Latest / Sandman Stories Presents / Ep 326: Korea- The Sun and the Moon; The Fire Dogs; The Seven Stars of the North (Jeong)

Transcript

Ep 326: Korea- The Sun and the Moon; The Fire Dogs; The Seven Stars of the North (Jeong) · Sandman Stories Presents

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  Welcome back, listeners to Sandman Stories Presents, a
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  folklore podcast where I read you to sleep or until the next
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  story. I'm your host, Dustin, and if
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  you want more Sandman that's too spicy for the main feed, go over
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  and check me out on Patreon. You can listen for free.
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  Really. That's OK with me.
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  And today we are starting a new book of Korean folklore.
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  The first story tells about the sun and the moon, the 2nd about
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  why we have eclipses, and the 3rd about where the Big Dipper
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  comes from. OK, let's begin.
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  The sun and the moon pulled by Oh Ha SU in Onyang in 1911.
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  Long, long ago, there was an old woman who had two children, a
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  son and a daughter. One day she walked to the next
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  village to work for a rich man. When she finished her work, she
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  was given a big box containing buckwheat puddings, also known
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  as halwa in Turkey. She carried the box on her head
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  and walked it quickly back home to her children.
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  But on her way, at the top of a big hill, she met a big tiger.
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  The tiger blocked her way and opened its great big red mouth
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  and asked Old woman, old woman, what are you carrying on your
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  head? The old woman replied
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  fearlessly. You mean this box tiger?
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  It's a bunch of buckwheat puddings.
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  It was given to me at the rich man's house where I work today.
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  Then the tiger said, Old woman, old woman, give me one.
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  If you don't, I will eat you up. So she gave the tiger a
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  buckwheat pudding and it LED her past the hill.
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  When she came to the next hill, the tiger appeared before her
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  and asked her the same question. Old woman, old woman, what is in
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  that box on your head? And thinking it was a different
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  tiger, she gave the same answer. These are buckwheat puddings
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  that was given at a rich man's house I worked at today.
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  The tiger asked for one in the same way, and the old woman gave
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  it a pudding from her box and it went off into the forest.
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  The tiger then appeared several more times and made the same
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  demand. Each time she gave it a pudding
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  until there were no more left in the box.
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  Now she had nothing but an empty box on her head and she walked
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  along swinging her arms. Then the tiger appeared again
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  and demanded a pudding. She explained that she had none
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  left, saying, Your friends ate all my buckwheat puddings,
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  there's nothing at all left in my box.
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  Then she threw the box away and the tiger said, what is that
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  swinging by your sides? These are my arms, she replied.
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  Unless you give me one, I will eat you up, wrote the tiger.
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  So she gave the tiger one of her arms and the tiger walked off
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  with it. But not long afterwards the
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  tiger appeared in front of her again and gave her the same
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  threats. So she gave it her other arm.
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  Now the old woman had lost all her puddings, her box, both her
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  arms, but still she walked along the mountain Rd. on her two
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  legs. The greedy tiger blocked her way
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  once more and asked, What is that moving under your skirt?
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  She answered. My legs, of course.
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  The tiger then said in a rather strange tone.
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  Oh, in that case, give me one of your legs or I will eat you up.
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  The old woman got very angry and complained.
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  You greedy animal, Your friends ate all my puddings and both my
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  arms as well. Now you want my legs?
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  How will I be able to get back home?
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  But the tiger would not listen to her and persisted in his
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  demand. If you give me your left leg,
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  you can still hop on your right leg, can't you?
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  So she had to take off her left leg and throw it to the tiger,
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  and then she set off home, hopping on the other leg.
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  The tiger ran ahead of her and barred her way again.
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  Old woman, old woman, why are you hopping like that?
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  It asked. She shouted furiously.
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  You devil, you ate all my puddings, both my arms and one
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  of my legs. How can I get home if I lose my
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  right leg too? The tiger answered.
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  You can roll, can't you? So she took off her right leg
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  and gave it to the tiger. She started to roll over and
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  over down the road. Then the tiger rushed after her
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  and swallowed what was left of her in a single gulp.
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  Back at the old woman's home, her two children waited until
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  nightfall for her to return. Then they went inside and locked
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  the door and lay down hungry on the floor, because they didn't
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  know that a tiger had eaten their mother on the way home.
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  The cunning tiger dressed in the old woman's clothes and put a
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  white handkerchief on its head, then standing up on its hind
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  legs and walked to the old woman's house and knocked on the
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  door. He called to the two children.
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  My dears, you must be very hungry.
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  Open the door. I have brought you some
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  buckwheat puddings. But the children remembered the
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  advice their mother had given them when she went out in the
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  morning. There are tigers about.
