The Tale of Chunhyang

"The Tale of Chunhyang"
is one of the best known love stories and folk tales of Korea. It is based on the pansori Chunhyangga.
Main characters
 Chunhyang, Sung (Spring Fragrance) is the main female character, kisaeng Wolmae's daughter. She is very
beautiful and also talented in poetry and arts. She fell in love with Mongryong.
 Mongyong, Yi is the main male character who is the son of a government official (Magistrate). He is an
intelligent and handsome man. He fell in love with Chunhyang at first sight.
 HyangDan is Chunhyang's servant. She is devoted to Chunhyang.
 PangJa is Mongyong's male servant.
 Wolmae (Moon Plum) is Chunhyang's mother and used to be a kisaeng.
 Pyon is the replacement official of Mongyong's father.
Plot summary
Yi Mongryong, who always studies hard, goes out to get some fresh air. He sees Chunhyang on a swing and he
falls in love with her at first sight. He orders his servant, PangJa, to ask Chunhyang to come to him but she refuses.
Yi Mongryong then goes to talk to Chunhyang's mother, Wolmae, to ask permission to marry Chunhyang;
Wolmae gives her permission and the two young people marry that day.
Yi Mongryong's father, a government official, has to move to another region, Hanyang (Seoul now) so Yi
Mongryong has to leave Chunhyang to follow his father. Chunhyang gives Yi Mongryong a ring as a token of her
love for him and promises to stay faithful to him and wait for him to come back in the future and take her to
Seoul. After he leaves, a replacement for Mongryong's father comes to Chunhyang's village. The new
replacement is Pyon, a greedy and selfish person- he always wastes his time partying with courtesans.
Chunhyang, renowned for her beauty, is forced to come to his party. Although Chunhyang is not a courtesan,
Pyon treats her like one because her mother is a courtesan. He compels her to sleep with him, but Chunhyang
keeps refusing because she is married. Pyon gets angry and imprisons her. He decides to punish her on his
birthday.
Yi Mongryong wins first place in a state examination and he becomes a secret royal inspector, or Amhaeng-
eosa, who investigates and prosecutes corrupt government officials as an undercover emissary of the king. Under
disguise, he comes to Chunhyang's village and finds out what has happened to Chunhyang and the misbehavior
of Pyon. He must conceal his real identity so he acts like an insane person and wears mendicant clothes. Despite
his mendicancy, Chunhyang still loves him and asks her mother to take good care of him.
At Pyon's birthday celebration, Yi Mongryong comes in and makes a satirical poem about the misbehavior of
Pyon, but he does not understand the poem. Yi Mongryong discloses his real position and punishes the lord. At
first, Chunhyang cannot recognize Yi Mongryong and he tests her faith by asking her to spend a night with him.
Chunhyang, who still cannot recognize him, refuses him as well. Deeply moved by her faithfulness, Yi Mongryong
orders a courtesan to show her the ring Chunhyang gave him. She is shocked that he is Yi Mongryong and they
live happily ever after.
Important features
 Love between Courtesan's daughter and Government official's son
 The selfish lord being punished by Mongryong
 Chunhyang, who keeps her integrity until the end
Like any other literature, The Tale of Chunhyang also reflects its society. Although the author is unknown, it is
deducible that every nation was involved. The common people might get vicarious pleasure from the main
characters who get over the difference of social standings and punish the greedy lord. Also keeping female's
integrity is the traditional Korean's conservative moral.
Moral
THe tale of Chunhyang tells us about fidelity and loyalty. The story also emphasizes about true love and
eradication of injustice.
The tale revolves around the complex love story between Chunhyang,a kisaeng's daughter, ang Mong-ryong, a
magistrate's son. At their tender age,15, they fall inlove and later married.
Days and months went on when Mong-ryong's father was promoted urging them to move for Seoul. Both have to
say goodbye. Although years had passed, the love and loyalty of Chunhyang never fade away. Though she
went through hardships, torture of all sorts, because of refusing the magistrate's wish to bed her, she remained
loyal to her husband. She never feared execution. At the end of the story, Mong-ryong returned and save her
beloved wife from an unjust death.
The Tale of the Woodcutter and the Tiger
Korean folklore recalls the tale of a woodcutter who encounters a tiger in the woods. Fearing that he would
soon be the tiger’s dinner, he exclaimed: “You must be my long lost brother! Our mother cried for you when you
left home. She had dinner ready for you every night, waiting for your return. Sadly, out mother has just passed
away. How happy she would have been had she known you are alive and well!” The woodcutter took out his
handkerchief and pretended to wipe at his eyes. The tiger turned away, as tears fell down his cheeks, leaving
the woodcutter unharmed.
Every year thereafter, on Chesa, the memorial day of the woodcutter’s mother’s death, an offering appeared on
her grave - sometimes a peasant, or even his mother’s favorite mountain berries. The woodcutter did not know
where these offerings came from.
One year, the woodcutter noticed that the customary offering had not been placed on his mother’s grave,
and he wondered what had happened. Out from the bush, three baby tigers appeared, carrying offerings. They
approached the woodcutter and cried: “You must be our uncle! Mother tiger is gone now, and we know how
important it is for her to honor grandmother by bringing an offering to her Chesa table beside her grave. We are
here to bring offerings for our grandmother in loving memory of our mother.” The woodcutter noticed that his
face had turned suddenly warm and realized that it was his own tears streaming down his cheeks.
PROCESS QUESTIONS:
1. Identify the characters in the story. What roles do the characters play in the
tale? What are the characteristics of these characters that you admire/don‘t admire?
2. What particular event or circumstance in the story has contributed to the Tiger‘s way of looking at things in a
different way? How has this new way of looking at things being passed on to the next generation?
3. What kind of conflict led the woodcutter to ―fool‖ the tiger? What would be your own way of saving yourself
from danger?
4. What would you do if that sense of duty and shared destiny passed on to you is in conflict with your own
principles and beliefs in life?
5. Could this tale be used as basis for you to have a glimpse of how the Koreans at present are coping with the
challenges of modernity? Explain your answer.

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