KOREAN CLASSIC STORIES Vol. 1 Folk Tales, Sagas, and Anecdotes
Avengers &Artists Compiled by
Kim Hunggyu Translated by Kevin O’Rourke
KOREAN CLASSIC STORIES Vol. 1
Avengers & Artists Copyright Š 2013 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without the written permission of the publisher. Published by Seoul Selection 4199 Campus Dr., Suite 550 Irvine, CA 92612, USA Tel: 949-509-6584 Fax: 949-509-6599 E-mail: publisher@seoulselection.com Website: www.seoulselection.com ISBN: 978-1-62412-014-5 Library of Congress Control Number: 2013952724 Printed in the Republic of Korea
Contents
Foreword 07 Part I The Swordswoman The Tale of Eun-ae The Tale of the Odaesan Swordsman
17 25 35
Part II The Tale of Kim Seong-gi The Tale of Yu U-chun
49 53
Part III The Tale of Kim Ha-seo The Tale of the Virtuous Lady Pak of Hamyang Ji-eun, a Filial Daughter Lady Seol
67 77 90 93
Foreword
by Kim Hunggyu
The pre-modern Korean epic owes its origin to oral folk tales. It took root and evolved into written literature as some of these works found their way into histories and digests of anecdotes. The selections in this volume retain the traits inherent to the folk tradition while also showcasing the creativity of written literature. “Ji-eun, a Filial Daughter” (“Hyonyeo Jieun”) and “Lady Seol” (“Seolssi”) have been preserved in Samguk Sagi (History of the Three Kingdoms), a history compiled in the 12th century that chronicles the rise and fall of the ancient Korean kingdoms of Goguryeo, Baekje, and Silla, along with accounts of the lives of individuals who laid claim to uncommon achievements or left their mark otherwise. These notable individuals included aristocrats, generals, scholars, men of letters, and Buddhist monks,
7 Foreword
as well as men and women of humble birth. Although it was moral high-mindedness that earned Ji-eun and Lady Seol—both commoner women—their plaudits, their stories are characterized by a texture and literary expressiveness that transcend edification. In “Jieun, a Filial Daughter,” the mother finds the good food that her newly enslaved daughter brings her inferior to the slop from before; the mother and daughter burst into tears as the mother laments, “I hope I don’t live much longer.” This scene, while bolstering Confucian mores of filial piety, also captures the challenges and tensions that arise in translating them into action. “Lady Seol” appeals to the reader by intertwining the values of marital commitment, pragmatic considerations, and romantic love. “The Ta le of t he Odaesan Swordsman” (“Odae Geomhyeop Jeon”), “The Tale of Kim Ha-seo” (“Kim Haseo Jeon”), “The Tale of Yu U-chun” (“Yu U-chun Jeon”), and “The Tale of Kim Seong-gi” (“Kim Seong-gi Jeon”) date roughly from the 18th to the 19th century. It is believed that they are folk stories that intellectuals later committed to paper along with literary embellishments
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and alterations. Even though the first two works take the form of real-life accounts, they call upon fictional motifs and a rich imagination to weave together an entertaining mesh of unrealistic events. By contrast, the last two flesh out the musical culture and art historical ambience through anecdotes of preeminent musicians Yu U-chun and Kim Seong-gi. The picture that emerges from both, each of which may be billed as a “portrait of an artist,” is that of a tormented artist whose aesthetic ideals are sharply at odds with vulgar popular taste. After the mid-17th century, popular demand for art forms such as music and paintings surged as a result of socio-economic growth spurred on by increased agricultural productivity and developing commerce. Some musicians and painters were able to opt for a career that allowed them to peddle their arts in response to popular demand, and leave behind their old indentured livelihood under the control of government authority. However, the vulgar taste of those who could afford to pay them or the utter lack of understanding of art’s profound value emerged as a new source of misery for these artists. Thus stories of artists in the literature of 18–
9 Foreword
19th century Korea frequently portray the internal strife that musicians and painters suffered, their eccentric behavior, and their derision of the world at large. “The Swordswoman” (“Geomnyeo”) is very exceptional in that its protagonist is a swordswoman. The doublelayered plot is also highly unusual: two women, a mistress and her slave, join forces for vengeance, after which the mistress takes her own life, and the protagonist—the slave—conceals her identity and becomes the concubine of a well-respected scholar. Some years later, this woman decides to leave the scholar upon realizing that his strengths consist of a handful of trifling tricks and that they fall far short of “grand enough principles to govern the world and serve as norms for posterity.” This man was So Eung-cheon (1704–1760), a scholar of some note in the mid-18th century. While this work recounts a tale of imaginary retribution and dazzling martial arts, it may ultimately be underhanded ridicule of the aristocracy of the time. “The Tale of Eun-ae” (“Eunae Jeon”) in contrast with the aforementioned works, is a true crime story. The protagonist Kim Eun-ae is a maiden of an aristocratic
