Once upon a time, there lived a woodcutter in a small village. He was an honest and hardworking man. One day, he was coming down the mountain, loading firewood on an A-frame carrier on his back, when he saw a procession of the local magistrate. He tried to move aside to let the procession pass, as everyone else did. But the load he was carrying was so big and heavy that he couldn’t move quickly. One of the magistrate’s servants shouted at him angrily. “Hey! Don’t you see the procession? How rude! Out of the way!” With these words, the servant kicked the woodcutter. The poor woodcutter lost his balance and fell into a ditch near the road with his A-frame. He managed to get out of the ditch but he was covered with mud. Although the magistrate watched what was happening, he totally ignored the woodcutter and simply passed by.

The woodcutter was upset. He thought to himself, ‘What did I do wrong? The magistrate can’t do this to me, even if he is a high-ranking official.’ He was so humiliated that he decided to become a government official himself. He asked people around him how he could be given a government post. People thought he was a bit dim-witted so they just laughed away his question. But an old man in the neighborhood jokingly told him to become a government official, all he had to do was “roll around” for three years in the capital of Seoul. In Korean, the phrase “roll around” also means “hang around” or “get around.” But the woodcutter did not understand exactly what the old man meant. The simple-minded man believed he could become a government official if he literally “rolled over” many times on the ground in the capital.

So he left the village and went to Seoul. From then on, he rolled himself here and there in the city from morning till night. Not a single day passed without this ritual. Curious passers-by often asked him what he was doing, and he would answer that he wanted to become a government official. Days, months and years passed. Now, everyone in the city came to know this strange guy who did nothing but roll himself on the road in dirty, ragged clothes. People often made fun of him, but the woodcutter didn’t care. All he was thinking about was a government position.

The rumor about the eccentric man reached the king. One day, the king, disguised as an ordinary man, came out to the street to meet the woodcutter. When the king asked him why he was rolling in the streets, the woodcutter gave the same answer as before—to become a government official. Of course, the woodcutter didn’t know he was talking to the king. The king then asked him what government post he wanted. The woodcutter replied that any post would be fine as long as it was a government position. So, the king suggested, “Alright, then. How about a local governor?” The woodcutter nodded his head and said that would be ideal. The king also asked, “Then, what about a minister? A minister is much higher than a governor.” The woodcutter said yes. Whatever the king said, the woodcutter said it would be alright. Finally, the king asked, “So, what about king?”

The woodcutter stopped rolling and stood up suddenly. Then he slapped the king in the face, staring fiercely at the king. He shouted, “You rascal! I’m an ignorant person, but I do know there is only one king in the country. Are you suggesting I become a traitor? Get out of my sight. I don’t want to see you.”

The king wasn’t angry at all. On the contrary, he was deeply impressed by the woodcutter’s loyalty. The king ordered his subjects to bring the woodcutter to the palace and gave him a government post. The woodcutter was very surprised to see the man he had hit the other day sitting on the king’s chair, but he was finally able to fulfill his dream. Of course, he was pleased with his new government post. As time went by, however, he began to miss his life as a woodcutter. So, he resigned from the post and returned to his village. What he wanted was to “become” a government official, not to live like one. He was glad to get back to his work and lived happily ever after as a woodcutter.