하얀 오후 - The White Afternoon

I was at work on the day of 9/11.  It was a nice early fall day in a small town of New England where I worked. On that day, there was no stirring of wind, everything was calm as fall's rays shedding its last remnant of summer, and mellow ray of fall was shinning.  The news of the incident spread out quickly in the company on that morning. Upon hearing the unfathomable incident happened, people in the building stirred up, flocking up in the dinning area to listen to a radio placed on a dinning table. The tone of voice heard from the newscaster was reflective of the chaos unfolding in the NYC.  The tone of the voice was raised 10 decibel higher when the 2nd building of the trade center was hit by another airplane.  On that morning, we were all in the state of shock and became speechless.

The company dismissed all the workers early one O'clock in the afternoon.  It was very unusual that the dismissal was due to something other than Tornado or Nor Easter snow storm that would normally be attributed to dismissal.  A hit of a cloud in clear blue sky reflected on the glass window as I was getting in my car.  On the highway,  heading back home,  not much traffic was encountered  that would have been savored in total contrast the heavy traffic encountered earlier in the morning.  The thoughts of the incident happened in NYC was swirling in my mind, wondering who might have committed such horrendous act.  A flash of memories of a news that I had seen on TV some 18 years earlier occurred in my mind, where the WTC was reported to have been placed with a bomb and search crew with snipping dogs were dispatched to look for it. As I was heading into the town where I lived,  couple of fire engines were running in frenzy with loud siren sound as though some other disaster had happened somewhere in the town, adding more anxiety; it almost made me to think that they were heading to NYC at the scene of the chaos, unable to tell them apart.   To me,  the totality of chaotic scenes heard and seen before arriving home induced a high level of anxiety. The anxiety may come in all different flavor, but it almost tasted like once when I was wrongfully accused of a shoplifting in a shop being taken into an office in the corner of the store not knowing how to speak in English nor how to defend myself, standing in front of watchful eyes being looked at suspiciously by shopkeepers.

After the incident,  the media kept on putting high rhetoric of fighting against terrorism and then the rhetoric evolved further going to war with Iraq and Afghanistan despite no direct correlation seems to have been found.    People's frustration was running high due to the attack; I could see many cars fluttering American flags - that would normally be seen on wooden flower pots here and there - on so many cars on the road. Witnessing the horror of two airplanes going on suicide missions heading to the twin towner soon followed by incidents of hate crimes against non-whites.  Some of the cars had oversize flags. In the media, there was talk of crackdown of terrorism day after day and year after year.  G. Bush drove up the rhetoric of going to war.  And in the midst of all this, a Rock'n Roll girls' band group mentioned a political statement opposing to go war and their remark was brutally bashed by the media.

I could feel the resentments and hatreds brewing in the air like a teapot that was about to make whistling sound and overflow.  As the media reported that who were the suspects,  many non-white were not living normally as eruptions of the resentments occurred, and its shard of struck me on one day, several years later when the brewing had not stopped, to a person who has nothing to do with 9/11 and wished that it never happened,  living in a small town in New England:

 My family made a weekend excursion to a tourist attraction in New England.  As we were strolling in the area, me sipping coffee as I was walking holding a camera in the other hand.  There were a group of young mens in 20's were hanging out standing in front of a tavern talking, giggling cracking jokes.  They got drunken on that Sunday afternoon holding beer bottles on their hands.  Seeing us walking by, one of the young man shouted, "He is holding a handgrenade!" and the rest of the group started laughing.  Their voice was loud as though they were thinking that we were tourists who did not understand English. As I heard them laughing, I confronted them and walked up to them. I demanded that the person who made the statement come forward; the group of young men who made the statement should come forward and show his face in front of me, but the young man would not come. I told the group that the person should come forward and then moved over 20 feet away them and waited the person to come. After a while,  a young man came and apologize. I demanded that the very person man who made the statement should come forward, not him.  After waiting for five minuted, I walked into a restaurant and called police.  By the time policeman arrived, they all fled.

한인사회가 잘 되려면...

