우렁각시 - The Snail Bride (My Version)

A long long time ago in a small village at the foot of the Ji-ri mountainous region in Korea, a young girl  lived with her mother and a baby brother in a small thatched-roofed cottage. The cottage, like any other farm houses in the village, was fenced around in dried grain stalks (싸릿발).  The little girl very smart and pretty. She was already a big help to her Mom helping doing all sorts of chores in the house with gladness, including tugging her baby brother to bed. Such a charming little girl was born with many talents, she imbibed the whole village with her charms.  On top of her wits, cheerful nature and possession of charms, she learned to read at such a young age, and she possessed skills to paint and write very well. The village people would naturally smile in presence of her.

The story begins long long time ago, around the time when tigers used to walk around without having had any chance to meet  humans yet. The tigers lived in deep in the forest, far away from any villages where humans lived together. The tigers lived together too, and they were often walking around looking for food, drinking water, playing and looking for a better den to protect from predators and cold and rainy weather.  Sometimes, they travelled a long distance looking for food, and one occasion, they come to close contact with humans in a village.  It was their first time ever coming across with something different from forest; there were houses with light lit and they saw people gathered playing and washing clothes at the stream.  The tigers felt that they are safe living near the villages and they settled down in a mountain nearby.  In fits of curiosity, they would come to the village at nights sporadically when nobody were outside. The favorite time when the tigers would sneak in this small village was mostly in winter time when sun is set over mountains and nights get deepened  as villagers were about to go to bed. Naturally, no one in the village has seen a tiger.  For tigers did not seen any human, they would get very scared of people often hiding themselves quickly in the woods or shade encountering any human.

Among the tigers,  there was one young tiger who would follow his Mom. The young tiger was mischevious and had full of curiosity anything in the village; he liked the smell wood burning from the inlet of Ondol and seeing silky lights emitting from the door through rice paper. When everybody was to leave, this young tiger would be reluctant to leave.  Even when the weather was cold and nobody would come out from their den, this young tiger would sneak out and go up to the mountain overlooking the village.  He would watch the scenery of the village with houses bellowing smoke out from smokestacks. Sometimes, his Mom would come out to find him and take him back.

As he grew older, he would enjoy visiting the village more often. He had acquired peculiar habit of eavesdropping to bedtime stories being read to children. As a result, he had gained quite a skill in understanding human conversation and could understand the language.  Sometimes, having arrived to a house listening a mother saying to her crying baby or children, "If you keep crying,  a tiger would come to take you away. Stop crying!," as often as,  Korean mother would say customarily to make her child stop crying. Hearing this bogus statement,  the tiger would get startled by th that the mother mentioned that the tiger would run away instantly.  You know as well as I do that the mom had absolutely no idea a tiger would be around nearby her place, that there is no reason for the tiger to run away and stop listening the story.

The tiger had ability to learn human language and their behaviors. The tiger had much curiosity about human affairs, which brought him to the village many times especially at night in winter time when night was balmy and long after sun had fallen over the mountains nearby in quietness as smoke stacks of houses bellowing smoke.

One day, while the tiger was roaming around the village, he  found a house with lights still lit. He heard a voice of a young girl reading a story. So,  he perched himself down by a(싸릿문) fence to eavesdrop a good bedtime story being read.  It was a balmy night and he was anticipating that the story would be short and he will return to his den in no time.  Contrary to his thinking, the story was rather long, and  any lengthy story story would have potent effect making children fall asleep easily, the tiger was no exception a bit making him to fall asleep well before the story time was over.  The story was ended an hour ago and the tiger was still asleep in oblivion.

For the meantime, the girl, after reading a bedtime story, opened the door came out; she needed to get some fresh air.  It was a balmy night with super moon shinning beautifully and so gorgeous. She was so  enthralled by the beauty of the moon shining so brightly above her head and she moved toward it. The moonlight brightened up the whole space of her front yard.  As she was walking around the front yard deciphering poems in such joyful spirit, she accidently stepped on tiger sleeping; the tiger's tail was sticking out by the fence near the entrance.  The pain was sent down to the sleeping tiger's spine and the tiger yelped and started running away out of pain.

The girls saw the tiger running fast away from her in roars and chills were sent down to her spine frightened. She was so frightened to see the strange creature fast running and disappearing into darkness.  Moments after she regained herself, she looked down on her foot finding herself with a tiger's tail stuck on shoe. She picked up the tail to take a closer look and then she moved it over to her buttock, but it would not be detached. The tail got stuck on her bottom! She tried to take the tail off by spinning herself to right, but instead she turned herself into a snail. The girl was exasperated being turned into a snail.

For the meantime, the tiger, after running for a mile, stopped to catch a breath and thought about where it hurts; he glided his eyeballs to glance at on his bottom, but his tail could not be seen!!  He walked around in circle to see if it was hidden behind but still there was no way it to be seen. He never realized that the tail was such important part of his body, and its absence made him grew very anxious, and hurriedly he went back to look for the missing tail. Upon arriving back at the spot where he was laying down,  he saw a snail laying on the ground, but he could not find his tail.  He murmured to himself, "Where is my tail!" Hearing his murmuring, the snail retorted, "Are you looking for your tail!! I've got your tail here!" The tiger said, "What!" and tiger looked at the snail.  "Are you talking to me, you snail?" said the tiger.  "Yes!" the snail said. " Your tail is stuck on me! And it turned me into a snail!!!"  The tiger did not know what to say, and then he told to the snail, "I am sorry." The tiger was wonder how his tail might have gotten into the tiny snail shell.  The tiger had no idea how to fix the situation. "I wish that I could turn you back to human but I don't know how," said the tiger.

