Latest / Sandman Stories Presents / EP 265: Korea- A Frog For a Husband (Griffis)

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EP 265: Korea- A Frog For a Husband (Griffis) · 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.
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Today we are back in the book of Korean folk tales written down
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by WE Griffiths. In today's story, we learn about
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why adopting a giant frog as a sun can actually be good for
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your future. OK, let's begin.
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A frog for a husband. Off in a valley among the Stony
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mountains there lived an old farmer named Pakduri and his
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wife, Kim Boram. His land was poor and he had a
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toil from sunrise to sunset, often into the night under the
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shining moonlight to get food. They were without children and
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he was too poor to adopt A son, so he spent his days fishing in
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the pond high upon the hills whose sparkling waters fed the
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stream which watered his rice in Millet fields.
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Being very skillful, he often caught a good string of fish and
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he sold them in the nearby village to get the few comforts
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the couple needed. This is how the old pair kept
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themselves happy despite their cheerless life, though they
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often wondered what would become of them when they got too old to
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work. But one summer POC noticed that
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there are fewer fish in the pond, and that every day they
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seem to be fewer in number. Where he used to catch a
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stringful in an hour, he could hardly get half as much in the
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whole day. What was the matter?
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Was he getting less skillful? Was the bait poor?
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Not at all. His worms were as fat, his hooks
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and lines were as good as order, and his eyesight was as keen as
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ever. When POC noticed that the water
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was getting shallower, he was startled.
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Could it be that the pond was drying up?
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Things grew worse and worse day by day until at last there were
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no fish. Where the wavelets of a pond
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once sparkled, now was the arid waste of earth and stones.
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The stream was now flowing at no more than a trickle.
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He could easily jump the water without getting wet.
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No fish in no pond meant no water for his rice fields.
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When he thought of losing his home, or even worse, being
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forced to be a pauper, Pok looked down at what had been the
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banks of the pond to find the cause of all his troubles.
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There in the mud mix among the pebbles, he saw a bullfrog,
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which was nearly as big as an elephant.
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It blinked at him with its huge round eyes in a rage.
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Farmer Pok shouted at the frog, calling it cruel for eating up
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all the fish and drinking up all the water, pushing the couple to
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starvation. Then Pop proceeded to curse the
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whole line of the frogs ancestors and relatives,
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especially on his mother's line for 8 generations back, as
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Koreans usually do. But instead of being sorry or
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showing any anger at such a scolding, the bullfrog only
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blinked and pouted. Saying don't worry Farmer Pop,
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you'll be glad of it by and by. Besides, I want to go home with
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you and live in your house. What?
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Live with me, you clammy amphibian?
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No way, said POC. I think you will like the news I
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have to tell you. When you see what I can do, you
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won't be sorry. You had better take me in.
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Mr. POC thought it over, how could he face his wife with such
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a guest? But on the other hand, the frog
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had news to tell and that might please his wife who is fond of
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gossip. Since her husband was not very
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talkative, she might be willing to harbor such a strange guest.
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So they started down the valley. POC shuffled along as fast as
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his old shins could move, but the bullfrog covered the
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distance in a few leaps, for his hind legs were 3 feet long.
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Arriving at their door, Missus Kim was horrified at the
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prospect of boarding such a guest.
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But when the husband told her that Froggie knew all about
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everybody, and could while away the hours telling everyone's
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business, she changed her manner and welcomed him in.
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Indeed, she warmed to him so much that she gave him one of
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her best rooms. All the leaves, grass and
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brushwood that had been gathered up in the woodshed to supply the
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kitchen fire and the house flues was carried into the room.
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There it was doused with tubs of water to make a nice soft place,
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like bullfrogs like. After this, he was fed all the
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worms he wanted. Then, after his dinner and a
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nap, Missus Kim and Mr. Pock donned their best clothes and
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went to make a formal call on their guest.
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Mr. Bullfrog was so affable and charming in conversation,
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besides telling so many good stories and serving up so many
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dainty bits of gossip, that Missus Pock was delighted beyond
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expression. Indeed, she felt almost like
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adopting Froggy as her son. The night passed quietly away,
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but when the first rays of light appeared, Froggy was out on the
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porch singing the most melodious tune to the rising sun.
