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After winning the John Newbery Medal for the most distinguished children’s book in 2020 with “When You Trap a Tiger,” author Tae Keller said the book was inspired by a folktale that her Korean grandmother used to tell her.
The Korean folktale she was referring to was “The Sun and the Moon” that centers on two siblings and a tiger. Keller’s storybook also includes a tiger from a Korean folklore which appeared at a grandmother’s house to find something that was stolen.
During the exhibition “A Great Cultural Legacy: Masterpieces from the Bequest of the Late Samsung Chairman Lee Kun-hee” at the National Museum of Korea, held from July to September this year, there was a painting of “Tiger and Magpie” from the 19th century during the Joseon era.
The appearance of Keller’s tiger character and the tiger in the painting were not mere coincidences. Appearing frequently in Korean legends and art pieces, the animal is considered a national symbol and is associated with humor, bravery and nobility.
According to the Academy of Korean Studies’ database on folk literature, 1,283 stories include animals of the 12 Chinese zodiac signs. Among them, around 40 percent of them have a tiger in them.
During the Joseon era, tigers were considered the strongest beast that can provide protection and also a symbol of a person of virtue, so many hung paintings of the animal in their homes with hopes that they would drive away evil spirits and evoke blessings.
How did the tiger become so popular?
Tigers have been with Koreans from the very beginning.
The “Dangun Wanggeom” legend, which tells the story of how the first Korean kingdom was established, also has a tiger character in it.
In the legend, a tiger and a bear ask Hwanung -- the son of Hwanin, the lord of heaven -- to transform them into humans. Hwanung tells them they can become human if the two only eat garlic and sacred mugwort for 100 days while staying in a cave without seeing the sunlight. However, the impatient tiger gives up shortly after. The bear stays in the cave and on the 100th day, the bear becomes a woman and later becomes the mother of the founder of Korea’s first nation.
“It makes more sense to have more stories about bears since the legend says that the bear is the one that became human, but it is difficult to see folktales with bears in them in Korea,” National Folk Museum of Korea curator Kim Hyung-joo told The Korea Herald.
Although the specific reason behind the tiger’s influence on Korean culture remains a mystery, Kim said it could be partially due to its familiarity.
“There used to be lots of tigers in Korea. Different from now. Now we can only see them in zoos,” Kim said. ”There are also some records written by foreign travelers that show there were lots of tigers on the Korean Peninsula.“
According to Kim, “Korea and Her Neighbors” written by Isabella Bird Bishop around 120 years ago says, “Joseon people hunt tigers for half a year, and tigers hunt Koreans for the other half year.”
“To Koreans, the tiger is an animal that holds the emotions and culture of our people,” National Folk Museum official Kang Kyo-pyo said in the “Encyclopedia of Korean Folk Symbols: Tiger.”
By Song Seung-hyun (ssh@heraldcorp.com)
http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20211231000456
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