Tag Archives: Korean

Korean Fan Death

Nationality: Korean, American
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: April 17, 2018
Primary Language: English
Language: Korean

The interviewer’s initials are denoted through the initials BD, while the informant’s responses are marked as DS.

DS: In korea, if you sleep with the fan on, there’s a myth that you’ll die.
BD: Why?
DS: I don’t know.
BD: Who told you this?
DS: My mom.
BD: Where did she get it from?
DS: Her mom.
BD: Is it common in other Korean households?
DS: Yes, it’s very common. But everyone thinks of it as a joke.
BD: Does your mom actually believe it?
DS: No, she doesn’t. But she still always tells me to turn the fan off when I sleep.

 

Upon hearing this piece of folklore, I had thought it had a very clear scientific basis of belief—a fan would provide a slight breeze as one sleeps. Thus they could catch a cold and get very sick. But after reading more about this idea, Koreans do not have a clear scientific backing behind what they call “fan death.” They believe electric fans can actually kill people. The Atlantic discusses fan death and its origins in a recent article: https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2017/05/is-this-going-to-kill-me-fan-death-korea/528243/. Historically, a man had been found dead with two fans in his room. Frank Bures, a writer on illnesses, believes this incident is from where the belief stems, but we really do not know for sure.

Heungbu and Nolbu

Nationality: Korean
Age: 47
Occupation: computer programmer
Residence: LA
Performance Date: 2017-4-25
Primary Language: Korean
Language: English

옛날 어느 마을에 흥부와 놀부라는 형제가 있었다. 못된 놀부는 착한 흥부를 돈 한푼 안 줘서 쫓아내고, 흥부는 찢어질 정도로 가난하고 힘들게 살아간다.

 

이 도중에 흥부가 놀부네 집에 밥을 얻어먹으러 갔다가 인심사나운 놀부 형수 주걱으로 싸다귀를 맞고 밥풀이라도 더 얻기 위해 구걸하다가 풀이 죽어 되돌아온다.

 

어느 봄날 흥부는 제비가 구렁이에게 공격당하는 것을 보고 도와주는데 새끼 제비의 다리가 부러져 있었다. 흥부는 다리가 부러진 제비를 치료해준다.

 

이듬해 봄, 제비가 박씨를 떨어뜨리자 흥부네는 그 박씨를 심는다. 박은 놀랄 정도로 거대하게 자라는데, 흥부 가족은 먹을 것이 없어 박이라도 먹기 위해 박을 꺼내서 박을 탄다. 그러자 박 안에서 온갖 곡물과 금은보화, 심지어 일곱난쟁이들까지 쏟아져 나와 흥부네는 하루아침에 부자가 되어 풍요롭게 잘 산다.

 

이 소식을 들은 놀부는 흥부에게 그 비결을 듣고 더 큰 부자가 되기 위해 당장 제비를 잡아 강제로 다리를 부러뜨린 다음, 다시 고쳐준다. 이듬해 봄 제비가 박씨를 가져왔으며, 놀부는 그것을 심어 박을 키워 탔는데, 박 안에서 나온건 곡물과 금은보화가 아닌 40명의 도둑들과 도깨비, 똥물등이 쏟아져 나와 도둑맞고 마구 두들겨 패고 집까지 덮치면서 놀부네는 하루아침에 거지 신세가 되고 만다. 그후 착한 흥부네의 도움을 받게 되면서, 자신의 잘못을 깨달은 놀부는 개과천선하면서 우애롭게 살게 된다는 이야기.

 

In the old town, there were brothers named Heungbu and Nolbu. The naughty Nolbu did not pay the good Heungbu for a penny, and Heungbu lived a poor life.

 

In the meantime, Heungbu went to Nolbu’s house to beg for food but Nolbu’s wife hit him with scoop.

 

One spring day, Heungbu broke the leg of a swallow, helping the swallow avoid from being attacked by a serpent. Heungbu treated the swallow’s broken leg.

