Categories > Books > Classics > Tales from Near and Far
Jung and Bobae
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NOTE: This is based off the tale of Hansel and Gretel set in Korea. Oh and BTW, the parent that wants to rid of them is their biological mother, not their stepmother, just like how it originally was in the story. I also added faithful pets to this story as well.
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A long time ago, there was a farmer whom lived with his wife, his first born son Jung, his little daughter Bobae, his dog Balgan and his cat Rinpoo. The farmer loved his children and his farm so much, that it made his wife green with jealousy. She often took out her anger on her husband and kids, not to mention that she did very little around the house but scream out orders and throw things across the room.
One day, a drought came and turned the grass all dry and yellow like straw. The family was going through a hard time.
The wife had an idea. "It's hard enough having to take care of the livestock, why do keep those rotten children around?"
"Because I love them." The farmer replied. "Why do you speak so ill of them all the time?"
"It just seems like you give them more attention than you do me." his wife sighed. "Besides, they're a real burden. Sure I'll miss their hard work, but I won't miss their stomachs."
"Okay, fine, I'll get rid of our children." The farmer sighed. He hated to do this, but he had to satisfy his wife for once.
---
At daybreak, the children's mother woke up her children. "Get out of bed and fetch some wood!"
They woke up and the food they got was bland rice porridge. "This is all you are getting, so don't complain!"
"Yes mama." the children sighed. Balgan and Rinpoo had at least a little meat with their rice. They wondered why they only got rice porridge.
As they left the house, their father gave Jung and Bobae a bag of wood chips. "Drop some of these woodchips, and make a path leading home."
"But papa, mama would scold us if she found out about this." Bobae said in dismay.
"But I can't live without you two." their father told them. "Now, let's get some wood."
Jung, Bobae and Balgan gathered the firewood while Rinpoo followed them. They gathered so much wood that they started a fire. When the flames jumped high, the farmer said, "Now you lie down by the fire you two and rest up. Remember the path home when you're lost."
They heard the strokes of the axe. However, it wasn't really an axe, it was really an old bough that was tied to a dead tree. It was blowing around in the wind. And when they sat for a long time, they started to feel tired and fall asleep. When they were ready to wake up, they noticed the sun was setting.
Bobae started to feel nervous. "It's getting dark. I want to go home."
"Don't worry Bobae." Jung told her calmly. "Remember the woodchips?"
"Oh yeah, that's right." Bobae replied. And as the children left the area, their pets followed. Jung started to pick up the woodchips as they followed the path.
Their mother was furious and started hitting her kids with her fat wooden spoon. "You rotten kids came back here? I want you two gone for good, as well as your pets!"
Their mother turned to her husband and slapped him hard across the face. "You stupid idiot! How can you let our children come back here?"
"What? I didn't know they were to come back here." the farmer said. His wife was still not convinced.
"Don't play dumb with me. Tomorrow, you live them grains of rice, so your dog and cat will eat it up."
The farmer sighed. "Very well, when they wake up, I'll give them the rice."
So the farmer butchered some of his pigs, gathered the meat and body parts and cooked them. He then puts the meat in some salty skins, so they would be preserved better. Now he started to gather some rice and set in a cart that is to be pulled by the dog. "I hope this would be enough for them."
The mother started to have some angry thoughts go through her head. "If those kids come back here, I'll kill them!"
---
When the sun has risen, the children finished their meal. Their father packed some meat in the cart and gave the children a bag of rice. "Use this rice to make a path leading home."
"But mama would beat us if she found out." Jung said. The father rubbed the top of Jung's head.
"Don't worry Jung, things will work out." his father said.
"Thanks papa for helping us." Bobae said as they started to take off into the woods. "Goodbye papa!"
As Jung, Bobae, Balgan and Rinpoo left, the mother came out of the house, smiling. "Well, it's just you and me. The pests are gone."
"ENOUGH!" the farmer said sternly. "I heard enough from you. I can't believe you have no good feelings for your own children."
His wife just sulks. "You never let go, do you? That is so much like you."
As the children were deep in the woods, Bobae started to feel a little nervous. "We never went this far. What will we do?"
"Don't worry Bobae, I left a trail of rice, so we can find our way back. Jung replied.
"Oh I hope so." Bobae thought to herself. As they looked for the path, they couldn't find it. Balgan and Rinpoo ate up all the rice.
