Long ago there stood a house on the lofty Pass of Czol-Long in the district of Yu-Yang, in the province of Gang-Won. The owner of this house was 40 years of age, but childless. He used to make a living by gathering the magic herb of wild ginseng in the mountains, leaving his wife alone in the house.

One day a certain Gim Hyong-Man, who had heard about this man who dwelt on the remote mountain pass, came to the village at the foot of the pass. He wanted some mountain ginseng, and hoped to be able to buy some from this man. He asked villagers to direct him to the house, and the pointed to the dense forest that covered the mountain and said, “That is the only way. If you go up there you will find the house, though none of us has ever been up there.”

Gim pushed on into the forest as they had told him. The mountain path was rough and dangerous, and many times he thought of giving up his quest. But he persevered, and in the end found a small house right at the top. He called for the master of the house, and was surprised to see a woman come out, about 40 years of age. “My husband went to the market on the other side of the hill,” she told him. “He left early this morning, and he is not back yet, though he has usually returned by this time in the evening. You had better wait. He won’t be long.”

Gim sat down outside and waited, while the woman went on cooking the evening meal. It got very dark, but at a late hour the husband had not returned.

The woman was very alarmed, and said, “Something must have happened to him. I must go and look for him, but it is very dark. Would you mind coming with me, please?”
Gim could not refuse. The woman took a torch in her hand and led the way, and Gim followed with another torch. They had walked quite a considerable distance down the path when the woman suddenly stopped. She picked up a white handkerchief and said, “It’s horrible! He must have been killed.”

They looked around and saw spots of fresh blood on the ground. The woman rushed into the bushes in great alarm, following the trail of bloodstains. In a few minutes they were startled by the roaring of a tiger.