 

The next spring, when the swallow dropped a seed, Heungbu sowed it. The seed grew surprisingly large and bore a big fruit, and the Heungbu family opened the fruit. Then all the grain, gold, and even the seven dwarfs are poured out in the fruit. Heungbu became rich and rich every morning.

 

Nolbu, who heard this news, listened to his secret and immediately took a swallow to become richer, then broke his leg and healed it again. Nolbu brought it in the spring of the following year, and Nolbu planted the seed that the swallow dropped and it bore a fruit, but the inside of the fruit did not have grains and gold, but thieves, goblins, and poops poured out of it. Nolbane became poor overnight. Nolbu realized his bad deeds. Heungbu helped him and they both had happy lives.

Background Information:

This is one of the most famous stories in Korea. The lesson from the story is that a good person will get rewarded and a bad person will get punished. Everybody learns it at elementary school.

Context:

It is performed to teach young generation to be a good person.

Usually the performance is a form of puppet animation.

Personal Analysis:

This story is good for teaching kids to be selfless, while warning them not to deceive others. It’s good that it’s a part of school curriculum so that morals and ethics are incorporated at an early age. I’m not sure of an American equivalent. The end of the story is the best because Heungbu helped his brother instead of keeping his riches to himself, which could ultimately be just as bad as tricking a swallow. It teaches grace, giving something that wasn’t deserved.

Rabbit and Turtle

Nationality: Korean
Age: 47
Occupation: computer programmer
Residence: LA
Performance Date: 2017-4-25
Primary Language: English
Language: Korean

Main Piece:

 

큰 병을 얻어 임종을 눈앞에 둔 물 속 나라 용궁의 용왕이 병을 낫기 위한 방법을 수소문 한 결과 토끼의 간을 먹으면 낫는다는 이야기를 듣게 된다.

 

하지만 물 속 나라의 백성들은 전부 물고기인지라 뭍에 사는 토끼를 잡아올 방법이 없지 않은가. 그 때, 용왕의 신하인 자라가 자신만만하게 나서며, 손바닥 뒤집듯 쉽게 토끼를 잡아올 수 있을거라 말한다. 자라는 물과 뭍을 오갈 수 있기 때문에 뭍으로 올라와 토끼를 찾아 간다.

 

토끼를 만난 별주부는 달리기 경주에서 승리하여 온갖 아양과 아부를 떨어 토끼를 설득하며, 결국 토끼는 별주부의 등에 타고 용궁으로 가게 된다.

 

토끼를 본 용왕이 대뜸 “내가 살기 위해서는 니가 죽어야 한다.” 라고 말한다. 이에 토끼는 잠깐 당황하지만, 기지를 발휘하여 “안타깝지만 지금은 나에게 간이 없다. 나만 아는 곳에 몰래 감춰두고 왔다.” 라고 말한다. 토끼는 잔꾀로 용왕을 속이고 무사히 탈출한다.

 

토끼의 배웅 겸, 몰래 감춰놓았다던 간을 받아올 겸 해서 별주부가 다시 토끼를 데리고 육지로 올라가나, 토끼는 “거짓말이야”를 외쳐주고는 산속으로 도망가버린다.

 

이에 허탈한 별주부가 자살을 결심하려고 할 때 지나가던 도인이 “그대의 정성에 하늘이 감동했다” 라며 신선들이 사용하는 약을 건네준다. 별주부가 “어르신의 존함은 뭡니까?”라고 묻자 도인이 “나는 패국 사람 화타다”라고 자신의 이름을 밝히고 이야기는 끝난다.

The King of the country in the water got very sick and heard that only the liver of a rabbit can cure it.

 

But all the people of the country in the water are fish, so there is no way to bring the rabbit. At that time, Yongwang(The King)’s servant, the turtle says that he is able to grab the rabbit easily. Because he can go to water and land, the turtle went up to the land to visit the rabbit.

 

The turtle that meets the rabbit wins the running race and eventually the rabbit rides on the back of the turtle and goes to the palace.

 

“You have to die for me to live.” the king says. The rabbit panicked for a moment, but said, “Unfortunately, I have no liver now.” The king is suspicious, but let the rabbit go to get the liver.

