A Frog for a Husband

In a valley among stony mountains lived an old farmer named Pak We and his wife. His land was poor, and he had to work from sunrise to sunset, and often on into moonlit nights, just to grow enough to eat. They had no children, and they were far too poor to adopt a son. Pak’s one pleasure was fishing in the pond up in the hills, the pond that fed the stream watering his millet and rice. He was a fine fisherman and often caught a good string of fish, which he sold in the nearby village to buy the few small comforts he and his wife needed. So the old couple stayed cheerful in spite of their hard life, though they often wondered what would happen to them when they grew too old to work.

But one summer Pak noticed that there were fewer fish in the pond, and fewer every day. Where he used to fill a string in an hour, he could hardly catch half as many in a whole day. Was he losing his skill? Was his bait poor? Not at all. His worms were as fat as ever, his hooks and lines were in good order, and his eyes were as sharp as they had always been.

Then Pak noticed that the water was getting shallower, and he was alarmed. Could the pond be drying up? Things grew worse day by day, until there were no fish at all. Where little waves had once sparkled, there was only a stretch of dry earth and stones with a trickle running through it so narrow he could jump across. No pond meant no water for his rice fields. Terrified that he and his wife would starve or have to leave their old home and beg, Pak peered down from what had been the bank to find the cause of the trouble. There in the mud among the pebbles sat a bullfrog nearly as big as an elephant, blinking up at him with huge round eyes.

Pak flew into a rage. He accused the frog of cruelly gobbling up all the fish and drinking up all the water, so that he and his wife would starve, and then he called the frog and all its relatives every rude name he could think of.

The bullfrog did not look sorry, and it did not get angry either. It just blinked and bowed. “Don’t worry, Farmer Pak. You’ll be glad of this by and by. Besides, I want to go home with you and live in your house.”

“What! Move into my home, you clammy creature? Certainly not!” said Pak.

“Oh, but I have news to tell you, and you won’t be sorry, now that you’ve seen what I can do. You had better take me in.”

Old Pak thought it over. How could he face his wife with a guest like this? Then again, the frog had news to tell, and that might please the old woman, who loved a bit of gossip. Pak himself was not much of a talker, so perhaps she would be willing to put up such a strange visitor.

So off they went down the valley. Pak shuffled along as fast as his old legs would go, but the bullfrog covered the distance in a few hops, for its back legs were three feet long.

When they reached the door, Mrs. Pak was horrified at the thought of feeding such a lodger. But when her husband said that Froggie knew all about everybody and could chat for hours, she changed her tune and made him welcome. She grew so friendly that she gave him one of her best rooms. All the leaves, grass and brushwood stored in the woodshed for the kitchen fire were carried into the room and soaked with tubs of water to make a soft, damp bed, just the kind bullfrogs like. Then she fed him all the worms he wanted.

After his dinner and a nap, Mr. and Mrs. Pak put on their best clothes and paid their guest a formal call. Mr. Bullfrog was so pleasant and charming, and told so many good stories and tasty bits of gossip, that Mrs. Pak was delighted. She felt almost like adopting Froggie as her son.

The night passed quietly. But at the first light of dawn, Froggie was out on the porch singing a beautiful song to the rising sun. When Mr. and Mrs. Pak got up to hear it, they were amazed to find that his music was bringing them blessings. Everything they had ever wished for seemed to arrive at once, with more they had never even dreamed of coming in crowds behind it. Oxen, donkeys and horses stood in the yard loaded with boxes, bales and bundles, and more were on their way. Strong porters began unpacking, and groups of lovely girls in shining white took from them beautiful things of jade, gold and silver. There were fine clothes and hats for Mr. Pak; for Mrs. Pak there were jade-tipped hairpins, combs of tortoiseshell and ivory, silk gowns, embroidered and jeweled sashes and every sort of dress, as well as inlaid cabinets, clothes racks and wardrobes. Best of all was a polished metal mirror like the full autumn moon, which tempted Mrs. Pak to spend every minute gazing into it.

