The Literary Man of Imsil

In the year 1654 there lived in Imsil a man of letters who claimed he could command spirits and that two demon guards were always at his service.

One day he was playing chess with a friend, and they agreed that whoever lost each game would pay a forfeit of wine. The friend lost but refused to pay. “If you don’t pay up,” said the scholar, “I’ll make things hot for you.” The friend still refused, until at last the scholar lost patience, turned his back on him and called out some words into the air above, as if giving an order. The friend dashed across the courtyard to get away, but invisible hands caught him and gave him such a sound thrashing that he was covered in blue bruises. When he could bear it no longer, he gave in, and the scholar laughed and let him go.

Another time the scholar was sitting with a friend while, in the next village, a shaman’s ceremony was under way, with drums and gongs crashing wildly. Suddenly the scholar rushed out to the bamboo grove behind the government office. Looking furious, with blazing eyes, he shouted and bared his arm as if to drive off a pack of fiends. After a while he stopped. His friend thought this very odd and asked what it meant.

“A crowd of demons came over from the ceremony and gathered in the bamboo grove,” the scholar said. “If I hadn’t driven them off, there would have been trouble in the town. That’s why I shouted.”

On a later journey with a friend, the scholar suddenly called out into the empty air, “Let her go! Let her go, I tell you, or I’ll have you severely punished!” He looked so strange and fierce that his friend asked what was the matter, but for the moment he said nothing, and they went on their way.

That night they came to a village and asked for lodging at a house, but the owner said someone there was sick and asked them to move on. When they insisted, he sent a servant to drive them away. All the while, the women of the household were watching through the cracks of the window and talking in startled voices, and the scholar overheard them.

A few minutes later, the master of the house came hurrying after them, bowing humbly, and begged them to come back and accept food and a bed. “Sir,” he said, “I have a daughter who fell ill this very day and died, and some time later she came back to life. She told us, ‘A demon seized me and carried my soul off down the main road, until we met a man who stopped us and fiercely ordered the spirit away, and it let me go, and so I came back to life.’ She looked out at Your Excellency through a crack in the window, and you are that very man! I don’t know what to say to you. Are you an immortal, or a holy Buddhist, to bring the dead back to life so wonderfully? Please accept this small meal.”

The scholar only laughed. “Nonsense!” he said. “Just a girl’s fancies. How could I do such a thing?” He lived for seven or eight more years and then died.

About this story

“The Literary Man of Imsil” comes from Im Bang’s collection, translated by James Scarth Gale as Korean Folk Tales: Imps, Ghosts and Fairies (1913). Gale’s introductory note explains that calling up spirits was believed to be a power of advanced Taoists, followers of the Old Philosopher, who had freed themselves from selfish desires.

The scholar in this tale is no saint, since he uses his spirit servants to collect a bet, but he also guards a town from demons and rescues a girl’s soul. A koot, the ceremony mentioned here, is a Korean shaman ritual with drumming and dancing.

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

Best for ages 9–12 — a scholar with invisible demon guards settles a bet, scatters fiends and saves a stranger’s daughter.

One power, different purposes

The first episode gives the scholar a trivial grievance and an excessive response: he has a friend beaten over wine. The later rescue makes the same commanding voice protective. This contrast prevents the possession of magic from serving as proof of virtue. His final denial adds another uncertainty: is he modest, secretive or amused by the family’s gratitude? The narrative lets the reader compare his actions rather than supplying a single reliable label for him.

Judge the uses, not the gift

For the bet, the bamboo grove and the road encounter, write who benefits and who is harmed. Which action would you praise, and which would you challenge, even if the same man performs both?

Talk about it

• How did the scholar make his friend pay the forfeit?
• What was he shouting at on the road?
• Why do you think he laughed and denied it at the end?

Related stories

• Yun Se-pyong, the Wizard — another Korean master of hidden powers
• The Soldier of Kang-wha — Taoist magic from Im Bang’s collection
• The King of Yom-na (Hell) — another journey of a soul