the land. When old he was\nhonoured as the most renowned of all ministers. At seventy he still\nheld office, and one day, when occupied with the affairs of State,\nhe suddenly said to those about him, \"To-day is my last on earth,\nand my farewell wishes to you all are that you may prosper and do\nbravely and well.\"\n\nHis associates replied in wonder, \"Your Excellency is still strong\nand hearty, and able for many years of work; why do you speak so?\"\n\nSim laughingly made answer, \"Our span of life is fixed. Why should\nI not know? We cannot pass the predestined limit. Please feel no\nregret. Use all your efforts to serve His Majesty the King, and make\ngrateful acknowledgment of his many favours.\"\n\nThus he exhorted them, and took his departure. Every one wondered\nover this strange announcement. From that day on he returned no more,\nit being said that he was ailing.\n\nThere was at that time attached to the War Office a young secretary\ndirectly under Sim. Hearing that his master was ill, the young man\nwent to pay his respects and to make inquiry. Sim called him into\nhis private room, where all was quiet. Said he, \"I am about to die,\nand this is a long farewell, so take good care of yourself, and do\nyour part honourably.\"\n\nThe young man looked, and in Sim's eyes were tears. He said, \"Your\nExcellency is still vigorous, and even though you are slightly ailing,\nthere is surely no cause for anxiety. I am at a loss to understand\nyour tears, and what you mean by saying that you are about to die. I\nwould like to ask the reason.\"\n\nSim smiled and said, \"I have never told any person, but since you\nask and there is no longer cause for concealment, I shall tell you\nthe whole story. When I was young certain things happened in my life\nthat may make you smile.\n\n\"At about sixteen years of age I was said to be a handsome boy and\nfair to see. Once in Seoul, when a banquet was in progress and many\ndancing-girls and other representatives of good cheer were called,\nI went too, with a half-dozen comrades, to see. There was among the\ndancing-girls a young woman whose face was very beautiful. She was not\nlike an earthly person, but like some angelic being. Inquiring as to\nher name, some of those seated near said it was Ta-hong (Flower-bud).\n\n\"When all was over and the guests had separated, I went home, but\nI thought of Ta-hong's pretty face, and recalled her repeatedly,\nover and over; seemingly I could not forget her. Ten days or so\nlater I was returning from my teacher's house along the main street,\ncarrying my books under my arm, when I suddenly met a pretty girl,\nwho was beautifully dressed and riding a handsome horse. She alighted\njust in front of me, and to my surprise, taking my hand, said,\n'Are you not Sim Heui-su?'\n\n\"In my astonishment I looked at her and saw that it was Ta-hong. I\nsaid, 'Yes, but how do you know me?' I was not married then, nor had\nI my hair done up, and as there were many people in the street looking\non I was very much ashamed. Flower-bud, with a look of gladness in her\nface, said to her pony-boy, 'I have something to see to just now; you\nreturn and say to the master that I shall be present at the banquet\nto-morrow.' Then we went aside into a neighbouring house and sat\ndown. She said, 'Did you not on such and such a day go to such and\nsuch a Minister's house and look on at the gathering?' I answered,\n'Yes, I did.' 'I saw you,' said she, 'and to me your face was like a\ngod's. I asked those present who you were, and they said your family\nname was Sim and your given-name Heui-su, and that your character\nand gifts were very superior. From that day on I longed to meet you,\nbut as there was no possibility of this I could only think of you. Our\nmeeting thus is surely of God's appointment.'\n\n\"I replied laughingly, 'I, too, felt just the same towards you.'\n\n\"Then Ta-hong said, 'We cannot meet here; let's go to my aunt's home in\nthe next ward, where it's quiet, and talk there.' We went to the aunt's\nhome. It was neat and clean and somewhat isolated, and apparently\nthe aunt loved Flower-bud with all the devotion of a mother. From\nthat day forth we plighted our troth together. Flower-bud had never\nhad a lover; I was her first and only choice. She said, however,\n'This plan of ours cannot be consummated to-day; let us separate for\nthe present and make plans for our union in the future.' I asked her\nhow we could do so, and she replied, 'I have sworn my soul to you,\nand it is decided for ever, but you have your parents to think of,\nand you have not yet had a wife chosen, so there will be no chance\nof their advising you to have a second wife as my social standing\nwould require for me. As I reflect upon your ability and chances for\npromotion, I see you already a Minister of State. Let us separate\njust now, and I'll keep myself for you till the time when you win\nthe first place at the Examination and have your three days of public\nrejoicing. Then we'll meet once more. Let us make a compact never to be\nbroken. So then, until you have won your honours, do not think of me,\nplease. Do not be anxious, either, lest I should be taken from you,\nfor I have a plan by which to hide myself away in safety. Know that\non the day when you win your honours we shall meet again.'