These legends and tales include: myth of the founder of the country, filial piety story, love story, origin story wise story, didactic story, story filled with humor and satire.

■ Jeonggyun-moju Story
■ Faithful Daughter-in-Law
■ Female Tiger and Head Official of a Village
■ Seoju Valley Story
■ Buddhist Saint Baekyeon and Tiger
■ Master Song-am’s Wife and Gourd
■ Owun Who Began to Study in his Forty


Faithful Daughter-in-Law

Long time ago a farmer couple, who was very poor, but good-natured, was living in Yirayang. They always worried about the absence of a son who will succeed to the family. The couple went to a small Buddhist temple on the hill at the back of the village and prayed to have a son. Later they had a son.

When the son was going to marry many families wanted him to be their son-in-law. This was because he was good-natured and served his parents very well although he was poor. The young man married a girl who was living in his neighboring village. This new daughter-in-law had two sources of anxiety. One is to take care of the kindling every morning. The other was to provide three meals a day for her parents-in-law. Since the family was very poor she did not take a meal all day very often.

The parents-in-law who did not know about such a situation worried about their daughter-in-law who was getting haggard. Whenever the poor family had a meal she put a bowl into her rice bowl to disguise her rice quantity, and then merely made a pretense of eating. Several months passed and her face was miserable. The mother-in-law thus watched the daughter-in-law’s action during mealtime, saying “Dear, let’s have a meal together today.” The mother found the small bowl in the daughter’s rice bowl. The mother wailed for the utmost filial piety of the daughter and their poverty.

One day at dawn, the daughter-in-law went to the kitchen to cook and found someone who had extinguished the kindling. She wondered and cooked after borrowing a new kindling from her neighbor. However, such a situation happened the next day and the day after the next day. She therefore tried to know who extinguished the kindling.

One night she hid in the kitchen. When midnight passed, a boy came to the fireplace in the kitchen and urinated. She stood quietly up and attempted to catch him, but she was unable to catch him because his pace was too quick. She caught up with him, but he hid under a stone. She went to the stone, but could not find him. There was a big wild jinseng under the stone. She was surprised and was at loss. At that time, an old man suddenly appeared and said, “I was moved from your utmost filial piety. I will give you this wild jinseng. Be more devoted to your parents by supplying it to your livelihood.”

After she bowed toward the direction where the old man disappeared, she grubbed carefully up the wild jinseng. The family became rich and she was more dutiful to her parents. It is said that their offspring were also prosperous.

Female Tiger and Head Official of a Village

There has been an interesting story in Wolsan 1-dong. A tiger prayed to the mountain god and married a poor farmer who was living in a mountain village. After he married her, he studied very hard and passed gwageo (the old state examination). He was appointed head official of the village. However, he lived with gisaeng(s) (waitress familiar with dance and song), forgetting his previous hard life and discarding his wife. Nonetheless, his wife did not complain and was waiting for him.

After a while he became seriously ill because he acted against the heaven’s will. No kind of medicine was helpful. The female tiger (his wife) asked the mountain god. The mountain god said that, “Your husband’s behaviour cannot be forgiven, but I will accept your request because you are cordially appealing. If he wants his disease to be healed he has to drink women milk for ten years.”

From the next day, his wife went around in order to obtain women milk. Her husband, however, used to enjoy pretty gisaengs. Nevertheless, the tiger gradually went to distant regions to obtain milk. The tiger had a magic bell. She changed into a tiger in the places where people are not found. Then, she changed into a woman in the places where people are living and acquired milk.

One day, a gisaeng, who had a deep relation to him, found the tiger woman going somewhere to get milk and caught up with her. Arriving at a remote spot, the woman shook the magic bell and changed into a tiger. But, she mistakenly dropped it. The gisaeng picked the bell up and threw it into the water. And she said that: “If his wife remains as a tiger, I can live with him. The fact that the tiger lost the magic bell is a really good thing for me.” The gisaeng went to him and eagerly coquetted.

The tiger woman came back home, thinking that if her husband drinks the milk two more times, the term of ten years will be finished. However, she could not find the bell. She asked the mountain god once again. She changed into a woman, got milk and fed it to her husband.

Eventually, he was completely recovered from the disease. She sobbingly told him the previous story. Her husband (head official of the village) came to know the fact and regretted his fault. He asked his wife to live together, but she changed into a tiger and returned to the mountain, saying, “Now, I cannot be a woman any longer. Please, be happy.” Hence, even in these days tiger is calling the mountain god.

Seoju Valley Story

Yu-dong belonging to Wunsu-myeon of Goryeong-gun is a village which is some 2㎞ away from the east of Wunsu-myeon town. In the past almost all the villagers had the surname Park. A seonbi (classical scholar) whose surname was Park was dead and buried in the Seongju valley in the back of the village. After that, the villagers became very ferocious, and hence molested neighbouring villagers very often. In the middle of such a situation, a bonze visited this village and found the scholar’s grave. The bonze said that “The dead man will be reincarnated as a crane.”

