I love these types of folk tale stories. Anymore to share :DDD ?

Has this story every been made into a movie or cartoon? I feel like it should. Sometimes folk legends inspire me to write novels, but I always end up spacing out after 1 paragraph. xD

What a wonderful post, Javabeans! I had never heard of this fairy tale before, but I'm inclined to agree with your view of the story. It's interesting that the less acceptable parts of the story (kidnapping, deceit, etc.) are often "glossed over," as you say, when presenting the story to children. It makes me think of the story of Rapunzel, which is often 'toned down' from the original version (which is full of sex and violence, actually, and the witch isn't a total villain). And what is this fascination with catching people bathing? Aren't there several Greek myths involving that kind of scenario? Anyway, I really enjoyed reading your thoughts. Thank you for all the time and thought you put into this site.

There is actually a Japanese anime and manga called Ayashi no Ceres that was based upon this fairytale I believe.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayashi_no_ceres

interesting...sometimes I wonder about these fairy tales and nursery rhymes -_-
It kind of reminds me of the creepiness that is peter peter pumpkin eater...

fascinating. i love fairy tales precisely because they're often so simple and usually simply told, and yet there's so much room for thought and question. in this particular folktale, the woodcutter is so obviously deceitful and selfish and idiotic, i think koreans must, once they consider the story from a more adult perspective some years down the line, question this behaviour. on the other hand, it's also all part of storytelling, so the way they're told the story would definitely influence their perspective of the woodcutter's actions. what an asshole, though, really. some spirit, too.

ft island ftw! <3 i dig their first korean album so much.

Various parts of Europe, China and Japan have similar tales. Wiki has some info.
Anyway, to otk, the anime/manga, Ayashi no Ceres, immediately came to mind and is loosely based on this story...wiki also lists other works.

Hero glorified by possessiveness... Am I the only one who think of Jun pyo in BBF here?

When I heard the story as a young kid I thought that the guy was totally messed up for lying and "forcing" her to marry him. When she flew up to heaven with her kids I went "good! he deserves it. I was kind of sad when he died alone though.

I feel a little uneasy when I see extreme possessiveness in male characters because it holds the potential for young girls to be cultivated into thinking that this kind of behavior is admirable and romantic. Also, when a guy is possessive why is it considered romantic but for female characters, its considered psycho behavior?

Javabeans, did the first three pictures that you show in this post come from a book? Where did you get the last three?

Oh, well, this story sounds pretty much identical to Norse mythology! Well, I could be wrong, but I remember reading somewhere (wiki, or a book), that Valkyries came down to Earth from Valhalla to bath in rivers, and if their clothes happened to get lost they wouldn't be able to come back home. There're several fables were men become "bewitched" at their beauty and steal their clothes, to make them their wives - only at the end most of the Valkyries find their clothing again and leave back to Valhalla. The end of those men were usually more violent than the one of the woodcutter, though.

@okt,
There is a manga series based on the fairy tale by Yuu Watase called Ceres: Celestial Legend. The mangaka seems to take javabean's point of view and does show the "poor manipulated and coerced fairy" 's perspective indeed.

Nice!

I really appreciate this post as someone that just loves stories in general. Thanks so much for this, you gave me wonderful brain food to munch on.

Loved this. Thank you for posting. Yes, I have read a few tales similar to this one. Although I understood the mans longing for a woman to love, I never understood how he could be so callous as to steal something precious of hers and enslave her to him in the name of love.

One of the tales I've read,(Native American) the woman was so heartbroken that she actually withered and started to die.The husband would always promise to give back to her what he had stolen, in some imaginary time in the future. Her son had mercy on her and gave her back her sealskin coat. She promptly returned to the sea and became rejuvenated. Needless to say the husband lost out.

You were a very intelligent child to know that something wasn't right about this fairy tale. The song, while not as blatant as the tale, gets it's point across-stay with me for I will love you and only you. Please don't think of what you loved before me.

