Culture Focus
An Overview of Korean Mythology - 4
Korea's Representative Myths
Stories of State-Founding Kings
1. The Myth of DangunThe myth of Dangun is the oldest form, and perhaps the best-known, of all the myths of Korea. Its content can be summarized as follows:
Hwanung, the son of Hwanin, king of the heavenly world, is greatly interested in the human world. Armed with a plan for bettering that human world, Hwanung descends to earth from the heavens leading a group of 3000, and then establishes a city, Sinsi 神市 ("divine city"). Marshaling the gods of wind, clouds, and rain, Hwanung then takes control of the 360 affairs of the human world, including farming, medicine, and good and evil.
At that time, there are a bear and a tiger who desire to become human, and they pray constantly to Hwanung to grant them their wish. Hwanung then appears before them and gives them mugwort and garlic to eat and orders them to hide away and not gaze upon the sun for a hundred days. The bear follows Hwanung's injunction but the tiger cannot. After a hundred days the bear transforms into a female human, yet she has no one to marry and so prays that she might become pregnant. Hwanung then transforms into a man and marries Ungnyeo (the name of the bear-turned-woman), who soon bears him a son named Dangun.
Dangun assumes the throne, establishing his capital at Pyeongyang Fortress, and names his kingdom Joseon (Gojoseon), which he goes on to rule for the next 1500 years. When a new ruler arrives from China, Dangun takes refuge in another area and becomes a mountain god (sansin) at the age of 1908.
This myth contains three subplots with one of three characters at the heart of each. The first story deals with the episode in which Hwanung, the son of a heavenly god, descends to the human world and establishes a nation. The second story concerns the incident in which Ungnyeo, having been transformed from a bear into a human, marries Hwanung and gives birth to a son. The third story is about Dangun, the son born between Hwanung and Ungnyeo, who establishes Joseon (Gojoseon).
Considering the story as a whole, the myth's main characters may be said to be Hwanung and Ungnyeo. However, its name is actually the "Dangun myth." It was clearly Hwanung who first descended to the human world and established Sinsi, yet Koreans tend to regard Dangun's Gojoseon, not Hwanung or Sinsi, as the first country. Thus, Hwanung may be understood as the primary device for the birth of Dangun and the founding of a new nation. What Dangun needed most in order to establish the initial Korean state of Joseon (Gojoseon) were his qualifications as king. At that time, people felt that the founder of a state should not be human but a divine being, hence the importance placed on sacredness. Dangun's qualifications derived from his status as the son of a god, and this is how he was able to become the sacred first king.
Dangun's father is the son of the heavenly god while his mother is a figure who changed from a bear into a female human. The union of a god from heaven and a powerful animal (or a human that transformed from such an animal) on earth is a union between heaven and earth (nature), and through this, the representative of the human world was born. Ungnyeo's mythical meaning is as important as that of Hwanung. The bear and the tiger, the representative predatory animals of Korea, appear in many myths and legends. And an extensive tradition of bear worship can be found in the northern part of the Korean Peninsula and the adjacent regions of that corner of Asia. The significance of the bear as a sacred animal, or totem, is reflected in the Dangun myth. Bears are representative sacred animals that, like humans, walk on two feet. They also vanish for hibernation in winter only to reappear in spring, in tune with the cycle of nature and the seasons. The myths and legends of Asia, including Korea, include many stories about the interaction between a bear and humans or that present a bear as the ancestor of humans.
This myth is relatively short on detail regarding the activities of Dangun. They are summed up and presented as that he ruled the country of Joseon (Gojoseon) for 1500 years after its establishment and the founding of the capital at Pyeongyang Fortress. The last record of Dangun is of him abdicating his throne and heading into the mountains to become a mountain god following the arrival and investiture of Gija from China. In terms of the actual history of the state of Gojoseon, the myth seems also to reflect a change from the hereditary line of Dangun to that of another.