 The tiger knew that he had some sort of magical power that nobody else had.  The snail was disappointed and dejected, and she started growing thirsty laying on the ground that she asked the tiger to bring her to a rice paddy and drop her off there first, and come back to see her when he found the ways to revert her to human are found.  The tiger brought the snail to a nearby rice paddy and gently dropped the snail into the rice paddy where water was found at the bottom,  and then headed back to the forest feeling guilty for the misfortunate that he had caused to the girl.

Upon returning back to the forest,  the tiger worried about two things; his missing tail and about the girl. He would not eat and talk for several days and explained what had happened to his parents about the bizarre thing that happened while he went away alone at fortnight.  Listening to his son, his Mom tried to calm her son down, and told him that he will get the tail back. His mother told him that he was born with some a magical property that she can not fathom where it had come from; she noticed that, while he was hiccupping, his tail got disappeared and came back. Fortunately, the tiger's came back and he no longer had to worry about his tail missing.


One problem was gone, and he was happy, but the thoughts about the girl was still lurking on him. At night, instead of going to village, he sneaked at night to meet the snail who was placed at the bottom of rice paddy.  Upon arriving at the rice paddy, he stooped his head down looking at the bottom of the rice paddy looking for the snail, but the snail could not be found. So, he went to look for the snail at the girl's house and found that the girl was reading a bed time story to her baby brother again.

The tiger visited the village at night thinking that nothing had happened to the girl and she turned to human, but the tiger noticed that the girl after reading a bedtime story, she would come out and she ran fast toward the rice paddy in no time; she was so fast in running that even the tiger could not catch well where she was heading to. When the tiger arrived to the spot where he dropped off the snail, he stooped off looking for the snail. The tiger saw the snail at the spot where he dropped her off.  It was the same thing happened on the following night; the girl would get disappeared in a flicker of a second and the tiger would find her in form of a snail at the same place. The tiger would go to the rice paddy instead and talked to the snail - looking at the bottom of the rice paddy - living at the bottom of the rice paddy.  The tiger visited the place again and  he apologized to the snail for the mishap that he had caused. To his apology, the snail told the tiger that she found the way back to revert herself back to human and returned back home, and asked the tiger not to worry about her. However, what she had told to the tiger was not the whole picture - the problem was not completely gone; she could not still shake off the tail sticking on her buttock and she had to come to the rice paddy once a while and live as a snail when everybody went to bed.

One day a village noticed that a strange creature started appearing at night.  The village got frightened and told the incident to village people. and the village people decided to go after the strange creature.  One night, many village people gathered at the place holding torches waiting for the tiger.  

On that night, seeing the village people holding torches in distance, the tiger returned back to the forest not able to meet the snail. The tiger no longer able to visit the village, and lived as normal tiger would have lived, but he sporadically thought of the incident at the village and about the girl. When the days past years and the memories of the girl became very thin, the tiger died naturally with aging.

The snail never got old. Although the snail lived in the rice paddy, she was not in the form of snail all day long. Once a while, she returned into a human form except the tiger's tail sticking out from her buttock and she was able to manage to visit her house and explain to her mom what had happened to keep her mom assured that she was not abducted or gone forever, stilling helping her mom and brother out, without getting noticed from her neighbors.

Several hundred years had past since her mom and her younger brother passed away, and the thoughts of whereabout of the girl had vanished in the memories of village people.

In the same village where the young girl had been born, a young farmer had lived in a little cottage all by himself.  The young farmer's cottage had a small 툇마루, a kitchen, a cow stable and a place to put big porceln jar like any other house in the village.

The young farmer was poor and he worked very hard all day long; every morning, he would get up at daybreak and head out to raise the crops. On one summer day afternoon,  after a backbreaking work, he laid down his hoe to take a rest, taking his hat off sitting on a narrow path in between rice paddies. The weather was sweltering hot and he wiped off the sweat running off his forehead with a towel.  And then, looking at the sky, he murmured a phrase to himself with a big sigh, "What a sky!  No, not a stand of wind is blowing to cool me off! What's the use of all my hard work raising the crop? With whom shall I share the crops when it is harvested? I have no one but me!" As he sighed, a tiny voice sounded " With Me!"  was heard to his ears.  Immediately, he looked around to see anybody was talking to me, but no one would be seen; only the humming sound of cicada interleaving the sound of gentle sway of branches coming afar. He looked in the other direction, but nobody could be seen there either but a smily face of a scarecrow and sparrows flying in distance.  He dismissed the thought that he had heard the voice and he put on his hat and picked up the hoe to get back working at the field.

Several days later, the farmer was working again in the field.  He was feeling hungry and opened his lunch box that he had brought and started eating sitting at the same spot where he takes a rest. As he was eating, he murmured to himself again saying a phrase, "I am fed up eating the same food everyday.  I can't make more delicious food!"  As he murmured, a voice was heard saying, "I shall make it for you."  The farmer was startled what he had just heard, and he looked around to see if any village kids might be fooling him acting mischievously hiding behind the trees, and he shouted, "Don't be a fool! I am going to get you soon or later."

