The Old Men and the Wens

Myths

October-December 1996

One day a poor, kind, good person was traveling.  He had a big wen, or lump, on his neck.  He was traveling alone, so he was very scared.  So he was singing in order to decrease his fear; he had good singing talent.  At that time some ghost heard that sound and followed the sound.  The ghost wanted to sing well like that man, who had the big wen.  The ghost asked, "How do you sing so well?"   The man answered. "My singing talent is from my big wen."  The foolish ghost trusted the man and got rid of the wen, and gave him money and jewelry.

   Another man with a wen heard that story and he wanted to get rid of his big wen.  He was rich and a bad person.  He travelled the same way, and met with the ghost.  He was singing and told the same thing to the ghost.  But this time, the ghost knew that the story was a lie.  So, the ghost gave another big wen, the one from the kind person, rather than money and jewelry, to the man.

   This story gives us some lessons.  One is:  If we enter the tiger's cave, we have to be a kind person, and get rid of greed.

   -Sae-Hwan