Heungbu and Nolbu

Hungbu and Nolbu is a story written in the late Chosen Dynasty (1392–1897) by an unknown person. (Naver Dictionary) "Heungbu and Nolbu" was set down about 200 years ago,^[1] and was passed down through generations and is now told as a bedtime story for all Korean children.

The story of Hungbu and Nolbu.

Hungbu and Nolbu were brothers. The older one, Nolbu, was very greedy but the younger one, Hungbu, was kind and empathetic. One day, Hungbu and Nolbu's father died and ordered them to split his fortune in half. However, Nolbu kicked Hungbu's family out to have the fortune all to himself. So Hungbu and his family lived in poverty.^[2]

One day, a snake was climbing up the tree in Hungbu's house in order to eat a swallow. Hungbu chased the snake away and fixed the swallow's broken leg. The following spring,the swallow's family came back and gave Hungbu a seed as a thank-you present. Hungbu planted the seed in his backyard until it grew into a giant plant with hard shells named gourds. When Hungbu and his family split the gourd in half, they found Gemstone jewels, money and a new house. In other words, they became very wealthy.

The rumor that Hungbu became rich spread throughout the whole town and reached Nolbu. Without hesitation, Nolbu met Hungbu and asked him how he got rich so quickly. Nolbu heard the secret and did the same, except he broke a swallow's leg himself. The swallow brought Nolbu a gourd seed the following spring, and Nolbu planted it. When he split his gourds open,elements of destruction came out. Nolbu and his wife suddenly became poor and asked Hungbu to forgive them and they lived together happily ever after.

Names like "Hungbu" and "Nolbu" might be unfamiliar to people in other countries but the moral that good deeds bring you wealth and luck is similar to any other folk tale in the world. This story has cultural value in Korea because it carries values of Korean people that eldest sons are the most important. Recently, "Heungbu and Nolbu" was published in an American textbook named "Literary Place 2, 3", which has added an extra credibility to the story because it spread Korean culture

Older version

The older version is longer and contains an extra element.

This tale centers around a perverse man called Nol-boo. An organ filled with vice (simsulbo) protruded from under his left rib cage. He is the most greedy, perverse and heartless character in Korean literature.^[3]

Among his listed favorite activities are:

• dancing at a funeral
• killing a dog during a birthing
• forcing excrement into the mouth of a crying baby
• fanning the flames of a burning house
• taking a debtors wife as payment
• grabbing the nape of an elderly man
• relieving himself in a well
• poking holes in rice paddies
• driving stakes through green pumpkins
• stomping on the back of a hunchback
• pushing down on a man squatting to relieve himself to cause him to sit in his own excrement
• kicking the chin of a disabled man
• wielding a stick at a dealer in pottery
• stealing bones from graves
• breaking an engagement by spreading malicious rumors
• scuttling a ship in high seas
• punching a boil on a man's face
• slapping the cheek of a man with a toothache, and
• opening the lid of a neighbors bean sauce jar in the rain.

He was rich, but miserly. Instead of making real offerings to his ancestors, he wrote words on pieces of paper. He had no wife.

He had a brother, named Hung-boo, who was his opposite, poor but good-natured. One day, Hung-boo found a swallow with a broken leg. He cared for the swallow and in the late summer the swallow flew south with its family. The next spring the swallow returned and dropped a gourd seed to him. He planted the seed in his thatch and it was soon groaning with the weight of the gourds. In the autumn, he and his wife used a saw to open the gourds, which were packed with jewelry and gold.

When Nol-boo heard about it, his simsulbo ("a bag of perverseness") began to ache. He caught a swallow, broke its leg and tied it with splints. The bird flew south and returned with a seed the next year. However, out of Nol-boo's gourds emerged monsters that kicked his buttocks, yanked his beard and sapped his wealth. One gourd spewed excrement on him when it was opened.^[3]

References