미국에 잘나가는 한인 사회가 몇군데나 될까?.
이 질문은 적합한 것이 못된다.
오히려 미국에서는 잘나가지 않는 한인사회가 정상 일 지도 모른다.
한인을 묘사한다면, 일본, 중국, 러시아의 한인과는 다르게 저마다 한국을 등지고
온 사람들이다.  미국에와서 한인 끼리 모여 오손도손 잘 살려고 청사진의 꿈을 꾸고
온 사람은 사실상 없다고 봐야한다.

미국에 온 사람은 새옷을 입는 것과 같다.  옛옷은 버리고 새로운 옷을 디자인하고
갈아 입어야 한다.  옛옷을  가끔은 입을 수는 있겟지만  계속해 입을 수는 없다.
우리는 저마다 새로운 옷을 입고 만나야 한다. 그러나, 한인사회의 문제는 가라입을 새옷이 없다

사실, 한인회의 발전을  갈망하는 사람은 미국에서 오래산 사람 일게다; 온갖 인종차별에다
외로움을 겪어봐 자기의 권익과 인권을 위해 도움을 받을 수 있는 참다운 한인회을 연민이라도 할테니깐..

한인사회의 궁극적인 목적은 이것이다 - 새옷을 만들어야 한다.
무에서 유을 창조하는 것. 마치 불모의 땅을 개척하는, 새마을운동을  해야 한다.

일단 사람들에게 관심을 끌어야 한다.  이괸심을 끌기 위해서는, 미국에서 오래 성공적으로 살고, 아름다운 한인사회을 꿈꾸는 자' 만이 할수 있다 - 새옷을 만들 수 있는 사람이어야 한다.   이는 미국사회을 잘 알고 리더쉽이 있는 사람만이 가능 한 것 이다. 한인회의 문제는 근본적으로 리더쉽의 부재이다.

그리고 리더는 한인을 도우려는 정신과.  전통을 이어 한인회의실에는 안창호선생의 사진을 걸어 놓고 일 할수 있는 사람들 이어야 한다.

누굴 도운다는 '정신'을 키운다는 건, 마치 태권도을 하는 거와 같다. 먼저 태권도을 하겠다는 의지가 있어야 하고,  꾸준히 노력해 검정띄도 딸 수 있어야 한다 .  한인을 돕겠다는 의지의 발상이 있어야 한다.  이 의지의 불씨가 활화산 처럼 타올라야 한다.

한인사회의  두드러진 집합은 교회와 동창회 이다.
미국에 후세을 위해 아름다운 청사진을  꿈꾸는데 교회나 동창회가 필요할까?.

이 집합체들은 갈수록 많아지고,  정작 모든한인을 위해 중추적인 활동을 해야 할 한인회는 상대적으로 싹이 자라지도 못했다.  한국인이 좀더 포괄적으로 뻣어나가야 할 모태을 교회와 동창회들이 부지불식간에 시들시들하게 만들어 버린 것이다.  한국인/한인이 잘 뭉치지 못하는 이유가 바로 여기에 있다. 위대한 선조, 안중근의사, 안창호 선생의 얼을 받아 '한국인'이라는 자부심을 키워 왔어야 하는데, 모든 사회가 한국인 인것 하나만으로는 충분조건이 되어야 하는데, 사농공상따지는 유교문화가 이어져  '인간'이란 공통분모로 하나 만으로도 교감이 갈 수 없게 - 한국인, 학교,교회, 지역 출신,생김새, 등등 -  서로 만나기을 꺼려하는 별 희귀한 문화가 생겨 버렸다. 한국인은 쉽상 뿔뿔이 흩어져 다른 인종으로 흡수되기 쉽다.

미국에서 끼리끼리 하는 집단은 성공 할 수가 없다.  끼리끼리하는 일은 배재하여야 한다.
미국에서 흑인들이 성공 못하는 이유가 여기에 있다.  흑인들은 절대 남을 끓어앉지 않고 자기네 만을 위해 달란다. 백인들 중에는 흑인의 인권을 위해 일하는 사람은 종종 있는데, 흑인들 중에는 다른 인종, 남을위해 일하는 사람은 없다.  그래서 미국에서 제도적으로 흑인을 위하는 데도 흑인은 잘 못 나간다 - 서로 도우며 상승하지 못하고 , 별로 인정을 받지 못한다.

