hah?? we have the same folkstale with Korean
I am Indonesian btw... I even have the big painting in my parent's house just like the pictures above...
waaaa...
Thank You JB, your blog is always awesome

i have always loved this song, but as i don't speak korean, and never bothered to look it up, i had no clue what this song was about!!!

thanks so much for the insight!

Doncha just want to smack the woodcutter in the head? I understand why children are told this story...so they'd be weary of weird preverted men. Men are so desperate for a wife he needed to trick her first? What happend to the kids since they are half human? Sorry to be weird but I do like to look beyond the actual storry. Thanks for sharing this.

Oh my, JB, I can see why you came away rather..uh...disenchanted after this was told to you. Falls into that category of 'Things that make you go "Hmmm"'.

I remember taking a class that explained that a myth came to be taken as truth by a people because it was the only (or best) way to explain a certain happening or phenomenon and it withstood the test of time. After a long enough while, there is no line separating myth from truth.

As with most cultures, Hawaiians have their myths, and this tale reminds me of some of them, not in the details, but in the feeling and the questions it left me with: What am I to learn from this? How did this come about? Why is this one still around? Should I lose any sleep over this? The answers to the first three questions may not be clear cut, but my answer to the last one is an easy "no" when I consult my conscience and the values I hold true. This is a good remedy for this confusing, mixed-message kind of tale. Still makes ya wanna go "hmmmm".

Very very interesting post about this. That truly is, a very bad fairytale. Then again, most Western ones as well, are completely insane. We have to remember that fairytales are still stories written by adults. And they always show the ideals and beliefs of the times they were writen in.

Of course a woman who is forced to marry a guy and have kids with him should be happy. He gave her kids! That's all women need! :P I mean, I don't see East Asian countries as the most woman-friendly in the world so such a story doesn't surprise me.

Indeed, fairytales don't ruin people, but they do create bad role models. What romantic girl doesn't dream of a perfect Prince Charming cause of all the fairytales and damn Disney movies? :P
Girls grow up believing there actually are such handsome and perfect men, not to mention that every fairytale princess is this pretty and cute creature with no brains who needs nothing but her looks and cuteness to win the prince over.
And then we wonder why the world keeps getting more and more bimbos.

I think childhood and early adolescence are very important times in a person's life and the role models, ideas, morals etc provided should be things that depict the real world we live in and what's really right, not just what sells.

I hadn't heard the song before (which now I quite like... I think) or heard of the fairy tale. So I doubly appreciate the retelling and the analysis. The possessiveness in Asian drama I always find uncomfortable... I loved Domyouji (and also Gu Jun Pyo, though differently), and still admire his single-minded devotion (hence I can't abide the Taiwanese version, have even blocked out his name on the basis of that travesty that was Season 2), but his wooing methods were questionable, at best. You're absolutely right, when the possessiveness is contained within the OTP it is totally forgivable, even desirable. But outside of couple whose happy ending we count on, it's irritating, unnerving and in some cases, bordering on illegal, and often rouses anger and violence in the viewer. Good point.

Anyway, I appreciated this thoughtful essay. Thanks!

well...we have "Jaka Tarub" legend in Javanese culture in Indonesia :)
it's surprised me that almost many countries have similar traditional story /legend.
Thanks JB :)

In my studies I've actually come across variations of this legend/myth/faerie tale in a number of cultures; I must say that your rendition is my favorite ^_^

It has always bothered me on a number of levels, the whole premise of gaining a spouse via deceit and selfishness, but as the practice is certainly not unheard of in human history it only stands to reason that it would have worked it's way into our lore. Now, we can just hope that the kids who hear the stories today are able to discern what is wrong about it, and learn from that as well.

Thanks again for these Pop Culture articles!!

this is an amazing post. thank you, jb! i actually came across this story before in a manhwa called faeries' landing. interestingly enough, the manhwa took the side of the woodcutter and ~his~ children, and demonized the fairy mother. even then, i found myself sympathizing with the fairy's side of the story and totally understood why the manhwa version of the fairy fiercely hated the woodcutter, no matter how hard the artist tried to make her out to be a bad mother or wife.

Hi, thanks for this, i've felt like this over fairytale since I was a child.