Yes, I think there are great morals to be learned from these wonderful stories. They touch the soul.
I hope they continue until the end of time.

I´m from Europe and here is actually a similar tale. I can´t remember the details, but the similarities are remarkable.

But it´s not really well-known. At least not in Germany. I found this tale only because I´m interested in fairy-tales. It´s a nice surprise to see a connection between the european and the korean culture. I´d prefer a much less disturbing example, though...

I think the lesson in this fairy tale is:
- any realtionship which startred wrong will end up wrong.
- you will be given chances to make it right in every wrong thing s you did to make it right
- but chances also runs out you go back to where you started

- the main story??? if you want to get something do it yourself fairly and squarely.

P.S.

Fairy tales is just fairy tales...for whatever purpose it was created only the authors know...

But I like fairy tales as well...it's not usual ending of happily ever after but..it's good to read...

I think this myth is probably told throughout Asia, although with slight changes to each story depending on the place. As a child, I remembered the exact story told, however, I did not ever hear the bucket part. Once his family left him, he was left to live by himself and died alone. I can't say I felt pity for him either since in my story, he basically forced her to stay with him. She knew he hid it and was only lucky to have found her robes and was able to escape back to heaven with her children. It might just be me being mean, but a guy forcing someone to be his wife doesn't deserve a super happy ending, but that's just me =)

Maybe not just Asia =P

"And the woodcutter was happy. Selfish bastard."

I love your translation!

But seriously, this was a really interesting article, and I loved your explanation of the story and why it made you so uncomfortable as a kid. I took a class on fairy tales in college, and it was amazing all the crazy themes -- death, sex, perceptions on changes in society -- that are packed into them, whether wittingly or not. The tales we tell children...

But I do think we are not that far off from a time where the idea of kidnapping a woman and then somehow convincing her to marry you was not that crazy of an idea. And I know of certain cultures where it still is not an idea that is completely laid to rest, and the law actually addresses what to do in these situations (like, the man gets less of a monetary penalty for his crime of kidnapping if the woman eventually marries him, but more if the woman refuses his offer of marriage). I have a feeling that these kidnappings are most common in cultures that are prone to deep-rooted tribal and ethnic conflicts, since such kidnappings would be the only way people could really marry outside of their local clan or tribe to expand their territory. I know it's not relevant to the story, but your post just made me think of this, and maybe it has bearing on why kidnapping romances are so common in fairy tale literature.

Anywayz, all I can say is that things can really suck for women in this world sometimes... Poor Stockholm syndrome-stricken fairy.

Hi. I was just lurking around and saw this post. The story is rly good heheh. What's surprising is that we have one folk tale A LOT like this one, and I'm from SEA. Though it's not a woodcutter, but a prince.

Though the story goes kinda like this: The main character is a prince who went kinda psycho after he had a vision in his dream of 7 heavenly princesses. One day he told his father the king he wanted to go 'hunting' and so he went. All his companions died along the way, before he found her clothing floating in the river along with her ring (in some version he stole it). When he met the princess she told him the one who found her clothing is her soulmate (kinda) and they get married on earth. But in our story the princess fled back to heaven not because of homesickness but because her husband was always too busy gambling and fooling around with girls outside the palace (he's a young prince mind you) that he didn't even bother to return even when his wife gave birth to a son. Feeling sad and angry (and definitely homesick now) the princess took her flying cloth and flew back to heaven, only to be put into marriage by his father to another heavenly prince. The human prince feeling sorry now found a way to heaven (by means of a garuda; that's the giant bird) and made his way into the heavenly palace. He bonded with his son (whom he never seen before), and won back the heart of his wife. Together they return to earth (after some conflict with the obsessive heavenly prince) and lived happily ever after :D

Umm, hope everyone's not asleep now (not bedtime story) :P

"Some of the same ideas are present in modern dramas — they aren’t limited to antiquated storytelling. Possessiveness is seen as bad when the possessive person is not part of the One True Pairing; then s/he is relegated to the role of the troublemaking second lead. But when possessiveness is displayed by the hero, isn’t it romantic? Isn’t it understandable, acceptable, even admirable when the hero goes to extreme lengths to make his relationship work? We as the audience put up with a lot of crap from heroes (and heroines, to be equal opportunity) when we know that ultimately they’re Meant To Be. Gu Jun-pyo, I’m looking at you and your wounded-little-boy charm. (And I say that as someone who totally loved his jealousy and misguided attempts to win Jan-di over in all the wrong ways.)"