한국의 끼리끼리 구도도 이와 흡사하지 않은가?

끼리 끼리는 아름다운 구도가 아니다.  한인회가 얼마나 아름다움을 갈망하고 성공적으로
이끄느냐가 한인도 유태인처럼 미국에서 편하게 살수 있느냐 판가름 할수 있다.



끼리 끼리 형태의 한인구도는 한인들의 목소리을 모두어 미국에서의 한인의 위상을 높이는데 별로 도움이 안된다. 즉, 한인구도는 각기관이 저마다 역할을 분담해 한인을 도우려는 목적아래 기구의 조합이 되어야지, 교회나 동창회의 집합으로 서로 고향이 그리워 등이나 긁는 형태는 아니어야 한다. 한인구도는 모든한인을 포괄할 수 있어야 하며, 교회나 동창회는 한인회을 돕고 따라야하는 역할을 담당하는 서포트 구룹이 되어야 한다.

그리고 한인회는 미국주류사회와 호흡을 마추고 한인의 권리와 이익을 옹호할수 있는 기관이 되어야 하고, 항상초점이 멋진 미래을 향해 있어야 한다. 멋진 한인회관을 만들고, 곤경에 빠진 이웃을 돕고, 타민족과 호흡을 마추고 도와 주며 사는 이런기관이 되기위해서는  미국에서 교육을 받고 일한 경험이 많은 사람들이 교회와 동창회을 벗어나 한인회을 위해 활동해야 한다. 이들이 한인회의 초석이 되어 진정 후대을위해 거듭나도록 도와 주어야 한다. 한인회의 주인은 한인들이 서로 뭉쳐 도우며 살아야 한다는 강한 인식의 집단이어야 한다. 한인회의 진정한 목적은 한인들이 미국에서 살때 미국사회을 이해시키고 잘 살수 있도록 도와주는 것이고, 그들이 성공해 다른 한인들을 도와 주는, 파급효과로 이어져 후대에게 도움을 줄 수 있어야 한다.  다같이 모여 참여 하는 공간을 만들어야지, 끼리끼리는 안된다.

한인사회는 어떻케 발전 할 수 있을까?

종전의 의 끼리끼리 구도도 계속 이어지다, 공통분모가 이루어 지지 않으면 비누방울이 터지둣 자취없이 사라지는 형태 일까, 아니면 하나하나 놓인 돌이 싸여서 거대한 산을 만드는 일이 될까?  미국에 올때 청사진을 갖고 오지 않고, 새 옷을 지어 오지 않은 우리의 큰 고민 이다. 

끼리 끼리는 아름다운 구도가 아니다.  한인회가 얼마나 아름다움을 갈망하고 성공적으로

이끄느냐가 한인도 유태인처럼 미국에서 편하게 살수 있느냐 판가름 할수 있다.

수동적인 교육과 데이트의 상관관계

한국의 교육을 한 마디로 표현하면  "교사가 일방적으로 학생들에게 지식을 전달하는 수업 방식" 이다. . 문제는 이런 수업 방식은 학생들로 하여금 어떠한 흥미도, 창의성 등 아무것도 끌어낼 수 없고, 사실, 학생의 귀중한 시간을 허비하게 된다. 또한 학생들끼리 서로 의견을 주고 받으하면서 무엇이 맞고 틀린지 알아야 하는데, 그저 교사가 모든 설명을 다 해주니, 학생들은 그냥 듣기만 하는 수동적인 자세가 되고 만다. 오히려, 이런 환경은 쓸데 없는 경쟁심이나 불러 일의 키고, 대화을 통한 협동심이나 팀웍내지 개인의 창의성을 말살시킨다.

한국에서는 교사는 학생들에게 일방적으로 지식 전달만 한다. 문제 풀라고 하고, 답 맞추고, 모르는 문제는 설명해 주고... 한국에서는 대부분의 학교 수업 방식이 이렇다. 또한 한국 학생들도 이러한 교사의 수업 방식에 길들어져 버린다.  이러한 수업방식은 사실 인간의 창의성을 말살시키는 독극물과 같은 것이다. 사실, 이런 수업은 교육적으로 개인에 어마어마한 피해을 가져온다.