You might like Sara Bareilles Fairytale, if you have not already heard it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJYUgz5xUco

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2cGQoPmefyA&feature=related
This one is better - well more fun.

LOL.

I know this fairytale...with some deviations. Chinese have the same. But I'm kinda muddled about how the ending went. There's just too many folk tales from China add on with the fairytales from the West that I kinda got a bit lost.

Did they become so sad that every year on the 7th of July, a group of swallows will form a bridge between heaven and earth so that the separated lovers can meet only once? LOL. I think it's another story. O__O

Interestingly though, either I'm quite the ignoramus or sadist, cause I thought the story was romantic (well, I only remember the wifey part) LOL. -__-

@ck1Oz:
you can tell ur kids about Sound of Music, Mary Poppins, Annie and all that nice musicals. LOL. I think nowadays kids lack those stories.

BTW. No one should ever sing "Rock a bye Baby" as a lullaby. Nursery rhymes aren't really for the nursery. Really.

Ooh, my first comment on this site.

LOL, Korean folk tales. I remember one where a man got rich by rolling on the ground all day, and another where a family got into turmoil because they'd never seen a mirror before (for example, the wife saw herself in the mirror and thought her husband had brought home another lady who wasn't even pretty XD).

I always did think the woodcutter was a perv. I seem to remember one version where she did have three kids, but she carried the third one between her feet, heh.

Thanks for the awesome post. :) Your website is awesome.

Good tale, but I’m not surprised as to why it’s messed up. It’s a fairy tale after all.

I read Grimms' Fairy Tales (not the Disney-fied versions) several times when I was a kid, and found them delightful and entertaining. Horrifying at times, but I wouldn’t say I was disturbed.

Years hence, read them again, and I found them riddled with sex, horror and violence, it was quite amusing. Rapunzel and her prince pretty much fornicated when they met. The tale of Hansel and Gretel (it’s got sadism, cruelty to children, cannibalism, etc.) is the ultimate social worker’s nightmare. Cat-skin is just yuck, about incest (and the story is quite straightforward about it).

It’s no wonder fairy tale themes make good fodder for horror and melodrama, or maybe the latter are just fairy tales of the day.

And maybe children are just wired differently.

i'm glad i read the story...i only hear this from variety shows, but never actually knew the story of "the fairy & the woodcutter."

Very interesting and educational...
And trust me, there are more uncomprehendable fairytales from all side of the world... Western, Chinese, Asian etc...

I always wonder how will things be like on the other side of the coin... thus reading this is refreshing... like what ifs and what not... right or wrong is another concept totally.

@Qwenli = 嫦娥奔月
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Houyi
This is the hubby, the wife is the one that flew to the moon...
And as kid I think she stay on the moon with only a bunny for company...

Folklores!

I love myths and legends. Not all are exactly good, but they sure become thought provoking.

@50

the more accurate comparision i think is Legend of The Cowherd and the Weaver Girl 牛郎织女 , it is one of the four classic chinese folktale and there is a day in the calender to marked the reunion of the couple ,which happen once a year. this is suppose to be a great love story but i think the korean version make some revisoin

there is a reason why the cow told the cowherd about getting the weaver fairy as his wife because they were supposedly lovers up in heaven but he was banished to earth as this is forbidden up in heaven . so that is why it indicate a continuation of their destiny
http://ilearn-culture.com/folklore-cowherd-and-the-weaver-girl/

but the cowherd didnt die nor he went up to heaven . they compromise by having them met once per year on the 7th day of the 7th month

the tale is really a way to explain the stars formation and the milky way in a romantic way . there is another tale with fairy falling in love with the commoner named Dong Yong ， 董永与七仙女 but that one is more focus on the Filial piety of dong yong but i think he also never went up to the heaven .but remain on earth with the son and when the son grow up , he was the one who went to steal the clothes of the seventh fiary to make the mother stay .something like that ~

http://traditions.cultural-china.com/en/13Traditions353.html

Fantastic post!
I love fairy tales, mostly because they're so dark.
I agree that just about every culture has some folk/fairy tale about the folly of a man/woman who disregards advice and winds up losing what he/she has gained.