Wow - totally agree to the above paragraph. it's so true and i didn't think of it that way. it's possible that this story - which is so widespread that i'm sure there's a chinese version of it somewhere - influenced so many people's minds that it happens naturally in dramas. I think this fairy tale in general can spark off a lot of stereotypes that we make about certain ethnicities, whether it's the Korean and European or Chinese version. For example, I feel there's always the stereotype that Asian men are possessive and dangerous in some way, and hence need to be avoided - and it's perpetuated by Western media (back in the day). So even if this story is a harmless fairy tale, it packs in the same punch as propaganda....

I've listened to this song hundreds of times and didn't realize that it was about this! Hahaha. I would have never known if you hadn't made this post. Thanks for the eye opener!

Javabeans, wow. Talk about biased storytelling. Your contempt and disgust for the poor unfortunate woodcutter bled into every sentence ... and I loved it. Evil @$$hole woodcutter b*tch. Good job, JB. :-)

@ 9 peachys2sleep

I have the same problem with extreme male possessiveness being glorified in dramas. Unfortunately many -- not all, but many -- girls and women the world over (Western world included) have already been socialized to find such male behavior attractive because there doesn't seem to be a delineation between a confident man who goes after what he wants, and a narcissistic man who takes whatever he wants no matter the consequences or the pain caused to others. The feelings of the victims are given short-shrift while we speed along to the happy ending, all brought about by the "heroic courage" of the man who went after what he wanted -- which conveniently happened to be what the women wanted too! She just needed to be kidnapped, verbally abused, wrist-grabbed and/or trapped into arriving at the same conclusion, and then they can live happily-ever-after. Hoo-effing-ray.

Unfortunately, these ideas and tales don't come about in a vacuum. They're reflective of the cultures from which they arise. So while I bemoan some of the insulting, heartbreaking, enraging tripe that passes for entertainment, if entertainment is a reflection of the status quo, or at least the innermost desires of the zeitgeist, then we humans of the world (the whole world) have a loooong way to go.

I've actually read the first volume of a Korean manwha about this, but I really can't remember the name. All I can recall is the word "Faery" in the title.

This really reminds me of the Irish folktales about the selkie. Selkies were seals that could shed their skins when on land and become beautiful women, of course. Along the same lines of the Korean version, a man steals away her skin when she's on land and then forces her to marry him. She eventually runs off, I think, leaving her kids. There's a movie called The Secret of Roan Innish that touches on this legend.

Yeah, the Jun-pyo/Domyouji character instantly came to mind with this fairytale. I also thought of Jin-soo of CH, though he wasn't like that all throughout the drama, but I was thinking of ep17 particularly when he went to extreme lengths to get Eun-young. Personally, I never thought it was romantic and a little bit creepy if the main male character was obsessed with the lead female. It's just unnatural and when the female eventually accepts it, that's even stranger. I feel that it dumbs down the female. However, when this type of male does show up in dramas or any culture, he is usually acknowledged to be a little psychologically twisted for some reason or another so I don't know if he could be seen as heroic or romantic instead of just crazy. Thanks for this jb!

the moment i saw the title of this blog post, i immediately thought of ft island because i love this song! after reading the fairytale, i felt like ehhh...well, a bit uneasy. but it's so interesting what you say about the possesiveness being romantic because if you think of it that way, (given in romantic scenarios displayed in dramas) i can see it in a totally different way.

