Hello, everyone. Welcome to “Korean Folktales.” In this weekly corner, we introduce you to interesting Korean folk stories. I’m Eunji Kim.

Once upon a time, a Buddhist monk was traveling around from place to place. As he reached a seaside village, he felt hungry and tired. He knocked on the door of a house in the village to ask for some food. Upon seeing the shabby-looking monk, however, the owner of the house slammed the door in his face. The Buddhist priest moved on to other houses, but he only met with a cold response from all villagers. Feeling bitter about the cold-hearted people, he continued to walk.

At the end of the village, he saw a rundown thatched cottage. The monk chanted a Buddhist prayer when an old woman came out from the small house. She greeted the monk warmly and offered some food. He was impressed by the kind woman, who tried to treat a passing visitor well with her humble food. After eating the food, the monk said to her, “I have something to tell you. The stone Buddha statue at the entrance of the village will shed tears of blood some day. I strongly recommend you to evacuate to higher ground if that happens, since this village will be destroyed by a natural disaster. Please take care of yourself.” With these words, the monk left.

The old woman thought it very strange, but she went to the entrance of the village every day to check if something unusual happened to the stone Buddha statue there. She told village people about what she had heard from the monk and advised them to follow the monk’s instruction if the Buddha statue wept blood.

But, no one believed the far-fetched story. They laughed at the old woman and simply ignored her warning. A group of people even found this situation intriguing and decided to play trick on her. They secretly painted a red color under the eyes of the stone Buddha. They were excited at the thought of watching the old woman rushing to the mountaintop even though nothing happened.

Soon, the old lady found something red on the face of the stone Buddha. She believed it was really weeping tears of blood, just as the Buddhist monk had predicted. She felt her heart sank, but she had no time to waste. She hurriedly packed her belongings and food, and climbed up to the top of the mountain.

As expected, the nasty bullies as well as other village people sneered at the woman. While they were laughing and shouting boisterously, a massive tidal wave suddenly hit the village. It happened so quickly that the entire village sank under the water in an instant. Needless to say, all villagers, except the old woman, drowned to death. Even though the bad guys deceived her, the Buddhist priest’s prophecy did come true. This folk story tells of poetic justice, where virtue is rewarded and vice is punished in the end.

That’s it for today’s “Korean Folktales.” Tune in again next time for another Korean folk story. Thanks for listening. I’m Eunji Kim. Goodbye, everyone.