Thanks for describing the Korean version of this story! I hadn't heard of it before, but it sounds like there's some version of this story everwhere!

Here's what Greek/Roman mythology do with goddess, hunter and deer:

Diana (Artemis) the beautiful virgin goddess is secretly watched by a young hunter as she bathes naked in a stream. Diana discovers him, and is afraid he will boast of what he's seen. She turns him into a stag - and he is torn apart by his own hounds.

And yeah, original fairy tales/myths were dark and not necessarily with happy endings--and therefore much more interesting and dimensional than the bland fluffy stuff people call fairy tales today. Loved the Brothers Grimm series.

The tame Disneyfied fairy tales we tell in America today also feel "wrong", too, but in the opposite direction. They reflect our society's glorification of childhood which is essentially dragged out 2+ decades, and the idea that children' can't handle or shouldn't be exposed to ambiguity or anything but sugary happiness.

Dunno if Korean fairytale histories are anything like Western Europe's, but those stories weren't supposed to be for kids at all... They were supposed to be horrifying bloodbaths with lots of death and sex to make sure you kept paying attention, so more like blockbusters than art films or kidlit. Afaik, the "fairy" part of fairy tale was really about the outside or otherness of the social or ethical spaces explored in the stories. Morals had very little to do with those. (France had its Contes et Fables, which were moral stories, but those were also told to the courts and not necessarily the children.)

bravo jb!

i agree that there should be a stop to this wrist grabbing thing in kdrama land. it really is weird how we turn giddy when the hero follows the girl around to make sure she is safe or whatever, but another person who will do this other than the hero (or the super handsome kind hearted second lead) will be called a stalker.

this post is another blockbuster.

yay ft island (never really liked them until their third (?) album where this song was featured. barae and marry me are cute and uppity and adorable and basically like jeremy in you're beautiful xD)

i grew up reading these fairytales in both english and korean and i used to get annoyed too. i was a bit of a raging feminist then - by that, i mean stomping on boys' toes and screaming at them and stealing their food. ahem. but this was mad interesting, and i love how you're highlighting some of the deeper stuff in korean culture.

"i agree that there should be a stop to this wrist grabbing thing in kdrama land. it really is weird how we turn giddy when the hero follows the girl around to make sure she is safe or whatever, but another person who will do this other than the hero (or the super handsome kind hearted second lead) will be called a stalker.

this post is another blockbuster."

@shin mi rae you just exactly said what i was about to say!!

Sometimes leads who hates their parents because of their mischievous past are excused and most of the time we cry with them accusing their parents how dare them keep the secret.. but when it is the second lead who has a family issues.. seldom we care..

wew what a coincidence, Indonesian grew up with this kind of story too. It's titled Jaka Tarub! :D

Wow I just love all these pop culture and glossary posts. It's really fun to read yours and Girlfriday's takes on such issues and cliches.

I have never heard of this folk tale before, although I have heard of the FT Island song (yes, I've been listening to them cos of You're Beautiful too!), so this was very interesting and new to me. A lot of fairytales have actually bothered me; such as Cinderella, the Little Mermaid (though it's my favourite), Hansel and Gretel, etc, since they make an rather sinister story seem happy and lovely.Eek goosebumps.

Thanks for this post! (:

JB: the only thing I've ever seen from the POV of he kidnapped woman is an Indian film called "Pinjar", or "Cage". It was an extremely heartwrenching (most likely true) tale set during the partition between India and Pakistan. A young Hindu woman, , is kidnapped by a Muslim man, Rashid, and is essentially forced to become his wife. She of course detests and despises him but she finds that is trapped with him: when she eventually runs away back home to her parents, she finds that it is too dangerous lest the Muslim majority should come and attack the Hindu minority in the area.

Heartbroken, she returns to her husbands house and despises him even more. She resents having any relations with him and there's a strange relief when she miscarries his child since it is essentially from rape. Yet she finds out that Rashid has fallen in love with her and did not want to abduct her but was forced to by his family, due to a complicated family enmity with Puro's family.

They rally again together when she finds out that her sister-in-law has suffered the same fate and she vows to help her. She infiltrates the house and manages to break out her sister-in-law. When they return her sister-in-law home Puro is asked by the man who was first betrothed to her to come back and marry but Puro declines: she cannot leave her husband now. It ends with Puro saying that with every daughter returned home think that Puro returned with her.

