Kim Seung Mi
University of Ulsan
In Korea, This is a story about goblins.
An old man with a lump on his cheek went walking deep inside a mountain alone one day until eventually darkness came. Being alone in the middle of the mountain made him frightened, so he started to sing a song to get over his fear, and then suddenly, threatening looking goblins appeared.
The old man begged them to save his life then the goblins ordered him to sing the song again. They danced with his song and when it was over, they asked the old man what was the secret for his singing. The old man touched his lump, which was out of habit, but the goblins thought the lump was the secret. He denied it, but the goblins never listened. They gave the man a treasure and took his lump off.
The day after, the story of the old man went through the village, and a greedy old man with a lump on his cheek heard that too. The greedy old man went to the exact same place at night and sang a song. The goblins came again. The greedy old man said, “My lump has all the merry songs in the world. I will give you my lump if you give me enough gold.” But these goblins already knew the truth because the very lump they took off the other day was not the secret for singing well. Then, the main goblin ordered his friends to give the lump they had on the cheek of the greedy old man. Also, they scolded him with their bats. The greedy old man got one more lump on the other cheek instead of getting rid of his old lump.
In this story, the greedy old man tried to take off his lump but he got one more lump instead. “I tried to take it off, but I put it on instead” is one of the well-known old sayings in Korea. Whenever someone uses tricks to take the easy way, but finally has more difficulties, we use it for him or her. This saying is a warning so that we do not cheat others and be honest to each other.
