Latest / Sandman Stories Presents / EP 339: Korea- The Three Stars; The Mountain and the Rivers; The Great Flood (Jeong)

Transcript

EP 339: Korea- The Three Stars; The Mountain and the Rivers; The Great Flood (Jeong) · Sandman Stories Presents

• 0:22
  None. Welcome back listeners to Sam
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  Man's Stories presents folklore podcast where I read you to
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  sleep or until the next story. I'm your host duster.
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  And if you're interested in stories that are too spicy for
• 0:36
  the main feed, go check me out on Patreon.
• 0:39
  You can join for no money at all.
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  And thank you to Lorenzo, John and Emily for signing up today.
• 0:47
  We are back in the book of Korean folklore written down by
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  Jung Yin sub. In the first story we see a monk
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  ask for more and more and more only to repay his partner with
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  the heavens. In the second story we learn
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  about how a giant created the mountains and rivers and there's
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  a little bit of bodily functions of that story.
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  And finally about how a boy riding a log wins the girl he
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  desires after helping the smallest of creatures.
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  OK, let's begin. The three stars told by son
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  Jinte in Gupo in 1926. Long ago there lived a rich man
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  who had one daughter. One year he went up to the
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  capital to take government post and left his daughter in charge
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  of the house. In his absence, one day a
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  Buddhist monk came begging for alms.
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  The daughter told the maid to give him a little rice, but the
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  monk asked her to fill the bowl up to the top, and so she told
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  the maid to do so. Yet however much she put into
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  the bowl, it would not be filled.
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  She fetched all the rice from the storeroom and even the
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  unhauled rice and Millet, and yet the bowl could not be
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  filled. The maid was very puzzled and
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  she asked how can it be filled? The monk answered if the
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  daughter of the house comes and tries herself, she will be able
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  to fill it without difficulty. So the daughter of the house
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  came to the monk and tried to fill the bowl, but even she
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  could not fill it completely. Then the monk said if you pick
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  up each grain separately 9 times with silver chopsticks, you will
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  fill it. So she did as he suggested, but
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  still without success. If you take off your
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  undergarments in a pit and then try, you will succeed, said the
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  monk. So she did so, but Even so the
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  bowl was not filled. Meanwhile the sun had set and
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  the monk earnestly begged her to give him lodging for one night.
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  She refused his request with the excuse that there was no guest
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  room in the house. But he still persisted in his
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  request and he would not leave the house.
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  He said that he would be satisfied to sleep in the
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  stable, and this she allowed him to do.
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  At midnight he came and said, it is too cold in the stable, will
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  you not let me sleep in the corner of the kitchen?
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  She took pity on him and let him move into the kitchen.
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  But a little later he came and said, I cannot stand the cold in
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  here either, let me come and sleep in the annex of your room.
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  This too she allowed him to do. Very soon, however, he came and
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  said, it is too cold here too, please let me sleep behind the
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  screen in your room. Even this she allowed him to do,
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  and so it came about that the monk slept in the same room.
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  When she awoke the next morning the monk was gone.
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  On her father's return some time later, all the servants went out
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  to welcome him, but she could not go, for she was with child.
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  On hearing this, her father was very angry and was determined to
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  kill her. She was taken into the garden
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  and bound, and a servant was ordered to cut off her head, but
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  when he lifted the axe the handle broke in two and it fell
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  behind him. He took a sword and tried to
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  kill her with that, but when he flourished it over her head the
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  blade snapped in half. Her father then made an
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  underground cell and cast her into it.
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  He kept the key in himself, and he gave orders that no food
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  should be taken to her so that she should starve to death.
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  From that time, the monk appeared in the underground cell
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  every night. No one knew how he came or how
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  he was able to get into the cell.
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  He took food to the girl and in due course she gave birth to
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  triplets. Some years later, her father
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  ordered the cell to be opened. He expected to find only a
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  skeleton. He was greatly astonished to
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  find his daughter alive, with three children sitting beside
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  her, reading. He asked her how it came about.
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  She told him the whole story. So he sent for the monk, and
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  when he came he asked him, Are these three children yours?
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  Yes, replied the monk, and I will prove it.
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  He lifted up the sleeve of his robe.
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  If these three children pass through my sleeve without
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  touching it, that will prove that they are indeed my sons.
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  Then the children pass through his sleeve without touching it.
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  The monk said again, Let them put on wooden sandals and walk
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  on white sand. They will leave no trace
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  whatsoever on the sand. They walked on the sand without
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  marking it. So the truth was proved and the
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  father recognized the marriage of the monk with his daughter
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  and the monk was seen to be a miracle working Buddhist.