On the next day, the farmer brought a flute to the rice paddy to entertain himself during breaks.  After having a lunch,  he took it out and started playing.  The sound of flute echoed in the rice field.  As he was kept on playing, the sound doubled as though someone else was whestling in duet. The farmer looked around, but there was no one else making the sound; the sound continued still.  The farmer suddenly stopped playing to focus where interleaving sound coming from.  He listened carefully and started drawing ears where the sound was coming from. At moment,  in bewelderment, the farmer looked around, but on one else was to be seen. The farmer's ears followed the sound and they were drawn closer to his feet near the water bed, at the bottom of the paddy. As he was taking a closer look at the water,  he noticed bubbles were rising above to the surface of the water.  As his eyes followed the bubbles, he noticed a big snail, size of a fist, blowing the bubbles in water. As the farmer reached his hands and picked up the snail,  the flute sound was still being heard and then it soon stopped.  "What a strange shell it is!," the farmer exclaimed, and as he carefully put the big shell in his lunch box, the farmer was enchanted saying, "A shell makes flute sound!" On that afternoon, the farmer took the shell to his home and put him in a large porcealan jar in front of his cottage by the entrance and then added water to keep the snail alive.

One the next day, as usual, the farmer got up early and prepared his lunch.  After making his lunch, he was having his breakfast leaving his lunch box outside on 툇마루..  After finishing his breakfast, he picked up the lunch-box and headed out to work.   After working hard on that morning, at his lunch time,  as he opened his lunch box, and the farmer's jaw dropped; he could not believe what he was seeing in the lunch-box; it was filled with delicious food that he never dreamed of.  He ate it up voraciously with no regards to how it came about. After finishing up, the full stomach made him feel drowsy, making him lay down and fall asleep.  While he was sleeping, he had a dream where a beautiful young woman of his age appeared bounded looking sad.

After waking up, he told to himself, "what a strange dream it was?" and went back to work.  On that day, with his stomach in full, he worked tirelessly till late at night.  Upon arriving at his cottage feeling tired,  he opened the door of his room and fell fast asleep.  After many hours of taking a nap, he woke up refreshed, but feeling very hungry.  When he opened his eyes,  he could not believe what was being laid in front of him; a dinner table with full of delicious food in front of him, on which there were dumplings, Japche, Bulgogi, variety of 반찬, a big bowl of rice steaming and many more.  The good smell of food made his mouth started watering instantly.  He lifted up a spoon to eat, but then he got up and opened the door of his room to see anybody outside, but no one would be seen other than darkness of the night was greeting him.   A good appetite surged up and he finished eating the meal in no time.  After finishing up the meal, he exclaimed, "What a strange thing it is!  What on earth this nice meal could have come from!" With his stomach in full, the farmer was thinking all night long wondering where the food had come from until feeling sleepy and fell asleep.

Waking up in the morning, he saw that the table was gone. And when he opened the door to find anybody outside, but one one would be seen instead finding a lunch box nicely wrapped in a white cloth was placed on his 툇마루. The farmer was thinking the mysterious things that have been happening around him lately.  He unwrapped the cloth and open the lid, and, to his surprise again, he found a variety of side-dishes along with steamed rice neatly laid in the box.  The farmer was baffled and he took the lunch-box and headed out to work.

On that day, the farmer could not work all day long thinking about mysterious things that have been happening to him, and he decided to leave for home early to find out.  When he arrived at his house, he peeked inside the house over the low rise fence, and he saw nothing unusual was happening inside. A neighbor was passing by and asked why he was loitering around his own cottage, and he brushed it off saying," nothing, no reason."

After much waiting, not finding anything abnormal, he went into his cottage. Opening his room, he found his room nicely touched; the empty bowl and dishes that he had left on the table on table before leaving home were filled with rice and delicious side dishes and his bedding was freshly made.  The farmer finished up eating the delicious food on the table in no time.

On the next day, arriving home late after sunset, the farmer sneaked into the cow stable to peek inside the house closer. After a while, he saw a puff of smoke bellowing out from the porcelean jar that he had placed the big snail in and saw a nicely dressed young lady wearing in Hanbok appeared from it. The farmer hid himself in a stable and watched what she was doing through a little window; the young woman walked toward the kitchen and she started working; her working was so fast that she finished preparing the dinner in no time.   He saw the young woman coming out from the kitchen bringing a table of food into his room, and as she came out of his room, she suddenly disappeared with a puff of smoke.

흥부와 놀부- Hungbu and Nolbu: A Korean Folktale (My ver.)

A long time ago in a small village, Mapo in Seoul, an old man lived with his family. He was referred to as "호랑이 할아버지" to many children for his outward appearance was as scary as scenes of a tiger roaming around the village.  He wore a black aristocratic hat made out of horse tail with several corners, and carried a foot long smoking pipe on his back made out from a bamboo stick. He walks slowly and his attire was always scrupulously kept exuding a rich gentleman's outward appearance. Villagers could recognize him from a mile away.

He owned a sizable rice-field inherited from his father. His great grandfather settled in Mapo, and like his father, he has lived all his life in Mapo,  in a large traditional tiled-roof house with several quarters with a large front yard. Living together comfortably in this house with his wife, a married son, and his daughter-in-law, his life has been good. Despite he had never worked as a farmer, as sun has not risen yet, he would get up in in dark and head outside to take a long walk around the village and then to a port at Han River nearby to get fresh air. While taking the walk, he would look to see how crops are growing in the farmland.  Arriving at the port, he would watch ships sailing in and out of port transporting goods.

He was a wise man coming from a good family, which would have made anybody be easily disposed of squandry and debauchery; it must have all come from the wisdom of his ancestors that had transpired to him;. He was not arrogant and filled with gluttony, understanding of people who are disposed with poverty.

