Illustration by Noah Dempewolf

 

 

IN the village of Sillim, in the district of Sonsan, in North Gyongsan Province, there can be seen the grave and stone memorial of a dog.

About a hundred years ago there lived in the district of Sonsan a certain Gim Song-Bal. He went one day to the market that was held in the town on the fifth day of every month. He met many friends there and drank much wine with them in the wine shops of the town. Then he set out for home much the worse for the drink, and on the way fell asleep in a field, known as Wolmol-Zong.

Suddenly a grass fire broke out, and the dry autumn grass of the field began to blaze. In his drunken stupor Gim was unaware of his danger. Fortunately he had a dog, and it happened to come along on its way to meet him as he returned. It saw the dangerous position its master was in, and ran to him and tugged at his clothes with its teeth. But try as it might it could not wake its master.

So it ran to the nearby river, dipped its tail in the water, and ran back and damped the grass around its sleeping master. This it did many times over, and kept the fire from reaching its master. At last the fire went out, but the faithful dog fell dead from its burns and exhaustion.

When Gim awoke and realized what had happened, he was deeply touched by the death of his faithful dog. He buried it where it lay, and never forgot its devotion. The story spread among the people of the district and they too were greatly impressed by the dog’s noble behavior. So they erected a stone monument in front of the grave, to commemorate the dog’s heroism. And on the monument they inscribed the words ‘Uigu-Czong,’ meaning ‘The grave of the faithful dog,’ which the magistrate in office at the time actually wrote himself.

 

 

From Zoson Gubi Zonsol Zi. Taken from Folk Tales of Korea, pg. 93-94 (published by Hollym International — www.hollym.com).