A Woodsman and an Angel

Korean Fairy Tales
Samsung Education Center, Yong In, Corea, 1986-1988

Once upon a tim,e there was a woodsman who was poor but kind and good.  He was 20 years old.  He was alone yet.  He wanted to marry a beautiful woman.  But, no woman really wanted to marry him.
   One day, he went to the mountain to carry some wood.  It was very hot.  Suddenly, a wounded deer that was being chased by a hunter appeared.  She said, "Please help me.  The hunter was trying to kill me.  Please keep behind you."  The deer looked very sad.  So, he kept her in the wood.  At that time, the hunter came to him and asked him. "Did you see the wounded deer?"  The woodsman said to the hunter, "She ran away over there."  After the hunter went away, she thanked and thanked him.  she told him about the pond where angels took a bath during the full moon.  The deer continued. "If you keep her clothes, you will get married here, but you couldn't return the clothes to her until you had 3 sons."  The deer went away into the wood.
   He waited out the day, until a full moon had arisen.  He went to the pond.  there were four angels taking a bath and their clothes hung up on a tree not far from a pond.  He picked up a piece of clothes and kept it behind him.  After a few minutes, the angels put on their clothes.  But, a single angel couldn't find her clothes.  So she couldn't go up to heaven.
   The woodsman and the angel got married and had two sons.  One day his wife looked very sad.  She said to him that she wanted to see her father in heaven.  He thought if he gave the clothes to her, she wouldn't go up to heaven because she had two sons and made love with him for a long time,  He had forgotten the deer's warning, so he gave the clothes to her.  As soon as she put on the clothes, she went up to heaven with the 2 sons.  He looked up to heaven, but he couldn't find his wife and two sons.
   He was very sad.  At that time, the deer came to him, and she said, "don't worry about it.  If it was a full moon, you could go to the pond and see the flow which went down from the heaven."
   The day it was a full moon, he went to the pond.  There was a fowl.  He got on it and went up to the heaven"  The day it was a full moon, he went to the pond.  There was a fowl.  He got on it an dwelt up to the heaven.  He met his wife and 2 sons.  He lived happily ever after.

   -Jim Harrison