The Brave Magistrate

Long ago, in one of the counties of North Ham-kyong Province, there was a foul-smelling goblin that took many lives. One magistrate after another was sent there, and each one died in terrible pain about ten days after arriving, so that nobody wanted the post or anything to do with the place. More than a hundred men were offered it, and all of them refused. At last a brave soldier with no friends in high places, social or political, accepted it. He was strong, bold and fearless, and he thought, “Even if there is a devil there, surely not every man will die. I’ll try my luck with him.”

So he said his goodbyes and took up his office. He found himself alone in the magistrate’s hall, for everyone else had fled. He wore a long knife at his belt wherever he went, for from the very first day he noticed a fishy, stinking smell that grew stronger and stronger. After five or six days he saw that something like a mist often drifted in through the outer gate, and the stench came from that mist. Day by day it grew worse, until he could hardly bear it.

About ten days in, when the time came for him to die, the runners and servants, who had come back to work, all fled a second time. The magistrate kept a jar of strong liquor beside him and sipped from it often to keep up his courage, and that day he was very drunk as he waited. At last he saw something come through the main gateway wrapped in fog. It was as thick around as three or four people holding hands and about fifteen feet tall, with no head, body or arms to be seen, only two dreadful eyes rolling wildly at the top. The magistrate leaped up, rushed at it with a great shout and struck it with his sword. There was a sound like thunder, and the whole thing broke up and vanished, and the foul smell went with it.

Then the magistrate, overcome by drink, fell flat on the ground. His servants, all thinking him dead, gathered in the courtyard to prepare for his funeral. They noticed that the other victims of the goblin had all been found dead on the veranda, but he was lying down in the lower courtyard. They lifted him up to get him ready for burial when suddenly he came round, glared at them angrily and asked what they thought they were doing. They were filled with fear and astonishment. And from that time on, there was no more smell.

About this story

“The Brave Magistrate” is from James Scarth Gale’s Korean Folk Tales: Imps, Ghosts and Fairies, his 1913 translation of stories collected by Im Bang. It is one of several tales in the book about officials posted to haunted districts.

Unlike the hundred men who turned the post down, the hero is a plain soldier with no powerful friends. His courage, and his sword, are enough to drive off the goblin that killed all who came before him.

Read the original: Korean Folk Tales: Imps, Ghosts and Fairies (Project Gutenberg)

Suggested for ages 9–12 with an adult: includes deaths, a sword attack and heavy drinking followed by unconsciousness.

The body in the wrong place

The servants expect another dead magistrate, so they interpret his collapse through the pattern they already know. But they notice a difference: the earlier victims lay on the veranda, while he lies in the courtyard. His waking turns a frightening repetition into a comic surprise. The drinking complicates the victory, because the same liquor he uses for courage leaves him helpless and mistaken for dead. The story’s magical success is not advice to meet danger by drinking or carrying a weapon.

Read like one of the servants

Separate the clues into “Like earlier deaths” and “Different this time”. Before the magistrate wakes, which detail gives readers a reason to doubt the servants’ conclusion?

Questions to ask

• Why did nobody want to be magistrate of that county?
• What was the first sign that the goblin was near?
• Why did the servants think the magistrate had died?

You may also like

• The Awful Little Goblin — a spirit that strength cannot move
• The Fearless Captain — another brave Korean official
• An Encounter with a Hobgoblin — another goblin tale from Gale