Four or five of the prettiest girls they had ever seen danced and sang and played the sweetest music. Tables of jade and fine sandalwood were spread with rich food. Soon carpenters and decorators were at work, and in place of the old cottage, with its oiled-paper floors over broken bricks, its smoky rafters and its poorly papered mud walls, a new house rose up. It had grand wide halls and large rooms with finely made partitions, growing flowers, boards for playing chess and everything a palace might hold. In the new storehouse were heaps of dried fish and seaweed, bags of rice, bins of millet, tubs of kimchi and hot pickles, not to mention peaches, pears, persimmons, chestnuts, honey, barley, sugar, candy, cakes and pastries, all piled high in bright colors.

The old couple seemed able to eat twice as much as before, because their adopted Bullfrog was such good company. They laughed all day long and said they had never heard such stories. Mrs. Pak was quite a match for him when it came to gossip, and her favorite subject was the beauty and charm of Miss Peach, the accomplished daughter of Mr. Poom, a great nobleman who lived in a grand house full of servants in the next village. Mrs. Pak insisted there was no young woman in the world like her. And it was noticed that Mr. Bullfrog listened very closely whenever Miss Peach was mentioned.

After a week of such luxury, when the old couple felt they were living in paradise, Mr. Pak’s happiness came crashing down. The Bullfrog told him that he meant to marry, and that Mr. Pak must find him a wife. Worse still, he would have nobody but Miss Peach, the famous beauty, daughter of Mr. Poom.

Old Pak nearly went out of his mind. He begged to be let off, but the Bullfrog would not budge. So, grumbling at his wife’s tongue for putting the idea into the frog’s head, Pak put on his fine clothes and set off to see Mr. Poom. He fully expected to be beaten half to death for daring to ask a noble lady to marry a frog.

Now this Mr. Poom had been a district magistrate for many years and had squeezed a great deal of money out of the poor people he governed. Having grown rich, he had retired to his home village. His two elder daughters were married, but the youngest and loveliest, Miss Peach, was eighteen.

At the grand mansion, Pak described the suitor’s wealth, power, fame and high position, and told how he had made an old couple happy. Mr. Poom had pricked up his ears at the first mention of riches and power, and he grew more and more interested as Pak went on.

“And what is his name?” asked Mr. Poom.

This put Pak in a fix. He could think only of the great frog family and its loud voices. He thought hard for a few minutes. Then he said that he had been thinking so much about the suitor’s graces and talents that he had forgotten his name.

To help him out, Mr. Poom, who knew all about Korea’s noble families, went through the list: the Kims, Sims and Mins, the Hos, Chos and Kos, the Quongs and Hongs and many more.

“It’s none of those,” said Pak. “I’m very sorry, but I can’t remember.”

“Strange,” said Mr. Poom. “I’ve named every family of any importance in the kingdom. What is his rank, and where does his family live?”

Mr. Poom pressed him with so many questions that at last Pak had to confess that the suitor was not a man at all, but a frog.

“What! You want me to marry my daughter to a pond-croaker? You’ll pay for insulting me in my own house! Servants, bring the bench and give this fellow twenty blows!”

At once four men carried out the punishment bench, and three more seized poor Pak, pulled off his coat and tied him down to it. A tall, strong servant lifted a huge wooden paddle high in the air.

But all this time the sky had been growing dark, and before the first blow could fall, lightning flashed, thunder rolled and such floods of rain poured down that the house and garden seemed about to be swept away. Then came hail, first as big as eggs and then as big as cannonballs, pelting the cattle in the fields.

“Stop!” cried Mr. Poom in fright. “I’ll wait and find out more.”

At that the thunder and lightning ceased, and the sun burst out in splendor.

