The Tale of Chunhyang

Two hands pass two very small things to each other.

The young man gives the young woman a pocket mirror made of crystal. The young woman slips the jade ring from her finger and gives it to him in return.

This whole story fits inside those two small things.

The people of old Korea tell that it happened in the town of Namwon, in Jeolla Province, in the south of the peninsula.

The magistrate of the town had a son of about 16, called Doryeong. The boy loved his books. Every evening he went to bid his father good night before going to bed, and every morning he went to ask after his father before eating breakfast.

One spring day, he went out walking and met a young woman of the town. Her name was Chunhyang, which means fragrant spring. She had been born into the life of a singer and dancer of the town.

The two came to know each other, and then they made a promise. The old version of the tale says they pledged themselves to each other for a hundred years.

But some months later, Doryeong's father was promoted and had to go up to the capital. The son had no choice but to go with him.

That was when the two exchanged the mirror and the ring.

Once he reached the capital, Doryeong shut his door and sat down to study. He did not go out carousing, and he made no friends among the sons of powerful families in the city. He simply buried himself in his books. Even his parents were surprised to see how serious their son had suddenly become.

Meanwhile, back in Namwon, a new official arrived to take up his post.

The old version of the tale describes him in very few words. He was a harsh man who cared only for pleasure and nothing for the people of his district.

Hearing of Chunhyang, he had her brought before him. He ordered her to give up her old promise and enter his service instead.

She refused.

He had her thrown into prison.

The days in prison stretched into months. She grew weaker and weaker. Her mother came to visit and scolded her for being foolish, for clinging to a promise made to someone who had gone away for good. But the neighbors saw it differently. They scolded the mother in turn, and told the young woman that she had done the right thing. Then they brought her food. The jailer, too, treated her kindly. That was how she managed to stay alive.

One night, she had a dream.

In the dream, she sat looking into the crystal mirror that Doryeong had left with her. Then, all on its own, the mirror broke in two.

When she woke, she took it as a sign that she was about to die. She asked someone to fetch a blind fortune teller to explain the dream. The fortune teller turned out to be an old acquaintance of her father from years before.

And in the capital, Doryeong passed the examination.

The post the king gave him was a very special one. He became an eosa, a secret royal inspector. The holder of this post traveled everywhere dressed as an ordinary person, so that no one knew who he was. That way he could see how the local officials treated the people. He carried the king's seal, and the moment he drew out that seal, every order he gave took effect.

Doryeong went back to Namwon.

He came back in the ragged clothes of a beggar.

That very day was the official's birthday, and a great feast was under way in his residence. The beggar asked to be let in. The servants drove him away. Even so, he found his way into the courtyard.

The host, his face already red with wine, ordered the man thrown out. But the guests found it amusing. They asked their host to let the fellow stay for the fun of it. So someone tossed him a little food and told him to sit in a corner.

When he had eaten, the beggar asked for paper and a pen. He said that, to repay the meal, he would like to write a few lines of verse.

Then he wrote. The gist of the lines was this. The fat and oil that made the official's feast so rich were the very blood of a downtrodden people. And their tears, in the eyes of their oppressor, were no more than drops of wax running down a candle.

The poem was read aloud. The whole table fell silent. The guests looked at one another, and then one by one they found excuses to leave.

The official only laughed and ordered the insolent beggar locked up.

The beggar drew out the king's seal.

In a single moment, everything turned around. The official was arrested and taken under guard to the capital. The beggar changed into decent clothes and began to look into every piece of business in the district.

Then he sent for Chunhyang.

Her chains were taken off, and she was brought into the hall of judgment. She thought the drunken official had called her up to mistreat her once more. So she bowed her head and said nothing, wishing only that death would come and put an end to it all.

The man seated above her questioned her in a strange voice. She did not look up.

Then he spoke again, in his own voice.

She raised her head.

And this is the moment to return the two small things from the beginning of the story. The jade ring had stayed with him through all his months of study. As for the crystal mirror, it had stayed with her. It broke in two in a dream, and in the end that dream did not foretell any death at all.

It only foretold that something was about to be made whole again.