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family that slays an old woman who sought her social ruin by maliciously besmirching her honor. As a consequence of her actions, a severe sentence for murder was inescapable. King Jeongjo (r. 1776–1800), who was reviewing major cases in the sixth lunar month of 1790, found her action just, ordered her release, and had civil official Yi Deok-mu (1741–1793) write an account of the case under the title “The Tale of Eun-ae.” What is most peculiar and shocking about this work is the excruciatingly concrete and detailed description of Eun-ae’s fatal stabbing of the old woman. The retelling of how Eun-ae attacked the old woman with a knife and killed her by stabbing her a total of 18 times as well as the inventory of the stab wounds strike us as nothing but savage. Yi Deok-mu does not seem to have pulled any punches in chronicling the highlights of the case after his meticulous study of the case notes, autopsy data, and trial proceedings. His account brings in stark contrast the two elements that made it such a challenge to judge the case. On the one hand, the chastity and honor that were no less vital to a woman in Confucian society than her very life had been wrongfully damaged;
11 Foreword
on the other hand, the same woman had committed a calculated and brutal murder without recourse to proper measures. In the eyes of criminal law then, there was no justifying Eun-ae’s killing of the old woman, regardless of how wronged Eun-ae may have felt. The magistrate of Gangjin Prefecture, who was charged with the initial investigation, and the governor of Jeolla Province, who undertook the second round, were thus unable to declare Eun-ae innocent, even though they both felt for her plight. Faced with this dilemma between moral values and legal norms, King Jeongjo consulted precedent and reached the final decision to pardon Eun-ae’s offense in deference to “teachings of an upstanding moral order.” That is, murder driven by a personal grudge may be worthy of condemnation, but the unwavering determination to protect one’s chaste honor deserved to be held in high esteem. “The Tale of the Virtuous Lady Pak of Hamyang” (“Yeollyeo Hamyang Bakssi Jeon”) was by Park Ji-won (1737–1805), one of the foremost writers of the 18th century, and based on something that he witnessed while
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he served as magistrate of Anui Prefecture. A young woman from the family of a petty regional official took her own life to join her deceased husband. The ethical dictate that a wife ought to spend her life alone or follow him into the next world even if her husband should die an early death had originally been a requirement exclusive to aristocrats. The story shows that in Park’s time, these norms were spreading to the lower castes. Yet the essence of this work lies not so much in the incident itself or the sympathy it inspires. The author’s interest is directed at a more fundamental question, i.e., the conflict that inevitably arises between societal norms that prescribe a widow’s loyalty to her dead husband and natural human desires. To highlight this issue, the author presents the anecdote of a family of renowned officials at the beginning, which features a mother who was widowed at a young age and the three sons that she successfully brought up to be government officials. The mother mentions the mournful nights she had to endure as a young widow, and after that succinct and candid confession, “the mother and her sons held one another and wept.”
13 Foreword
The message Park Ji-won sought to convey through this work, which weaves together such anecdotes and incidents, may resonate differently from one reader to the next. Park paid homage to the iron will and perseverance of women who either followed their prematurely deceased husbands into death or stayed loyal to the departed and put up with a lifetime of loneliness. At the same time, Park does not shy away from wondering about the myriad of anguish and unrelenting agony that must have plagued their lives. It does not seem fitting to question what kind of solution Park offered to reconcile or resolve the tension between these two forces, since in his time, it was probably hard enough to even bring the issue into question.