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When the old pair rose up to greet their guests and to hear
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his song, they were amazed to find that the music was bringing
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them blessings. Everything they had wished for
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during their whole lives now seemed at hand with even more
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undreamed goodness. Arriving by the cart load, in
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their yard stood oxens, donkeys and horses.
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They were loaded with every kind of box, Bale and bundle waiting
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to be unloaded, and more were coming.
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Stout porters appeared and began to unpack, while troops of
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lovely girls in shining white took beautiful things made from
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jade, gold and silver from their men's hands.
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There were fine clothes and hats for Mr. Pock, jade tip hairpins,
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tortoiseshell and ivory Combs, silk gowns, embroidered and
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jeweled girdles of every frock and humbok for Missus Kim.
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On top of that, cabinets, clothes racks and wardrobes, all
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with mother of Pearl, were given to the couple.
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But best of all was a polished metal mirror that looked like
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the full autumn moon, which Missus Pock was tempted to spend
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every minute of her time looking at.
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Four or five of the prettiest maidens that they'd ever seen in
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their lives danced and sang and played the sweetest music.
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The unpacking of boxes, bales and bundles continued.
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Tables of jade and the finest sandal word were spread with the
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richest foods and wines. Soon, under the skillful hands
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of carpenters and decorators, there rose a new house.
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No longer did they have the oil paper floors covering old bricks
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and broken flat stones set over the flues and the smoky rafters
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with poorly papered mud walls. Now it had wide, elegant halls
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and large rooms with partitions made of the choices.
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Joiner work. It was furnished with blossoming
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flowers, game boards for jangi, and everything in it like a
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palace. As for all the good food and
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riches inside of the larder, only a Korean pen would be able
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to write them all. Down in the new storehouse were
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piles of dried fish, edible seaweed, bags of rice, bins of
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Millet, tubs of kimchi made of various sorts of the Korean
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pepper hash and Korean hot pickle in which the natives
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delight. To say nothing of the Peaches,
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pears, persimmons, chestnuts, honey, barley, sugar, candy,
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cake and pastry, all arranged in high piles and in gay colours.
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The old couple seemed able to eat and enjoy dinners twice as
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big as before because their guest, Mr. Bullfrog, was very
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entertaining. Mr. Pock and Missus Kim laughed
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and laughed, declaring that they had never heard such good
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stories as what he told. The Good Wife was, however,
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quite equal to her guest in retelling gossip.
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One of her favorite subjects, of which she never tired, was the
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beauty and charm of Miss Peach. She was the accomplished
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daughter of the big Yang Ban, or nobleman, Mr. Bohm.
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He lived in a great mansion with a host of servants and staff in
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the very next village, and Missus Kim insisted that there
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was no young woman in the world like her.
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They noticed that Mister Bullfrog was particularly
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interested when Miss Peach was the subject of the old lady's
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praises. After a week of such luxury,
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during which Mr. Pock and Missus Kim seemed to dwell in Nirvana,
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Mr. Pock's full cup of joy was dashed to the earth when the
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Bullfrog informed him that he intended to marry, and that
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Mister Pock must get him a wife. Still worse than that, Pock was
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informed by the frog that he would have no one but Miss
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Peach, the daughter of Mr. Boehm, since she was so renowned
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for her beauty and grace. At this Pock went nearly wild.
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He begged to be excused from the task, but the bullfrog was
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adamant. So after cursing his wife's
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tongue for putting it into the frog's head to marry Miss Peach,
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he donned his fine as clothes and set out to see Mr. Bohm.
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He expected to be beaten to death for his brazen insolence
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and asking a noble lady to marry a frog.
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Now this Mr. Bohm had been a long running magistrate of the
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district. He had squeezed fistfuls of
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money from the poor people over whom he ruled and having amassed
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great wealth he had retired and come back to his hometown to
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live. This man had two daughters who
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were married, but the third, the youngest and most beautiful,
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Miss Peach, was now 18 years old.
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Arriving at the Boehm's grand mansion, Mr. Pock told of the
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suitors wealth, power, fame, high position and potential and
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how he could make the old couple happy.