"Nevermind Bobae. We'll find our way out."
The children and their pets started to get hungry and the only thing they had to eat was greasy meat and pork entrails. They wanted something better to eat. Their legs got so tired, that it couldn't carry them any longer. So Jung, Bobae and their pets started to lay down under a tree and drift off to sleep.
On the third day they left home, they all set out wandering yet again. They only got deeper into the woods and felt like help was never going to come. At midday, they could smell food nearby. It was a relief, since Jung and Bobae did not feel like eating the greasy pork meat. As they all followed the scent, they saw a house. It wasn't just any old house, it was a house made out of sweet rice dough with red bean cakes decorating the roof and fish shaped pastries lining the window sill.
"Just our luck!" Jung cheered. "We could give all the pork to Balgan and Rinpoo. We found a good food supply here."
Jung stretched up his hands and pulled off some of the red bean cakes. As the children began to eat, they heard a woman's voice.
"Who might this be eating away at my house...?"
"A couple of lost children and their pets." Bobae answered. They started to eat away until a rather attractive woman came out. Jung and Bobae stopped eating, but the woman did not seemed bothered by them.
"How did you guys make it here?" the woman asked.
"Our mother left us to wander the woods." Jung replied.
"Well you should go rest up. You all look tired." the woman said. She took Jung, Bobae, Balgan and Rinpoo in to her house and gave them some food. Jung and Bobae started to eat the sweet bean pancakes, dried persimmons and green tea, while Balgan and Rinpoo were given beef, fish, rice and some clear rice wine. After they were all done, there were futons set up for them. Jung and Bobae started to lay down, thinking that they were in the kingdom of the gods.
Even though this woman seemed friendly, she was, in reality, a Kumiho (fox demon) whom lured travelers by putting food on her house. When anyone came to her house, she would take on her original form and would kill the victim, then she would cook and feast upon the body. Her preferred body parts were the heart and the liver. Before the children could wake up, she lifted up Bobae and her futon and carried her to a stable.
"What's the big idea?" cried Bobae. The woman reverted back to her original form. "You're.....a KUMIHO?"
"Very good little girl." the kumiho laughed. "You are going to stay in here!"
"But how will I relieve myself?" Bobae asked.
"See that deep hole in the corner? That's where you are to relieve yourself." The kumiho laughed as she barred the door on the poor girl. She could scream as much as she liked, but it did her no good.
Then the kumiho went over to Jung, Balgan and Rinpoo and started to shake them real hard. "Wake up! Fetch me the food and water, so we could cook something for your little sister. When she gets plump, I'll eat her heart and liver."
So the best food was cooked for poor Bobae while Jung was given food meant for dogs and cats. Every morning, the kumiho would peek into the stable and felt Bobae's hand. "Well, you're not plump enough little girl."
"Don't worry Bobae, I'll think of a way to save us all." Jung whispered. The kumiho was getting rather impatient.
"Hurry up and get some water! If you start slacking again, I'll eat your dog and cat as well."
"If only the bears and tigers would of eaten us, then we would be spared of this misery." Jung thought to himself as he went to the well.
---
Early in the morning, Jung had to fetch water and put in the cart that Balgan pulled. He also had to put twigs and logs into a cooking fire surrounded by stones.
"Okay, good, you lit up the fire." the kumiho said as she licked her lips. "Can you check the fire and see if it's properly lit?"
But Jung knew better. He knew that she wanted to eat him, so he had an idea. "Why don't you check it yourself? You know how to work these things better than I do."
The kumiho was rather frustrated. "You crazy kid. How hard could this possibly be?"
As the Kumiho was checking the fire, Jung set his dog free and whispered, "Balgan, get her!"
The dog growled and started to charge the kumiho. "Now what?"
As she turned around, Balgan started to attack her. "GET OFF OF ME!"
Balgan started to sink his teeth into the kumiho's wrist, biting a chunk out of it. "You little..."
Then Rinpoo jumped on the kumiho's head and sunk her claws into the creature's skin, scratching up her face. "How could you...?"
"Keep it up!" Jung shouted as the Kumiho was being mauled.
"Stop it you beasts!" the kumiho yelled. But all of the sudden, Balgan went to the kumiho's throat and tore it out. She gasped a little and right there, she slumped on the ground and died.