 Putting on his Hanbok requires much patience but it never bothered him much for he looked forward to enjoying the little excursion every morning.  He tries carefully not to disturb his wife sleeping as he gets dressed when it is still dark outside.  Getting dressed in Hanbok is time consuming, but he get through with it much patience until he finishes putting his last band around shim of trousers as lights from rising sun starts permeating through the white rice-paper window in his room.   Taking a look around the farmland around the village became a daily ritual for him for quite some time, ever since he became more reminiscent of his father.  His father used to walk the same place with him.  In summer timer, he enjoys smelling scents from farmland early in the morning as the grains on stalks drooped in weight of dew, and frost covered farmlands in the late fall after harvest season showing its bare landscape, and long stretch of snow covered open fields in the winter.  He rents his farmland to farmers who live in the village. As he steps out of his room gently, a dog housed at the corner gets up listening to the sound of door sliding. His servant greets him and usher him out opening the main wooden entrance door.

One day, his daughter-in-law delivered a fine boy after having a long labor. The whole family was happy that a much awaited baby was born in the family.  The old man's wife quickly rounded up her servants to bring materials to make an ornament personally. After it was finished, she told her servant to hang 'em out above the main wooden entrance door, The ornament serves two purposes: to send the news about the arrival of new member of the family and sex of the baby to the village people, of which was made out of several red peppers and soots strung together several feet apart in braided straw. The red peppers symbolize a son, and soots to fend off germs from outside as a folk remedy. As the ornarment was getting hung up above the door, passerby greet her and gave congratulatory words in smile, and the grandmother responded to them happily.

The old man named his grand son as "마돌," meaning a cornerstone of Mapo.  The boy was born healthy, and everybody in the family was pleased.  On his first birthday, called "Dol," many people came to celebrate the event. As tradition goes with celebrating first birthday of a child in a family, a bunch of items such as books, pencils, toys, musical instruments were laid out in front of him, and many town people gathered to take part in the celebration.  The little boy reached out his hand and grabbed a toy. The crowd was watching the baby and enjoyed a guessing game as to what the future of the baby would hold; if the grabs a writing utensil then he would be scholarly, and so on.

The boy was growing healthy and strong.  The boy was born in a good family; none of his caregivers fell short in caring for him.  His grandmother cared for his well being the first born grandson of the family; she even ordered making Kimchi especially made out for him, not to be spicy nor hot.  Old man was a very happy man. When holidays approaches, he would show his high spirits volunteering to help making 떡 in front of whole family; he would take off his shirt and pound the batter with his might. 마돌 likes his grandfather doing all sorts of things for the family.  After all, he was a healthy strong man who bounded to have longevity.   However, even a lucky man as he was, life's calamities were unavoidable; a misfortune had knocked on his door when 마돌 was nice years old when his only son suddenly died in a freakish accident: On his way back home, after taking a government examination, a riot broke out in Seoul protesting against the government,  he was struck by a stray pebble thrown by a protester as he was walking in the crowd. The old man was shaken by the news. In such turmoil,  he quickly rounded up the people and brought his son's body back home. What could be worse than facing unfortunate death of his son suddenly!  The old man had no time to mourn the death as a head of his family.

The funeral was held on an early winter day; all the trees had its leave fallen off. It was the sadist thing ever happened in the village since a boy got drawn in a river nearby several years earlier; the days when sobbing of the boy's mother echoed in the village seemed only a distant past to the villagers. The long funeral procession of people carrying his body in white clothes made the early winter day looked so desolate; overcast sky with the steam coming out from mouths of people in a cold day made the scenery all the more jarring.   As the procession started leaving the house, the old man was grappled with insurmountable sorrow and fell down fainted near the entrance door. He reached his hand automatically the pillar of the frame that hinged to the door.  The procession was halted momentarily. As the old man came to his mind, he saw his wife and daughter-in-law standing by him, and his grand son holding his daughter-in-law's hand. The old man told her daughter-in-law to stay at home with her son, thinking it is too much to bare witness the death of his father for the little boy. On that day, Madol stayed at home with his mother.  Madol saw his mother crying in her room all day and he fell asleep without ever had a chance to talk to his mother for all day. After the funeral, the whole family became distraught several months throughout the winter.  It was especially hard for the old man.

The several months of the winter following the funeral had been the most dreadful winter of all having a strange affects on the family. The family members seldom laughed and talked when the boy was growing. Even the dog in the house seldom barked or wagged his tail mourning  his death.  Madol's mother fell into a bout of depression. It was hard for the newly married woman whose life would have so easily placed on the path of much happiness; she avoided any activities, not even taking care of her son much. Although Madol was a toddler and he could not speak of the consequences of his father's death, he was the one who suffered the most. Much love and care that Madol would have received was cut too soon tragedically.  The old man and his wife could not think about the future for Madol.  It was a difficult time for Madol; one can not conceive how the death of his father has affected him mentally, psychologically, and emotionally.

As spring came and flowers started blooming, the frozen landscape and minds of the people started thawing, paying more attention to the little boy. Madol's mother seemed to recuperating after the shock, and both of Madol's grandparents had lived long enough to understand the fragility of human nature and seemed to accept their son's death; however, without shaking off the sense of apprehension lurking  on the boy's future having no father around to take care of him in the society that presence of father played an very important role.

Madol seemed to be continue growing up as a typical boy; however, nobody could fathom how the environment in which he grew up at his early teen years had thwarted his growth.  For two years, his mother could not find her usual self, unable to regain herself, which had left Madol uncared for much of the time enough to hamper his emotional growth come to full maturity.

