Dokkaebi
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 A picture of a dokkaebi. |
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Dokkaebi is a common word for a type of spirit in Korean folklore or fairy tales.
The Dokkaebi is a mythical being that appears in many old Korean folktales. Although usually frightening, it could also represent a humorous, grotesque-looking sprite or goblin. These creatures loved mischief and playing mean tricks on bad people and they rewarded good people with wealth and blessings. Dokkaebi are described as the transformed spirits of inanimate objects. The most common objects said to become Dokkaebi are usually useful everyday implements that have been abandoned by their owners or left in perpetual disuse, and include such wide-ranging objects as brooms, fireplace pokers, pestles, flails, and sometimes even trees smeared with maiden's blood.
They are roughly analogous to the oni of Japanese folklore, but the Korean Dokkaebi traditionally has one leg[citations needed]. Popular culture, such as role-playing games, usually gives Dokkaebi two legs instead of one. Another difference between Dokkaebi and Oni is that the former is commonly neither harmful nor formidable.[citation needed]
They are different from ghosts (귀신) in that they are not formed by the death of a human being, but rather by the transformation of an inanimate object.
[edit] Characteristics
Different versions of the Korean Dokkaebi mythology assign different attributes to them. In some cases they are considered harmless but nevertheless mischievous, usually playing pranks on people or challenging wayward travellers for a ssireum (Korean wrestling) match for the right of passage.
Most Dokkaebi to carry a kind of club or mallet called a dokkaebi bangmang'i (도깨비 방망이). They are like magic wands, from which you can summon anything you want. Unfortunately, when you get something by using it, you get things by "stealing" from someone else, because this bangmang'i can only summon existing things, and it doesn't create objects out of thin air.
Dokkaebi love to play games, especially Si-rum as mentioned above. They are extremely good at it and one will never be able to beat them by trying to push them from the left side. However, they are very weak on the right side. In other stories one should hook their leg and push them to win, as they have only one leg.
Dokkaebi can also have a cap which is called dokkaebi gamtu (도깨비 감투). Its most well-known ability is that it gives the wearer invisibility, as 'Predator bio helmet'.
