Tree of Unhappiness

Kim Sang yong (1592 1637)

(Translated by Graeme Wilson)
On broad leaves of pau-low-nia
The one and only tree
Whereon the phoenix will set foot
The rain falls heartlessly.
The rains sad tapping overhead
Compounds my weight of grief.
Who now could have the heart to plant
Trees of so broad a leaf?
Pomegranates
Sin Hum (1566 1628)
(Translated by Graeme Wilson)
It rained last night, the pomegranates
Red and oranges
Have all burst into flower.
Not to be comfort,
I sit in this cool pavilion
Set in a lotus lake
And under its glass-bead curtains wait
For my closed heart to break.
Girl in the Rain
Anonymous (18th century)
(Translated by Graeme Wilson)
Her violet cloak clutched round her head,
As quickly as she can
She runs through rain-fall to the pear bloomed
Village and a man.
What blandishments, I wonder,
What whispers, what untrue
But wonderful promises
Have soaked that silly through

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 tigers 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 woodcutters mothers
death, an offering appeared on her grave - sometimes a peasant, or even his mothers
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 mothers 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.