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  Be very careful. They noticed that the voice
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  sounded kind of strange, and so they did not open the door and
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  said, Mother, your voice sounds rather strange, What's happened
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  to you? So the tiger disguised its voice
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  and said, don't be alarmed, Mother is back.
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  I have spent the day spreading barley on dry mats and the
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  sparrows kept flying down to eat it, so that I had to shout
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  loudly at them all day and drive them away.
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  So I've gotten rather hoarse. The children were not convinced
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  and asked again, Then, Mother, please put your arm through the
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  hole in the door, let us see it. The tiger put one of its four
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  paws into the hole and the children touched it and said,
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  Mother, why is your arm so rough and hairy?
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  The tiger explained I was washing clothes and I starched
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  them with rice paste that must have made my arm rough.
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  But the children peeped through the hole in the door and we're
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  surprised to see a tiger out there in the darkness.
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  So they quietly slipped out of the back door, climbed a tall
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  tree and hidden the branches. The tiger waited for a while,
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  but since there was no further reply from inside, it broke into
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  the house and searched for the children in vain.
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  It stomped out of the house in a rage and ran around the house
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  roaring terribly until it came to an old well under the tree.
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  It looked down at the water and saw the reflections of the
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  children, so it forced a smile and tried to scoop up the
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  reflections, saying in a gentle voice.
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  Oh my poor children, you have fallen into the well.
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  I don't have a bamboo basket or even a grass one.
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  How can I save you? The children watched the tiger
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  from above and could not help busting out laughing.
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  Hearing their laughter, It looked up and saw them high in
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  the tree. It asked in a kind voice.
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  How did you get up there? That's very dangerous.
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  You might fall down into the well.
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  I must get you down. Tell me how you got up so high.
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  The children replied. Go to the neighbors and get some
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  sesame oil, smear it on the trunk and climb up.
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  So the stupid tiger went to the next house and got some sesame
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  oil and smeared it thickly on the trunk and tried to climb up,
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  but of course the oil made it very slippery.
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  So the tiger asked again. My dear children, you are very
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  clever, aren't you? How did you get up there so
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  easily? Tell me the truth.
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  This time they answered honestly.
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  Go and borrow an axe from the neighbors.
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  Then you can cut footholds in the trunk.
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  So the tiger went and borrowed an axe from the house next door,
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  and cutting steps into the tree, it began to climb up.
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  The children now thought that they would not be able to escape
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  from the tiger, and in great terror they prayed to God in
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  heaven. Oh God, please save us.
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  If you are willing, please send us the heavenly iron chain.
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  But if you mean us to die, send down the rotten straw rope.
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  At once a strong iron chain came down from heaven to them, so
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  that they could climb up without difficulty.
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  When the tiger reached the top of the tree, the children were
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  gone. It wanted to follow them, so it
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  too began to pray. But because it was very afraid
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  that it might be punished for its misdeeds, it asked for
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  everything backwards. Oh God of heaven, if you would
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  save me, send down the rotten straw rope, I beg of you.
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  But if you mean me to die, please send down the heavenly
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  iron chain. By prying in this way, it hoped
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  that the iron chain would come down and not the straw rope, for
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  it expected that as a punishment it will receive the opposite of
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  what it had prayed for. But the gods are straightforward
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  and always willing to save lives by answering prayers directly.
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  And so it was the rotten straw rope that came down after all.
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  The tiger sees the rope and began to climb up it, for in the
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  darkness it could not see that it was not the chain.
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  When I got up a little way the rope broke, and so the tiger
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  fell down to the ground. It crashed down into a field of
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  Millet, where it died crushed and broken with its body peers
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  through with sharp stalks from the corn.
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  From that day, it is said, the leaves of Millet have been
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  covered in blood red spots. The two children live peacefully
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  in the Kingdom of heaven until one day the heavenly king said
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  to them, We don't allow anyone to sit and idle away the day, so
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  we have some chores for you. The boy shall be the sun to
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  light the world of man, and the girl shall be the moon to shine
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  by night. Then the girl answered, O king,
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  I do not like the night, it would be better for me to be the
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  sun. So the king made her the sun
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  instead, and her brother the moon.
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  It is said that when she became the sun, people used to gaze up
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  at her in the sky. But she was a modest girl and
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  greatly embarrassed by this. So she's shown brighter and
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  brighter, so that it was impossible to look at her
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  directly. And that is why the sun is so
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  bright that her modesty might be forever respected.
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  The end. OK, and the second story, The
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  Fire dogs told by Zhong Tekha Onyang in 1912.
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  There are many countries in heaven, just as are in the world
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  below. One of them is called Gamagnara,
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  the land of darkness and its inhabitants keep many terrible
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  dogs. They are known as fire dogs.