 

The rabbit shouted to the turtle, “It was a lie” and run away into the mountains.

 

Disappointed, the turtle tried to commit suicide, a stranger gave him a medicine from heaven that can cure the king’s illness. The turtle asked “What is your name?” and the stranger answered “I am Hwata from China”.

 

Background Information:

This is a very old Korean novel. It figuratively shows how Choonchoo Kim of Shilla escaped from Kokuryeo.

Interestingly, this story can be viewed from the rabbit or from the tortoise.

 

Context:

This is performed as puppet animation or graphic animation for children.

Personal Analysis:

The ending is a bit of a plot twist and also a bit random. The rabbit is very sneaky, and the turtle is a faithful servant. From the rabbit’s point of view, he was just trying to protect himself and did what it takes to survive. He became a victim at one point because the king asked for his life to keep his own. On the other hand, from the turtle’s point of view, the rabbit is the bad guy for running away with a lie. We want to pity the turtle and side with him especially when he wants to die, but he was given the task to kill a rabbit which is cruel. It is an interesting story because it correlates with history. These animals are a popular choice in lead characters in children’s stories, because they contradict each other.

Funny Korean Proverb

Nationality: Korean
Age: 21
Occupation: Student
Performance Date: 4/25/17
Primary Language: English
Language: Korean

Informant SL is a junior studying business communication at the University of Southern California. She is of Korean descent and only moved to America at the age of 16. Here, she performs a proverb that is very notorious to her because she heard it for the first time after doing something she learned she shouldn’t have done.

Original Proverb: 누워서 침 뱄기

English Translation: “Lying down and spitting.”

The informant was an only child growing up. For this reason, in elementary school, she didn’t have anyone to vent about her parents with. So one time she bad-mouthed her parents to a friend. This friend told her mom, and the friend’s mom told the informant’s mom. The story ends with the informant’s mom repeating the proverb to the informant. The proverb is very apt in this case because the informant explained that she essentially “lied down and spit on herself” because by telling a friend, she invariably ended up telling her mother. The informant believes that this proverb is very significant to know because it can apply to almost anything. It is akin to the concept of karma because what goes around will always come around (or land on yourself as spit in this case).

To me, this proverb is very simple to decipher. I take it to mean don’t do anything that could come back to bite you. This is especially relevant in today’s day and age due to the prevalence of the internet and social media. Everything we do online is documented and saved forever in the archives of the internet. This means something we have published over 5 years ago could be resurfaced at a later date. Everyone knows of very obvious examples of where this has happened, but everyone at one point or another has posted or commented something they would not like the world to see. For this reason, it is imperative that one doesn’t “lie down and spit”. This etiquette is essential to prevent something incriminating coming back to cause harm further down the line.

Common Korean Proverb

Nationality: Korean
Age: 21
Occupation: Student
Performance Date: 4/25/17
Primary Language: English
Language: Korean

Informant SL is a junior studying business communication at the University of Southern California. She is of Korean descent and only moved to America at the age of 16. Here, she performs the proverb she is most familiar with because it is very commonly stated in Korean society.

Original Proverb: 오늘 걷지 않으면, 내일 뛰어야 한다

English Translation: “If you don’t walk today, you must run tomorrow.”

The informant explained that this proverb means that if you don’t do something easier today, it’ll be even harder tomorrow. She likes the proverb because it’s not something she lives by, but it motivates her to hear it. Since Korean is her first language, it feels deeper to her. She heard this proverb from her father who told her because she was not doing her work back in elementary school, and it has stuck with her ever since.

This proverb resonated with me because procrastination is something I often find myself struggling with. I have heard many different versions of this proverb, like the “journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step”, yet none really stuck with me like this one did. This proverb articulated my thoughts on procrastination by putting it into very simple terms. Essentially, everything is made easier by splitting it up into more manageable parts. However, if things are put off, the effort to complete it is a lot more uncomfortable and unmanageable. The analogy between procrastination and running is very accurate. Both are very uncomfortable, yet very often unavoidable due to human nature.