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Part I
The Swordswoman
Jinsa So Eung-cheon* had a big reputation in the three southern provinces; he was regarded as an extraordinary scholar. One day a woman came to see him. She bowed and said, “I’ve been aware of your great reputation for a long time. I am of humble origin, but if you will have me, I will serve you for the rest of my life.” “You have the appearance of an unmarried girl,” Eungcheon said, “but unmarried girls don’t normally go to a man and say they want to look after him. Perhaps you are a slave or a singing girl in the flower and willow world. Or perhaps you served a man already and are only * Jinsa is one of the lowest scholarly ranks given to those who pass the state examinations.
17 The Swordswoman
pretending to be a virgin.” “I was indeed the servant of another,” the woman said, “but no one now remains of the family I served, and I have nowhere to go. My one desire is not to live my life in the service of a man who lacks distinction. So I put on a man’s clothes, came out into the world, and managed to preserve my virginity while I searched for a great scholar under Heaven. That is why I am offering to serve you.” Eung-cheon acceded to the woman’s request and took her as a concubine. They lived together for three years. One day the woman set a table of strong wine and savory dainties. She picked a leisurely moment when the moon shone bright to give the master an account of her life. “I was a slave in a certain house. I was born in the same year as the young mistress of the house, and for that reason I was made her personal servant. I was supposed to be taken with her as her maid when she got married later. However, when she was barely nine years of age, her household was destroyed by a powerful man, who
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seized all their lands. The mistress and the nurse were the only survivors. They ran away to a foreign land and hid there. I was the only slave to go with them. When the mistress was 12, we consulted together, dressed in men’s clothes, and left for a distant place to seek out a master swordsman. We searched for two years until finally we found a master. For five years we studied swordsmanship and finally reached the stage when we could fly through the air and come and go as we pleased. We made several thousand nyang * demonstrating our swordsmanship in the cities and bought four swords with the proceeds. We went to the house of the enemy and pretended to demonstrate our sword skills. We danced the sword dance in the moonlight and let the swords f ly. In a twinkling, tens of heads rolled. Those within and without the enemy’s house died splattered in red blood. “Afterwards, we flew into the sky and came home. The mistress bathed and changed into women’s clothes. She * A unit of money equivalent to one quarter of a silver coin.
19 The Swordswoman
prepared wine and food and went to the family grave, where she informed her ancestors that revenge had been exacted. She said to me, ‘I’m not a son, and though I live on in this world, I cannot continue my father’s line. For nine years I wandered the world dressed in men’s attire, and though I preserved my honor, I know that this is no life for an unmarried girl. Even if I wished to be married, there’s nowhere for me to go in marriage. And even if I had marriage prospects, I cannot find a man to take to my heart. Moreover, our family is so lonesomely diminished—we have no near relatives. Who would take charge of my marriage ceremony? “‘I propose to end my life here in this spot. Sell two of the swords and bury me in our ancestral grave. I have no bitter han in my heart since I can go back to my parents in death. You are a slave and are bound by different rules of decorum. There is no need for you to follow me in death. When you have completed the burial ritual, you should travel the land in search of an outstanding scholar and become his wife or concubine. You know what
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outstanding means; you have the heart of a hero, there’s no way you could be satisfied as the obedient wife of a man who lacks distinction.’ “Then my mistress took her life with the sword. I sold her two swords and made 500 nyang, which I used for her funeral. With the rest of the money, I bought paddy fields and dry fields so that they could generate enough money to hold memorial services every year. “Subsequently, I wandered the world for three years dressed as a man. You, sir, were reputed to be a scholar without equal and so I offered myself in your service. “However, from what I have been able to observe, your skills are in writing, astronomy, music, arithmetic, reading horoscopes, divination, and foretelling the future, all lesser skills. You have not succeeded in cultivating the ability to control men’s minds and bodies, or the ability to rule the world and be a model to future generations. Your reputation as a remarkable scholar is excessive. “Even in an age of great peace, it is difficult for a man with an excessive reputation to ward off danger. How
21 The Swordswoman