Those villagers who heard the bonze’s saying were very angry. They beat him and drove him out of the village. After that, the bonze visited the village once again and said that “Do not dig this tomb within ten years. If you grub it, you will be cursed.” However, nobody gave ear to what he said. When the descendants dug the grave they found a big crane which tried to reincarnate, but died from sunlight.

They greatly regretted their own irrevocable behaviour. As the old bonze foretold, a great number of them died of a unknown disease. There was no man to succeed to the Park lineage. At that time, in the village there was a pregnant woman who was a daughter-in-law of the lineage. She resolved to succeed to the lineage and left the village. She went to the Miryang region to escape from the curse.

There is an argument that the boy whom this woman bore is the ancestor of the Miryang Park clan, but the whole story is not clear. In these days, in Yu-dong there is no person who has the surname Park. After this incident Seoju village has been called Seongju village.

Buddhist Saint Baekyeon and Tiger

The Haeinsa, which has the best Buddhist seminary in Korea, is a nation wide known temple. There are many small Buddhist temples in the Haeinsa. Of these, the Baekyeon Buddhist temple founded by Buddhist Saint Baekyeon is situated at the highest place.

He had two pupils: One was a boy and the other was a tiger. Whenever the bonze got down from the mountain they used to play like brothers. One day the boy and the tiger were preparing dinner during the absence of the bonze. The boy’s finger was mistakenly cut. He showed his finger to the tiger. Sucking the bleeding finger, the tiger could not restrain its animal instinct and ate him.

The tiger regretted its own irreversible behaviour and was crying. The bonze returned to the temple at night and heard from the tiger the reason of its crying. The bonze said to the tiger that “If you hurt man once more, you will be killed.” And then he expelled the tiger from the small Buddhist temple.

Since then, nobody heard that a man was hurt by the tiger in the Gayasan. When monks went up and down the mountain at night the tiger protected them from a distance.

Master Song-am’s Wife and Gourd

Song-am Kim Myeon was the head of a volunteer militia during the Japanese Invasion of 1592. There has been an anecdote about his wife. She comes from the Jeonju Lee clan. Her father and mother had a good familial background. She was naturally wise and virtuous. It is said that since she had a foresight she anticipated the outbreak of the Japanese Invasion of 1592.

When the early spring had come, the woman ordered the villagers to plant gourdes instead of other grains. They followed her order because they believed her in ordinary days. In the autumn the village was filled with gourdes. The woman ordered them to make calabashes by using the gourdes. Pine resin was painted on these calabashes and they were tinged with black. In addition, she made calabashes with iron and painted them black. The calabashes made of iron were kept by the woman and the calabashes made of gourd were kept by each family of the village.

In the next year, the Japanese Invasion of 1592 broke out and the Japanese invaders came nearby Yangjeon-dong. At that time, the woman convened the villagers and shouted as follows: “People, we are in a critical crisis that we are to be or not to be. Even if we run away from this village we will not find a safe place. Do not embarrass and follow my order, and we will find a way to live.” And she ordered them to display the calabashes made of iron on the roads where the Japanese invaders are likely to pass.

Several days later, the Japanese invaders were going to attack Yangjeon-dong. They found the calabashes made of iron and wondered about them. They tried to pick them up, but were unsuccessful because their weight was around 270㎏. At that time, 5,000 male, female, old and young villagers shouted and beat a drum loudly, taking a calabash made of iron in their hands. The Japanese invaders were surprising and ran away, saying that “No army can survive here because only strong men are living in this village”.

In the Japanese Invasion of 1592, the villagers were able to escape from the disaster owing to such a foresight of the woman. However, during Jeongyujaeran (the Japanese Invasion of 1597), the Japanese troops came to Yangjeon-dong once again and fired all the village as a reprisal on Master Song-am and his wife. In those days, Yangjeon-dong had more houses than Goryeong.

Owun Who Began to Study in his Forty.

Almost all the people who are living in the Wunsu region know the ‘Owun Story’. A long time ago a man named Owun was living in the Wunsu region. He was illiterate and very haughty. On a very hot summer day, like the other days he was sleeping under a big tree. It served as a shady resting place. The tree was located in the front of the village. At that time a man came to the tree and found Owun enjoying a nap. Waking up Owun, he said “I am sorry. After reading this obituary notice, tell me to whom to give it.”

Unfortunately, the notice carrier did not know letters. Owun received the notice from the man and pretended to know letters, concealing his illiteracy. Owun said to the man haughtily that “Its receiptor is not a person of this village.” The man went back, puting his head on one side.

The man asked the village schoolmaster and knew that its receiptor was living in the village. They came under the tree together. Owun was ashamed because his illiteracy was revealed. The schoolmaster gently reproached as follows: “Owun, you do not know letters. You should have told of your illiteracy. Why did you tell a lie? This man suffered from hardship because of your lie.”

Owun came back home and thought the incident over. And then, he visited the schoolmaster and told “Master, I am forty years old, but I want to study with young children. Please, receive me.” From that day Owun studied very hard with the young children. Sincerity moves heaven! Owun passed the Jinsa examination (a primary state examination). After he came back to the village he enlightened the villagers and raised pupils. Hence, he came to get praise from all the villagers.