The odd thing is that he seemed to have been unaffected by it.  However, two years after, a problem surfaced: wetting his bedding.  His wetting problem lingered well past his toddler age.  When his wetting problem occurred first time when he was six years old before going to school, his grandmother asked to go around the neighbor's houses to collect salt as a folk remedy to cure the bad habit.  Thereafter, it had become a common scenery in the house to see Yo placed on top of a chair in the yard getting dried in the sun from his wetting happened on the night before. It had become a usual phrase said by grand mother's friends visiting to house said, "Madol wet the bedding again," seeing the sight as he was dispatched holding a gourd bowl  to collect some salt wearing a '키' on his head like a hat as a step taking a theraphuatic measure to fix the problem customarily that entails a dab of embarrassment wearing those awkward the hat. However, it would not do any good and his mother seek consultation from doctors who prescribed with various remedies that made to take all kinds of weird stuff such as frog legs, hippo's intestine and etc. and the smell of cooking it would spread around in he neighbors.

As Madol became a boy, and he became quite noticeable to the people in the village. There was an incident that made his nickname "Nolbu" became a permanent fixture to the people in the village. This happened when he was once taken to a market in the village on a holiday;  seeing all the interesting stuff at the market, Nolbu wanted to see things and touch the stuff were on display. When he was asked to stop touching and mess up the display, he threw a tempertentrum laying on the ground turning like a spinning wheel, getting his clothes dirty. Some of the village people saw his bad behavior at the parket place and the news spread to other people in the village quickly. Ever since the incident, 놀부's behavior became worse.  His bad behaviors even extended further to become a public nuisance putting strains on lots of people in the village, making their patience running up to their ears: many parents of children in the village would often find their kids coming home crying after having beaten by 놀부.  Nobul had become a spoiled child,  who would have been brought to  attention of children behavioral theraphist nowadays as a preventive measures to be taken to keep him from getting into socially inept.  It had become a talk among the village people that Madol is not growing up well since the death of his father. The main problem was that the 놀부's mom and his grand-parents did not do anything to fix his problem, and his behavioral problems exacerbated further as he grew.

 One might speculate where his ill dispositions would have come from, especially his greediness.  After all, his late father had wisdom to discern right from wrong, and his scholarly dispositions would have influenced him in very positive way that would have been an envy to many kids in the village, and his mother's calm demeanors and gentleness would have brought him a fine kind, but nothing good of his parents' merits had transpired 놀부. After all, the late 놀부's father was a family man who respected his parents , and he was kind man to villagers. One can only speculate that the period of one year after his father's death might had affected him with twist and turn in his character or characteristics in the gene that had been recessive in both of his parents have resurfaced in 놀부. The death of his father occurred in his tender age had caused him insecurity that no one can fathom easily as he was trying to establish deeper connections to his father as a son.  When the connections was cut off abruptly, further psychological and emotional developments that are so crucial in his later life might had been disrupted with no help available neither from his grandparents nor from his mother who were deeply distraught.

The odd thing was that the beauty of the village did not influence nor helped to ameliorate Madol's ill dispositions. The village was surrounded with mountains offering picturesque scenery throughout the year, nothing that would induce his ill dispositions. In spring, all kinds of flowers would bloom and its scent spread around the village. In summer, kids would gather by a stream near the mountain catching fish and swimming. In the fall, the leaves on trees turned to golden color making the scenery of this village a very beautiful place.  In the winter time, when all the mountains were covered in snow, the scenery of hawks would be circling in the sky,  farm houses bellowing smoke and dog's barking to alert the farmers working in their houses while they were making shoes and baskets sitting in front of a stove, would come out to keep guard any of their live stocks.

The beauty of the surrounding imbibed good characters to the people in the village; all children were born were growing up in gentle demeanor and in good heart; nothing ever get stolen in the village and no qurralsome displays were observed. I was unfortunate that the exqusit beauty of nature in the village did no good to Nolbu. Some children with little bit care from their parents turned out to be good, but in the case with Nolbu, it was opposite. It has unfortunate that 놀부's father passed away too soon for Nolbu. However, Nolbu had been raised as a special child given much attention from both of his grandparents and his mother.  The servants brought food to his school daily so that he would have warm meal for his lunches. On top of that, his parents hired special teachers to get ahead in the game for excelling in the school. However, despite all their parents' effort, 놀부 always felt that he had lack of confidence; he would get headache even looking at the books, and he knew that could not meet the expectation of his grandparents nore his mom.  His lack of confidence made him grew jealous of others who worked hard and excel in the school.

The scars that had been left my his son's death was still long way to be healed, and he had to endure as a result of his son's death started dissipating in summer following; he started thinking about love and kindness that the village people had given to him.  For he had been nice to the village people, the village people worked hard to ease the pain for his family during the time of his tribulation. On the days when weather was so hot, he would often sit underneath of a pine tree staring at the fields and listened to chicada humming as wind blew upon his long beard and mustashe. In fall, when the harvest seasons arrived, he would bring a box of Soju when farmers have lunches by the field and boot their spirits. He had special sentiments and care for farming even though he never grew any crops. When he gets tired from walking, he would perch underneath a pine tree and feel cool breeze blowing before taking out his bamboo smoking pipe to light a match.