A notable aspect of the Dangun myth is that it clearly presents the three paternal generations of the founding protagonist, that is to say, from Hwanung to Hwanin to Dangun. This myth became engraved upon the collective memory of Koreans as a paragon for the hereditary origins of the nation and came to be used as a model in the creation of other such heroic mythologies. The kingdom of Joseon that was founded by Yi Seonggye in the fourteenth century found its origins in the Gojoseon of Dangun and built shrines and established festivals to perform ancestral rites to Hwanung, Hwanin and Dangun, traditions that continue to this day. The influence of Dangun was also strongly felt in the religious and cultural life of the Korean people. The representative god revered in shamanism is Jeseoksin, who is sometimes identified as being synonymous with Dangun. We can surely identify Dangun as Korea's representative sacred ruler and god-king.
2. The Myth of Jumong
Among all Korean myths, that of Jumong has the most recorded variations. This story is found not only in the primary histories of the Three Kingdoms, the Samguk sagi (History of the Three Kingdoms) and the Samguk yusa (Memorabilia of the Three Kingdoms), but in many other historical records, geographies, and stelae. Notably, "Dongmyeong wang pyeon" (Saga of King Dongmyeong), an epic poem by the famed Goryeo writer Yi Gyu-bo, is renowned for its length, detail, and well-organized composition. This myth may be summarized as follows:
Haemosu, the son of Cheonje (the heavenly emperor), descends from the heavens and chances upon the daughters of Habaek, the god of the river, playing freely. He takes hold of the first of the daughters, Yuhwa, and makes love to her. Haemosu then goes with Yuhwa to visit Habaek, and introduces himself. Habaek then tests Haemosu with a contest in which they transform themselves into various animals, and confirms that Haemosu is indeed a celestial god. After their wedding, Haemosu abandons Yuhwa and returns alone to his heavenly abode. Hwabaek becomes furious at this and punishes Yuhwa by stretching her mouth and expelling her.
Yuhwa is captured while attempting to steal fish caught by some fishermen. The fishermen report this to Geumwa, the king at that time. When Geumwa strikes the mouth of Yuhwa, it drops down and she returns to the form of a beautiful female. After Yuhwa tells Geumwa of her experiences, Geumwa then confines her in his detached palace. The sunlight streaming into the palace constantly follows Yuhwa around and finally impregnates her, as a result of which she bears a large egg. Geumwa considers this inauspicious and casts the egg away, but animals protect the egg and return it to Yuhwa. Eventually, Jumong emerges from the egg and proceeds from a young age to prove himself superior to all others. He is especially skilled at archery. The princes of Geumwa, exceedingly envious of Jumong's abilities, try to kill him, forcing him to flee. The princes of Geumwa pursue him with a troop of soldiers, and before long Jumong reaches a river that blocks his way. Jumong then intones an enchantment, saying that he is the son of a celestial god and the grandson of the god of the river, whereupon a multitude of fish and terrapins suddenly come together in the water to form a bridge by which Jumong crosses to safety and escapes his pursuers.
When Jumong arrives at a new place, he establishes a capital and names the new country by his surname. But Jumong finds himself unable to initiate agriculture in his new kingdom because he fled in such haste that he was unable to bring any of the seeds or grain his mother gave him. Then, Yuhwa puts a seed into a bird's stomach and sends it to Jumong. However, there was another country in the region where Jumong established his nation. Songyang, the king of Biryu, is displeased with Jumong's presence and demands his surrender. To this, Jumong refuses, and so they begin an archery competition, which Jumong wins. In order to demonstrate that the country he founded has a long tradition, Jumong steals drums and bugles from Songyang's palace and deceives Songyang into believing they are his. He also deceives Songyang by constructing his palace out of rotten trees to make it appear old. When Songyang still refuses to surrender, Jumong captures a white deer and hangs it upside down, and then performs an ancestral rite to heaven. Then the rains come pouring down, but only on Songyang's palace, forcing him to surrender.
