A Bridegroom for Miss Mole

In Griffis’s tale, beside the river Kingin stands a huge stone statue called Miryek, carved out of the solid rock long, long ago. Its foot is buried deep in the ground, and storm clouds gather and swirl around its great granite cap as they roll down the mountain.

Deep under the earth near this giant lived a soft-furred mole and his wife, and one day a daughter was born to them. She was the most wonderful mole baby anyone had ever seen. Her father was so proud of her that he made up his mind to marry her to nothing less than the grandest thing in the whole universe. Nothing else would do for his beautiful child.

Father Mole worked long and hard to find out what, in all of nature, was thought to be the most wonderful thing. He talked it over with his neighbors. He visited the king of the moles and asked the wise moles at court to decide for him. Every one of them agreed that the Great Blue Sky was greater and more glorious than anything else.

So up to the Sky went Father Mole, and he offered his daughter as the Great Blue’s bride. Everyone, he explained, above the ground and below it, said that the Sky in its vast blue robe was the greatest thing in the universe.

To his surprise, the Sky said no.

“I am not the greatest. You must go to the Sun. He rules me, because he makes day and night as he pleases. Only when he rises can I put on my bright colors. When he sets, darkness covers the world, and people see the stars instead of me. You had better take your lovely daughter to him.”

So Mr. Mole went to the Sun. He was too frightened to look the Sun in the face, but he made his request: would the Sun marry his charming daughter?

The mighty Sun, who usually seemed so fierce that he dazzled people’s eyes and could scorch the grass in the fields, turned suddenly modest. Instead of saying yes, he told the father:

“Alas, I am not the master. The Cloud is greater than I am, because he can cover me up and hide me for days and weeks at a time. I am not as powerful as you think. Let me advise you to offer your daughter to the Cloud.”

Father Mole was surprised and rather disappointed. Now he wondered when he should make his offer to the Cloud: when it was silvery white and gleaming on a summer afternoon, or when it was black and threatening a storm? Wanting the mightiest husband possible for his daughter, he waited until lightning flashed and thunder rolled. Then he stood before the terrible dark Cloud as it shot out fire, told it all about his wonderful daughter and offered her as its bride.

“But why come to me?” asked the Cloud, its face inky black with the anger of the storm and its eyes red with lightning.

“Because you are the greatest thing in the universe, and your terrible power proves it,” said Father Mole.

At that the Cloud stopped rolling, held back its fire and thunder and very nearly laughed.

“Far from being the greatest thing in the world, I am not even my own master. Look how the wind is pushing me along already! Soon I’ll melt away into the air and vanish. Let me send you to the Wind. The master of the Cloud will make a splendid son-in-law.”

So Papa Mole waited until the Wind grew calm after blowing the clouds away. Then he described his daughter’s talents and loveliness and offered his only child to the Wind as a bride.

But the Wind was not nearly as proud as Father Mole had expected. He seemed shy and very modest, and he admitted that he was powerless before Miryek, the giant stone statue.

“Why, I strike that great stone face, and its eyes don’t even blink. I roar in its ears, and it doesn’t care. I try to make it sneeze, and it won’t. However hard I hit it, it stands there unmoved and smiling. No, I am not the grandest thing in the universe while Miryek stands. Go to him. He is the only one worthy of your daughter.”

By now Father Mole’s feet ached, he was tired out and he was losing heart. Everyone seemed to admire his shining daughter, but would he ever find her a worthy husband?

He rested for a while and then made his way to Miryek, the granite giant as big as a lighthouse, whose head rose high in the air but whose ears were ready to listen.

Father Mole squeaked out praise for the statue, which everyone agreed was the greatest thing on earth. He asked Miryek to be his son-in-law and then described his daughter’s talents in great detail, praising her on and on. In fact, he talked so long that he almost spoiled his chances.

Miryek listened with stony patience, a twinkle in his white granite eyes. When his lips moved, this is what he said:

“Fond parent, what you say is true. I am great. I don’t care about the sky, by day or by night, for I stay the same in light and in darkness. I don’t fear the sun, which cannot melt me, nor the frost, which cannot make me crumble. Hot or cold, summer or winter, I never change. The clouds come and go, but they cannot move me, and I am not afraid of their lightning and thunder. Yes, I am great.” Then the stone lips closed.

“Then you will make a good husband for my daughter? You will marry her?” asked the proud father. His hopes were rising, though he was still not sure.

“I would gladly marry her if I were the greatest. But I am not,” said Miryek. “Down under my feet lives the Mole. He digs with his spade-like hands and makes tunnels day and night, and I cannot stand against his strength. One day he will dig away the ground beneath me, and I will topple over and lie on the earth like any common stone. Yes, everyone must agree that the Mole is the greatest thing in the universe, and I give way to him. You had better marry your daughter to a mole.”

So, after all his travels, the father looked no further. Everyone he asked had given the same advice, and now he knew that the Mole was the greatest thing in the universe. His daughter’s bridegroom had been at home all along, among their own kind.

He married her to a young and handsome mole, and there was great joy and celebration at the wedding. The two were a perfect match, and they were happy all their lives.

About this tale

“A Bridegroom for Miss Mole” comes from William Elliot Griffis’s Korean Fairy Tales, published in New York by Thomas Y. Crowell. Griffis, who also wrote Korea: The Hermit Nation, tells in his opening note that the book gathers the folklore of the Korean people, the “Land of Morning Splendor.”

The tale climbs a ladder of powers, from Sky to Sun, Cloud, Wind and the great stone image Miryek, and then the last rung turns out to be the mole himself. Griffis names the river Kingin as the setting; this page does not independently identify the monument or verify its present condition.

Read the original: Korean Fairy Tales (Project Gutenberg)

Best for all ages — a funny journey that ends right back where it started.

The ladder becomes a circle

Each candidate can affect the next in one particular way, but none controls everything. Father Mole turns those limits into a new claim that his own kind is greatest, rather than abandoning the ranking. Another voice is missing: his daughter is praised throughout, but never asked what she wants in a partner.

Draw the circle, then add a voice

Connect Sky, Sun, Cloud, Wind, statue and mole, writing the claimed power on each arrow. Does a circle have a clear strongest point? Add one sentence Miss Mole could say about her own choice.

Talk about it

• Who did Father Mole visit, and why did each one say no?
• Why did Miryek say the mole was the greatest of all?
• Have you ever looked far away for something that was close to home?

Related stories

• Old White Whiskers and Mr. Bunny — another animal tale from Griffis’s Korean collection
• The Great Stone Fire Eater — a Korean tale about a mighty stone figure
• A Frog for a Husband — a Korean wedding with a very surprising groom