Hello, everyone. Welcome to “Korean Folktales.” This Monday feature takes you into the world of interesting Korean folk stories. I’m Jinny Na.

Once upon a time, there lived a farmer who had a son. The farmer hoped that his only son would grow to be a great man, so he never let his son do farm work but made him read books and study all the time. As his father wished, the son studied very hard, day and night. The father even sent his son to Seoul to give him a good education.

After years of studying, the son was ready to return home. Before he left Seoul he received a letter from his father. In the letter, the father asked the son to get a hoe on his way back home since it would be necessary for farming. But the son didn’t know what the agricultural tool was because he had never done any farm work. He looked through a number of books to try and figure out what a hoe was. A hoe is called “homi” in Korean, and the son figured out that the two syllables, “ho” and “mi,” refer to “tiger” and “tail” in Chinese characters. So, he mistakenly believed that his father wanted a tiger’s tail. And he paid an expensive price for a real tiger’s tail and gave it to his father when he came back home. The bizarre present left the father speechless.

At home, the son continued studying. While he was reading books late into the night, a lamp accidentally fell on the blanket, which caught fire. The son was startled and quickly began to search books to find out how to put out the fire. From outside, the father saw the fire and quickly brought a bucket of water. He threw water on the fire to put out the blaze. Then, his son said with a smile. “Well done, father. The book says that fire should be handled with water. You did a great job.” Again, the father was totally dumbfounded. But he said nothing to his son.

A few days later, while the farmer was fixing a stone wall in the yard, the wall suddenly collapsed. In an instant, the man was under a heap of rocks. “Help!” He screamed, calling out for his son. From inside the room, the son calmly replied. “Father, I’m studying now.” The father, struggling to get out of the rubble, shouted with his all might. “Son, I’m trapped. Please help me.” The son ran out of the room, looked at his father and then turned and ran back in again saying “Father, wait for a second. I’ll search books to find a way to save you.” After a while, the son came out again and said, “I’m sorry, father. But the book says I’m not supposed to get my hands dirty today. I’ll remove the stones tomorrow.”

The frustrated farmer muttered to himself, “My educated son is not even as sensible as an ignorant farmer like me. From now on, I’ll make him stop reading books and teach him farming instead.”

The lesson from today’s folktale tells us that knowledge without action could be useless and sometimes even dangerous.

That’s it for today’s “Korean Folktales.” Thank you for listening. I’m Jinny Na, Goodbye, everyone!