When Jumong rules Goguryeo, Soseono, a powerful person of that region, gives him much aid and assistance. Jumong marries Soseono and has two sons, Biryu and Onjo. However, when Jumong fled from Buyeo to Goguryeo, he left behind a pregnant woman. The son from this union, Yuri, who grows up without seeing his father, later comes to Goguryeo with the broken sword that his father left behind as a token of his birthright. When Jumong summons Yuri and invests him as the crown prince, Biryu and Onjo leave Goguryeo together with their mother. Biryu and Onjo each establish a nation and become its king, but Biryu's nation soon perishes due to poor harvests, while Onjo's country gradually flourishes and becomes Baekje. Jumong rules the country until he one day ascends to heaven. The people hold a funeral with the jade piece he has left behind. Yuri succeeds to the throne after Jumong to become the king of Goguryeo.
The Jumong myth is a long and complex story. The generation of Jumong's parents appears first, followed by Jumong's story, and then the story of Jumong's sons. With regard to genealogy, the structure of three generations is completed through Haemosu, Jumong and Yuri.
The first part focuses on Jumong's parents, Haemosu and Yuhwa. The important thing here is the identities of these two characters. According to the mythology of Northern Buyeo, Haemosu is a celestial god (cheonsin) who descends from the heavens to become a god-king (sinwang), ruling over the human world directly. In the Goguryeo version of the Jumong myth, Haemosu and Yuhwa quickly separate after having met, but such is not the case in the version from Northern Buyeo. In this version of the myth, Haemosu and Yuhwa marry and have a son named Haeburu, who in turn adopts Geumwa. However in the Jumong myth of Goguryeo, Haeburu does not appear, and Jumong is presented as competing with Geumwa's sons. If Jumong's father is Haemosu, then Geumwa is Jumong's niece, and Geumwa's sons are almost like his grandsons. Therefore, it is not appropriate to say that Jumong competes with Geumwa's sons. It seems as if Goguryeo borrowed the Haemosu myth of Buyeo in an attempt to emphasize Jumong as the scion of a sacred bloodline by setting up the most famous heavenly deity, Haemosu, as Jumong's ancestor. Unlike Haemosu, Yuhwa, the daughter of the river god, stays with Jumong and directly plays many roles. In Goguryeo's state rites, both Jumong and Yuhwa were honored as the highest deities. Her status as the mother of a nation was as profound as that of Jumong. It would be appropriate to view Yuhwa from the Goguryeo myth not as the Yuhwa from the Buyeo myth, but rather as a figure in the bloodline of Yuhwa, a queen of Buyeo.
Jumong takes a different path from the protagonists of earlier founding myths. Unlike the kings of Silla or Gaya, who are easily identified as kings by the sacred nature of their birth from eggs, Jumong is recognized as a competitor who threatens the original occupant of the throne and faces persecution and, eventually, banishment. Unlike Hyeokgeose or Suro, who are born of eggs that descend directly from heaven, Jumong emerges from an egg that a human female has laid on earth. This reveals a lack of any direct sign that Jumong is the descendant of a heavenly god. Although Jumong faces many obstacles from the day he is born, by demonstrating his superior abilities relative to others, his heroic nature is revealed. Jumong excels especially in martial skills, represented by his talents in archery and horsemanship and his ability to communicate with the gods through incantations or the performance of ancestral rites. Despite his many ordeals, Jumong overcomes them all to become the prototype of the Korean epic hero.
The interesting part of this myth concerns the descendants of Jumong. Jumong has a son Yuri from his marriage in Buyeo, and two sons, Biryu and Onjo, whom he had in Goguryeo. In the case of Prince Yuri, from his birth onward he is faced with the task of finding his father. He finds the broken sword that Jumong left as a token, meets his father, and finally becomes the king. One can say that the tale of Prince Yuri is the archetype of Korea's numerous son-in-quest-of-father stories. When Jumong's other sons, Biryu and Onjo, are relegated to secondary positions with the arrival of their stepbrother, Yuri, they eventually migrate south to establish a new state. This is how Baekje is founded. Thus, the origins of Baekje may be seen in the two lineage groups represented by Biryu and Onjo, though one group eventually perishes or is absorbed by the other to form a single lineage.
