The Geomancer

There was once a geomancer named Yi Eui-sin, an expert in reading the land to find lucky sites. He was following a special vein of the mountains, starting at the Dragon Ridge in North Ham-kyong Province and tracing it all the way to Pine Mountain in Yang-ju County, where it came to a beautifully rounded end that made a perfect place for a grave.

After wandering the hills all day, Yi was terribly hungry. Seeing a little house at the foot of the hill, he knocked at the door and asked for something to eat. A man in mourning, who had lost a family member not long ago, came out and kindly and respectfully gave him a bowl of white rice porridge. When Yi had eaten, he asked how long ago his host had gone into mourning and whether the funeral had taken place. “I am just beginning full mourning,” the man replied sadly, “but we haven’t yet arranged the funeral.”

Yi felt sorry for him and asked why. “Is it because you are poor that you haven’t made the arrangements, or perhaps you haven’t found a good site? I am an expert at reading the hills, and I can tell you of a site. Would you like to see it?”

The mourner thanked him warmly. “I would be delighted to know of it.”

So Yi showed him the end of the great vein he had just found, along with the exact spot for the grave and which way it should face. “Once you have this site,” he said, “you will grow very rich, but in ten years you will need to think about another site. When that happens, please send for me. Just ask for Yi So-pang, who lives in West School Ward in Seoul.”

The mourner did as he was told, and just as the geomancer had foretold, everything went well for him. He built a large house with a tiled roof and decorated the grave with great stones, as a wealthy and honorable country gentleman should.

Ten years later, a visitor called on him one day, greeted him and asked, “Is that grave over there, across the stream, yours?”

“It is,” said the master of the house.

“That is a famous site,” said the stranger, “but you have had it for ten years now, and its luck has run out. Why don’t you move it? If you wait too long, you will regret it, and you may meet with great disaster.”

Hearing this, the owner thought of Yi the geomancer and what he had said all those years ago. He asked the stranger to stay as his guest, and the next day he went to Seoul, found Yi in West School Ward and told him why he had come. “I knew this would happen,” said Yi, and the two of them traveled back together. When they arrived, they climbed the hill with the guest, and Yi asked him, “Why did you tell the master to move the grave?”

The guest replied, “This hill has the shape of a Kneeling Pheasant. A pheasant cannot kneel forever. Sooner or later it must fly, and ten years is the limit. That is why I spoke.”

Yi laughed. “You see only part of the picture. You have thought of one thing, but other things matter too.” He pointed to the peak behind them and said, “That is Dog Hill.” Then he pointed to one below it. “That is Falcon Hill.” Then he pointed to the stream in front. “And that is Cat River. Look at the whole group: the dog behind, the falcon just above and the cat in front. How can the pheasant fly? It wouldn’t dare.”

“Teacher,” said the guest, “your eyes truly see farther than other men’s.”

And after that, the Yis of Pine Hill became a great and famous family.

About this story

“The Geomancer” is from James Scarth Gale’s Korean Folk Tales: Imps, Ghosts and Fairies, published in 1913. Gale introduces it with a note on geomancy, the art of choosing lucky sites for houses and graves, which mixes Taoist ideas with old Chinese philosophy about the two great forces of nature and the five elements of metal, wood, water, fire and earth.

Koreans once spent fortunes on geomancers, Gale says, believing that the luck of the living was tied to the resting places of their ancestors. In this tale the master geomancer reads the whole landscape as a picture of animals that keep the kneeling pheasant safely in place.

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

Best for ages 9–12 — a hungry geomancer, a kind mourner and a hillside shaped like a kneeling pheasant.

One shape or the whole landscape?

The visitor reads only the hill under the grave. Yi replies by connecting it to three other features: dog, falcon and cat. Within the tale’s symbolic logic, the same pheasant changes from a bird about to depart into one surrounded by reasons to stay. The disagreement therefore turns on the size of the picture each adviser considers. The story rewards the mourner’s hospitality, but it does not establish that a burial site causes real wealth.

Draw both readings

First draw only the kneeling pheasant hill. Then add Dog Hill, Falcon Hill and Cat River. Give each adviser a caption explaining the same site. Which added detail changes the meaning most for you?

Think about it

• How did the mourner’s kindness change his family’s fortunes?
• Why did the visitor think the grave should be moved?
• How did Yi use the surrounding hills and stream to challenge the visitor’s interpretation?

You may also like

• The Grateful Ghost — another Korean tale of kindness rewarded
• Cheung Puk-chang, the Seer — another Korean expert who sees what others cannot
• The Fortunes of Yoo — a Korean tale of fate and fortune