Category: Folktales & Legends

An elderly couple sitting opposite each other at a low wooden table, staring with greedy eyes at a single remaining white rice cake.

Folktales & Legends

The Couple’s Rice Cake Quarrel: A Korean Folktale on Greed

An elderly Korean couple lets a single leftover rice cake spark a silent contest, leading to unexpected disaster when a thief loots their home.

Young Jumong holding a small bow in the Dongbuyeo palace courtyard while courtiers watch

Folktales & Legends

The Legend of Jumong: The Epic Birth and Flight of Goguryeo’s Founder

Discover the epic founding myth of Goguryeo, following Jumong from his divine lineage of Haemosu and Yuhwa to his daring escape and the crossing of the Eomche-su.

A thirteen-year-old boy in an oversized official blue robe steps out of a palanquin at a Joseon government office

Folktales & Legends

The Wise Boy Magistrate: The Legend of Yi Won-ik and the Brass Coin

Discover the legendary tale of Yi Won-ik, a thirteen-year-old magistrate whose wisdom and refusal to waste public funds humbled corrupt clerks in Joseon Korea.

Two old men with neck lumps in a traditional mountain village

Folktales & Legends

The Old Man with the Lump: Korean Goblin Tale and Proverb

Discover the classic Korean folktale of the old man with a lump, a tale of kindness, goblins, greed, and the origin of a famous Korean proverb.

A wandering Buddhist monk holding a moktak gazing at a worried teenage boy in a traditional Korean courtyard

Folktales & Legends

The Short-Lived Boy Who Defied Fate: A Korean Folktale of Wisdom and Resilience

Discover a traditional Korean folktale about a boy fated to die young who escapes his destiny through courage, the help of a kind mother-daughter pair, and the power of the I Ching.

A man walking up a steep mountain trail surrounded by dense oak trees under muted daylight

Folktales & Legends

The Tiger’s Eyebrow: A Korean Folktale of True Natures and Destiny

Discover the traditional Korean folktale of a magical tiger's eyebrow that reveals people's true forms, leading to an unexpected journey of compatibility and new beginnings.

Two sister-in-laws in traditional hanbok talking in a sunny courtyard next to a straw mat with rice grains

Folktales & Legends

The Devoted Sisters-in-Law: A Joseon Folk Tale of Wisdom and Integrity

Discover 'The Devoted Sisters-in-Law,' a warm late-Joseon folk tale highlighting the wisdom, integrity, and quiet strength of two women preserving family harmony.

Watercolor illustration depicting a traditional Korean folklore scene with warm muted colors and hanji paper texture

Folktales & Legends

Illweto-Bonpul-i: The Jeju Island Myth of Tosan-Bonhyangdang Shrine

Discover 'Illweto-bonpul-i', a traditional Jeju Island deity myth from Tosan-bonhyangdang shrine featuring divine marriages, iron boxes, and folk religion.

Traditional Jeju shaman performing a buldomaji ritual with a ritual gong before villagers

Folktales & Legends

Saengbul-halmang-bonpuli: The Jeju Myth of the Birth-Goddesses

Discover Saengbul-halmang-bonpuli, the Jeju shamanic myth detailing how the birth-goddesses of this world and the underworld came to be enshrined.

A wide watercolor illustration of the mystical realm of Woncheongang with cherry blossoms, summer trees, autumn leaves, and snow coexisting peacefully.

Folktales & Legends

Woncheongang Bonpuri: The Jeju Shamanic Epic of Oneuli’s Journey to the Realm of Four Seasons

Discover the treasured Jeju shamanic epic Woncheongang Bonpuri, following the young girl Oneuli on her mythical quest to a realm where all four seasons coexist.