Among all Korean myths, that of Jumong has the most recorded variations. This story is found not only in the primary histories of the Three Kingdoms, the Samguk sagi (History of the Three Kingdoms) and the Samguk yusa (Memorabilia of the Three Kingdoms), but in many other historical records, geographies, and stelae. Notably, "Dongmyeong wang pyeon" (Saga of King Dongmyeong), an epic poem by the famed Goryeo writer Yi Gyu-bo, is renowned for its length, detail, and well-organized composition. This myth may be summarized as follows:
Haemosu, the son of Cheonje (the heavenly emperor), descends from the heavens and chances upon the daughters of Habaek, the god of the river, playing freely. He takes hold of the first of the daughters, Yuhwa, and makes love to her. Haemosu then goes with Yuhwa to visit Habaek, and introduces himself. Habaek then tests Haemosu with a contest in which they transform themselves into various animals, and confirms that Haemosu is indeed a celestial god. After their wedding, Haemosu abandons Yuhwa and returns alone to his heavenly abode. Hwabaek becomes furious at this and punishes Yuhwa by stretching her mouth and expelling her.
Yuhwa is captured while attempting to steal fish caught by some fishermen. The fishermen report this to Geumwa, the king at that time. When Geumwa strikes the mouth of Yuhwa, it drops down and she returns to the form of a beautiful female. After Yuhwa tells Geumwa of her experiences, Geumwa then confines her in his detached palace. The sunlight streaming into the palace constantly follows Yuhwa around and finally impregnates her, as a result of which she bears a large egg. Geumwa considers this inauspicious and casts the egg away, but animals protect the egg and return it to Yuhwa. Eventually, Jumong emerges from the egg and proceeds from a young age to prove himself superior to all others. He is especially skilled at archery. The princes of Geumwa, exceedingly envious of Jumong's abilities, try to kill him, forcing him to flee. The princes of Geumwa pursue him with a troop of soldiers, and before long Jumong reaches a river that blocks his way. Jumong then intones an enchantment, saying that he is the son of a celestial god and the grandson of the god of the river, whereupon a multitude of fish and terrapins suddenly come together in the water to form a bridge by which Jumong crosses to safety and escapes his pursuers.
When Jumong arrives at a new place, he establishes a capital and names the new country by his surname. But Jumong finds himself unable to initiate agriculture in his new kingdom because he fled in such haste that he was unable to bring any of the seeds or grain his mother gave him. Then, Yuhwa puts a seed into a bird's stomach and sends it to Jumong. However, there was another country in the region where Jumong established his nation. Songyang, the king of Biryu, is displeased with Jumong's presence and demands his surrender. To this, Jumong refuses, and so they begin an archery competition, which Jumong wins. In order to demonstrate that the country he founded has a long tradition, Jumong steals drums and bugles from Songyang's palace and deceives Songyang into believing they are his. He also deceives Songyang by constructing his palace out of rotten trees to make it appear old. When Songyang still refuses to surrender, Jumong captures a white deer and hangs it upside down, and then performs an ancestral rite to heaven. Then the rains come pouring down, but only on Songyang's palace, forcing him to surrender.
When Jumong rules Goguryeo, Soseono, a powerful person of that region, gives him much aid and assistance. Jumong marries Soseono and has two sons, Biryu and Onjo. However, when Jumong fled from Buyeo to Goguryeo, he left behind a pregnant woman. The son from this union, Yuri, who grows up without seeing his father, later comes to Goguryeo with the broken sword that his father left behind as a token of his birthright. When Jumong summons Yuri and invests him as the crown prince, Biryu and Onjo leave Goguryeo together with their mother. Biryu and Onjo each establish a nation and become its king, but Biryu's nation soon perishes due to poor harvests, while Onjo's country gradually flourishes and becomes Baekje. Jumong rules the country until he one day ascends to heaven. The people hold a funeral with the jade piece he has left behind. Yuri succeeds to the throne after Jumong to become the king of Goguryeo.