이런 수동적인 방법의 한국교육은 얼마나 한심한가! 그리고 그 한심한 교육은 언제 그칠것인가!
                                 

바람직한 수업 방식은 교사가 일방적으로 지식을 전달하기보다는, 학생들이 자신의 의견을 말할 수 있도록 끊임없이 질문을 던지고 흥미를 이끌어야 한다. 훌륭한 교사는 학생들의 의견에 보충 설명을 하면서 점점 사고 범위를 넓혀주고 학생들이 수업에 전적으로 다 참여할 수 있도록  유도 하는 겄이다.

이러한 교육을 받은 한국여성들은 데이트을 해도 느껴진다. 교육을 받는 과정에서 창의적이지 못하고 오랫동안 수동적 교육방식에 젖이 서로 별로 다른 개성을 찿아보기 힘들다.  교육의 진정한 목적은 성숙되게  '자기의 표현'을 할수 있는 사람으로 가꾸어 지는 것이다.  사회에서 원하는 데로 벽돌처럼 개성없이 키워진 사람들은 만나면 재미없고 빨리 호감이 가질 않는다. 데이트는 그사람이 어떤식의 교육을 받고 살아왔는지 여실히 드러난다.

시골다람쥐와 서울쥐 - A contrast in journalistic demeanor

I took my family to North Conway, N.H. on a vacation when my daughter was about four and my son was two years old . The weather had been beautiful with clear blue sky throughout the vacation. On the 2nd day we stayed, the town held a harvest fair on a parking lot of a ski resort with collection of  art works from the local artists. There were many tables laid out with all sorts of artifacts on top; jewelries and various arts and crafts were put out for sale. Seeing all the interesting stuff, my daughter, who was then four years old - enthralled by all the glittering and fancy stuff - was walking around browsing items along side with her Mom.  My daughter's enjoyment of seeing the art works was clearly palpable on her face with excitement and joyful expressions on her face, and a glimpse of it was caught by a local journalist who happened to be there looking to capture moments of the festivity.  As my daughter was touching a necklace hung from a jewelry-stand,  the woman took photo shots of her at the moment.  After taking the photo, the woman walked over and told me that she was a journalist for the local newspaper  and complimented how cute my daughter was, and would very much like to  publish my daughter's photo in the upcoming newspaper for the week asking for the permission to publish it.  For the response,  I said gladly that it's fine. The journalist then told me that she could send the newspaper mailed to me.

After several weeks later, a letter was arrived from the journalist, containing a small note saying how pretty and cute my daughter was and a cut-out from the newspaper with my daughter's picture which showed her with her tiny hand reaching out to a necklace with a star on a newlry-stand.  The title of the photo was : Reaching for a star.

The letter brought lots of joy to  my family; on the day the letter was received, we talked about the trip to the town over our dinner.  My daughter was very happy to see that her picture came out on a newspaper for the first time ever in her life. Seeing my daughter in gleeful mood, my son sitting next
to her became jealous and started asking me when his photo would come on a newspaper like his sister.  On which,  I told him that moments will come soon or later without advanced notice.

A moment that would make  my son's picture come out on a newspaper came five years later, one day, when a Korean women's field hockey team came to the city where I live, for a match with a team from a European country. I went to watch the game taking my family.  We cheered sitting on the first row by the walk way. After the game was over, a woman, holding a camera, appeared to be in 30s approached me and introduced herself to me that she works for a Korean newspaper for the Korean community in the city and asked for an interview.  On which, I gladly said "Yes," to have  my son's wish to be on a newspaper come true. The journalist took several photos of my family and then took her notebook out  and started firing off her questions as she was writing down our responses on the notebook. The journalist told me that the photos will appear in the upcoming weekly newspaper.

  On the following weekday when the newspaper came out, I went to the local grocery shop to pick up the newspaper.  After picking up the newspaper, I looked immediately at the sporting section in much anticipation that my family's photo that she had taken would be seen - especially my son's picture. Contrary to my anticipation, the newspaper had no pictures of my family; the newspaper had pictures
of the team alongside with other spectators, but it entirely omitted presence of my family there altogether. I am not going to speculate why my family's photo was missing. The journalist lied to me!!