much more in these parlous times? It behooves you, sir, to take great care. It will not be easy for you to complete your life as a whole man. From now on, don’t live deep in the mountains. Better live in a big town like Jeonju and demonstrate a milder, more naïve disposition. You could teach the children of the officials in the yamen and readily clothe and feed yourself, and if you desire nothing more, you will avoid disaster in this world. “Now that I know you are not an extraordinary scholar, to look after you for a lifetime means abandoning my great dream and disregarding my mistress’s words. I propose to leave this place at first light tomorrow and live on some distant mountain. I still have the male attire I once wore. I’ll wear those clothes again and that will be my life. Why should I be a woman again and spend my life cooking and sewing? I’ve looked after you for three years. Parting demands some formal ceremony, and I can’t leave without showing you the sword skills I learned. You must drink this wine, even if it goes against the grain to do so. You will need all your courage and bravery to
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watch my sword skills.” Eung-cheon was astonished but too discomfited to say anything. He took the cups of wine she kept filling for him but stopped when he reached his usual quota. “The wind the sword raises is so cold,” she said, “you need the strength of the wine to endure. You must imbibe till you are drunk.” She offered him ten more cups and drank a keg of makgeolli herself. And when the mellow wine mood came, she took a blue wool cap from her bundle, a red silk outer garment, an embroidered yellow belt, silk pants, a pair of patterned shoes made of water buffalo leather, and a pair of swords sparkling with white light. She took off her skirt and blouse, changed into the new clothes, and made them secure. She bowed twice and rose to her feet. The woman moved like a swallow in f light. In a twinkling, her sword soared into the air and she flew off with matching swords under her armpits. Flower petals fell on all sides and there was a crackling like ice being crushed. All met in the center and flowed in a cloud; the
23 The Swordswoman
sound was like thunder. Finally, she rose high in the sky like a swan, like a crane, and at this stage, neither sword nor the woman could be seen, just a line of white light that sparkled in the east and west, then flashed in the south and the north. A wind whipped up and the cold seemed to freeze the sky. There was a short cry, followed by the sound of a tree in the yard falling. Then the sword was thrown to the ground and the woman stood there again. The remaining light and the cold could be felt bodily. At first, Eung-cheon sat rigidly in his place, then he began to tremble and curl up, and finally he tumbled to the ground, virtually insensible. The woman collected her swords, changed her clothes, heated some wine, and gave it to Eung-cheon, who only then recovered consciousness. Next morning, at first light, she dressed in men’s clothes and left. No one knew where she went.
Written by An Seok-gyeong (1718–1774)
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The Tale of Eun-ae
Eun-ae was the daughter of a yangban* household in Gangjin; her family name was Kim. A granny who was a retired gisaeng lived in the same area. Not only was the granny of coarse disposition, outrageous in her speech, and adept at malicious gossip, but she had itches all over her body. The uncontrollable urge to scratch exacerbated the diseases of her heart and made her even more reckless in her speech. The granny was wont to borrow rice, beans, salt, soybean malt, and the like from Eun-ae’s mother. Sometimes when she didn’t get them, she was so filled with indignation that she looked for an opportunity to * Aristocratic class of the Joseon Dynasty
25 The Tale of Eun-ae
inflict revenge. Choe Jeong-ryeon, a bachelor living in the area, was the grandson of the malevolent granny’s sister-in-law. He was no more than 15 or 16 and good-looking. The granny instructed the young man in the ways of sex. “How would you feel about marrying the likes of Eunae?” she said in an effort to beguile him. Jeong-ryeon smiled. “Eun-ae is really beautiful,” he said. “Such a match would make me very happy.” “All you have to do is tell the world you’re secretly in love with her and I’ll make the match happen,” the granny said. “Great,” Jeong-ryeon said. “I’m having a lot of difficulty with itching at the moment,” the granny said, “and the doctor says that ointment for this problem is very expensive. If I make the match happen, you must pay for the medicine.” “I’ll be delighted to do as you say,” Jeong-ryeon responded. One day the granny’s husband came back from