 It's completely heart-wrenching and extremely difficult to watch but I recommend it: at the end of the day Partition did occur and destroyed many, many lives, regardless of religion or nationality.

Wikipedia has a more in-depth plot summary (which defeats the point but anyway...)

Great job! I love looking at stories in different cultures. I really think that, like dramas and other forms of media, they reflect the cultures they come from and really illuminate issues that plague those cultures. As such an examination they are relevant, and I love thinking about them like this! Which is basically what you said. However, if you haven't yet, you should read Neil Gaiman's American Gods- he is wonderful at taking myths and legends from different cultures and looking at them in a totally new way. Norse mythology is generally at the center of things, but you see mentions of asian and other fairy tales as well. In a sense, his stories follow the attitude of fairy tales, even respect them, while often subverting or poking fun at them.

A great series is the FABLES graphic novels. In the story, characters from mythology and fairy tales live in the land of fables, but fled to our world 300 hundred years ago when the Adversary began terrorizing their lands. As you can imagine, they've all got interesting personalities and an underlying theme of the story is the life our beliefs give them. Anyway, now that I've gone completely off subject... awesome post and I would love to see more like this, especially with all the gumiho stuff coming out. It sounds like both of those dramas are taking the classics in a whole new direction, and I'm excited to see your opinion. Scraps of asian mythology have come through with Miyazaki movies, manga, and some kids fairy tales I've picked up trying to learn Japanese, but I still don't know a lot about Asian fairy tales and I would love to learn more.

hmm... this is so similar to the anime story ayashi no ceres. well, the foundation of the story. didn't know that it was a korean fairytale. i thought it was of japanese origin.

this is a classic example of man's selfishness and that he often succumbs to satisfying his own happiness. it also shows man's vulnerability, how easily he could be persuaded, make a decision and find himself getting bad results. great read, i'd say.

thank you for sharing this. i am looking forward for more.

Yeah we have a much like fairytale in Indonesia, If I'm not mistaken, it is Joko Tarub legend, right? I'm amazed too Korean has one similar. I never like this kind fairytale. And not too fond of fairytale like Cinderella, Sleeping beauty, Little mermaid, etc. Feel these fairytales are too much for me for some reasons. Girls have more things to do beside chasing/waiting after "perfect" love live. Sorry guys...

Hi, just want to tell you that Cambodians have a similar story but some part is different. There's also a classical dance of this story which is Khmer it is call " Preah Anuruth, Preah Neang Ousa" the prince Anuruth and princess Ousa. Here is a video of the dance and the summery of the story, if you interested Javabeans. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUryhxijhxY&feature=related

Start at 0:48.

my bad the name is Preah Sothun and Neag Monohara. Sorry

I think most of Asian cultures have this fairy left behind on earth coz some perverted guy steal her gown, I know Indonesia has one, but some parts are different, but the way JB re-tell the story sure open the pandora box of childhood awkwardness when hearing this story, you're right, when you hear the same story again now, that's no romance in it (spin all you want), I smell crime charges all over the place there haha.... anyhoo, this posting brighten up my day after war at work... :) :)

Haha! I always thought that about Jack and the Beanstalk. But in the same way you described, like it just bugged me as a kid and I couldn't really put into words why.

I still kinda like the song :) I think it's all meant innocuously, that he's not really being possessive but rather mostly trying to compare her with an angel. Taken a bit further, I can see how it would be sinister and gross, though.

so i'm back after actually reading through the post and now i vaguely remember reading this story in a picture book when i was a child lol. that fti song is one of my most frequently played fti tracks in my library too lol i didn't even realize what the lyrics were talking about....

you make very good points! i don't have anything to add except yes.. i'd love to hear the story from the fairy's point of view.

@ tori

Ayashi no Ceres the Japanese manga is based on the Japanese folk tale of their Tennyo (or Fairy Woman):

The famous Noh play is Hagoromo or 羽衣 (which means Feathered Cloth), about a fisherman that sees a fairy bathing and takes her magic feathered cloth and won't return it to her so she can't return to the sky....and so forth.