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  When they died, his three children were sent in heaven as
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  the three stars of the constellation Vega.
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  They rise in a vertical line and set in a horizontal line, just
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  as the children were born 1 after the other, downwards from
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  the womb and were buried in three graves side by side.
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  The end, all right. And the second story is the
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  mountain and the rivers told by Bang Zhong Huan in Seoul, 1925.
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  Long, long ago, when food ripened on the food tree and
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  clothes ripened on the clothes tree, there lived a giant.
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  He was so big that even his ears were 600 feet long.
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  He could not wear clothes, because there was not enough
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  cloth in the whole land to cover his body.
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  So he went nearly naked the whole year long, and in winter
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  he suffered bitterly from a cold.
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  The king in those days was of course even before the time of
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  Dangoon, was very sorry indeed for the poor giant, and he had
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  as much cloth gathered as could be found collected from all the
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  provinces, and he ordered all the tailors might make a robe
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  for him. After many months they finished
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  the robe, but even then it was too short.
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  Nothing could be done since there was no more cloth, but was
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  given to the giant as a gift from the king.
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  The giant gladly put on the robe and danced for joy in the lofty
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  mountain pass of Seje. Suddenly the whole land
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  darkened, for as he danced, his robe cut off the sunbeams.
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  All of the crops failed in the darkness and the people appealed
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  to the king to send the giant away.
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  The king was very angry and ordered his army to exile the
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  giant beyond the borders of the land.
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  A party of the mightiest warriors set out to carry the
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  royal message to him. When they reached the summit of
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  the mountain pass where he was standing, they all shouted
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  together in a loud voice, but the giant couldn't hear them
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  because his ears were so far from his feet.
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  So they climbed up his legs, and after many months they reached
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  his navel once more. They shouted, Oh giant, your
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  robe cut off the sunlight, and the crops don't grow.
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  His Majesty has ordered that you be expelled beyond the borders
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  of the land. So the giant was driven out to
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  the barren fields of Manchuria. Soon he became very hungry and
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  thirsty and ate the soil of the fields and drank the water of
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  the sea. Then his stomach began to roar
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  like a mighty flood, and instantly his bowels were
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  loosened and his droppings became a range of mountains.
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  The highest mountain in Korea, Bekdusan Whitehead Mountain.
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  And when he made water, 2 mighty channels were cut, one in front
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  of him and one behind. These are the 2 greatest rivers
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  of the northern frontier of Korea.
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  One is the Amnon Gang or the Yellow River, the longest river
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  in Korea, and the other great river is the Dumangan, the Tuman
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  River. There's a great lake on top of
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  the mountain where both of these rivers rise, called Zinzi Heaven
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  Lake or Yongdon Dragon Pool. The lake was formed by the giant
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  making water there. The end.
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  OK and the next story, the great flood told by Kim Gitek in
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  Tongyong in 1913. Once Upon a time there stood a
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  big Laurel tree. A fairy often used to come down
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  from heaven and rest there. She bore a son whose father was
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  the tree, and when he was seven years old she went up to heaven
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  again. One day there was a great storm,
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  and the rain continued for many months, so that the whole earth
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  was flooded as if by a raging sea.
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  The flood even began to drown the great Laurel.
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  The tree said to his son. My boy, you are my son.
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  I am afraid I shall fall so then you must ride on my back.
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  It is the only way that you can be saved.
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  Soon afterwards the tree was uprooted by the waves.
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  So the boy climbed on to the back of his father.
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  The tree and the tree remained floating on the water for many
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  days. One day a great crowd of ants
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  came drifting by. They shouted, O son of the tree,
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  save us. Please save us.
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  So the son of the tree asked his father, Father, may I save them?
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  And the tree replied, Indeed you may.
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  The son called to them. Get on to the tree.
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  The ants gladly climbed on to the branches and leaves of the
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  Laurel. Then a group of mosquitoes came
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  past, and weiried with much flying, they appealed to the
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  boy. Oh, son of the tree, please save
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  us, we implore you. So the son of the tree asked his
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  father if he might save them. It gave its consent and the
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  mosquitoes alighted on the branches of the tree.
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  Then a boy of his own age who was floating on the water
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  shouted, Oh my friend, save me, please save me.
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  So the son asked his father the tree for permission to help the
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  boy, but the tree said no. The boy shouted desperately in
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  distress. And the son asked his father
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  again, but the answer was the same.