The Jumong myth is a long and complex story. The generation of Jumong's parents appears first, followed by Jumong's story, and then the story of Jumong's sons. With regard to genealogy, the structure of three generations is completed through Haemosu, Jumong and Yuri.
The first part focuses on Jumong's parents, Haemosu and Yuhwa. The important thing here is the identities of these two characters. According to the mythology of Northern Buyeo, Haemosu is a celestial god (cheonsin) who descends from the heavens to become a god-king (sinwang), ruling over the human world directly. In the Goguryeo version of the Jumong myth, Haemosu and Yuhwa quickly separate after having met, but such is not the case in the version from Northern Buyeo. In this version of the myth, Haemosu and Yuhwa marry and have a son named Haeburu, who in turn adopts Geumwa. However in the Jumong myth of Goguryeo, Haeburu does not appear, and Jumong is presented as competing with Geumwa's sons. If Jumong's father is Haemosu, then Geumwa is Jumong's niece, and Geumwa's sons are almost like his grandsons. Therefore, it is not appropriate to say that Jumong competes with Geumwa's sons. It seems as if Goguryeo borrowed the Haemosu myth of Buyeo in an attempt to emphasize Jumong as the scion of a sacred bloodline by setting up the most famous heavenly deity, Haemosu, as Jumong's ancestor. Unlike Haemosu, Yuhwa, the daughter of the river god, stays with Jumong and directly plays many roles. In Goguryeo's state rites, both Jumong and Yuhwa were honored as the highest deities. Her status as the mother of a nation was as profound as that of Jumong. It would be appropriate to view Yuhwa from the Goguryeo myth not as the Yuhwa from the Buyeo myth, but rather as a figure in the bloodline of Yuhwa, a queen of Buyeo.
Jumong takes a different path from the protagonists of earlier founding myths. Unlike the kings of Silla or Gaya, who are easily identified as kings by the sacred nature of their birth from eggs, Jumong is recognized as a competitor who threatens the original occupant of the throne and faces persecution and, eventually, banishment. Unlike Hyeokgeose or Suro, who are born of eggs that descend directly from heaven, Jumong emerges from an egg that a human female has laid on earth. This reveals a lack of any direct sign that Jumong is the descendant of a heavenly god. Although Jumong faces many obstacles from the day he is born, by demonstrating his superior abilities relative to others, his heroic nature is revealed. Jumong excels especially in martial skills, represented by his talents in archery and horsemanship and his ability to communicate with the gods through incantations or the performance of ancestral rites. Despite his many ordeals, Jumong overcomes them all to become the prototype of the Korean epic hero.
The interesting part of this myth concerns the descendants of Jumong. Jumong has a son Yuri from his marriage in Buyeo, and two sons, Biryu and Onjo, whom he had in Goguryeo. In the case of Prince Yuri, from his birth onward he is faced with the task of finding his father. He finds the broken sword that Jumong left as a token, meets his father, and finally becomes the king. One can say that the tale of Prince Yuri is the archetype of Korea's numerous son-in-quest-of-father stories. When Jumong's other sons, Biryu and Onjo, are relegated to secondary positions with the arrival of their stepbrother, Yuri, they eventually migrate south to establish a new state. This is how Baekje is founded. Thus, the origins of Baekje may be seen in the two lineage groups represented by Biryu and Onjo, though one group eventually perishes or is absorbed by the other to form a single lineage.
3. The Myth of Suro
Gaya, situated on the extreme southern tip of the Korean Peninsula, existed as a tribal confederation from around the dawn of the Common Era to the sixth century. The story of Suro is famous as Gaya's foundation myth. It may be summarized as follows:
The territory of Gaya at the time was ruled by a confederation of nine chieftains but did not possess the structure of a centralized state. One day, there comes a strange sound from Guji Peak. It is a voice commanding: "Be prepared to invite a king who shall come to establish a state at the behest of heaven." The nine chieftains respond to this command from heaven and lead their people, singing and dancing, to await the appearance of this king. Then, a purple rope descends from heaven, with a golden box dangling from its end. Inside the box are six eggs; and the boys born from these eggs become the founding kings of the six Gaya kingdoms, chief among whom was King Suro.