What a complete bastard. JB is right, these folktales are so misogynistic and male-ego oriented. It's no wonder they don't end it "but the fairy asked for it, why else was she bathing in public."

japan has the same folk tale. they also did an anime and manga of that. it was by watase yuu called 'ayashi no ceres'.. there you'll see the maiden plotting revenge against her own lineage lol

that was interesting XD
I love reading folk tales ^__^ ..
but it's kinda reminded me of one of the Arabian nights stories ..
it was something like this, stealing a fairy clothes and marring her eventually because he loved her :D

I enjoyed reading all the comments but as an artist I loved all the Illustrations you posted.
I have bought many Korean Folk Tale book just for the artwork alone as I can't read Korean.
The Japanese ones I have my children can translate.

Thanks for the great post today.

cheers, parsnip

I just wanted to say:
The basket picture is so pretty.
I absolutely love picture books-they're so beautiful!

Ahhh I have to go to school soon _._'' but I will definitely read this post straight after I come back home! Now I have something to look forward ^^

just want to say "like" to this post. all parts of it. i remember as a child not liking this story either. you're not too young to know right from wrong and a guy spying on women bathing and stealing her clothes so she has to get help from him is not at all ok.

I've been reading the comments to this post, and am interested by all the similar stories from around the world (I'm not so sure if a global fascination with kidnapping is such a great thing though. It would be nicer if we had other things in common).

As for me, I was reminded of the Broadway musical "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers," which was also a movie that I now guiltily admit that I enjoyed watching when I was little. The whole plot line deals with seven brothers kidnapping women & trying to make them fall in love with them before help arrives (erm, they have all winter because they caused an avalanche in the mountain pass leading up to the house).

Anyway, I guess as long as it's possible to kidnap someone & there are mediums like music, movies, and our beloved Kdramas, kidnapping for "the sake" of love will continue!

I admit, if Jang Geun Suk ever decided to kidnap someone (or be kidnapped!) in a drama... I might be tempted to watch >.>;;

I loved that song ;___;
Thank you for the meaning behind it

I finished reading the post. All I can say is wow. Wow wow wow wow. That is one of the most horrible fairytales i've ever heard. -__- I could go on criticizing the story forever and ever o.o it's promoting lots of horrible things. It sets a really bad example for young kids. My childhood would have been messed up if I heard that fairytale then o.o

Wonderful post and great comments, also.

Same kind of experience here in US growing up on Disney versions of classic fairy tales, and then being going back to read earlier versions to discover that they were way dark and very, very "Grimm". It seemed to me that they had been originally intended as cautionary tales - something on the order of "don't go walking in the forest alone - strangers will do bad things to you" or "it's a dangerous world out there."

There was a book by Bruno Betelheim called "Uses of Enchantment" that dealt with the whole business of fairy tales at great length.

As I recall, the "happy, happy, all the time" Disney versions were deemed "suitable for children", but Bambi's mom got shot and killed, and Dumbo's mom got confined and tortured. So much for "happy, happy, all the time" - maybe it was ok because they were animals...

At any rate, it's a special pleasure to get to hear comments/ideas from all over the world on this topic. Universal, no?

interesting topic. well-written. thanks jb!

@97 lauren:
if this is a common fairy tale told to korean kids, then there can be a way that it can be told positively with moral values, as i think most (if not all) fairy tales have moral values in them. perhaps you can refer to post #35all korean girl, she remembered this tale as a good story about obedience. and although I may have a hard time imagining how this could be toned down to be suitable for children, i'm not a child anymore. i now see the tale as an adult and definitely more informed, which makes whatever negative message this tale can convey to be taken more appropriately (i.e. for entertainment purposes only). so i think most of the "horrible" things you see (now that you're an adult) it promotes will not have been there if you have heard it when you were young. anyways, bottomline is, as a fairytale for children, this story can serve a good purpose.

Loved your rendition of the fairy tale!

"Sure the tale says she eventually grew to love her woodcutter, but there’s a term for making the best of traumatic kidnapping, and that’s Stockholm Syndrome." lol!

Witty comments aside, this was another really interesting post. Thanks JB!