"Thank you guys." Jung said as he pats Balgan and Rinpoo on the head. They all head to the stable and unbarred the door. Bobae ran out of the stable and hugged her brother.
"Thank you brother. Thanks for saving me."
"We're not done yet." Jung said as they made their way to the kumiho's body. "I'll cook her body while you go search her house."
"We're going to eat her?" Bobae asked. "But she looks so human."
"But she's not human." Jung replied. "Besides, good things are to happen if you eat the flesh of a kumiho."
"Okay." Bobae said as she heads into the house. As she explores the house, she found valuable gems and jewels. She puts them in a bag and puts them in the cart pulled by Balgan. "I found some nice jewels that papa might like."
"Good,, now, let's go home. I bet papa is worried about us." Jung said as he, Bobae, Balgan and Rinpoo left the area and heads back home. While they left far from the kumiho's lair, they came across a lake. "That's one big lake ahead of us."
"Look brother. There's a boat!" exclaimed Bobae. "Maybe we could pack things in there."
So the children put their dog, cat, their treasure and the meat of the kumiho into the boat and the children started to row across the lake. As they got to the deep side of the lake, they felt something under the boat. The boat all of the sudden started to go by itself and move faster. To everyone's surprise, a huge lake serpent was helping them make it across the lake.
"Thank you!" the children cheered as the lake serpent helped them across the lake. The lake serpent moved so fast that they made it to the other side of the lake in no time. The lake serpent left as they neared the shore.
As everyone got out of the boat with the meat and treasure, the children and their pets met a familiar figure. "Jung! Bobae! I'm glad to see you all."
"Papa!" the children cheered as Balgan and Rinpoo started rubbing up against their master. "What happened?"
"Well, I left your mother, because I couldn't deal with her any longer. Now I remarried and we have a lot more property now. You don't have to worry, she is nothing like your actual mother."
"I'd like to meet our new mama." Bobae said.
"Look at what we got here." Jung said as he showed his father the precious gems and the cooked flesh of the kumiho. "We'll be doing well from here on."
And so Jung, Bobae, Balgan, Rinpoo and the father headed back to their new home and meet their stepmother. She was a lot more kinder and more understanding than their actual mother. As the family and their pets ate the kumiho's flesh, they were given longer, healthier lives and lived in happiness forevermore.
---
NOTE: This is based off the tale of Hansel and Gretel set in Korea. Oh and BTW, the parent that wants to rid of them is their biological mother, not their stepmother, just like how it originally was in the story. I also added faithful pets to this story as well.
---
A long time ago, there was a farmer whom lived with his wife, his first born son Jung, his little daughter Bobae, his dog Balgan and his cat Rinpoo. The farmer loved his children and his farm so much, that it made his wife green with jealousy. She often took out her anger on her husband and kids, not to mention that she did very little around the house but scream out orders and throw things across the room.
One day, a drought came and turned the grass all dry and yellow like straw. The family was going through a hard time.
The wife had an idea. "It's hard enough having to take care of the livestock, why do keep those rotten children around?"
"Because I love them." The farmer replied. "Why do you speak so ill of them all the time?"
"It just seems like you give them more attention than you do me." his wife sighed. "Besides, they're a real burden. Sure I'll miss their hard work, but I won't miss their stomachs."
"Okay, fine, I'll get rid of our children." The farmer sighed. He hated to do this, but he had to satisfy his wife for once.
---
At daybreak, the children's mother woke up her children. "Get out of bed and fetch some wood!"
They woke up and the food they got was bland rice porridge. "This is all you are getting, so don't complain!"
"Yes mama." the children sighed. Balgan and Rinpoo had at least a little meat with their rice. They wondered why they only got rice porridge.
As they left the house, their father gave Jung and Bobae a bag of wood chips. "Drop some of these woodchips, and make a path leading home."
"But papa, mama would scold us if she found out about this." Bobae said in dismay.
"But I can't live without you two." their father told them. "Now, let's get some wood."
Jung, Bobae and Balgan gathered the firewood while Rinpoo followed them. They gathered so much wood that they started a fire. When the flames jumped high, the farmer said, "Now you lie down by the fire you two and rest up. Remember the path home when you're lost."
They heard the strokes of the axe. However, it wasn't really an axe, it was really an old bough that was tied to a dead tree. It was blowing around in the wind. And when they sat for a long time, they started to feel tired and fall asleep. When they were ready to wake up, they noticed the sun was setting.
