The Sun and the Moon: A Tiger Tale

This is Korea’s version of Red Riding Hood and Hansel and Gretel combined (well, kind of) but it’s definitely not a fairy tale.

Our story takes place a long, long time ago when there were only stars to light the sky. There lived a very poor peasant woman who had two children, a boy named Haesik and a girl, Daesun. Haesik, being the elder of the two, was the more responsible one while little Daesun was an innocent, soft-hearted child.

They were very poor and lived in a valley, very far away from the nearest village. The woman would make rice cakes that she would sell in the village. This meant a long walk for her every day over many hills. Life was tough.

One day, while returning home from the village, a tiger sprang upon her as she climbed the first hill and he said, ‘I’m really hungry right now! Give me something to eat!’ Luckily for her, the woman still had some unsold rice cakes left in her basket and so she gave him the biggest and the best of them. Quickening her pace, she walked on, glad to have escaped the wrath of a hungry tiger so easily.

But as she was passing the next hill, the tiger came upon her again. He had enjoyed the rice cake and now wanted more. ‘Give me more of those cakes. They’re so good that I feel hungrier now.’ The woman gave him two more rice cakes and continued on her way. But on the next hill and the one after, the tiger returned for more cakes.

The poor woman gave him the rice cakes each time until there was none left in her basket. ‘In that case, I will have to eat you now,’ said the tiger, licking his lips for he was still hungry!

The woman began to cry and begged the tiger to spare her. ‘Oh please, mister tiger, I have two little children waiting for me at home. How will they manage without me? Please have pity and spare me,’ she cried. But the tiger, delighted at the thought of more food awaiting him, quickly ate the hapless woman. The tiger was a crafty fellow and had more wicked plans. He was careful enough not to tear the woman’s clothes, for after he had devoured every bit of her—not a bone was left—he disguised himself in her clothes and, carrying the empty rice-cake basket, made his way to her home.

By this time, it had begun to get dark and the children, thinking that their mother had remained in the village for some reason, locked the door of their cottage. When the tiger reached the children’s home, he knocked on the door loudly but they did not open. So he began to call out to them in a voice that he thought sounded like their mother’s.

‘Children, it’s me, your mother, open up!’

Little Daesun ran to the door happily to open it but her brother stopped her just in time. ‘Don’t,’ he whispered, holding her back. ‘It’s not mother, it’s someone else.’ Haesik was a very sharp boy and suspected it was a trick.

Outside, the tiger waited but no one opened the door for him. Looks like these children are not buying my story, he thought and put his paws into the empty basket, the bottom of which was covered with rice flour from the cakes. Coating his paws with the white powder, he put them through the cracks of the door to show the children that it was indeed their mother with her soft, white hands.

‘Look, Haesik! It’s our mother’s soft, white hands I can see through these cracks. Shall I open the door?’ asked Daesun and Haesik nodded. Maybe it was Mother outside after all, if Daesun could see her hands. As the little girl opened the door, the tiger burst in, looking ridiculous in their mother’s clothes. The children screamed when they saw the menacing eyes and open mouth of the tiger, who began to chase them around the room. Somehow, Haesik managed to open the back door of the house and they escaped, with the tiger following close on their heels.

They ran as fast as their little legs could carry them, until they came to a large tree. Quickly, they climbed, hoping the tiger wouldn’t be able to make it all the way up. The tiger, resourceful as he was, rushed back to the house and returned with an axe to cut down the tree.

Up in the tree, Daesun began to pray to the gods in the heavens. ‘Please, dear gods, send down a rope to rescue us from this evil creature who wants to eat us. We’re good children and if you think that we’re pure of heart and kind in nature, send us a rope that will take us to safety. If you think we’re not so, let the rope become weak and break.’ They were, without doubt, good children after all and soon, a long, long rope came down from the heavens to take them up.

The tiger, who was watching all this, was puzzled at first. Then he too began to pray for a rope to be sent down for him! ‘Oh gods in heaven! Send me a rope too so that I may follow those children and eat them up!’ And suddenly there came a big, fat rope and the tiger began to climb up.

As he climbed higher and higher, the rope turned rotten and then it broke.

The tiger fell all the way down into a millet field. All his blood covered the millet stalks, turning them red. Needless to say, that was his end!

As for the children, they went to the heavens and Haesik became the sun (Haennim) and Daesun, the moon (Daelim). But little Daesun was afraid of the dark. ‘Will you trade places with me, dear Haesik?’ she asked her brother, who readily agreed. And there they are, brother and sister, lighting up the skies for us.