The Ill-Fated Priest

A clerk from Chung-chong Province named Kim Kyong-jin passed on this story to Im Bang, who wrote it down. In the year 1640, Kim said, he was traveling past Big Horn Bridge in Ta-in County when he came upon a scholar and four or five servants lying by the riverside, all of them knocked senseless. When he asked what had happened, they finally managed to tell him.

“We were eating our midday meal by the road,” they said, “when a Buddhist priest came by, a proud, arrogant fellow who would not bow or even notice us. One of the servants was offended and shouted at him. The priest beat him with his staff, and when the others ran to help, he beat them too, until none of us could get up or walk. Then he turned on the scholar and said, ‘You didn’t scold your servants for insulting me, so I’ll have to punish you as well,’ and he struck him savagely until he collapsed.” Looking down the road, Kim could see the priest a third of a mile or so ahead.

Just then a military man of about forty came along. He was thin and looked as if he had no strength at all, and he came shuffling up on a bony pony, with a boy carrying his hat cover and his bow and arrows. At the stream he saw the travelers in their sorry state and asked what had happened. The scholar angrily told him, “That insolent priest up ahead, who has the strength of a brute, attacked my servants and me.”

“Indeed,” said the stranger. “I have known about him for a long time and made up my mind to rid the world of him, but until now I never had the chance. Now that I’ve found him at last, I mean to settle with him.” He got down, tightened his saddle girth, took his bow and a heavy blunt-headed arrow and galloped off after the priest. He soon caught up, and just as the priest turned to look back, the archer let fly. The arrow struck deep into his chest. The archer then bound the priest’s hands, tied him to his horse’s tail and led him back in triumph to the scholar. “Now do with this fellow as you like,” he said. “I’m on my way.”

The scholar bowed to the archer, thanked him and asked where he lived and what his name was. “My home is in Ko-chang County,” the man replied, but he would not give his name.

The scholar looked at the priest. Never in his life had he seen such a mighty giant, but now, wounded and bound, he could not say a word. So the scholar and his servants took their revenge on him and went on their way rejoicing.

About this story

“The Ill-Fated Priest” is from Korean Folk Tales: Imps, Ghosts and Fairies, the 1913 book in which James Scarth Gale translated tales collected by Im Bang. Im Bang presents it as a true event of 1640, passed on to him by a clerk who saw it with his own eyes.

It is a rough, old-fashioned tale of a bully who meets his match: a giant priest beats a whole party of travelers, only to be brought down by a thin, quiet archer who rides off without giving his name.

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

Suggested for ages 9–12 with an adult: includes beatings, an arrow wound, a captive tied to a horse and revenge against him.

When rescue becomes revenge

The thin rider’s appearance leads readers to underestimate him, just as the priest’s size makes him seem invincible. The arrow overturns that expectation. But the last scene changes the ethical problem: the priest is wounded and bound, so he is no longer threatening the travellers when they retaliate. Calling him a bully does not answer whether their revenge is justified. His religious title also does not make his actions representative of Buddhist people.

Mark the change in danger

Put three moments in order: the roadside attack, the archer’s intervention and the captive’s return. At each moment, identify who can harm whom. Propose an ending that stops the danger without celebrating revenge.

Think about it

• Why did the priest attack the travelers?
• Why do you think the archer would not give his name?
• Was the travelers’ revenge fair? What else could they have done?

Related stories

• The Fearless Captain — another bold Korean soldier
• The Brave Magistrate — a soldier nobody expected much of
• The Man on the Road — another mysterious stranger from Im Bang’s collection