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Old Baum pricked up his ears at the first mention of riches in
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power, became highly interested as POC went on sounding the
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praises of his prospective son-in-law.
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And what is his name? Asked Mr. Baum.
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Here POC was in a quandary. He knew that the Frog's family
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was the oldest and most numerous in the world and was famous for
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fine voices. He fell into a brown study for a
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few minutes, then looking up, he declared that he had so long
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thought of the suitors, graces and accomplishments that he had
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forgotten his name and could not recall it.
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So Mr. Bohm, in order to help PAC out, ran over a list of the
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famous families in Korea, reciting in the names of the
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Kims, Shins, Mins, the Jongs, Chos, Lees, Guacs and Hongs, et
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cetera, et cetera, For Mr. Bohm was an authority on Korean
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peerage. It is none of these, said PAC.
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I deeply regret that I cannot recall his name.
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Strange, said Mr. Bohm. I have named all the families of
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any standing in the Kingdom. What is his office and rank, and
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where do his relatives live? POC was pressed so hard by Mr.
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Bohm's searching questions that at last he had to confess that
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the suitor for the beautiful maiden was not a man, but a
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frog. What do you want me to marry my
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daughter to a pond croaker? You shall suffer for insulting
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me in my own house, slaves. Bring me the crossbench and give
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this Wretch 20 blows. Immediately four men brought out
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the whipping bench. Three others seized poor Pock.
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They stripped off his coat and bound him to the bench with feet
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and arms stretched out. Then a tall starboard fellow
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raised a huge paddle of wood and let it fall with all of his
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might on the bare flesh of the old man.
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But all the while the sky was darkening, and before the 1st
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blow was given, lightning flashed, Thunder roared, and
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torrents of rain fell. It was so much that it
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threatened to overwhelm the house, garden, and all in the
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deluge. The hail which began to pelt the
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cattle was at first the size of an egg, and then stones, and
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then as big as cannonballs. Halt, cried the frightened Mr.
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Bohm, I'll wait and ask further. Thereupon the lightning and
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Thunder ceased, and the sun burst out in splendor.
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Mightily impressed by this, Mr. Boehm at last agreed to let his
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daughter become the bride of the Frog, not telling her who her
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husband was to be. Within an hour, while she was
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getting ready, a string of fine horses and ponies with Pelicans,
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loaded with presents for the bride and her family, appeared
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beside boxes of silk dresses, perfumes, head gear, and
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articles for a ladies boudoir. There were troops of maidens to
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wait on the bride. Miss Peach, was arrayed in the
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loveliest of robes. They also dressed her hair until
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her headgear stood over a foot high above her forehead, What
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with satin puffs and frame, jade tip hairpins, rosettes and
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flowers, She was also adorned with the bride's beautiful red
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circle. Then, when the happy maiden had
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sufficiently admired herself in the silver mirror and heard the
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praises of her attendant virgins, she entered the bridal
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palanquin, a gorgeous mass of splendor.
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According to custom, her eyes were sealed shut and covered
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with wax, for a Korean bride sees nothing of her husband
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until the end of the feast, when she meets him in the bridal
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chamber. So she was carried to his house
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in great pomp and with gay attendants of brilliantly
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arrayed maidens. The marriage ceremony and the
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grand supper were happy affairs for all of the guests, even
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though the bride, according to Korean etiquette, was
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temporarily blind, quietly and patiently waiting sightless
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throughout the whole joyful occasion.
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The actual ceremony was witnessed only by the parents in
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the bridegroom. When in the bridal chamber, the
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bride having unsealed her eyes and her vision being clear, she
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looked up at the one who she had married and found not a man but
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a frog, and she was furiously angry.
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She burst out into a protest against having such a
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bridegroom. Gently and in the tenderest
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tones, the bridegroom attempted first to comfort her.
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Then, handing her a pair of scissors, he begged her to RIP
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open the skin along his back from shoulder to thigh, for it
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was very tight and he was suffering pain from it.
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In her bitter disappointment at being married to a frog, she
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sees the scissors and almost viciously began to cut from nape
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to waist. Great was her surprise to find
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what seemed to be silk underneath the speckled skin.
