The
Magic Money bag
A
Korean folk tale
A long time ago there
was a young couple who lived in a small thatched hut in a gully. They were so
poor that every day they had to cut two bundles of firewood and carry them to
market on their backs.
One day, the young
couple came back from the mountain carrying the firewood. They put one bundle
in the courtyard and planned to sell it at the market the next day to buy rice.
The other bundle they kept in the kitchen for their own use. When they woke up the
following morning, the bundle in the courtyard had mysteriously disappeared.
There was nothing to do but to sell the bundle which they had kept for
themselves.
That same day, they
cut another two bundles of firewood as usual. They put one bundle in the
courtyard for market and kept the other bundle for their own use. But the
following morning, the bundle in the courtyard had vanished again. The same
thing happened on the third and fourth day as well, and the husband began to
think there was something strange going on.
On the fifth day, he
made a hollow in the bundle of firewood in the courtyard and hid himself inside
it. From the outside it looked just the same as before. At midnight an enormous
rope descended from the sky, attached itself to the bundle and lifted it up
into the sky, with the woodcutter still inside it.
On his arrival in
heaven, he saw a kindly looking, white-haired old man coming in his direction.
The old man untied the bundle and when he found the man inside it, he asked,
"Other people only cut one bundle of firewood a day. Why do you cut
two?"
The woodcutter made a
bow and replied, "We are penniless. That's why my wife and I cut two
bundles of firewood a day. One bundle is for our own use and the other we carry
to the market. With it we can buy rice to make porridge."
The old man chuckled
and said to the woodcutter in a kind
voice, "I've known for a long time that you are a decent couple and
lead a frugal and hard-working life. I shall give you a piece of treasure. Take
it back with you and it will provide you with your livelihood."
As soon as he had
finished speaking, there came seven fairies who led the young man into a
magnificent palace. Its golden eaves and gleaming roof tiles shone so brightly
that the moment he entered, he could no longer open his eyes. Inside the palace
there were many kinds of rare objects on display that he had never seen before.
Money bags of all shapes and sizes hung in one room. The fairies asked him,
"Which one do you like best? Choose whichever you want, and take it
home."
The woodcutter was
beside himself with joy, "I'd like that money bag, the one full of
precious things. Give me that round, bulging one." He chose the biggest
one and took it down.
Just at this moment,
the white-haired old man came in and, with a stern expression on his face, said
to the young man, "You cannot take that one. I'll give you an empty one.
Every day you can take one piece of silver out of it, and no more." The
woodcutter reluctantly agreed. He took the empty bag and, clinging onto the
enormous rope, he was lowered to the ground.
Once home, he gave
the money bag to his wife and told her the whole story. She was very excited.
In the daytime they went as usual to cut firewood. But from then on, whenever
they returned home after dark, they would close the door and open the money
bag. Instantly, a piece of silver would roll jingling out. When they weighed it
on the palm of their hands, they found it to be exactly one dollar. Every day
one dollar of silver and no more came rolling out of the bag. The wife saved
them up one by one.
Time went slowly by.
One day the husband suggested, "Let's buy an ox."
The wife didn't
agree. A few days later, the husband suggested again, "How about buying a
few acres of land?"
His wife didn't agree
with that either. A few more days elapsed, and the wife herself proposed,
"Let's build a little thatched cottage."
The husband was
anxious to spend all the money they had saved and said, "Since we have so
much money, why don't we build a big brick house?"
The wife could not
dissuade her husband and reluctantly went along with his idea.
The husband spent the
money on bricks, tiles and timber and on hiring carpenters and masons. From
that time on, neither of them went into the mountain to cut firewood any more.
The day came when their pile of silver was almost finished, but the new house
was still unfinished. It had long been in the back of the husband's mind to ask
the money bag to produce more silver. So without his wife's knowledge, he
opened the bag for a second time that day. Instantly, another piece of silver rolled jingling out of the bag onto
the ground. He opened it a third time and received a third piece.
He thought to
himself, "If I go on like this, I can get the house finished in no
time!" He quite forgot the old man's warning. But when he opened the bag
for the fourth time, it was absolutely empty. This time not a scrap of silver
came out of it. It was just an old cloth bag. When he turned to look at his
unfinished brick house, that was gone also. There before him was his old
thatched hut.
The woodcutter felt
very sad. His wife came over and consoled him, "We can't depend on the
magic money bag from heaven. Let's go back to the mountain to cut firewood like
we did before. That is a more dependable way of earning a living."
From that day on, the
young couple once again went up to the mountain to cut firewood and led their
old, hard-working life.
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