 When my son asked me what happened to the photos that the woman took, I just snbbed it off lying to him that I haven't had chance to pick up the newspaper yet, hoping that my son would never ask me the question again; my son would have felt that how negligent of his father was over his sphere.

My son's wish to be on a newspaper came into a reality without an advanced notice, just like what I had told him at the dinner table, five years later, when a town's newspaper journalist for the town where he lives captured moments of my son and several other students walking into a high school building happily on their first day in high school after summer vacation. Having just graduated from the Middle School earlier June of the year, the town newspaper depicted the boys in smile with title: Happy Freshman High School Students heading into classrooms. 

한인사회의 롤모델?

종종 듣는 애기가 "한인은 유태인처럼 부지런하고 똑똑하다. 유태인한테 배우자"이다.
한인이 유대인을 따라만 할수 있다면 한인도 우수한 소수민족의 하나가 될 것이다.
하지만, 한인들 중 유대인을 따라 할 줄도 모르면서 말만 떠벌리는 사람은 또
얼마나 많은가? 차라리 말이나 말지.

미국 유태인들은 미국에서 다른인종들괴 비교하면 좀 다르다는 느낌을 받는다;
오랫동안 타인종과 얽혀살아 별로 타인종을 낳설어 하지 않고....
그네들의 장점은 상황이 나쁘더라도 감정적이지 않고 실리을 잘 추구한다는 점이다.

그내들은 미국에서 백인의 기득권을 갖고 산다 - 미국의 정치, 종교,경제, 사회, 교육,
언론, 금융, 문학,학문, 예술에 깊이 관여하고, 서로간 유대관계는 깊다.
유대인들은 겉모양새가 백인과 거의 같다, 언뚯보기에는 백인이다; 아랍사람과도 흡사하다. 서로 아브라함의 자손이니,  이스라엘과 파레스타인의 분쟁은 사촌지간의 싸움인 셈이다.
미국에서는 소수민족으로사나 그네들의 영향력은 커서 기득권자의 역할을 톡톡히한다.
K-12 학교휴일중 유태인 휴일은 두서너개는 되는 것 같다.
유대인들은 자기네 문화, 전통을 미국에 갖고와 고스란히 지키고 키워 왔다; 다른 인종은
미국문화에 동화되는 반면, 유태인은 자기네 것을 지키며 산다.

한인들은 한국에서 무엇을 가져 왔나?
교회와 동창회들?

다들 "우리끼리 끼리"하는 모임과 집합체이다.
"우리끼리 끼리"만 하다가 노벨상하나 못타고 앉아있는 한국대학들을 보라!
우습지 않나!

1981년도쯤에 타임즈 메가진은 유태인 세명이 큰웃음을 띄고 앉아있는 사진을 실었다; 그때당시뉴욕시장이었던 카치시장, 세계적 바이얼린리스트 펄만, 그리고 노벨로리엣인 한 사람 이었다. 사진의 제목은 "유대인이 주류사회에 끼다."

그사진이 싫린지가 인제 40년 세월이 흘렀다;  미국 한인사회도 그동안 많이 발전
했다, 하지만 한국인 세명이 그렇케  큰 웃음을 띄고 앉아 있는 조그마한 사진을 보기란 아직도 요원한 일 일것 같다.

대연각호텔 대화재 - The day when a big fire broke out in downtown

Getting up early in blissful morning on Christmas day of 1971, I packed my gears and headed out to my neighboring town, YunHee-Dong, where I go for skating as I have skated couple of times already for the winter. Walking to the skating took more than thirty minutes walking, but it was enjoyable thinking about all the fun that I would have while skating and having snacks at the place. Back then  YunHee-Dong had many rice paddies as the town was not fully developed for residential area as nowadays; in summer time, I used to go there to catch slimy fish in small ponds. The skating place was nearby the main street, and a half dozen people sharping blades for the people would be encountered; these workers appeared along the path of the main street as soon skating season started - they were sitting on wooden benches, pursing and pulling a round sharping stone on sitting on two blades. As they were making the motions, steam bellowed out from their mouth in the cold weather. Although I might have thought that they were feeling cold in early morning, all their motion pushing the stone would make their body feel warm.  Around the time, the rice paddies in the town started taken away by influx of people coming, forming  new residential areas, and I could see houses were getting built here and there.  The ice place was made temporarily by freezing rice paddy.  Couple of weeks earlier, I had to look for another skating place frantically upon finding that the skating place in the past year was no longer in service.  Luckily, a new skating place was opened across the main artery on the other side of the downtown. It was a huge relief finding the new place for skating as I could continue enjoy skating for the winter.  On that day, I headed out in the mood of celebrating for the special occasion with a bit of doubt that the skating place would be open.  Heading out in gleeful mood in the dawn,  I felt that it would be a mild day, not terribly cold, around 0 degree Celcius, thinking crispy winter day ahead made me feel good for the winter vacation had just begun.  