One day, in the middle of King Suro's reign, Talhae arrives from across the sea and challenges Suro for the kingship. Suro and Talhae agree to a contest using their powers of transformation. When Talhae changes into a hawk, Suro metamorphoses into an eagle, and when Talhae turns into a sparrow, King Suro becomes a sparrow hawk. When Talhae sees this, he accepts his defeat and leaves the kingdom.
Even after a long period of governance, Suro still does not have a queen, and his ministers urge him to marry. But Suro refuses their suggestions, declaring that he will only marry according to the command of heaven. One day, the king commands his ministers to prepare to welcome the queen. Then, Heo Hwang-ok, princess of the country of Ayuta, arrives in Gaya by ship and marries Suro, following her parents' command. The king of the heavenly world had appeared in a dream to Heo Hwang-ok's parents and commanded them to send their daughter to Gaya to marry Suro. Suro and Heo Hwang-ok hold a magnificent wedding. Together, the king and his queen will rule the country well.
This myth consists of three sub-plots. First, there is the story about the Gaya people's acceptance of Suro as their king. Second, there is the story of Suro emerging from the egg, growing up, and being enthroned as king, and then defeating a rival to his rule in the form of Talhae. Third, there is the story of Suro and his consort, who is chosen by heaven, and the holding of a magnificent marriage.
One important characteristic of this myth is the New Year's greeting. It contains a ritual wherein the people climb a mountain and tap the ground, singing and dancing to greet a sacred king who has descended from heaven. The lyrics of that song are provided. "Turtle, turtle, stick out your head / If you do not, I shall bake and eat you." This song may be regarded as a song that carries with it certain shamanistic powers, and which calls out for the appearance of a new king. In the East, the turtle symbolizes long life, fecundity, and abundance, while the action of a turtle stretching out its head represents the appearance of a leader.
The main component of the second sub-plot is the competition between Suro and Talhae. Talhae is both the founder of Silla's Seok dynasty and a sacred figure born of an egg. Each of these two sacred figures takes measure of the other's power of transformation, turning into various animals in the course of a competition for the throne. Suro is able to win by always transforming into an animal one-level higher than that of Talhae. There is another example of sacred figures competing by flaunting their skill in transformation; this is when Haemosu, the first king of Buyeo, demonstrates his abilities to Habaek, the father of Yuhwa and the god of the river. When Habaek turns into a carp, Haemosu turns into an otter and captures it, and when Habaek turns into a deer and runs away, Haemosu turns into a wolf and stalks him, and, finally, when Habaek turns into a pheasant, Haemosu turns into a hawk. In this way, it seems that a feature of Korean myths is the inclusion of sacred figures that show off their ability to metamorphose into different creatures. Indeed, this ability may be posited as a primary qualification of a sacred being. Lastly, and importantly, it is notable that this myth deals with sacred marriage between king and queen. In Korean mythology, the union of sacred figures is an important subject, with the marriage of founding kings or the marriage of their parents being a recurrent theme in Korean foundation myths. In the Dangun myth, the marriage of Hwanung and Ungnyeo is of central importance, while in the myth of Jumong, the union of HaemosuThe main component of the second sub-plot is the competition between Suro and Talhae. Talhae is both the founder of Silla's Seok dynasty and a sacred figure born of an egg. Each of these two sacred figures takes measure of the other's power of transformation, turning into various animals in the course of a competition for the throne. Suro is able to win by always transforming into an animal one-level higher than that of Talhae. There is another example of sacred figures competing by flaunting their skill in transformation; this is when Haemosu, the first king of Buyeo, demonstrates his abilities to Habaek, the father of Yuhwa and the god of the river. When Habaek turns into a carp, Haemosu turns into an otter and captures it, and when Habaek turns into a deer and runs away, Haemosu turns into a wolf and stalks him, and, finally, when Habaek turns into a pheasant, Haemosu turns into a hawk. In this way, it seems that a feature of Korean myths is the inclusion of sacred figures that show off their ability to metamorphose into different creatures. Indeed, this ability may be posited as a primary qualification of a sacred being.