\n\n\"On this we clasped hands and spoke our farewells as though we\nparted easily. Where she was going I did not ask, but simply came\nhome with a distressed and burdened heart, feeling that I had lost\neverything. On my return I found that my parents, who had missed me,\nwere in a terrible state of consternation, but so delighted were they\nat my safe return that they scarcely asked where I had been. I did\nnot tell them either, but gave another excuse.\n\n\"At first I could not desist from thoughts of Ta-hong. After a long\ntime only was I able to regain my composure. From that time forth with\nall my might I went at my lessons. Day and night I pegged away, not for\nthe sake of the Examination, but for the sake of once more meeting her.\n\n\"In two years or so my parents appointed my marriage. I did not\ndare to refuse, had to accept, but had no heart in it, and no joy in\ntheir choice.\n\n\"My gift for study was very marked, and by diligence I grew to be\nsuperior to all my competitors. It was five years after my farewell\nto Ta-hong that I won my honours. I was still but a youngster, and\nall the world rejoiced in my success. But my joy was in the secret\nunderstanding that the time had come for me to meet Ta-hong. On\nthe first day of my graduation honours I expected to meet her, but\ndid not. The second day passed, but I saw nothing of her, and the\nthird day was passing and no word had reached me. My heart was so\ndisturbed that I found not the slightest joy in the honours of the\noccasion. Evening was falling, when my father said to me, 'I have a\nfriend of my younger days, who now lives in Chang-eui ward, and you\nmust go and call on him this evening before the three days are over,'\nand so, there being no help for it, I went to pay my call. As I was\nreturning the sun had gone down and it was dark, and just as I was\npassing a high gateway, I heard the Sillai call. [3] It was the home\nof an old Minister, a man whom I did not know, but he being a high\nnoble there was nothing for me to do but to dismount and enter. Here\nI found the master himself, an old gentleman, who put me through\nmy humble exercises, and then ordered me gently to come up and sit\nbeside him. He talked to me very kindly, and entertained me with\nall sorts of refreshments. Then he lifted his glass and inquired,\n'Would you like to meet a very beautiful person?' I did not know what\nhe meant, and so asked, 'What beautiful person?' The old man said,\n'The most beautiful in the world to you. She has long been a member\nof my household.' Then he ordered a servant to call her. When she\ncame it was my lost Ta-hong. I was startled, delighted, surprised,\nand speechless almost. 'How do you come here?' I gasped.\n\n\"She laughed and said, 'Is this not within the three days of your\npublic celebration, and according to the agreement by which we parted?'\n\n\"The old man said, 'She is a wonderful woman. Her thoughts are high\nand noble, and her history is quite unique. I will tell it to you. I\nam an old man of eighty, and my wife and I have had no children,\nbut on a certain day this young girl came to us saying, \"May I have\nthe place of slave with you, to wait on you and do your bidding?\"\n\n\"'In surprise I asked the reason for this strange request, and she\nsaid, \"I am not running away from any master, so do not mistrust me.\"\n\n\"'Still, I did not wish to take her in, and told her so, but she begged\nso persuasively that I yielded and let her stay, appointed her work to\ndo, and watched her behaviour. She became a slave of her own accord,\nand simply lived to please us, preparing our meals during the day,\nand caring for our rooms for the night; responding to calls; ever\nready to do our bidding; faithful beyond compare. We feeble old folks,\noften ill, found her a source of comfort and cheer unheard of, making\nlife perfect peace and joy. Her needle, too, was exceedingly skilful,\nand according to the seasons she prepared all that we needed. Naturally\nwe loved and pitied her more than I can say. My wife thought more of\nher than ever mother did of a daughter. During the day she was always\nat hand, and at night she slept by her side. At one time I asked her\nquietly concerning her past history. She said she was originally the\nchild of a free-man, but that her parents had died when she was very\nyoung, and, having no place to go to, an old woman of the village\nhad taken her in and brought her up. \"Being so young,\" said she,\n\"I was safe from harm. At last I met a young master with whom I\nplighted a hundred years of troth, a beautiful boy, none was ever\nlike him. I determined to meet him again, but only after he had won\nhis honours in the arena. If I had remained at the home of the old\nmother I could not have kept myself safe, and preserved my honour;\nI would have been helpless; so I came here for safety and to serve\nyou. It is a plan by which to hide myself for a year or so, and then\nwhen he wins I shall ask your leave to go.\"\n\n\"'I then asked who the person was with whom she had made this contract,\nand she told me your name. I am so old that I no longer think of taking\nwives and concubines, but she called herself my concubine so as to\nbe safe, and thus the years have passed. We watched the Examination\nreports, but till this time your name was absent. Through it all\nshe expressed not a single word of anxiety, but kept up heart saying\nthat before long your name would appear. So confident was she that\nnot a shadow of disappointment was in her face. This time on looking\nover the list I found your name, and told her. She heard it without\nany special manifestation of joy, saying she knew it would come. She\nalso said, \"When we parted I promised to meet him before the three\ndays of public celebration were over, and now I must make good my\npromise.