 Even in winter time, after he has done weaving a fish net for a day, he would go out and walk along empty fields, thinking he he was saved by the kind people in the village.  He never thought that the community would come in rescue from insanity that he would have fallen into.  He enjoyed walking around the village and watching the snow linen fields. Sometimes, he could smell wood burning from a bonfire that has been set or  hawks swirling over in the fields. When he saw children playing on puddle that was frozen on the rice fields, he would greet them and tell them to come to his house for a good treat afterwards.  When children come knocking on his door, he would personally answer the door inviting them in and the children would have fun listening to stories being told by the rich man.  Everybody in the village loved him for his was kind and loving person.  Whenever he arrived at his house after taking a walk, he would called upon others in the house  "I ri o ner ra" and servants would open the big wooden entrance door." Despite he had a gentle demeanors, some children would get scared of  his loud voices and  his long white beard.

The servants noticed that his tonality of saying  "이리 오너라!" had changed since the death of his son; it no longer had the vibrancy, mischeviousness and communicative tune with affection, but rather in tone of formality and utter saying in the air.

After he regained himself, he became a busy man participating more in village affairs. Perhaps, he figured his way out from the torment that he had been feeling.  Basically, he knew how to keep him happy; he would attend any communal event for someone's birth, wedding and funeral. Sometime, he walked several miles over the mountain to participate in someone's wedding.  When he run into village people, he would greet them and say something nice to them.  Each year, in fall, after harvest season was over, they brought crops as their rents. His barn would be filled with all kinds of crops. He became a kind man with a little flair of socialistic mind, giving crops away to those farmers who were unable to bring crops to pay their rents and forgave what they owe to him; however, he never led them to be lazy asking them to work harder in the next year. He was a intelligent man who understood the mechanics of human relations and he cared deeply for the community that he lived in. 호랑이 할아버지 was a successful man in any measure by modern standard; he was not a self-made man, but he knew how to keep the endowments from his ancestors well.  He knew how to communicate with people in the village and his concern over the sphere of farming made him liked by many villagers. He became an indispensable figure in the town, and was awarded with many prizes from the village governor; people in the village would come to seek his help, and he would gladly offer any help he could offer.  Each year in the fall, after Chusok, he would throw a large banquet out of his  own expense, inviting everybody in the village to celebrate the holiday in good communal spirits.
The farmers and their families would bring boxes of apples and pears as gifts, and some families get together show their talents in singing and dancing in celebration of harvest season. The man would enjoy the festive mood of the holiday and it gave him immense job hosting the holiday party for the villagers . He enjoyed talking with the village people and it was a great bonding experience for all the people in the village. 놀부s Mom and her mother-in-law were the greatest contributor making the festivity a success. Each year, they prepared for the party well in advance with good planning.
The festive mood of the holidays would be augmented with music and drinks, making the holidays truly a memorable event not only for all the adults but also young children in the village. In this time, the village people forget the all the hardships that the had to endure raising crops and enjoyed themselves in festive mood. The man enjoyed communal activities and share joys and sorrows with the village people.  When the harvest yield bountiful crops, he would share the joys with the farmers. When drought occurs not yielding much crops, he would share the pains with the farmers.

The small village people were mainly farmers who worked all four seasons long year after year toiling themselves with back breaking work.  The work were hard year for these people, year after year, sometimes fighting hunger and poverty resulted from draught and floor. But the cold winters were endured, and they were happy living in the village; the people was nice to each other building a good community. The man played a vital role in building the community as it was for he was gentle man with kindness and love for humanity. He was always willing to offer helping hands for those who were in need, and whenever he had free time, he initiated gathering people in the village to encourage them and talking with them.

One day, a misfortune fell in the village, a farmer living in the village suddenly died from an accident, living his little five years old son: A tiger came into the village and took the farmer away while he was asleep. For some reason, the tiger left the little boy unharmed.  When the boy woke up, he was in horror founding his father was gone. A neighbor heard him crying  and the news spread to the rich man.  Nolbu's Dad quickly rounded up a meeting with the village people, and he asked people to look for the body of the little boy's Dad. However, the body of the man could not be uncovered despite several days of searching.

 마포영감 asked the little boy crying, "네 이름이 뭔고? - What is your name?" And the little boy responded, "My name is Hungbu." The rich man took the little boy's hand and took him and said, "I am going to take care of you," and then took him to his home.

As the door was opened,  he told his wife, who was standing by the door, what had happened and asked her to take care of the little boy well for he lost his dad.

All the people including the servants knew what happened to the village and the little boy's Dad, and they tried very hard taking care of the little boy.

Several days after Hugbu arrived the rich man's home, the rich man rounded up a meeting inviting everybody in the house in the courtyard and said:

"As you may all know, there has been an tragic incident in the village;  the little boy's dad has been abducted by a tiger. We don't know what happened to the man; we can only guess that he has been killed by a tiger.  The man has a little son, and, unfortunately, he has no relatives who could take care of him,  so I have decided to bring him home to live with us. He is going to be a new member of the family now. His name is Hungbu."

Nolbu was still young boy, eight years old, three years older than 흥부, and he wasn't quite pleased with his father's decision bringing the little boy to home. Nobul he had no notion what it would be like living with another person younger than he, so he just kept his mouth shut.

마포영감's wife was happy that her husband had regained his strength which made positive impacts to the family.  The two women in the family followed his decision gladly. The family was quite happy to have the little boy.  They cared much for the boy. The rich man would stop by at a market on the way back from his daily excursion and bought a large quantity of dumplings for the family to share.

흥부 was well liked by the people in the community despite the fact that  he was not not related to
to the old man with no blood tie. 흥부 was a amicable boy who was willing to help people's in need. He had a deep compassion for people, and he had talents for making people to draw near him.