Lastly, and importantly, it is notable that this myth deals with sacred marriage between king and queen. In Korean mythology, the union of sacred figures is an important subject, with the marriage of founding kings or the marriage of their parents being a recurrent theme in Korean foundation myths. In the Dangun myth, the marriage of Hwanung and Ungnyeo is of central importance, while in the myth of Jumong, the union of Haemosu and Yuhwa plays an important part. In the myth of Hyeokgeose, Aryeong is born of a dragon from a well on the very same day that Hyeokgeose is born. These two figures grow up to be married. Then there is Suro of Gaya, who greets Heo Hwang-ok upon her arrival from across the sea, and whose marriage may be read as an interaction with an outside group from an advanced culture. A similar case is found in the Samseong mythology, or the myth of the three surnames of Jeju Island, where the first three kings - bearing the surnames of Go, Yang, and Bu - marry princesses from Japan. Sacred marriages in Korean myths represent two distinct phenomena, namely, the union between an outsider and a native, and interaction with foreign cultural elements. The marriage in the Suro myth may be considered a typical example of the latter.
Gaya, situated on the extreme southern tip of the Korean Peninsula, existed as a tribal confederation from around the dawn of the Common Era to the sixth century. The story of Suro is famous as Gaya's foundation myth. It may be summarized as follows:
The territory of Gaya at the time was ruled by a confederation of nine chieftains but did not possess the structure of a centralized state. One day, there comes a strange sound from Guji Peak. It is a voice commanding: "Be prepared to invite a king who shall come to establish a state at the behest of heaven." The nine chieftains respond to this command from heaven and lead their people, singing and dancing, to await the appearance of this king. Then, a purple rope descends from heaven, with a golden box dangling from its end. Inside the box are six eggs; and the boys born from these eggs become the founding kings of the six Gaya kingdoms, chief among whom was King Suro.
One day, in the middle of King Suro's reign, Talhae arrives from across the sea and challenges Suro for the kingship. Suro and Talhae agree to a contest using their powers of transformation. When Talhae changes into a hawk, Suro metamorphoses into an eagle, and when Talhae turns into a sparrow, King Suro becomes a sparrow hawk. When Talhae sees this, he accepts his defeat and leaves the kingdom.
Even after a long period of governance, Suro still does not have a queen, and his ministers urge him to marry. But Suro refuses their suggestions, declaring that he will only marry according to the command of heaven. One day, the king commands his ministers to prepare to welcome the queen. Then, Heo Hwang-ok, princess of the country of Ayuta, arrives in Gaya by ship and marries Suro, following her parents' command. The king of the heavenly world had appeared in a dream to Heo Hwang-ok's parents and commanded them to send their daughter to Gaya to marry Suro. Suro and Heo Hwang-ok hold a magnificent wedding. Together, the king and his queen will rule the country well.
This myth consists of three sub-plots. First, there is the story about the Gaya people's acceptance of Suro as their king. Second, there is the story of Suro emerging from the egg, growing up, and being enthroned as king, and then defeating a rival to his rule in the form of Talhae. Third, there is the story of Suro and his consort, who is chosen by heaven, and the holding of a magnificent marriage.
One important characteristic of this myth is the New Year's greeting. It contains a ritual wherein the people climb a mountain and tap the ground, singing and dancing to greet a sacred king who has descended from heaven. The lyrics of that song are provided. "Turtle, turtle, stick out your head / If you do not, I shall bake and eat you." This song may be regarded as a song that carries with it certain shamanistic powers, and which calls out for the appearance of a new king. In the East, the turtle symbolizes long life, fecundity, and abundance, while the action of a turtle stretching out its head represents the appearance of a leader.
