Once upon a time a locust, an ant and a kingfisher decided to hold a party. The locust and the kingfisher were to go and get the fish, and the ant was to prepare the rice. So they went off separately to find the various foods.

The ant met a peasant woman who was carrying a basket of rice on her head. It crawled up her leg and bit her, so that she jumped and the basket of rice fell off her head. Then the ant snatched it up and carried it off.

The locust went down to the lake and sat on a leaf that was floating on the water. A fish came and swallowed it, and then the kingfisher, which had been waiting nearby, swooped down and caught the fish, and took it to the party.

The locust came out of the fish, and began to quarrel with the kingfisher over who had caught it. He insisted that he had caught it, while the kingfisher insisted that he had.

The ant burst out laughing when he saw them quarrelling. He laughed so much that his waist became thin, just as it is today. The locust took hold of the kingfisher by his bill and pulled, so that it became the long bill we see now. And the kingfisher bit the locust’s head, so that it got its present shape.

 

Told by Yi Sang-Hwa; Degu (1933). Taken from Folk Tales From Korea, pg. 35 (published by Hollym International — www.hollym.com).