Korean Folk-tales

by James Riordan

Here are Dan-Gun, the first emperor, whose mother was a bear; Shim Chung, who sacrificed herself to the sea to restore her father's sight, and the magistrate who tried to steal the Dragon King's daughter. The traditional Korean tales in this collection are full of amazing events and characters
typical of the Far Eastern folklore. Sad, happy, romantic, and funny, together these tales bring vividly to life the magic of Korea.

(reissue of ISBN 0-19-274160-8)

Genres: Fantasy, Short Stories, Childrens, Folk Tales, Mythology

144 pages, Paperback

First published December 15, 1994

About the author

Riōdan, Jeimuzu 1936-2012
Riordan, Dž.
Riordan, Džejms.
Riordan, James
Riordan, James William 1936-2012
Riordan, Jim, 1936-2012

James Riordan (10 October 1936 – 10 February 2012) was an English novelist, broadcaster, sports historian, association football player and Russian scholar.

Well known for his work Sport in Soviet Society, the first academic look at sport in the Soviet Union, and for his children's novels.

Reviews

[Bahman Bahman · Rating 2 out of 5]

"كودكان و نوجوانان در مجموعه حاضر ترجمه ده افسانه از سرزمین كره را مطالعه خواهند كرد .اسامی افسانه‌ها عبارت‌اند از : ((دختر بافنده و پسر چوپان))، ((سون نیو و هیزم‌شكن جوان))، ((زن حلزونی))، ((سفر طولانی))، ((گور پلنگ))، ((چگونه گربه كهربای جادویی را حفظ كند))، ((جزیره عروس))، ((شاهزاده خانم دماغ دراز))، ((چماق جادویی)) و ((سه زن فداكار)) .افسانه((جزیره عروس)) درباره زن جوانی است كه یك ماه پس از ازدواج، شوهرش به سختی مریض می‌شود . او برای درمان همسر، همه دارایی و وسایل خانه را می‌فروشد، اما حاصلی در برندارد .تا این كه پیرزنی پیش‌گو به زن جوان می‌گوید داروی درمان شوهرش گیاهی است كه در جزیره‌ای پر خطر می‌روید .با این همه ...."

[Jackson Cho · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good book of Korean folk tales! It's not very long at all, but I was impressed with getting the gist of the stories without getting too bogged down in one particular version of a story. Nothing brilliant but does its job well!

[J.Z.N. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Several of these tales, either in their entirety or elements, resembled that of Russian, Irish, Japanese, and Greek that I've enjoyed in other folktale collections. Loved the whole book, even the few tales that were rather disturbing/frightening. ;)

[Jenneth Graser · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very interesting glimpse into Korean culture through folk tales, amusing, some sad, and honouring of humility, and selflessness, against all forms of greed, I found these folk tales to be a lovely taste of Korean customs and beliefs.

[John Armstrong · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book aimed at a general audience with no introduction and no indication of sources. But it includes most of the "greatest hits" of Korean traditional tales and seems to treats them fairly well in the "retelling".

[Kita · Rating 4 out of 5]

This collection of Korean Folk-tales was very entertaining. They were retold, so I'm not positive about how much of it is accurate to the original stories, but like tales from other countries, these stories shared very similar plot-lines and/or themes as tales from other cultures. Despite the similarities, I could easily see what distinguishes these tales as Korean.
An example of this is entitles: The Sun, The Moon, and The Stars, which is very much a Korean version of Red Riding Hood. Instead of a girl going towards a wolf that tricks her by giving excuses for its appearance, the story centers around three girls who are approached by a tigers disguised as their mother.
(Aside from the names of course), the villains/negative characters were frequently characters such as the tiger, fox, and ttakaebi, and the heroes were often either clever, virtuous, and/or wise, thus promoting those qualities.
The writing was a little choppy in certain places, but overall, this was very entertaining.

4/5

[Andrea Itta · Rating 4 out of 5]

wonderfully insightful into the Korean culture.

[Ahk · Rating 4 out of 5]

Choi chum ji the miser and fish soup. Cat dog and magic amber.