Hello, everyone. Welcome to “Korean Folktales.” In this Monday corner, we introduce you to interesting Korean folk stories. I’m Jinny Na. Today, I’ll talk about a legendary con artist named Kim Seon-dal, who is known for his ridiculous yet amazingly clever schemes that tricked people into believing his stories.

It is assumed that Kim Seon-dal was a figure from the Joseon Dynasty during the 19th century. According to legend, the man traveled around the country tricking powerful government officials, rich merchants and hypocritical religious figures after suffering discrimination due to his low social status. Numerous episodes about this genius swindler have been passed on from person to person, from generation to generation. In the most popular anecdote we’ll share with you today, Kim tricks a greedy man into buying the Daedong River in Pyongyang.

One day, Kim heard that a wealthy merchant will be visiting Pyongyang. He went to the Daedong River where people were drawing water. To each of them, he gave a small amount of money and told them to give him the money back the next day when he asks for the water fee. The following day, the rich businessman was passing by the river when the people did as they were told the previous day. The merchant asked Kim why those people were giving him money. Kim casually answered, “Oh, this river is mine. I’m collecting the water fee from those who use the river.” The merchant saw it as a great business opportunity and offered to purchase the right to the river for a huge sum of money. Kim received the money and disappeared. The following day, the merchant went to the river to collect the water fee only to realize that he had been deceived. There is a famous saying based on this tale: “He could sell water from the Daedong River.” It’s roughly equivalent to an American expression, “You could sell him the Brooklyn Bridge.”

Another story shows how this smart conman not only got rid of some rotten food but also made a profit out of it. One day, Kim made red bean porridge. The amount was so large that he was unable to eat it all before it went bad. Instead of disposing of the spoiled food, he brought it to the market and advertised it as red bean porridge with vinegar. He even priced it higher than ordinary porridge. Of course, people were reluctant to buy the strange food but Kim said, “I guess country folks like you have never heard of – much less enjoyed – this red bean porridge with vinegar. Never mind.” As people didn’t want to be seen as ignorant, they bought the rotten food for a high price, and Kim was able to sell all the food.

Kim earned the nickname of “Bong-i” for one of his trickeries. He saw a chicken in the market and asked the seller if it was a phoenix, which is “bong” in Korean. Thinking Kim is intellectually challenged, the seller said yes. Kim bought the chicken and offered it to the local magistrate, calling it a phoenix. The annoyed magistrate punished him, and Kim said he was fooled by the chicken seller. The magistrate summoned the merchant, and Kim asked the merchant to compensate him for the price of the punishment. After this incident where Kim made huge profit from a chicken, he was nicknamed Bong-i.

That’s it for today’s “Korean Folktales.” Today, I talked about amusing tales about Korea’s iconic trickster, Bong-i Kim Seon-dal. Tune in again next time for another interesting Korean folk story. Thank you for listening. I’m Jinny Na. Goodbye, everyone.