When they were young, there was a incident that showed sociopethic nature of Nolbu, a fire broke out in a neighbor's house as they were playing outside.  Hungbu saw the fire and immediately shouted "fire, fire, fire broke out,"  calling attention from the neighbors and passersby, and rushed into the house to rescue anybody might have been trapped in the house risking his live, but all the thing 놀부 did nothing to put the fire out; he just stood there watching. The people in the neighborhood was in awe with 흥부 for his breavity. quick thinking and his willingness to help others, taking his own live at risk. Because of the incident, Heugbu became a hero in the community. The neighbors treated him with respect as if he is a genuine illigidtmit son of the prosecutor, calling him "도련님."

As 흥부 won the heart of the people in the neighborhood, 놀부 became jealous of his popularity.  His jealousy sored up when he abused neighbor's dog  by kicking  them on their bellies. By the time the owners come out to see their dogs in pain, Nolbu fled hiding in the bush giggling.  When the owners in the neighborhood found that Nolbu abused the bog, they wen to his house to complain 놀부's behavior to his father, the father told them that the incident would never happen again.  However, the father did not do anything to reprimand Nolbu.  Nolbu's abusive behaviors to animals keep the neighbor showing appreciations and respect to Heungbu, and his father's reputation started eroding.

During the rituals were held in 추석 or 설날 for honoring their ancestors, 놀부 paid the respects at the alter, but Hungbu was not allowed to bow at the alter for he does not share the blood with family.

Despite that the family had good financial disposition, the relationship between the two brothers was not  close ever since the beginning. Nolbu and Heungbu never played together.  Hungbu was sickly when he arrived,  and as attention was given to Heungbu, Nolbul became jealous.  Although  grew strong,  his step mother worried that 흥부 might not have longevity and she would call upon Jinsang salesman passing by her house for his folk remedy to cure him.  Huenbgu never passed the winter without catching a cold.  Nobul's Mom loved both of them despite Heungbu had no tie with the family's bloodline; she would knit warm sweaters for both them to wear in winter. Heungbu grew up feeling deep love from his step Mother . 놀부's grand-mother had special care for him since 놀부 was the only son who would be carrying bloodline of the family.  Nolbu's grandmother made provisions for his favors like preparing special 김치 for 놀부 since Nolbu would not eat spice food.

Although the two brothers do not share the blood and lived together under one roof as a family, with more or less equal loving care of their Mom, their relationship was as odd as any two brothers could have.  As they were growing, they had never played together.  They were like two strangers from two different planets. Nolbu had never won any respect from his younger brother. Nolbu had old archaic thinking that younger brother should respect him in any circumstances. Nolbu never learned how to treat his younger brother nicely because he was trapped in societal norms that he should receive kindness and respect from his brother and others always, irrespective of his bad behaviors. Hungbu wanted to played together with his brother when he was little, and he would come along gladly on the way to school to be nice to his step brother, but soon realized that there was no chemistry between the two and never expected that from him.

놀부 never praised his younger brother. 놀부would never admit that Heungbu works harder than himself, and worried that someday Heungbu might be better off financially than he.  Nolbu had not much ambition; he was dependent on his grand-father who is an old man.  His grand-father supported him dearly as if he were his father for he loved his grand son and he is the only grandson by blood in the family. At age 10,  his grandfather brought a tutor home and made him to study, but Nolbu never liked studying; he could not sit more than an hour without getting distracted.  The tutor complained that Nolbu has no patience for studying. The teacher decided that Nolbu had no motivation for studying and quit his job despite an offer of a hefty bonus.   However, his grandfather would not give up on him and cared for his grandson;  Nolbu tried several times to pass government examinations to follow his father's footstep trying to become an government official, but he failed the qualifying examination every time. As he could not pass the examinations, he worry for his future grew larger.

A misfortune fell to the whole village. A devasting flood occurred engulfing the whole village. A lot of houses were swapped sway in the flood and all the crops were growing expected to be harvested soon had been taken away by the flood. The flood caused damage to the rich man's house; all the grains had been kept in the barn got spoiled by the water, only salvaging a little from it. Subsequently, a famine overshadowed the village people and the people were suffering. Mapo was in turmoil, and it had a devastating blow to the rich man, unable to make him get up on his knee. The rich man got sick and he was bed ridden.


A tragedy struck again to the family, which had devastating blow to Nolbu; his grand-father passed away suddenly resulting from a stroke, after a bout of a headache. The grand-father's death came as a shock to the family, especially to Nolbu who had been dependent to his grand-father for all his life.  Both his father and grandfather passed away, which had a devastating blow to the young man. Their father's death forced the family move into a much smaller house, and the family had to live in much less means.

Hard time make one grow and become mature, but it was not like the case for Nolbu; Nolbu e became more ill-tempered and greedy. He became obsessed with assets that had been left by his father for he was a very insecure man, not capable of making a living on his own. He spent money on drinking at a local bar. If you take a deeper look into Nolbu, the young man had old thinking that largely accrued from the mores that were based on distorted views of Confucianism values at the time, which was undemocratic in modern sense, giving too much favors for himself. Simply,  Nolbu did not grow up to be a fine man.

놀부 was jealaous of 흥부 who worked hard trying to revive the family.  흥부 was smart and emulated savvy business practices that he learned quickly from 마포 최영감 who had been his role model.  He had already earned the respect from the village people.  The village people starting seeing that the rich man has come back alive as 흥부 and started regaining their strength.  Like the old man, 흥부 took the daily excursion around the village every day looking after the farmlands and to build good relationships with the farmers.  Like the old man, he had a listening ears. Like the old man, he knew how to  make the community run.