Bobae started to feel nervous. "It's getting dark. I want to go home."
"Don't worry Bobae." Jung told her calmly. "Remember the woodchips?"
"Oh yeah, that's right." Bobae replied. And as the children left the area, their pets followed. Jung started to pick up the woodchips as they followed the path.
Their mother was furious and started hitting her kids with her fat wooden spoon. "You rotten kids came back here? I want you two gone for good, as well as your pets!"
Their mother turned to her husband and slapped him hard across the face. "You stupid idiot! How can you let our children come back here?"
"What? I didn't know they were to come back here." the farmer said. His wife was still not convinced.
"Don't play dumb with me. Tomorrow, you live them grains of rice, so your dog and cat will eat it up."
The farmer sighed. "Very well, when they wake up, I'll give them the rice."
So the farmer butchered some of his pigs, gathered the meat and body parts and cooked them. He then puts the meat in some salty skins, so they would be preserved better. Now he started to gather some rice and set in a cart that is to be pulled by the dog. "I hope this would be enough for them."
The mother started to have some angry thoughts go through her head. "If those kids come back here, I'll kill them!"
---
When the sun has risen, the children finished their meal. Their father packed some meat in the cart and gave the children a bag of rice. "Use this rice to make a path leading home."
"But mama would beat us if she found out." Jung said. The father rubbed the top of Jung's head.
"Don't worry Jung, things will work out." his father said.
"Thanks papa for helping us." Bobae said as they started to take off into the woods. "Goodbye papa!"
As Jung, Bobae, Balgan and Rinpoo left, the mother came out of the house, smiling. "Well, it's just you and me. The pests are gone."
"ENOUGH!" the farmer said sternly. "I heard enough from you. I can't believe you have no good feelings for your own children."
His wife just sulks. "You never let go, do you? That is so much like you."
As the children were deep in the woods, Bobae started to feel a little nervous. "We never went this far. What will we do?"
"Don't worry Bobae, I left a trail of rice, so we can find our way back. Jung replied.
"Oh I hope so." Bobae thought to herself. As they looked for the path, they couldn't find it. Balgan and Rinpoo ate up all the rice.
"Nevermind Bobae. We'll find our way out."
The children and their pets started to get hungry and the only thing they had to eat was greasy meat and pork entrails. They wanted something better to eat. Their legs got so tired, that it couldn't carry them any longer. So Jung, Bobae and their pets started to lay down under a tree and drift off to sleep.
On the third day they left home, they all set out wandering yet again. They only got deeper into the woods and felt like help was never going to come. At midday, they could smell food nearby. It was a relief, since Jung and Bobae did not feel like eating the greasy pork meat. As they all followed the scent, they saw a house. It wasn't just any old house, it was a house made out of sweet rice dough with red bean cakes decorating the roof and fish shaped pastries lining the window sill.
"Just our luck!" Jung cheered. "We could give all the pork to Balgan and Rinpoo. We found a good food supply here."
Jung stretched up his hands and pulled off some of the red bean cakes. As the children began to eat, they heard a woman's voice.
"Who might this be eating away at my house...?"
"A couple of lost children and their pets." Bobae answered. They started to eat away until a rather attractive woman came out. Jung and Bobae stopped eating, but the woman did not seemed bothered by them.
"How did you guys make it here?" the woman asked.
"Our mother left us to wander the woods." Jung replied.
"Well you should go rest up. You all look tired." the woman said. She took Jung, Bobae, Balgan and Rinpoo in to her house and gave them some food. Jung and Bobae started to eat the sweet bean pancakes, dried persimmons and green tea, while Balgan and Rinpoo were given beef, fish, rice and some clear rice wine. After they were all done, there were futons set up for them. Jung and Bobae started to lay down, thinking that they were in the kingdom of the gods.
Even though this woman seemed friendly, she was, in reality, a Kumiho (fox demon) whom lured travelers by putting food on her house. When anyone came to her house, she would take on her original form and would kill the victim, then she would cook and feast upon the body. Her preferred body parts were the heart and the liver. Before the children could wake up, she lifted up Bobae and her futon and carried her to a stable.
"What's the big idea?" cried Bobae. The woman reverted back to her original form. "You're.....a KUMIHO?"
"Very good little girl." the kumiho laughed. "You are going to stay in here!"
"But how will I relieve myself?" Bobae asked.