i think the main difference is in the story and it's details. the fairytale is told simply and in a way that leaves the characters more open to interpretation. when kdramas are twisted into this (or any) situation, we get a load of scenes that show us how the characters are feeling and what their intentions are, good or bad. then there are those special circumstances that just make it seem ok. it becomes more complex and harder for us to blame the "hero" (or heroine) for doing whatever misdeeds they've done for True Love. LOL at that whole Meant To Be thing, but it's probably because of this idea that we accept all the shenanigans (i'm totally guilty of this).

anyways, great post! :) i've loved ft island since 'you're beautiful' too! hehe

hahaha, looking at the title, i thought this was folktale where the woodcutter drops his axe into the river and a fairy rises up to ask him what's wrong. but then i saw the picture, and was a bit disappointed because i kind of hated this folk tale. but the rant on it was all good :)

Just curious, but is it stockholm syndrome when the person doesn't know they've been rescued by their kidnapper? Isn't that why she becomes happy? Because, she doesn't know her husband is the one who wronged her. I guess it would be really interesting to see if she would forgive him nowadays. I think that some woman would forgive the husband eventually, and the other half would be vengeful and possibly hateful. Has there ever been a drama that played out this scenario? I would like to see how this fairytale would be addressed in a drama. Because, there's always at least one triangle. Would the husband be painted as the bad guy or the hero??!!

LOL! i love your point of view here, and I totally agree. I've always felt it was kinda weird, the way the woodcutter "courted" the fairy.

I feel the need to quickly clarify that I'm not calling K-dramas "insulting, heartbreaking, enraging tripe!" If I believed that, I wouldn't be here. Phew, glad I cleared that up.

I find myself in the odd position recognizing that certain male-hero behaviors are kind of vile (constant fighting, verbal abuse, wrist-grabbing, duplicity), and yet I still find said heroes charming (Gu Jun-Pyo). But it doesn't always work. I wasn't really into Sam-shik from MNIKSS, and I was absolutely repulsed by eight-years-later Ki-hoon from Cinderella's Sister. But my inability to automatically hate male heroes when they display extreme possessiveness and duplicity probably means that I too have been socialized into finding some of the this stuff forgivable, especially if I find the offender attractive. Oh, dear.

@ 25 danni

Good point with the fact that many now take dramas take pains to acknowledge how psychologically fubar'd many heroes are. Families dead by their hands (accidentally, of course), childhood abuse, neglect, etc. And yet that usually freaks me out even more. I'm like, get thee to a therapist post-hate, thou psycho!

@ 27 last_thread

I grew up on the Disney version of fairy-tales and lived in a magical world until I was thirteen. That's when I found a massive book full of original fairy-tales as written by The Brothers Grimm and other original authors on an elderly neighbor's bookshelf. Fairies were rather evil beings, and the villains were huge fans of kidnapping, torture and rape. Always the rape. Fairy-tales were ruined for me for life.

Sigh. This fairy tale irks me the most and I like to just remember it as a nice story but your post has made me see it in a bad light. Knowledge can be such a burden sometimes.

I think you're reading way too much into this. I agree with your points. They are valid but at the same time I feel conflicted at having a childhood story of mine attacked. LOL.

For me, the story was just always about obedience and how the consequences of not following the rules can get you into trouble.

I really don't think its the fairy tale at fault but the Korean dramas that take it to a whole new level. Some of the dramas I see make me wonder how loosely or closely they are based on real life.

That was a very good read thanx for that!!! ^^

Most fairy tales have these strange reasonings behind them which I can't explain or try very hard to 'justify' to my daughter when I read to her. They don't seem to fit in modern days civil code of law. I believe a lot of mothers are in the same position like me, as much as I would like my child to hear them, I do feel uncomfortable reading them.

But kids these days are so well exposed/inform, they can come up with their reasonings - like 'didn't snow white know that she shouldn't accept food from a stranger!' - there you go, save me from providing an explanation, or 'if the Queen of heaven sent a guard to steal the pearl, then she is a thief, not queen of heaven!' - there you go again.......

