Author Archives: Joel Lee

Russian Joke 4 – rabbits and camels

1) “So there are two rabbits on a road during Stalin’s 1937 Purge… the first rabbit asks the second, ‘why are you in such a hurry?’ The second responds, ‘you haven’t heard? There’s a rumor circulating… apparently all camels are to be castrated.’ The first replies, ‘But you’re not a camel.’ So the second explains, ‘After they catch you and castrate you, try proving you’re not a camel.’

2) My Russian friend told me this joke because he wanted to make a point. He believes that socialism or communism have potential under the right leaders and environment, but he believes Stalin’s method was utterly immoral and a failure. He told me that he shared this joke because he believes critique is prior to proper reformation in society. 

3) This joke was told to me in a set of four while my Russian friend and I were playing video games. 

4) This joke is referencing Stalin’s Great Purge in 1937. This event was the culmination of Stalin’s reign in which he had various political and military figures executed or removed from the USSR, as well as Russia’s intelligentsia, and ultimately conducted a witch hunt in which people who displayed any marginal signs of anti-soviet sentiments would be imprisoned or executed without fair due process. The Great Purge is estimated to have led to nearly 700,000 deaths. 

Gumiho

1) Original Performance:

“Well there is this mythical creature called a nine-tail fox.. In Korean it’s Gumiho. They are very beautiful and roamed the forests of Korea… the voice too… very charming. One night the Gumiho entered Korea’s Royal Palace, and became a servant of the royal court. It was through this that she hoped to get close to the king. Finally, she had a task which required her to bring food to the king’s chamber. The king was immediately entranced. Then all of a sudden, her fox tail came out, she lunged toward the king… and tore out his heart and liver. She brought them back to her forest and ate.”

2) I heard this tale from my Korean mother. She said she heard this folktale during Korean school when she was a child. She claimed that she frankly doesn’t enjoy the story itself, and thinks it’s quite gruesome. However, she told me that she shared it because she believes it has an important lesson – that one shouldn’t blindly trust the outer appearances of others. 

3) My mom is a devout Christian, so I imagine most of the folklore I could gather from her would be fairly pure in principle. With this in mind, after visiting home and eating dinner with her, I told her of my project. However, I made it clear that I wanted to hear the “scariest” piece of folklore that she could recall from her childhood. 

4) This story is derived from the character of the Gumiho, a nine-tail fox which is seen in ancient Korean literature, and has appeared in various stories and even now TV shows up to today. The core folk concept that has been continually transmitted seems to be the two-sidedness of its nature. A beautiful, seemingly harmless being is secretly a brutal killer. In Korean there’s also a common expression that I have heard multiple people (from all ages and genders) use, being  “she looks like a fox.” This is always said with a negative connotation with the intention of instilling a sense of weariness within the listener. This could very well be derived from the idea of the Gumiho and the dangers associated with its character. 

Annotation: 

To read other version of this tale, read Sung-Ae Lee’s article, “Lures and Horrors of Alterity: Adapting Korean Tales of Fox Spirits.”

Lee, Sung-Ae. “Lures and Horrors of Alterity: Adapting Korean Tales of Fox Spirits.” International Research in Children’s Literature, vol. 4, no. 2, 17 Dec. 2011, pp. 135–150., https://doi.org/10.3366/ircl.2011.0022.

red fan blue fan

1) “There was a woodcutter who came upon two magical fans… a red fan and a blue fan. Upon fanning his nose with the red fan, his nose grew double in size. He panicked! However, he then fanned his nose with the blue fan, and his nose shrunk! With these newfound magical devices, he devised a plan to get rich. He went to the local village noble’s house and fanned his nose without looking. The noble was panicking, believing he had an incurable disease, and called the entire village, offering a huge sum of money for whoever could cure him. The woodcutter brought the blue fan, cured him, and was given money that would last his children’s children. Because of his new wealth however, he quit woodcutting and became extremely bored. So he decided to use the red fan indefinitely to see how high his nose could grow. It made a dent in the floor of heaven! Angered by this occurrence, God snipped his nose and the woodcutter lived the rest of his life in pain…”  

2) This folktale was told to me and my grandparents by my mother. She first heard it at church when she was young. She said she wanted me to hear it because she doesn’t want me to live a life that is marked by greed. 

3) I had initially asked my grandparents for folktales, but they directed the responsibility onto my mother. They said they were curious as to what she knew because she has spent a lot of time growing up in America while being Korean. 

4) This folktale has large ties to the idea of Karma. Buddhism was the original major religious system in Korea, so it makes sense that its influence would be manifest in multiple forms. The ideas of karma and incarnation are quite grave, however, and since this folktale is a children’s story, it seems to have been packaged in a way that includes comedy and is more digestible for children. 

Tofu

1) After a Korean exits prison, a white block of tofu, nothing else, is the first thing that they are supposed to eat. By doing this, they have a better chance to live a life of purity from that point after. 

2) My Korean mother told me about the “folk item / food” that is tofu because she said she wants me to know that even if I make a grave mistake, I will always have a chance at redemption if I assume the right mentality. 

3) My Korean mother told me this when I was eating dinner with my family. I asked if there are any Korean foods that have a traditional / folk significance, and after a moment of thinking she came up with the above example.

4) This practice started in the prisons of the Joseon dynasty, but is now seen in modern-day Korean noir films. Perhaps tied to its longevity is the fact that tofu is already such a staple food for Koreans. Also, in prison they only give inmates bean rice for food (no tofu). Tofu is also made from beans, but it is an elevated form of bean to the one included in rice in prisons. 

spit on the devil

1) I recall my friend used to always “spit over his left shoulder” when something made him superstitious (e.g. a black cat crossing the street). I met up with him over spring break and asked him what that was all about, and he responded: “oh… that’s actually a piece of Russian folklore… my mom taught me to do that whenever a black cat crosses the road… a lot of my friends from Orthodox Church did this too…” “What does it mean?” I asked. He explained “you’re spitting on the devil.”

2) The informant is my close friend from high school and a Russian international student. He was raised in the Russian Orthodox Church. He claimed that he finds validity in doing this “folk practice,” under appropriate circumstances. Although I questioned the rationality of this practice, he simply responded, “me and my family are superstitious people,” and “this is an expression of that.” He claims he thinks I should be more superstitious like him because he thinks it will protect me in the future. 

3) This was performed when I visited my friend in Boston at the end of spring break. I asked him to demonstrate the practice after talking about its origins. 

4) This practice is known to be popular within Russian communities and is often paired with the act of “knocking on wood,” which is a practice also known in America. An interesting parallel could be that Russian Orthodox Christians kiss icons, yet “spit” on the devil, suggesting that in both instances Russians are hyperfocused on form or image. The icon is a literal image of Jesus, while spitting on the devil on one’s left shoulder requires an imaginary image of a form present to spit on. Here, the key issue is that regardless of whether or not this superstitious practice, which is derived from Biblical legends as adopted by Russians, is proven effective, its value of folklore is gained from the fact that many Russians practice it.