Korean Folk Tales
Tigers, rabbits, spirits, magistrates and lovers facing unequal power appear in these Korean tales. English sources include H. N. Allen’s Korean Tales, James Scarth Gale’s Korean Folk Tales and William Elliot Griffis’s Korean Fairy Tales.
Their historical language and commentary sometimes reflect the translator’s assumptions. Source notes separate those judgments from the narrative, while individual audience guidance identifies stories involving captivity, violence, sacrifice or other mature themes.
72 stories are in this collection right now.
Browse by region: Korea.
Korean Folk Tales
Ages 9-12
The Unmannerly Tiger
Tricked by a hunter’s mirror into leaping at his own reflection, a proud old tiger lands in a pit and begs a passing monk to set him free.
Korean Folk Tales
All Ages
The Story of Chang To-ryong
A ragged beggar who jokes with the servants in Bell Street is treated with fearful respect by the proudest magician in Seoul, and nobody can tell why.
Korean Folk Tales
Ages 6-8
The Sneezing Colossus
Sent out by his wife to find food for the family, lazy Mr. Kim spots a giant pear growing from the head of a huge stone Buddha high on the mountain.
Korean Folk Tales
Ages 9-12
The Soldier of Kang-wha
To cheer up his sulking wife, a plain village soldier tosses scraps of silk into the air, and the room fills with butterflies of every color.
Korean Folk Tales
The Snake’s Revenge
An archer shoots a great snake caught in the bars of the Water Gate of Seoul, and soon after, his wife gives birth to a son who is terrified of him.
Korean Folk Tales
All Ages
The Sky Bridge of Birds
Once a year every magpie in Korea flies up to the sky, where millions of them join wings to make a bridge across the River of Stars for two parted lovers.
Korean Folk Tales
Ages 9-12
The Resourceful Wife
When the tyrant King Yon-san summons a minister’s beautiful young wife to his palace, she goes without a tear, carrying a secret plan of escape.
Korean Folk Tales
Ages 9-12
The Rabbit’s Eyes
When the King of the Fishes swallows a fishhook, the sea doctors decide only a rabbit’s eyes can cure him, and Dr. Turtle is sent ashore to fetch one.
Korean Folk Tales
Ages 6-8
The Renowned Maing
Sheltering from the rain in a roadside pavilion, a proud young scholar lectures a plain old traveler on poetry, never guessing that he is a famous minister.
Korean Folk Tales
The Plucky Maiden
The most feared governor in Pyong-an Province orders a deputy to hand over his beautiful daughter, but she greets him holding a sword instead of a fan.
Korean Folk Tales
Ages 6-8
The Propitious Magpie
A poor friend of King T’ai-jong builds a fake magpie nest in the King’s path, and the writer Yi Ryuk tells how real magpies brought his own family luck.
Korean Folk Tales
Ages 9-12
The Old Woman Who Became a Goblin
A scholar’s wife takes in an old beggar woman who can spin more than eight women in a day, but the helper grows angry when the welcome cools.