 Upon arriving, I felt how fortunate to the place was open. Furthermore, the ice condition was in good condition with fresh coat of ice formed overnight.  There were already few people skating in sight as sun rose from top of mountain nearby.  After putting my skates on sitting on a wooden bench laid in vinyl makeshift huts, I stepped out onto the ice rink, feeling novelty of the ice surface, cool crispy morning touching my face seeing sun's ray gliding on the frozen surface. Through the speakers that had been placed around the rink to play music, Christmas carols were played continuously, and people were skating happily in the holiday spirits.  As the crowd gathered mid morning and past the lunch time, the atmosphere was even more swell, and I thought that I would not have found a better place to be in the holiday spirits that will abruptly wane down once the skating was over.  The morning was absolutely calm with no stirring of wintery wind. After three hours of skating and having munches in between breaks, my feet started to sore, and I contemplated leaving the place to go back home.  getting off the rink, I felt good as if would fly, walking all the way home savoring the fine weather. The Christmas carol song, "Jingle Bells," in English that I heard back in the rink was constantly being played in my ears, and I tried to shake it off  by asserting myself that Christmas is almost gone reminding myself to look forward to coming of the New year's Day.   

Upon arriving home,  I saw two women, my mother and my great-grandmother, were sitting in front of TV, which was rather unusual for I had never seen them together watching T.V. and sitting close by to each other, and my great-grandmother kept saying, "아이고, 저걸어쩌나!," watching an incident of fire broke out in downtown as it was being televised.  My attention was immediately drawn to the TV; a tall white building in downtown bellowing thick smoke from virtually all its windows;  many firemen were desperately trying to put out the fire on the ground and several tall ladders being stretched out to the mid-section of the building in dire situation.  It was a tall building, and I had never seen any ladder could reach that high; however, it was not reaching quite up to a room in mid-section of the building where a man was standing by the window to be rescued.  It looked to me that the fire spread out quickly from the bottom of the building giving him no chance to escape the fire, stranded in his room.  The T.V. camera zoomed in to broadcast the scenes of rescuing the man, reporting that the man had been waiting more than several hours already... and the difficulties of decisive help could not be made.  The man looked over 40 years old, and the camera could not zoom in close enough to see the man's face. 

Finally, the man was rescued,  and I saw the man was being taken away by an ambulance. It was the worst of human tragedy that I have ever seen showing live on TV. The firemen put out their best fights and I saw their heroic efforts in action trying to rescue the man; the was put out after so many hours of fighting the fire. Later,  I heard a report that the casualties were very high, and the man who hanged tight all the way to the end calling for help standing by the window was succumbed to dying despite his indomitable will to survive; had the man was rescued one hour yearly, he would have survived.  

The incident of the fire was still to vivid in my memories. It was the time when I didn't know precisely where the building was located.  After several years, I was passing by the place, and saw the building in actual size,  all reconstructed and painted standing there as if it had forgotten what had happened on that Christmas day. I thought of  the man as I was passing by it, who had been waiting so patiently and so desperately in the inferno for a help to arrive, standing by the window inhaling toxic fume; his indomitable will to survive is still to vivid in my memories.

The big fire on that Christmas day had a potent effect of making Christmas carol songs stop playing in my ears instantly. God bless the soul of the man and so many other people who lost their lives tragedically in the incident, and I sincerely hope that such fire casualty does not happen again in Korea and anywhere else.

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.