Like the tale of the rabbit's liver, the story of Heungbu and Nolbu has a long history of being passed down in verbal renditions. It, too, is one of the five remaining original pansori songs, being known as Heunbu's Song, or the Heungbuga, or as Nolbu's Tale, the Nolbujeon, or by other names.

Heungbu and Nolbu are brothers, yet lead very different life-styles. One is poor and the other is rich.

One day, a pair of swallows builds a nest and starts a family under kind Heungbu's roof. Heungbu discovers on the ground a fallen baby bird with a broken leg. He treats it and nurses it back to health. As a token of thanks for his good deed, the swallow gives Heungbu a gourd seed which grows into a gourd filled with gold, silver and all sorts of precious things. This makes Heungbu a wealthy man.

Upon hearing of his brother's fortune, Nolbu breaks the leg of a swallow on purpose and then fixes it. From the gourd seed that he receives from the swallow, grows only great misfortune, making Nolbu lose all he once had.

With this stamp series, printed on Children's Day, May 5, 1970, the folktale series of stamps comes to an end.

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

Korea Post has also provided a video that introduces its series of folktale stamps.