Long, long ago, a bedbug reached the age of sixty, and to celebrate the occasion held the
customary party, known as hwangab. He invited his two closest friends, a louse and a flea.
The louse and the flea were very pleased to receive their invitations and set out together to
go to the party. The sprightly flea leapt ahead without regard for the louse and before long
had left him far behind. The louse too wished to hasten on his way, but he could not walk
very fast, for he was a portly creature, and his legs were very short. So he shouted to the
flea, 'Wait for me, my friend! Since we were invited as honored guests we should behave
with due composure. Do not hop about so impatiently.'
So the flea walked a little slower for a time, but before long he lost patience with the tardy
louse, for by now he was feeling rather hungry. So he ran straight to the bedbug's house.
The tables were heavily laden with delicious food and drink, so the flea said to the bedbug,
'I am very thirsty, please let me have a bowl of wine.' So the bedbug filled a bowl with
wine and handed it to him. Then he went out to meet the louse on the way, for he guessed
that having to carry such a plump body made walking very tiring for him.
While the flea waited for them to arrive, he refilled his bowl several times from the bottles
on the table, and soon got very red in the face. When the bedbug arrived at last with the
louse, the flea was quite drunk and was humming a tune. All the bottles were empty. The
louse was already annoyed at the flea's behavior, and now he lost his temper completely
and slapped his face. Then there was a rumpus indeed. The flea and the louse came to
blows and grappled fiercely with one another. Their host the bedbug tried to get between
them to part them, but they fought on and in the end fell on top of him, so that he was
squashed quite flat.
So to this day the bedbug is still a flat creature, the flea has a tipsy red face, and the louse
has a mark on his back where the flea kicked him.