Reading traditional Korean folk tales for fun and reading them again in English

Let’s read traditional Korean folk tales in Korean and English!

The traditional folk tale is a genre widely read and beloved regardless of the era.

Transmitted from mouth to mouth over a long period, traditional Korean folk tales reflect the everyday lives, customs, joys and sorrows, and humor and courage of Koreans in the olden days. They are invaluable stories that can be enjoyed by people in distant lands and those who have come from afar and live in South Korea as well. - Kim Myung-Hwan (professor, Department of English Language and Literature, Seoul National University) -

As in the recommendation by Professor Kim Myung-Hwan at Seoul National University, reading old tales holds a special value. Publishing traditional Korean folk tales, which are thus meaningful, in both Korean and English, this series will reward children with both the joy of reading old stories and an opportunity to study English. Furthermore, the series has been planned so that it can be enjoyed by Korean children overseas, children from multicultural families in South Korea, and children around the globe as well. We hope that it will be used also as a good guide for naturally introducing Korean culture to foreign friends abroad as they are told traditional folk tales from Korea.

An Introduction to the Series

Out of the countless tales that are widely known to many Korean readers, 23 especially colorful and entertaining ones have been selected and edited into 12 volumes. Familiar to Korean children, stories such as “Yeonorang and Seonyeo,” “The Headstone Goes to Court,” “The King has Donkey’s Ears,” and “Kongji and Patji” will not only be fun to read in the original Korean but also heighten youngsters’ understanding as they read the English translations. In addition, children who know similar traditional folk tales from other countries can make comparisons, thus being provided with a fascinating approach to these works.

Table of Contents

01 “The Fairy and the Woodcutter”

Once upon a time, there lived an impoverished, old bachelor who worked as a woodcutter. One day, while chopping trees in the forest, he encountered and hid a deer pursued by a hunter. In return for this act of kindness, the beast offered to grant the man one wish. When the woodcutter said that he wanted a wife, the deer told him that fairies from heaven would be bathing in a pond and that he should hide one of their clothes. When the man duly concealed a fairy’s winged robe, she alone was unable to return to her celestial home. He then approached the woman left alone and asked her to be his wife, upon which the two got married, had three children, and lived happily.

Nevertheless, the fairy at times missed her heavenly home. One day, she asked her husband to show her the winged robe. When he granted her wish, the fairy put on the clothing and ascended to heaven with the three youngsters. Grievously missing his wife and children, the woodcutter encountered the deer from the past and learned of a way to travel to the celestial dominion. Once in the heavenly kingdom, the man was reunited with his wife and children and lived happily. However, he missed his mother back on Earth. In the end, the woodcutter descended from the ethereal realm on a winged horse to see his mother again…