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  Now the boy was screaming for help, for he was near to
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  drowning. So the son asked his father for
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  1/3 time, father, do let me save the boy this time.
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  The tree replied, do as you like.
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  And so the son shouted to the poor boy, Get on this tree.
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  And so the boy was saved too. At last the great Laurel tree
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  carrying the two boys, the ants and the mosquitoes came to an
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  island. It was the summit of a lofty
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  mountain as high as Mount Bechdoo.
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  The ants and the mosquitoes then went away after bidding farewell
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  to the boy and expressing their gratitude.
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  Thank you, son of the tree. You saved our lives and we are
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  deeply indebted to you. Goodbye.
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  The two boys who were very hungry, went and found a house
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  where they lived an old woman with her two daughters.
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  One of them was her own daughter and the other was a foster
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  child. She received the two boys kindly
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  and gave them work in the farmyard.
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  There was no one else left alive, and all the other people
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  had been drowned in the flood. Now the rain stopped, the water
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  subsided and they started farming again.
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  The old woman thought it would be advisable to arrange the
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  marriages between the young people and decided to match her
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  own daughter with a cleverer boy and her foster daughter with the
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  other. The second boy detected the old
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  woman's plan and decided to take advantage of this opportunity.
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  He said to the old woman maliciously.
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  The son of the tree is a most unusually clever boy.
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  Though you scatter a great bag of Millet grains on the sand, he
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  can pick it all up within half an hour.
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  Let him try it and you will see for yourself.
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  So to test his skill, the old woman scattered a great bag of
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  Millet on the sand and bade the son of the tree to collect it
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  again. He refused at first, but she
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  repeated her demand, and in the end he had to agree.
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  He tried to pick up the grains 1 by 1, but he was so slow that it
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  seemed unlikely that he could finish in half a year, to say
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  nothing of half a day. So with his head bowed in
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  despair, he wondered miserably what he could do.
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  Then he felt something biting his heel.
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  It was a big Ant, and it said to him, I'm one of the ants you
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  save from the flood. Why are you so sad?
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  The boy told it what a difficult task he had been set, and then
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  the Ant brought thousands of its friends and picked up all the
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  grains, so that the bag was filled in a few minutes.
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  But the other boy was jealous and watched the scene from a
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  distance. He went and told the old woman
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  that the task had not been done by the sun of the tree himself.
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  So the old woman could not decide which of the boys she
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  favoured, and she said to them, I love both of you equally,
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  though I cannot decide which of you should marry my daughter and
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  which marry my foster daughter. Now I have a plan.
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  You shall choose your own destiny.
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  There will be no moon tonight. What is the last day of the
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  month? You must go and wait outside the
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  gate in the dark, and I will put one of the girls in the east
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  room and one in the West room. Then I shall call you, and you
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  may enter whichever of the rooms you choose.
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  Thus shall you make your own choice, and you should not be
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  able to complain at the result. After supper the two boys went
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  and waited outside. After a while the old woman
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  called them in. In the summer night the son of
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  the tree stood wondering which room he should enter.
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  Just then he heard a big mosquito flying near his head.
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  It came and whispered in his ear.
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  Son of the tree, go to the east room.
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  The east room. So went to the East Room and
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  there he found the old woman's beautiful daughter and the other
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  boy found her foster daughter in the West Room.
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  It is said that these two couples had many children and
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  that they are the ancestors of the whole human race today.
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  The End. In the first story I love how
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  the monk just keeps asking for more and more ridiculous things
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  and they just went along with it.
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  I did not like the dad locking up his daughter in order to
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  punish her. And in the second story you get
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  a bit of a glimpse into Korean culture and how UN taboo bodily
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  functions are. If you get a chance, go and see
• 16:08
  the toilet museum in Siouan. And in the third story, I like
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  how kindness was repaid. And the podcast shout out is too
• 16:16
  deep into history. Arjun takes you way back and
• 16:19
  sometimes much more recent, but he always gives you a good deep
• 16:23
  dive into a topic at hand. So go and check him out.
• 16:28
  And the listener shout out is to Chiba, Japan.
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  Located just outside of Tokyo. The city is a major port for
• 16:35
  Japan. I've been to Japan a couple of
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  times and I've always had fun. And if I get the chance to visit
• 16:41
  Chiba, I would love to go to visit the black sand beaches and
• 16:45
  get some sunshine. And so I say to my listener in
• 16:48
  Chiba Arigato Gojemasta O Yasumanisai, thank you and
• 16:54
  goodnight.