Hello, everyone. Welcome to “Korean Folktales,” our weekly corner about interesting Korean folk stories. I’m Emilee Jennings.

In Korea, people usually add one year to their age on New Year’s Day, rather than on their birthday. Some people who do not like the idea of getting old wait until the Lunar New Year’s Day or their official birthday. But in general, Koreans believe they get a year older when the New Year starts. Traditionally, age has been an important factor that determines the rank and the type of relationship among people. The respect for seniors is well seen in the following folktale.

Once upon a time, a deer, a rabbit and a toad argued over who should sit at the head of the table. They thought that the oldest one should be given the seat of honor but they couldn’t determine who the oldest animal was. So they agreed to prove their age.

First, the deer proudly said, “No matter what you say, I am older than you guys. Listen. When this world was created, someone attached stars to the sky. Of course, that someone was me. You have no idea what it was like. Even your ancestors were not born at the time.”

Upon hearing that, the rabbit burst into laughter. He said, “I remember someone climbed the ladder to fix the stars to the sky. But do you know who planted a tree that was later used as wood for the ladder? It was me. I planted the tree and grew it with great care for decades. I can tell you that I’m definitely older than the deer.”

While the deer was left speechless, the toad suddenly began to weep. The deer and the rabbit waited for the toad to calm down, when he said slowly and softly, “I just recalled my three sons who died before me. They each planted a tree. When the trees were fully grown, my first son cut the wood to make the handle of a hammer that was later used to attach the stars to the sky. My second son, with his own wood, made a plow for digging the Milky Way. And my third son used his wood to produce another handle of a hammer, which proved useful to fix the sun and the moon to the sky. Unfortunately, my sons all died from working too much. Your stories remind me of my late sons, and that makes me cry.” With these words, the toad sobbed even more bitterly.

Both the deer and the rabbit were lost for words. They had to admit that the toad was the oldest. And so it was the toad who took the top seat.

That’s it for today’s “Korean Folktales.” Tune in again next time for another interesting Korean folk story. Thank you for listening. I’m Emilee Jennings. Goodbye, everyone.