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  The king of that land is greatly concerned above all else that
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  his realm is too dark. So from time to time he sends
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  his dogs into the world of men to try and steal the sun or the
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  moon. Once Upon a time, the king
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  summoned the fiercest of his fire dogs and ordered it to go
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  and steal the sun and bring it to him.
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  So the fire dog went off and tried to hold the sun in his
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  mouth, but it was too hot. It snapped at it again and
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  again, but in the end it had to give up and return without its
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  prey. The king was very angry and
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  reprimanded the dog severely for its failure.
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  Then he turned to the next fiercest dog and sent it to try
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  and steal the moon, because he thought that it might not be as
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  hot as the sun. The moon would not give him much
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  light as the sun, of course, but it would be better than nothing.
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  But when the dog tried to bite the moon, it was so cold that it
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  froze its mouth. It tried repeatedly to grasp it
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  with its teeth, but in the end was oblige to spit it out.
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  And so the second Fire dog too, had to return without its prize.
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  Despite these failures, the King of the Land of Darkness never
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  gave up hope, and to this day he often sends out his fire dogs,
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  but they always fail in the end. It is said that the eclipses of
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  the sun and the moon are caused in this way by the fire dogs
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  from the Land of Darkness. It is the parts of the sun or
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  moon that they bite which show dark during the eclipse.
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  We cannot watch an eclipse of the sun directly because it is
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  so dazzlingly bright, but it can easily be seen in the reflection
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  of the sun in a basin of water in which a little black ink has
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  been dissolved. An eclipse of the moon can be
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  watched in the same way. We can easily see on the inky
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  surface of the water the fire dog biting the sun and then
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  spitting it out again. The end.
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  OK, and the third story, the seven stars of the North, told
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  by Sun Jinte Kupo, 1926. Once Upon a time there lived a
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  widow. Wed 7 Devoted Suns Every winter.
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  They used to cut wood in the mountains to keep a fire burning
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  constantly under the floor of their house and make it warm
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  enough for their mother to sleep warm at night.
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  But she always looked very cold and sad.
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  No matter how much wood they burned, she always felt cold.
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  In fact, she always complained of the cold even in the hottest
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  Midsummer months. One night the eldest son woke up
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  and saw that his mother was not in the room.
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  He anxiously awaited for her return, though he pretended to
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  be asleep. Just before dawn she snuck back
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  in so that her sons would not notice her.
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  When she went out. The next night, her eldest son
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  followed her secretly. When she reached a stream on the
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  outskirts of the village, she girded up her skirts and waded
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  across, muttering to herself, Oh, how cold it is, for it was
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  winter, and went to a poor thatched cottage on the other
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  side. She stood before the house and
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  called out, Father, are you home?
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  An old man came out and welcomed her, saying, Come in, mother.
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  He was a poor widower who earned a living by waving straw
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  sandals. The eldest son now understood
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  what was in his mother's heart, So we hurried home and woke his
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  brothers and told them what he had seen.
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  Then they all went out together and set stepping stones in the
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  stream, then went back home and slept as if nothing had
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  happened. When their mother came to the
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  stream on her way home, she was very surprised to see the
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  stepping stones, which had not been there before.
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  Of course, she did not know that it was her sons who had put them
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  there. She was deeply grateful to
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  whoever had set them in the stream and prayed to heaven.
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  May those who put these stepping stones in the stream become the
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  Seven Stars of the North. So when the seven filial sons
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  died, they were set in heaven as the Seven Stars of the North,
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  just as their mother had prayed, and they formed the
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  constellation that is known in the West as the Great Bear.
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  The End. I loved in that first story how
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  the tiger asked for the rotten rope, hoping that he could get
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  the iron chain because he knew he should be punished.
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  And in the second story I really enjoyed thinking about a land of
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  darkness that always just wants a little light but keeps
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  failing. And the third story is really
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  nice because it shows how important Hyo is.
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  In Korea, the word is often translated as filial piety,
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  basically looking after your parents.
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  One cool thing that I brought back from my time in Korea is a
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  backstretcher that is called a hill Jotham or essentially a
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  good grandson's hand. I'm going to continue with this
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  book until the stories are run out and the podcast shout out is
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  to Because Language, an awesome podcast that helps you learn
• 17:03
  about linguistics and humanity. Go and give them a listen.
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  And the listener shout out is to Churchill, Manitoba.
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  They call themselves the polar bear capital of the world.
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  And I actually have plans to go with my wife up there someday
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  and rent one of those glass hotel rooms so you can see the
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  polar bears. And I want to say to my listener
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  in Churchill, thank you, stay warm and goodnight.