Yun Se-pyong, the Wizard

Yun Se-pyong was a soldier who rose to become a minister in the days of King Choong-jong. It seems he learned the secrets of magic from a stranger he met on the road to Peking, when he traveled there with the royal envoy.

At home he lived in a separate house, well apart from the rest of his family, and he was so feared that even his wife and children did not dare come near him. No one knew what he did in secret. In winter he was seen to tuck iron plates under his arms and change them often, and when he took them off, they seemed to be red-hot.

In those days there was also a magician in Korea named Chon U-chi, who went about Seoul practicing his tricks. He was so skilled that he could take on the very shape of the master of a house and walk in wherever he pleased, and for this he was feared and hated. Yun heard of him more than once and resolved to rid the world of him. Chon heard of Yun too and kept well out of his way, never once coming into his presence. “I am only a magician,” he used to say, “but Yun is a god.”

One day Chon told his wife, “Yun will come this afternoon to try to kill me, so I shall change my shape to escape him. If anyone asks for me, just say I’m not at home.” Then he turned himself into a beetle and crawled under an upside-down crock in the courtyard.

As evening fell, a young woman came to Chon’s house, a very beautiful one, and asked, “Is Master Chon at home?”

“He has just gone out,” said his wife.

The young woman laughed. “Master Chon and I have been close friends for a long time,” she said, “and he promised to meet me today. Please tell him I’ve come.”

When Chon’s wife saw a pretty woman asking for her husband in such a familiar way, she flew into a rage. “The rascal must have a second wife he never told me about,” she cried. “Everything he just said was a lie!” She stormed out with a club and smashed the crock, and there was the beetle underneath. At once the visitor changed into a bee and flew at the beetle and stung it. Chon turned back into his own shape, fell over and died, and the bee flew away.

Some time later, Yun was at home as usual when he suddenly burst into tears. His alarmed family asked why.

“My sister in Chulla Province has died this very moment,” he said. He called his servants and had them get funeral supplies ready. “Her family is poor,” he said, “so I must help them.” Then he wrote a letter, sealed it and told one of his attendants, “Just outside the gate you will find a man in a horsehair cap and a soldier’s uniform. Call him in. He is standing there waiting.”

The man was called in, and sure enough he was a servant of the gods. He came in and bowed to the ground before Yun. “My sister has just died in such-and-such a place in Chulla Province,” said Yun. “Take this letter and go at once. I expect you back tonight with the answer. This matter is so important that if you do not bring it in the time I have set, I shall have you punished.”

“I shall be in time,” the man replied. “Do not worry.” Yun gave him the letter and the bundle, and he went out through the main gate and vanished.

By nightfall he was back with the answer. The letter said: “She died at such-and-such an hour today, and we were at our wits’ end, when your letter came with the supplies, as if we had seen each other face to face. How wonderful!” The messenger went straight out and vanished.

The house of mourning lay more than ten days’ journey from Seoul, yet he had made the trip there and back in two or three hours, ahead of sunset.

About this story

“Yun Se-pyong, the Wizard” is from James Scarth Gale’s 1913 translation of Im Bang, Korean Folk Tales: Imps, Ghosts and Fairies. Gale adds notes on both magicians. Gale’s notes describe Yun as an official who lived past ninety and studied Taoist scriptures in China, and Chon as a magician associated with Songdo whose empty coffin was reported in historical writing. These notes report the tradition; they do not verify the supernatural events.

Gale associates the transformations more with Buddhism than Taoism, a comparison made by this historical translator. In the duel, Yun uses a disguise and a false suggestion of intimacy to provoke the wife into exposing Chon, then kills him.

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

Best for ages 9–12 — a feared wizard, a rival hiding as a beetle and a messenger who covers ten days’ road in an afternoon.

Power has two faces here

Yun’s family fears approaching him, yet he immediately provides for his sister’s impoverished household. His duel also relies on manipulating someone else’s trust. These episodes show effectiveness, but effectiveness alone does not make every use of power kind or fair.

Read the two commands

Compare Yun’s plan against Chon with his instructions to the messenger. For each, identify who benefits, who is threatened and who gets a choice. Which action offers the clearest evidence of care?

Think about it

• Why did Chon say, “I am only a magician, but Yun is a god”?
• How did Yun trick Chon’s wife into finding the beetle?
• How did Yun know that his sister had died?

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• The Soldier of Kang-wha — Taoist magic and silk butterflies
• The Man on the Road — another hidden master of magic