The main component of the second sub-plot is the competition between Suro and Talhae. Talhae is both the founder of Silla's Seok dynasty and a sacred figure born of an egg. Each of these two sacred figures takes measure of the other's power of transformation, turning into various animals in the course of a competition for the throne. Suro is able to win by always transforming into an animal one-level higher than that of Talhae. There is another example of sacred figures competing by flaunting their skill in transformation; this is when Haemosu, the first king of Buyeo, demonstrates his abilities to Habaek, the father of Yuhwa and the god of the river. When Habaek turns into a carp, Haemosu turns into an otter and captures it, and when Habaek turns into a deer and runs away, Haemosu turns into a wolf and stalks him, and, finally, when Habaek turns into a pheasant, Haemosu turns into a hawk. In this way, it seems that a feature of Korean myths is the inclusion of sacred figures that show off their ability to metamorphose into different creatures. Indeed, this ability may be posited as a primary qualification of a sacred being. Lastly, and importantly, it is notable that this myth deals with sacred marriage between king and queen. In Korean mythology, the union of sacred figures is an important subject, with the marriage of founding kings or the marriage of their parents being a recurrent theme in Korean foundation myths. In the Dangun myth, the marriage of Hwanung and Ungnyeo is of central importance, while in the myth of Jumong, the union of HaemosuThe main component of the second sub-plot is the competition between Suro and Talhae. Talhae is both the founder of Silla's Seok dynasty and a sacred figure born of an egg. Each of these two sacred figures takes measure of the other's power of transformation, turning into various animals in the course of a competition for the throne. Suro is able to win by always transforming into an animal one-level higher than that of Talhae. There is another example of sacred figures competing by flaunting their skill in transformation; this is when Haemosu, the first king of Buyeo, demonstrates his abilities to Habaek, the father of Yuhwa and the god of the river. When Habaek turns into a carp, Haemosu turns into an otter and captures it, and when Habaek turns into a deer and runs away, Haemosu turns into a wolf and stalks him, and, finally, when Habaek turns into a pheasant, Haemosu turns into a hawk. In this way, it seems that a feature of Korean myths is the inclusion of sacred figures that show off their ability to metamorphose into different creatures. Indeed, this ability may be posited as a primary qualification of a sacred being.
Lastly, and importantly, it is notable that this myth deals with sacred marriage between king and queen. In Korean mythology, the union of sacred figures is an important subject, with the marriage of founding kings or the marriage of their parents being a recurrent theme in Korean foundation myths. In the Dangun myth, the marriage of Hwanung and Ungnyeo is of central importance, while in the myth of Jumong, the union of Haemosu and Yuhwa plays an important part. In the myth of Hyeokgeose, Aryeong is born of a dragon from a well on the very same day that Hyeokgeose is born. These two figures grow up to be married. Then there is Suro of Gaya, who greets Heo Hwang-ok upon her arrival from across the sea, and whose marriage may be read as an interaction with an outside group from an advanced culture. A similar case is found in the Samseong mythology, or the myth of the three surnames of Jeju Island, where the first three kings - bearing the surnames of Go, Yang, and Bu - marry princesses from Japan. Sacred marriages in Korean myths represent two distinct phenomena, namely, the union between an outsider and a native, and interaction with foreign cultural elements. The marriage in the Suro myth may be considered a typical example of the latter.
Infokorea 2021
Infokorea is a magazine that introduces Korea to readers overseas, including teachers, textbook developers and other educators. The magazine offers the latest statistics on the Republic of Korea and articles that focus on Korean culture, society and history, which can be used as a reference source for textbook writers and editors and as materials for teachers to prepare for class. The theme of the 2021 issue was 'Myths of Korea'.
Infokorea is a magazine that introduces Korea to readers overseas, including teachers, textbook developers and other educators. The magazine offers the latest statistics on the Republic of Korea and articles that focus on Korean culture, society and history, which can be used as a reference source for textbook writers and editors and as materials for teachers to prepare for class. The theme of the 2021 issue was 'Myths of Korea'.