"See that deep hole in the corner? That's where you are to relieve yourself." The kumiho laughed as she barred the door on the poor girl. She could scream as much as she liked, but it did her no good.
Then the kumiho went over to Jung, Balgan and Rinpoo and started to shake them real hard. "Wake up! Fetch me the food and water, so we could cook something for your little sister. When she gets plump, I'll eat her heart and liver."
So the best food was cooked for poor Bobae while Jung was given food meant for dogs and cats. Every morning, the kumiho would peek into the stable and felt Bobae's hand. "Well, you're not plump enough little girl."
"Don't worry Bobae, I'll think of a way to save us all." Jung whispered. The kumiho was getting rather impatient.
"Hurry up and get some water! If you start slacking again, I'll eat your dog and cat as well."
"If only the bears and tigers would of eaten us, then we would be spared of this misery." Jung thought to himself as he went to the well.
---
Early in the morning, Jung had to fetch water and put in the cart that Balgan pulled. He also had to put twigs and logs into a cooking fire surrounded by stones.
"Okay, good, you lit up the fire." the kumiho said as she licked her lips. "Can you check the fire and see if it's properly lit?"
But Jung knew better. He knew that she wanted to eat him, so he had an idea. "Why don't you check it yourself? You know how to work these things better than I do."
The kumiho was rather frustrated. "You crazy kid. How hard could this possibly be?"
As the Kumiho was checking the fire, Jung set his dog free and whispered, "Balgan, get her!"
The dog growled and started to charge the kumiho. "Now what?"
As she turned around, Balgan started to attack her. "GET OFF OF ME!"
Balgan started to sink his teeth into the kumiho's wrist, biting a chunk out of it. "You little..."
Then Rinpoo jumped on the kumiho's head and sunk her claws into the creature's skin, scratching up her face. "How could you...?"
"Keep it up!" Jung shouted as the Kumiho was being mauled.
"Stop it you beasts!" the kumiho yelled. But all of the sudden, Balgan went to the kumiho's throat and tore it out. She gasped a little and right there, she slumped on the ground and died.
"Thank you guys." Jung said as he pats Balgan and Rinpoo on the head. They all head to the stable and unbarred the door. Bobae ran out of the stable and hugged her brother.
"Thank you brother. Thanks for saving me."
"We're not done yet." Jung said as they made their way to the kumiho's body. "I'll cook her body while you go search her house."
"We're going to eat her?" Bobae asked. "But she looks so human."
"But she's not human." Jung replied. "Besides, good things are to happen if you eat the flesh of a kumiho."
"Okay." Bobae said as she heads into the house. As she explores the house, she found valuable gems and jewels. She puts them in a bag and puts them in the cart pulled by Balgan. "I found some nice jewels that papa might like."
"Good,, now, let's go home. I bet papa is worried about us." Jung said as he, Bobae, Balgan and Rinpoo left the area and heads back home. While they left far from the kumiho's lair, they came across a lake. "That's one big lake ahead of us."
"Look brother. There's a boat!" exclaimed Bobae. "Maybe we could pack things in there."
So the children put their dog, cat, their treasure and the meat of the kumiho into the boat and the children started to row across the lake. As they got to the deep side of the lake, they felt something under the boat. The boat all of the sudden started to go by itself and move faster. To everyone's surprise, a huge lake serpent was helping them make it across the lake.
"Thank you!" the children cheered as the lake serpent helped them across the lake. The lake serpent moved so fast that they made it to the other side of the lake in no time. The lake serpent left as they neared the shore.
As everyone got out of the boat with the meat and treasure, the children and their pets met a familiar figure. "Jung! Bobae! I'm glad to see you all."
"Papa!" the children cheered as Balgan and Rinpoo started rubbing up against their master. "What happened?"
"Well, I left your mother, because I couldn't deal with her any longer. Now I remarried and we have a lot more property now. You don't have to worry, she is nothing like your actual mother."
"I'd like to meet our new mama." Bobae said.
"Look at what we got here." Jung said as he showed his father the precious gems and the cooked flesh of the kumiho. "We'll be doing well from here on."
And so Jung, Bobae, Balgan, Rinpoo and the father headed back to their new home and meet their stepmother. She was a lot more kinder and more understanding than their actual mother. As the family and their pets ate the kumiho's flesh, they were given longer, healthier lives and lived in happiness forevermore.
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