The Propitious Magpie

People say that when a magpie builds its nest straight to the south of a house, the master of the house will be promoted. King T’ai-jong had a friend who was very poor and had failed at everything he tried. After many fruitless attempts, he decided to wait until the King went out in procession and then send a servant to build a pretend magpie’s nest in a lucky spot along the way.

The King saw the servant and asked what he was doing. The servant replied that when a magpie builds its nest straight south of a house, the master of that house is promoted at once. His master had waited so long with nothing coming of it, he said, that he was building a pretend nest to help things along. The King took pity on the poor man and ordered that he be given a post right away.

Yi Ryuk, who recorded this tale, added stories from his own life. When he was a boy, he said, a magpie built its nest in front of his family’s house, but he and some other boys cut off the branch, and the whole nest fell to the ground, with the young birds opening their pitiful yellow mouths. He felt sorry for them and was afraid they would die, so he had the nest hung up in a neutie tree in a lucky spot to the south, where all the young birds lived, grew strong and flew away. That very winter his father was promoted three ranks and given a post in the Prime Minister’s office.

Later Yi Ryuk built a summerhouse at Chong-pa, and in front of it, facing due south, magpies built a nest in a date tree. One of his servants pulled it down and burned it for fuel, but the birds came back the next year and built a new one. The account places Yi Ryuk’s promotion in the following year, 1469. In the spring of 1471 magpies built their nest in a tree just south of his office.

Yi Ryuk laughed and said, “Surely there is a spiritual power in the magpie, as people have said since ancient times and as I have proved for myself.”

About this story

“The Propitious Magpie” comes from Korean Folk Tales: Imps, Ghosts and Fairies, James Scarth Gale’s 1913 translation. Unlike most of the book, which comes from Im Bang, this piece is by Yi Ryuk, a fifteenth-century scholar-official who mixes a story about King T’ai-jong with memories of his own career.

In this account, the magpie is associated with good luck and good news. “Propitious” means favorable or lucky, and this short piece shows how seriously people once took the magpie’s choice of where to build.

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

Best for ages 6–8 — lucky magpies, a clever trick and a boy who saves a fallen nest.

What makes the promotion happen?

The first nest is artificial, and the king knows it. The promotion follows his pity for his friend, so the joke works without any bird predicting the future. Yi Ryuk’s later memories interpret real nests as omens. His childhood story also includes a mistake: he helps knock a nest down before rescuing its chicks.

Separate cause and interpretation

Label each episode “a person’s decision” or “a sign the narrator interprets”, giving a reason. Then explain why repairing harm to the chicks matters even without a later promotion.

Questions to ask

• What did people believe about a magpie’s nest to the south of a house?
• How did the King’s poor friend try to get lucky?
• What did young Yi Ryuk do to help the baby magpies?

You may also like

• Fancha and the Magpie — a Korean legend with a helpful magpie
• The Sky Bridge of Birds — magpies and crows build a bridge across the sky
• The Renowned Maing — another short piece by Yi Ryuk