\" So she climbed to the upper pavilion to watch the public\nway. But this ward being somewhat remote she did not see you going\nby on the first day, nor on the second. This morning she went again,\nsaying, \"He will surely pass to-day\"; and so it came about. She said,\n\"He is coming; call him in.\"\n\n\"'I am an old man and have read much history, and have heard of many\nfamous women. There are many examples of devotion that move the heart,\nbut I never saw so faithful a life nor one so devoted to another. God\ntaking note of this has brought all her purposes to pass. And now,\nnot to let this moment of joy go by, you must stay with me to-night.'\n\n\"When I met Ta-hong I was most happy, especially as I heard of her\nyears of faithfulness. As to the invitation I declined it, saying I\ncould not think, even though we had so agreed, of taking away one who\nwaited in attendance upon His Excellency. But the old man laughed,\nsaying, 'She is not mine. I simply let her be called my concubine in\nname lest my nephews or some younger members of the clan should steal\nher away. She is first of all a faithful woman: I have not known her\nlike before.'\n\n\"The old man then had the horse sent back and the servants, also a\nletter to my parents saying that I would stay the night. He ordered the\nservants to prepare a room, to put in beautiful screens and embroidered\nmatting, to hang up lights and to decorate as for a bridegroom. Thus\nhe celebrated our meeting.\n\n\"Next morning I bade good-bye, and went and told my parents all about\nmy meeting with Ta-hong and what had happened. They gave consent that\nI should have her, and she was brought and made a member of our family,\nreally my only wife.\n\n\"Her life and behaviour being beyond that of the ordinary, in serving\nthose above her and in helping those below, she fulfilled all the\nrequirements of the ancient code. Her work, too, was faithfully done,\nand her gifts in the way of music and chess were most exceptional. I\nloved her as I never can tell.\n\n\"A little later I went as magistrate to Keumsan county in Chulla\nProvince, and Ta-hong went with me. We were there for two years. She\ndeclined our too frequent happy times together, saying that it\ninterfered with efficiency and duty. One day, all unexpectedly, she\ncame to me and requested that we should have a little quiet time,\nwith no others present, as she had something special to tell me. I\nasked her what it was, and she said to me, 'I am going to die, for\nmy span of life is finished; so let us be glad once more and forget\nall the sorrows of the world.' I wondered when I heard this. I could\nnot think it true, and asked her how she could tell beforehand that\nshe was going to die. She said, 'I know, there is no mistake about it.'\n\n\"In four or five days she fell ill, but not seriously, and yet a day or\ntwo later she died. She said to me when dying, 'Our life is ordered,\nGod decides it all. While I lived I gave myself to you, and you most\nkindly responded in return. I have no regrets. As I die I ask only\nthat my body be buried where it may rest by the side of my master\nwhen he passes away, so that when we meet in the regions beyond I\nshall be with you once again.' When she had so said she died.\n\n\"Her face was beautiful, not like the face of the dead, but like the\nface of the living. I was plunged into deepest grief, prepared her\nbody with my own hands for burial. Our custom is that when a second\nwife dies she is not buried with the family, but I made some excuse\nand had her interred in our family site in the county of Ko-yang. I\ndid so to carry out her wishes. When I came as far as Keum-chang on\nmy sad journey, I wrote a verse--\n\n\n   'O beautiful Bud, of the beautiful Flower,\n      We bear thy form on the willow bier;\n    Whither has gone thy sweet perfumed soul?\n      The rains fall on us\n    To tell us of thy tears and of thy faithful way.'\n\n\n\"I wrote this as a love tribute to my faithful Ta-hong. After her\ndeath, whenever anything serious was to happen in my home, she always\ncame to tell me beforehand, and never was there a mistake in her\nannouncements. For several years it has continued thus, till a few\ndays ago she appeared in a dream saying, 'Master, the time of your\ndeparture has come, and we are to meet again. I am now making ready\nfor your glad reception.'\n\n\"For this reason I have bidden all my associates farewell. Last night\nshe came once more and said to me, 'To-morrow is your day.' We wept\ntogether in the dream as we met and talked. In the morning, when I\nawoke, marks of tears were still upon my cheeks. This is not because\nI fear to die, but because I have seen my Ta-hong. Now that you\nhave asked me I have told you all. Tell it to no one.\" So Sim died,\nas was foretold, on the day following. Strange, indeed!\n\n\nIm Bang.\n\n\n                                THE END\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nNOTES\n\n\n[1] The head button is the insignia of rank, and is consequently a\nvaluable heirloom in a Korean home.--J. S. G.\n\n[2] Kalpa means a Buddhistic age.\n\n[3] A shrill whistle by which graduates command the presence of a\nnew graduate to haze or honour, as they please.","title":"Korean folk tales : $b Imps, ghosts and fairies","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":47161}