The Sun and Moon

In ancient times, Korea was quite different than it is nowadays. Due to the many mountains and dense forests, folktales usually involved tigers as the villain, as in the tale of the sun and the moon.

The first stamp of the 'Sun and Moon' series - A mother meets a tiger on her way home from work. (images courtesy of Korea Post)

The story of the sun and the moon is about a young brother and sister whose mother met a tiger on her way back from work. She was working at a fair on the far side of the mountains. She carried a basket of rice cakes, or tteok, on her head as she returned home.

As this slightly tragic tale then goes, the tiger encounters the woman on the way home and says, "I won't eat you in exchange for a piece of rice cake." It is still a well-used expression in modern conversations.

The mother drops the rice cake piece by piece on her way back home and, alas, she runs out of rice cake and is not spared from the tiger's maw.

However, the tiger's appetite has not been sated, so he takes the guise of the mother. The tiger puts on her clothes and heads home to the children.

The second stamp of the 'Sun and Moon' series - The tiger comes home dressed as the mother. (images courtesy of Korea Post)

The children somehow know that it's not their mother and climb up a tree alongside a well. Unhindered, the tiger attempts to climb the tree. The children cry out to the heavens for a rope to be lowered to save them from peril. To the tiger's chagrin, a rope indeed appears and they ascend to the sky.

The third stamp of the 'Sun and Moon' series - The tiger chases the brother and sister into a tree. (images courtesy of Korea Post)

Yet the tiger, still in hot pursuit, asks for a rope for himself. He, too, is granted a rope, but it is a rotten one. As he tries to follow the children into the sky, he fatally falls to his final death. The expression of a "rotten rope" is also still used today to refer to unreliable opportunities or connections.

The fourth stamp of the 'Sun and Moon' series - The tiger falls from a rotten rope. (images courtesy of Korea Post)

Ever after that tragic day, the brother and sister stayed in the sky as the sun and the moon.

This thriller of a folk tale has a similar Western equivalent, "Little Red Riding Hood," where a wolf takes the tiger's place. It also somewhat resembles "Hansel and Gretel," too, where siblings are the main character.

These 'Sun and Moon' stamps were printed on January 5, 1970.

By Paik Hyun
Korea.net Staff Writer
cathy@korea.kr