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When his father had any extra money, he would straighten the crooked fields, build stone walls around the fields and dikes along the stream. Once his son finished school, he spent whatever money he had left over from paying his son’s tuition to pave the roads in the village and the town. 

Firmly believing that hired hands would ruin the land, he did not have any tenant farmers unless they were remarkably diligent. He would drive two oxen and hire three workers to personally farm his fields of considerable size. Other farmers pointed out that harvests were not great, and the three workers only looked out for their own interests but Chang-seop’s father was not that calculating when it came to his land. 

- 방송 내용 중 일부 

천금이 쏟아진대두 난 땅은 못 팔겠다.

내 아버지께서 손수 이룩허시는 걸 내 눈으로 본 밭이구,

내 할아버님께서 손수 피땀을 흘려 모신 돈으루 장만허신 논들이야.

돈 있다고 어디 그런 논과 밭을 사?

“I won’t sell that land even for a ton of money. I saw how my father worked that land. My grandfather bought that field with the money he saved through hard work. No money in the world can buy that land.

 

땅이란 걸 어떻게 일시 이해를 따져 사구 팔구 허느냐?

땅 없어봐라, 집이 어딨으며, 나라가 어딨는 줄 아니?

Land cannot be bought and sold for fleeting interests. Without land, there is no home and no country. 

땅이란 천지만물의 근거야.

돈 있다구 땅이 뭔지두 모르구 욕심만 내서 문서 쪽으로 사 모기만 하는 사람들,

돈놀이처럼 이자만 생각허구 제 조상들과 그 땅과 어떤 인연이란 건 도무지 생각지 않구 헌신짝 버리듯 하는 사람들 다 내 눈엔 괴이한 사람들루밖엔 뵈지 않드라” 

Land is the foundation for everything in this world. Those with money who buy up land with no idea what land means, men who only think of getting interests from money-lending without appreciating what that land meant to their ancestors, they all look grotesque to me.”

# Interview with literary critic Bang Min-ho

The stone bridge represents the solidness of land and the continuity of life as a farmer, from Chang-seop’s grandfather to his father and finally to the main character. Chang-seop’s father believes that even old things can be repaired and passed onto the future generations. This story was published in 1943 in a literary magazine run by the Japanese imperial government. What could have gone through Yi Tae-jun’s mind as he published his story in a pro-Japanese magazine? He wrote about this stone bridge with the hope that even though Korea is in crisis, Koreans can keep going forward if they don’t give up and stand tall on the solid rock.

비가 아무리 쏟아져도 어떤 한정을 넘는 법은 없다.

물이 분수없이 늘어 떠내려갔던 게 아니라

자갈이 밀려 내려와 물구멍이 좁아졌든지,

그렇지 않으면, 어느 받침돌의 밑이 물살에 궁글러 쓰러졌던 그런 까닭일 게다.

미리 바닥을 치고 미리 받침돌만 제대로 보살펴 준다면

만년을 간들 무너질 리 없을 게다.

그저 늘 보살펴야 허는 거다.

사람이란 하눌 밑에 사는 날까진 하루라도 천리에 방심을 해선 안 되는 거다.

‘The stream won’t flood no matter how hard it rains. It didn’t flood because it rained. Stones could have blocked the water holes. Or a rock could have rolled in with the currents. If we clear the bottom and take care of the stones periodically, the bridge will stand for ten thousand years. All it needs is our care. We shouldn’t let out guards down as long as we live on this earth.’ 

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Yi Tae-jun (Born in Cheorwon-gun County, Gangwon-do Prov., Nov. 4, 1904~?)

Debuted with short story “Omongnyeo” in 1925