THE SUN AND THE MOON (Haenim Dalnim)

Once upon a time, there lived a poor woman with her son and daughter. She did chores for other families for a living. One day, she went to work for a rich man’s party and got some rice cakes there.

“My children must be hungry,” said the woman hurrying home.

On the way home, she met a big tiger.

            “How convenient, I happened to be starving,” said the tiger

            “P-Please save me… I’m a mother of two children and I must take care of them,” the woman begged.

The tiger hesitated, and replied,

“Give me a piece of rice cake. Then I will not eat you,” said the tiger.

The woman gave a piece of rice cake to the tiger. But the tiger kept following the woman.

“Give me a piece of rice cake. Then I will not eat you,” repeated the tiger.

The woman gave another piece of rice cake to the tiger. The tiger kept asking her for more rice cakes. She gave away all the rice cakes to the tiger. But it wasn’t enough to fill his stomach. Now she had no more rice cake. So the tiger ate her. But he wasn’t satisfying yet. So the tiger recalled what the woman had said and dressed in her clothes. He went to her house and pretended to be the children’s mom.

“Open the door, dear,” said the tiger.

“You are not my mom. Your voice is too hoarse. Her voice is soft,” said the brother.

“Oh, is it? Hmm, I have a cold.”

“Then, show me your hands,” said the sister.

The tiger showed his hands to them.

“Your hands are too hairy and dark. Her hands are white,” said the brother.

The tiger covered his hands with flour. And he showed his white hands to the children. Then the children opened the door. The tiger entered the house saying

“I will make dinner. Wait here.”



Then, the brother saw the tiger’s tail.

“It’s not Mom. It’s a tiger,” said the brother.

“What should we do?” said the sister.

“We have to run away from here,” said the brother.

The children ran out of the house and climbed up a tree near the well. The tiger looked for them around the house. But then, as he approached to the well, he saw the children’s face reflected on the water inside the well.

“Oh, you are in the well. I will scoop you up with this bowl,” said the tiger.

The sister in the tree laughed at the tiger.

            “Oh, you are in the tree,” said the tiger slowly lifted his chin towards the tree top.

The tiger tried to climb up the tree. But he could not do it.

“How did you climb up the tree?” said the tiger.

“We used oil,” lied the brother.

The tiger rubbed some oil on his hands. And he tried to climb up the tree. But he only slid down. Laughing at the tiger, the sister told the secret of how to climb up.

“All you need to do is use an axe to climb up,” said the sister.

The brother immediately covered his sister’s mouth but it was too late. Then the tiger made small cuts on the tree with an ax. Then, he could climb up the tree. The children were frightened so they prayed to God.

“Oh God, If you want us to live, please hand down a rope,” pleaded the children as they looked up towards God.

Right then, surprisingly, a thick rope came down from the sky. The children held onto it and went up to the sky. The tiger could not catch the children. The tiger prayed to God, too.

“If you want me to catch them, please hand down a rope.”

Then another rope came down from the sky. The tiger held onto it and went up to the sky. But the rope was rotten. The tiger fell down and died. Meanwhile, the children arrived to the end of the sky. At first, the brother turned into the sun and the sister changed into the moon. But the sister greatly feared the night’s darkness,

“I am scared of the night,” said the sister.

“I will be the moon for you instead,” said the brother.

So the sister switched roles with her brother. Therefore, in the end, the brother became the moon and the sister became the sun. Also, to this day, the reason why we are blinded when we look at the sun it because of the shy sister, who shines very brightly in order to make people unable to stare at her.