Hello, everyone. Welcome to “Korean Folktales.” This Monday corner takes you into the world of interesting Korean folk stories. I’m Jinny Na. Today, I’ll tell you an old tale of a tiger and a hunter.

A long time ago, there lived a hunter in a mountain village. Unfortunately, he was eaten by a huge tiger at Mt. Geumgang. After his death, his wife gave birth to their son. When the hunter’s son was old enough to learn about the tragic death of his father, the boy swore to take his revenge on the monstrous tiger. He practiced shooting and after years of hard training, he believed he was a skilled hunter and decided it was time to leave. Of course, his mother tried to discourage him from undertaking such a dangerous mission but she couldn’t stop him. He set out for Mt. Geumgang to find the tiger that killed his father.

At the foot of the mountain, the hunter took a rest for a while at an inn run by an old lady. The kind woman made some rice balls for him and wished him good luck. He thanked her and left. While eating the rice balls, he saw a Buddhist monk approaching him. The monk asked him to share the rice balls, and so the young man gave him a piece. When the monk was about to put it in his mouth, the man saw the sharp fangs of a tiger. Startled, he took out his gun and fired a shot at the monk, who fell to the ground and turned into a tiger. The boy now realized that tigers could appear in human form.

He continued his journey along the mountain path. Before long, he met a woman who was digging potatoes. When the hunter asked her to give him some potatoes, the woman refused, saying that her husband was just killed by some evil man and she must take the potatoes to her husband to bring him back to life. At that moment, the hunter noticed that the woman did not have human hands but the hairy paws of a tiger. Without hesitation, he shot the old woman, who fell down and became a big tigress.

After eliminating the tigers, the hunter walked deeper into the mountain until he finally saw a white tiger as big as a house. He shot at the animal, but the huge, ferocious beast didn’t even blink. The tiger’s body was so large and hard that the bullets just bounced off it. As he ran out of bullets, the big old tiger swallowed him in one gulp.

When the hunter recovered his sense, it was all dark around him. He knew that he ended up in a tiger’s stomach. After a while, his eyes adjusted to the dark. He looked around and saw a gun with his father’s name engraved on it. Now he was sure that this tiger was the very one that ate his father. Just then, a feeble voice was heard nearby, and he found a young girl crying. She must have been eaten a short time ago. The two decided to join forces to get out of the tiger’s belly. The hunter took out his knife and began to stab the tiger’s stomach. As the walls of the stomach were cut through, the tiger jumped up and down and rolled around on the ground in severe pain, until he collapsed and finally died. The two young people cut the remainder of tiger’s flesh and came out of the animal’s stomach.

The hunter left for home with his father’s gun, the tiger skin and the girl. It is needless to say that his mother back home was overjoyed to see her son again and recover her husband’s gun as well. And she was also delighted to meet her new family member—the girl from inside the tiger’s stomach, who married the hunter. All the family members lived happily ever after.

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