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When she had slit down 2 yards or so, her husband, the frog,
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stood upon his hind legs. He twisted himself about as if
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in a convulsion, pulled his whole speckled hide hard with
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his front paws, and then, jumping out of his skin, stood
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before his bride. A Prince.
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He was fair, tall and fit as a fiddle and in fine clothes from
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head to toe. He was the man of her dreams.
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A jeweled Baldrick bound his waist, embroidered with golden
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Dragons on his shoulders, and his breast hold of his rank,
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while on his head was the cap of royalty, with a sparkling
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diamond in the centre. Yet no clothes, handsome as they
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were, could compare in beauty with his glorious manhood.
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Never had she seen so fair a mortal.
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The bride was happy because her feelings had changed in a moment
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from repulsion and horror to the warmest affections and strangest
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veneration. The next morning, when, to the
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amazement of his adopted parents, Mr. Park and Missus
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Kim, the Prince presented himself and his bride at
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breakfast, he told them the story of his life as the son of
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the King of the Stars. He had committed some offence
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and punishment for which his father condemned him to live
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upon the earth in the form of a frog.
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Furthermore, he had laid upon his son the duty of performing 3
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tasks. These must be done before he was
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allowed to come back and live in Starland.
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These were to drink up all the water in the lake, to eat all
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the fish, and to win a human bride the handsomest woman in
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the world. All the wonderful gifts which he
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had presented to Park and his wife to make their old days
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comfortable, and the gifts sent to the bride's house before the
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wedding day, had come from the power from the skies.
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Now, leaving his foster parents on earth to enjoy their gifts,
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he must return home to his father, taking his bride with
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him. Scarcely had he spoken these
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words. Then a chariot and horses silver
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bright, appeared on the door of the house.
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Bowing low to his foster parents and stepping in with his bride,
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the pair disappeared beyond the clouds.
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From this time forth a new double star was seen in the sky.
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The End. I really enjoyed the story.
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The Prince being inside the skin of something unattractive is a
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common theme in folklore around the world, and I was sort of
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surprised to find out about the wax covering of the eyes of the
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bride. But I went back and found some
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evidence of it from Robert Neff, who is an awesome historian in
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Korea. I had to change a few things
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though. In Korea the wife does not take
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the husband's last name. So like my wife's last name is
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Kim and mine is Kim as well, but we're different.
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Kim's she's Tung to Kim and I'm Mikul Kim.
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Also, he had a list of popular family names in Korea, but half
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of them are really odd. I'm guessing they're written not
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down as Koreans pronounced him, but maybe as a different country
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pronounced him. He was in Japan quite a while
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before he came to Korea, so I fixed up some names and did my
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usual tidying of Griffith's work.
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And there are only four more tales in this book, so I
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expected to be over quicker than a Griffis run on sentence.
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I'll search for a new book from Korea as I love hearing and
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telling these Koreans tales and the podcast shout out is to the
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Afri Wetu podcast. If you're curious about Africa
18:12
and the stories of the people, this expertly made podcast is
18:15
right up your alley. I recently enjoyed an episode
18:19
covering the Yao people, no relation to the basketball star.
18:22
This show is a treasure of African stories and history and
18:24
folklore. And if you love the show as much
18:26
as I do, go and give them a like a rating and a review.
18:30
And the listener shout out is to Halifax, Canada.
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The native Mikmak for the city is Chiboktuk and it means Great
18:38
Harbor. The English name for the city
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comes from the second Earl of Halifax, George Montague Dunk,
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who was friends with the Earl of Sandwich.
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Dunk is actually his wife's name, but he took it on after
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they got married. On December 6th, 1917, the city
18:55
was rocked by an explosion in the harbor when 2 ships ran into
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each other. 2000 people were lost and another 9000 were
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injured. It was the largest artificial
19:05
explosion before atomic weapons were invented.
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It's also home to one of the funniest battle rappers to ever
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grace the stage, the late Pat Stay.
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And so to my one listener in Halifax, I say Willa, Lyok and
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Willa to park. Thank you and have a nice
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evening.