Years passed, and the family recuperated still owning the farmlands in the village.

One night, he brought a bar girl over his house and stared living together; they were made to each other, both greedy.  Nolbu had lived with 흥부 in the house with their mother.   Nolbu loved to go out and drink much of evening. One night, he brought a girl into his house and started living in the house. They lived together in the house without having married.  The woman demanded her name be listed in family genealogy book(족보) as a legitimate wife of 놀부, but 놀부 refused even after they both had several children of their own. Despite the woman is not recored in the book as a legitimate wife of 놀부,  흥부 always addressed the woman as official wife of Nolbu and called her "형수님"

After several times failing to pass the examinations to be elected as a government official. Nolbu was disappointed and squandered his life.  흥부 studied anyway despite he was not allowed to take the examinations.  Nolbu was relieved that the system does not work for 흥부 and he would have no chance ever becoming a government official.  Nolbu wondered why 흥부  would study hard and his studying would make his jealous.  Nolbu would keep him from studying employing what even means necessary.  The light in Hungbu's room was always lit at night  and Nolbu worried that Hungbu might become richer than himself.  So, 놀부 plotted a scheme; he sneaked into 놀부u's room and knocked down the candle light while Hungbu fell asleep with lights on a the table.  As fire was set on a book, Nolbu shouted for fire and rounded up the servants to put out the fire.

놀부 called upon Hungbu on the following day and said, "The incident last night was a unfortunate. As you know, after father's death, the family is living with meager income from the farms that we rent to farmers.  Since I am a head of the family, I decide the rules for the family now.  It is my wish that you leave the house and make your own living from now one."

놀부 decided to leave the house as Nolbu's wish.  He found a small place to live at the outskirt of the village through the help of a neighbor. His Mom was sad that Heungbu had to leave; she often came to visit 놀부 bringing food walking a mile.  흥부 accompanied his Mom back to her house and walked back home. He enjoyed the time walking in the village.  When he met anybody along the way, he would greet gently with a warm smile, and everybody in village appreciated his presence in the village.

흥부 worked for the neighbors doing chores and he was able to make living on his own. Sometimes, when his mother came to bring food, he would give her back more food that she brought to him.  흥부 was poor still, but he was self-sufficient. He visited his step-father's grave and paid respect on every holiday.

One day, he came home, he saw a snake climbing up the wall near a sparrow nest where chicks were born. 흥부 grabbed a long stick and use the stick to keep the snake going after the chicks.  Although he succeeded in chasing the snake away, he accidently, knocked one of the chick off and she felled on the ground. Heungbu picked the chick up and found that her leg was broken.  The chick was shaking in pain, and Heungbu bandaged and put her back in the nest.

One day, he saw a nice girl in the village and he asked her parents give permission to marry her. For 흥부 had good insights what he wanted from his wife, he had no hesitation when he saw the girl; the girl was a good nutiared person with sensibility and charms despite her family is not well to do. The parents gave him the permission gladly since he was the most eligible bachelor in the village. All the girls in the village was envy of her.  They were married in a ceremony inviting everybody from the village.  For 흥부 was a good man who had acquired a celebrity status within the community in young age, which would be difficult for any wise man to possess in even old age, a lot of people came to participate in the celebration. Heungbu's deep compassion for the people and his congenital good nature attracted many people.  The people in the community put all the efforts to make a big celebration. Canopies were set up and people prepared food. The people in the village gladly brought food, Makgolli and Soju.  The banquet was held in a big open field and musicians and dancers were there, making a big event for all to enjoy.  It had been a long time since they ever had such joyful event, and all the people was happy. 흥부's Mom was there also, sharing joy with the members of the community.

While he had to make living with his meager earning, he enjoyed his married life.  On one spring day, as sparrows returned back home from the South, one of sparrows dropped a gourd seed as she was leaving her nest looking for food.  Heungbu got a hoe and planted the seed near his theathed roofed house.  A plant soon grew out from the spot and it climbed up the wall of Heungbu's house and its branches grew further up to the roof of the house.  In the late spring, small goads started to form out of the branches and, by the summer, the gourds grew much lager.  As they were growing, all sorts of birds  would fly over and rested on top of the gourds as if something forth coming.  Heungbu was wondering why so many birds were around their home making a fuss.

In the fall,  when the gourds were ripe, 흥부 brought a ladder and climb up to the roof and brought down all the gourds and put them in the foyer, and said "Oh, how big and beautify the gourds are! We  can eat them for well over several weeks." He cut the stem and rolled the first gouard, but surprisingly it was very light enough to carry with no trouble on his own hands. He wondered that how the gourds have not been blown away by wind.  After one of the gourds had been brought down, he went up the latter to get the second gourd; it was the same as the first one- the gourd was light as a fether easy enough to carry with one arm.  After all the gourds were harvested, he brought them over to the foyer.
After putting all the gouard in the foyer, he felt very sleepy and fall asleep. While he was sleeping,  he had a dream where an old man appeared and said, " I know your trouble, my dear son, but your trouble is over now. Cut the gourds,  they are gifts from heaven." When he woke up, he saw  birds sitting on each of the gourds waiting for 흥부 to cut them open.

흥부 brought a saw with handle on each end and started cutting with his wife sitting across. He said, "톱질하세. 톱질하세. 슬금슬금 톱질하세.." As the gourd was cut, a smoke bellowed out fill the room, unable to see. As the smoke cleared, they would not believe what's came out from the gourds:  a pile of gold nuggets. "We are rich! We are rich," said 흥부's wife, and they hold their hands together and danced on the floor.