The Deer and the Woodcutter. Kim So-Un

      

      Cultural Background

      The Deer and the Woodcutter is a Korean folktale that has been handed down by word of mouth from one generation to the next. It has been told by grandparents to their grandchildren, huddled on the heated floors of Korean homes in the dead of winter, with the cold snow-laden winds raging outside; repeated in the yards of Korean homes to children seated on straw mats in the cool of a summer evening; and shared by farmer folk as they rested from their work in the fields in the shade of a nearby tree.

      The author, Kim So-un, first heard The Deer and the Woodcutter when he was a child. He hopes that a wider audience will now enjoy this story, and that readers will feel a kindred spirit with the people of ancient Korea. Kim So-un is also the author of Korean Children’s Favorite Stories.

      

A Korean Folktale

      by Kim So-un

       illustrations by Jeong Kyoung-Sim

      TUTTLE PUBLISHING

       Boston • Rutland, Vermont • Tokyo

      Published by Tuttle Publishing, an imprint of Periplus Editions (HK) Ltd, with editorial offices at 364 Innovation Drive, North Clarendon, VT 05759 U.S.A. and 61 Tai Seng Avenue, #02-12 Singapore 534167

      Illustrations © 2005 Jeong Kyoung-Sim Text © 2005 Periplus Editions (HK) Ltd All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

      LCC Card No: 2004110838

       ISBN: 978-1-4629-1053-3 (ebook)

       First printing, 2005

      Printed in Singapore

      09 08 07 06 05 04

       7 6 5 4 3 2 1

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       North America, Latin America & Europe

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       Website: www.tuttlepublishing.com

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      Long, long ago, at the foot of the Kumgang Mountains, there lived a poor woodcutter. He lived alone with his mother, as he had not yet married. Every day he would go into the mountains to cut wood, as that was his job.

      One fine autumn day, when the red maple trees flamed everywhere, the woodcutter went as usual to chop wood in the forest. Soon he was hard at his work. Suddenly a stately deer came running out of the forest. He was panting and seemed on the point of falling with exhaustion.

      “Save me, please!” the deer cried. “A hunter is chasing me!” And he looked back in fear, expecting the hunter to come out of the woods at any moment.

      The woodcutter felt sorry for the deer. “Here, I’ll help you,” he said. “Quick, hide under these branches.”

      The woodcutter covered the deer with a small tree he had just felled.

      No sooner had he done this than a hunter appeared, carrying a gun.

      “Say!” the hunter said. “Didn’t a deer come running this way?”

      “Yes,” the woodcutter answered, “but he kept on going that way.” The hunter quickly ran in the direction the woodcutter had pointed.