Deeply impressed, Mr. Poom agreed to let his daughter marry the frog, though he did not tell her who her husband was to be. Within an hour, while she was getting ready, a long train of fine horses and donkeys arrived with gifts for the bride and her family: boxes of silk dresses, perfumes and ornaments, and a troop of maidens to wait on her. They dressed Miss Peach in the loveliest robes and piled up her hair with satin puffs, silver pins tipped with jade, rosettes and flowers, until it stood more than a foot high above the round red spot on her forehead that marked her as a bride. When she had admired herself long enough in the metal mirror, she stepped into the bridal palanquin, a glittering mass of splendor. In Griffis’s telling, her eyes were sealed shut with wax so that she would not see her husband until after the wedding feast, when they met in the bridal chamber.

So she was carried in grand procession to the bridegroom’s house. The wedding and the great supper were happy occasions for all the guests, though the bride sat quiet and patient throughout, unable to see a thing. Only the bridegroom and his foster parents saw the ceremony itself.

In the bridal chamber the bride unsealed her eyes. When she looked up and saw that she had married not a man but a frog, she was furious and cried out that she would not have such a husband.

Gently, in the kindest voice, the bridegroom tried to comfort her. Then he handed her a pair of scissors and asked her to slit the skin along his back from shoulder to hip, because it was very tight and hurt him.

Bitterly disappointed, she grabbed the scissors and began to cut, none too gently, from the back of his neck down to his waist. To her surprise, there seemed to be silk underneath the speckled skin. When she had cut about two yards, the frog stood up on his hind legs, twisted and wriggled, tugged hard at his speckled hide with his front paws, and then jumped right out of his skin. There before her stood a prince, tall, fair and splendidly dressed, just like the husband of her dreams. A jeweled sash circled his waist, golden dragons embroidered on his shoulders and chest showed his rank, and on his head was a royal cap with a sparkling diamond in its center. Yet even those fine clothes were not as handsome as the young man himself. She had never seen anyone so fine.

In a moment the bride’s horror turned to the warmest love and deepest respect. The next morning, to the amazement of Mr. and Mrs. Pak, the prince came to breakfast with his bride and told them his story. He was the son of the King of the Stars. Because he had done something wrong, his father had sent him to live on earth in the shape of a frog and had given him three tasks to complete before he could go home to Star Land: to drink up all the water in the lake, to eat all the fish, and to win a human bride, the most beautiful woman in the world.

All the treasures he had given the Paks to make their old age comfortable, and all the gifts sent to the bride’s house, had come by heavenly power. Now he must go home to his father, taking his bride with him, and leave his foster parents to enjoy their riches on earth. As he spoke, a chariot with silver-bright horses appeared at the door. Bowing low to the old couple, he stepped in with his bride, and the two of them rose up and vanished beyond the clouds.

And after that, a new double star was seen shining in the sky.

About this story

“A Frog for a Husband” is one of the longer tales in William Elliot Griffis’s Korean Fairy Tales. It includes his descriptions of wedding clothes, a bride’s sealed eyes, storehouse food and family names. These are details of a historical author’s telling, not proof of universal Korean practices; the sealed eyes also serve the plot by concealing the groom.

Underneath the comedy is a star legend. The frog turns out to be a prince of Star Land sent to earth for a wrongdoing, and the tale ends by explaining a new double star in the night sky.

Read the original: Korean Fairy Tales (Project Gutenberg)

For older readers: includes threatened beating, a marriage arranged through deception and coercion, and cutting an animal skin during a magical transformation.

The gifts have a cost

The frog begins by destroying the resources the Paks depend on, then replaces their hardship with extraordinary wealth. His next demand makes Pak a reluctant marriage broker. Miss Peach receives splendid gifts but is denied the information she needs to choose her husband.

The star-prince explanation accounts for the frog’s tasks without making his conduct harmless. The bride’s delight after his transformation is the tale’s resolution; it does not make concealing a groom’s identity or threatening a family acceptable. Appearance and good conduct are separate questions.

Follow three viewpoints

Retell the marriage arrangement in one sentence each from Pak’s, Poom’s and Miss Peach’s viewpoints. What does each know, fear or hope to gain? Then identify what the prince’s explanation answers and what it leaves morally unresolved.

Questions to ask

• Why did the pond dry up?
• Why couldn’t Pak tell Mr. Poom the suitor’s name?
• What three tasks did the Star King give his son?

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