The Fearless Captain

There was once a soldier from Yong-nam named Yee Man-ji, a big, muscular fellow as brave as a lion, with green eyes and a fearsome face. He often said, “Fear? What is fear?”

One day, while he was at home, a sudden storm broke, with flashes of lightning and great claps of thunder. With one of them, a huge ball of fire came tumbling into the house. It rolled across the veranda, through the rooms, into the kitchen and out into the yard, then into the servants’ quarters, bouncing back and forth several times. Its blazing light and the noise it made were terrifying.

Yee sat on the outer veranda, quite calm. “I have done nothing wrong,” he thought, “so why should I fear the lightning?” A moment later a bolt struck the big elm in front of the house and smashed it to pieces, and then the rain and thunder stopped.

Yee turned to see how his family had fared and found them all lying senseless. With great difficulty he brought them round. But that same year they all fell ill and died. Yee went to Seoul and became a captain of the Right Guard, and soon afterward he was posted to North Ham-kyong Province, where he married a second wife and settled down.

All the officials who had held the post ahead of him had died from the work of goblins, and because disaster had struck them in the official quarters, they had taken to living in a village house instead. But Yee was determined to face down all fear and move back into the old quarters, which he had thoroughly repaired.

One night, while his wife was in the inner room and he sat alone in the office with a lamp burning in front of him, a strange object came out of the inner quarters around the second watch of the night. It looked like a tree stump wrapped in black sackcloth, with no clear outline or shape, and it came hopping along and sat down right in front of Yee Man-ji. Two more just like it followed. The three sat in a row facing him and edged closer and closer. Yee backed away until he was pressed against the wall and could go no farther.

“Who are you?” he said. “What sort of devils are you, to push up against me like this in my own office? If you have a complaint or something to set right, say so, and I’ll see to it.”

The middle devil answered, “I’m hungry, I’m hungry, I’m hungry.”

“Hungry, are you?” said Yee. “Very well. Just move back, and I’ll have plenty of food made for you.” Then he recited a magic charm he had learned and snapped his fingers, and the three devils seemed afraid of it. Suddenly Man-ji clenched his fist and swung at the first devil. It dodged very neatly, and he missed and hit the floor so hard that he cut his hand.

“We’ll go, we’ll go, since this is how you treat your guests!” they all cried. They tumbled out of the room and vanished. The next day Yee had oxen slaughtered and offered to the devils as a sacrifice, and they never came back.

Im Bang, who recorded the tale, added a note. People have been killed by goblins, he said, but not so much because goblins are wicked as because people are afraid of them. Many died in North Ham-kyong, but those who were brave and struck the goblins with a knife or knocked them down survived. Had they been afraid, they would have died too.

About this story

“The Fearless Captain” is from Korean Folk Tales: Imps, Ghosts and Fairies (1913), James Scarth Gale’s English translation of tales gathered by Im Bang. It is one of many stories in the collection about officials who take up posts in places haunted by goblins.

Yee Man-ji believes that having done no wrong gives him no reason for fear. Im Bang praises this confidence, but the belief belongs to the tale: innocence and courage do not make someone immune to real danger, and being frightened does not make a victim responsible for harm.

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

Suggested for ages 9–12 with an adult: includes the deaths of a family, frightening visitors, an injured hand and animal sacrifice.

A punch is not the whole solution

Yee’s boldest physical action misses its target and cuts his own hand. The devils retreat, but the story also gives them speech: they say they are hungry and object to his treatment of guests. His next action is an offering of food. That sequence makes the ending more complicated than “fearless force wins”. Confrontation and an acknowledgement of the visitors’ demand both contribute to the resolution, while the earlier deaths of his family remain a cost the confident hero cannot undo.

Compare words with results

Write down what Yee says he will do for the hungry visitors, what his fist actually strikes and what he does the following day. Which of these details is missing if the tale is summarised only as a victory of courage?

Talk about it

• Why did Yee stay calm when the fireball rolled through his house?
• How did Yee deal with the three devils?
• Do you agree with Im Bang that fear is what makes goblins dangerous?

More stories like this

• The Brave Magistrate — another fearless official in North Ham-kyong
• Im, the Hunter — a brave Korean hunter faces a monster
• Haunted Houses — more Korean tales of goblins