THE goblins of Korea used to wear magic caps, called Horang Gamte, which had the power of rendering them invisible.

Now there once lived a man who was most diligent in his worship of his ancestors. He was always holding services in their memory, with lavish offerings of delicious food and drink. One day, when he had held such a service, a group of goblins came to his house, and ate up all the good things set out on the altars. And on every following occasion they did the same. Of course they were invisible, for they wore their magical caps, and so the offerings just disappeared. The man was very gratified at first to see his offerings eaten, for it seemed to prove that his ancestors relished them. So he spent more and more money to provide even more lavish feasts until he was almost ruined.

At last his wife complained of his extravagance. ‘There must be something wrong,’ she said. ‘The spirits of our ancestors would never eat so much as to leave us almost ruined. There must be thieves coming in and stealing them while we are occupied with the ceremonial and bowing before the altar. In the future I think we ought to keep a careful watch.’

So one night the husband hid behind a screen by the altar. He held a stout cudgel in his hand. In the middle of the night he heard whispering and the sound of food being eaten. He peeped over the screen and saw the food steadily disappearing from the dishes. Yet he could see no one by the table. So all of a sudden he rushed out brandishing his cudgel and rushed round the altar and into all the corners of the room. Alarmed by his violent onslaught, the goblins ran away, but the man touched one of them with his cudgel and knocked his cap off. When the goblins had gone the man saw a red cap lying on the floor, the like of which he had never seen before. He picked it up curiously and put it on, and then began to shout ‘Thief! Thief!’

His wife heard his shouts and came into the hall. But she could not see her husband, though she could hear him beside her, gasping breathlessly, ‘The thief got away, but he left a very strange cap behind. See?’ His wife just stood there bewildered and said, ‘ But where are you, my dear? I can’t see you.’

 

To be continued …