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business. She said, “Jeong-ryeon loves Eun-ae and wanted me to make the match, so I arranged for them to meet here. When Jeong-ryeon’s granny found out about this, Eun-ae took to her heels across the wall.” “Jeong-ryeon’s family are of no consequence, and Eunae is a yangban girl. Don’t say such things,” her husband said, rebuking her sternly. The rumor, however, spread through the village and almost completely blocked Eunae’s avenues to marriage. But Kim Yang-jun, who lived in the area, knew the truth of the situation, and he married Eun-ae. The rumors, however, continued unabated and reached the point of being unendurable. It was Giyu year,* a leap year in the Chinese calendar, the 25th day of February. “When I agreed to be matchmaker for Jeong-ryeon, he promised to pay for my medicine if we were successful. But she married another and my itching is worse than ever. I really hate Eun-ae,” the malicious granny cried. * Year of 1789
27 The Tale of Eun-ae
Old and young in the area looked at each other, eyes popping in wonder; they waved their hands, at a loss for what to say. Eun-ae was a tough, vindictive woman in her own right. It was now two years since the granny conceived the plot to incriminate her; Eun-ae was now even more embarrassed and resentful. The whole affair was quite unendurable. She decided to personally cut the granny up so as to appease her resentment and anger, but so far she hadn’t had an opportunity. Next day, Eun-ae got her chance when none of the family was at home and the granny had retired for the night. It was the first watch. Eun-ae seized a kitchen knife, rolled up her sleeves, lifted her skirt, slipped out of the house, and ran into the granny’s room. A lamp flickered in the room. The granny sat there about to go to bed. She was half naked, with just a skirt thrown around her. Knife in hand, Eun-ae stood in front of her. Her eyebrows stood straight up. “What you did yesterday to incriminate me was even
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worse than before. I’m going to have my revenge, you bitch.” A slip of a girl, what can she do? The granny thought. “Well, stab me,” she said, “if that’s what you’re going to do.” “Right, I will,” Eun-ae shouted. Eun-ae bent down and stabbed her on the left side of the neck. The granny caught her breath and grabbed Eunae’s wrist. Eun-ae wrested her hand free and stabbed her on the right side of the neck. The granny slumped to one side. Eun-ae straddled her and stabbed her in the breast bone, shoulder, armpit, arm, leg, ribs, guts, nape of the neck, and breast—all on the left side. In the end, she stabbed her on the right side too, ribs and back, twice, thrice. The knife swung dizzily, and with every thrust she rebuked the granny. She stabbed her in 18 places. And without waiting to clean the blade, she flew out the door and headed for Jeong-ryeon’s house to appease the rest of her anger. She met Jeong-ryeon’s mother on the road who, with her
29 The Tale of Eun-ae
tears, was able to stop her. Eun-ae went home. The village headman ran to the yamen and reported what had happened. The magistrate donned formal attire and presided over the inquest. “Why did you stab the granny? She’s a strong woman and you’re a slip of a girl. It’s difficult to imagine that you could inflict such horrific wounds on your own. Confess the entire truth,” the magistrate said. The jailors were grouped closely around her, menacing in their deportment, with instruments for investigation piled around them. They were dour men; their faces lacked any light of humanity. They put Eun-ae’s neck in a stock, handcuffed her, and locked her feet in clamps. Her tiny shackled body slumped there without any energy. It was difficult for her to endure. But there was no fear in her face, no sadness in her voice. She spoke with dignity. “Magistrate, you remind me of my parents. Listen to what I have to say. When a young girl is the victim of a slanderous plot, she may have done nothing to sully her reputation, but it’s the same as being sullied. It’s never
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been heard of under heaven that a gisaeng would dare conceive a plot of incrimination against the daughter of a yangban household. It was inevitable that I would kill her. I may be very young, but I am aware that if I kill someone, the yamen will demand my life the next day, so when I killed the granny yesterday I knew that my life would be forfeit today. I may have killed the granny, but someone who conceives a plot to destroy your good name deserves no clemency in the yamen, so I ask that Jeongryeon also should be beaten to death. And since I was the only victim of the granny’s slander, why would someone help me to inflict the wounds?� The magistrate sighed. He examined the clothes the granny was wearing when she was killed. The ramie blouse and skirt were so stained with blood that it was difficult to separate the white blouse from the blue skirt. The magistrate was horrified by the affair, and he looked at Eun-ae with great respect. In his heart he wanted to release her, but the law would not allow this. Accordingly, he prepared the papers and forwarded them to the
31 The Tale of Eun-ae
CREDITS Translators: Kevin O’Rourke,
Emanuel Pastreich (The Tale of the Virtuous Lady Pak of Hamyang)
Publisher: Kim Hyung-geun Editors: Lee Jin-hyuk, Kim Hansol Copy Editors: D. Peter Kim, Daisy Larios Proofreader: Paul Kerry Designer: Jung Hyun-young