My reaction to the whole thing is pretty much a big fat "Eh". As a child I was an avid reader and books were pretty much my best friend (to an extent, of course). I adored fairy tales - especially the dark ones, because they were pretty much my only outlet of experiencing more adult content (I didn't watch any risque tv and I went to a private school). I know what you're saying about "not all stories have to come with morality clauses, but there should be a clear line between good and bad" and what-not but I think part of what makes these stories so interesting is that the main character isn't a goodguy-goodguy. He's a flawed guy who has made mistakes and in the end, he generally has to pay for them. It's essentially escapism - the reader gets to experience these out-of-world mistakes that involve magic, and he/she is able to stick with the decisions that are made to the ultimately tragic or happy ending.

Sure, no one should condone kidnapping via a bedtime story, but I think that part of the charm of these magical-backstory based fables/tales is that the mistakes the characters make, while essentially representations of every-day mistakes people make enhanced to a large, mythical scale, also represent the kind of adventures most people never have. It isn't so much about the good/bad and what the meaning of the entire tale as it is about immersing oneself into an alternate reality.

- Just my opinion. Lol, can you tell I love fables/fairy tales?

I've listened that FT Island's song so many times and I had no idea about the whole fairy tale around the title. I just thought it was just another one of their love songs. I knew the title was based off a fairy tale, but I never wondered about what that fairy tale was about. After reading your post, the story does sound familiar. I probably have heard/seen a variation of the story before...my mind keeps thinking I must have saw an adaptation in a Chinese drama before as a child. I still try not to think too much about the fairy tales of my childhood. They bring back such beautiful memories. I don't mind if they don't make sense.

Very interesting post!

Thanks for the post, JB. A great read.

What about the stupid deer who gave those stupid instructions? I wonder if the deer was the woodcutter's conscience personified.

Strangely, the only part of the story I remembered when I saw the post initially was the first half, when he steals her clothes and she becomes his wife. I dug out the old book from its spot on the dusty shelf and skimmed it again.

I never recall the story bothering me, although I must have read it plenty of times when I was younger. I suppose the concluding moral is that stealing from others to achieve one's goals is wrong. The story is a reflection of old Korean culture, and because it has been around for so long, no one questions it. Many old folk tales have questionable bits, but that doesn't do anything to keep them from being told.

It was very interesting reading this post. I appreciate you writting it up. ;)

Originally, Sleeping Beauty had to be raped BY HER FATHER (!) in order to awake O___O Really, people in the past sure had some strange tastes in stories!!! XD That's really very creepy.

Thanks, JB! I've heard of a modified version of this when I was young in the Philippines. Perhaps other cultures have some form of this tale (as pointed out by other commenters).

Maybe there should be a drama in the point of view of the fairy. :D

"I want to hide your winged clothes forever" ..err yeah, creeepy.

I have never heard of this fairytale or anything like it, but it was interesting to read about your interpretation and I agree with it all. Especially the part where in dramas it's alright for the male lead to be all possessive, but if those same acts were done by a secondary character it's viewed at creepy. Weird.

"...kidnapping is an effective method of courtship (although some dramas might have you scratching your head)" Out of curiosity, is there a drama that literally has the male lead kidnap the heroine to force her to love him? I've never seen such an extreme act in a drama. Does anybody know of any?

yeah... I remembered our Malay Literature text back in highschool - Hikayat Malim Deman. The story is mostly similar with seven heavens maid come down to earth to bathe (what a smelly heaven it might have been) and Malim Deman stole and hid one of them. They got married and hava a prince but sadly Malim Deman forget his responsibilty- busy with gambling and had a mistress. So when the dissapointed and unhappy heaven maid found her special clothes she didnt hesitate to fly back home bringing her son with her.

Malim Deman regretted his misdeeds and decided to go in a quest to search for his wife and son. He was helped by another Princess who lend him a flying horse -with condition set by the Princess that he will marry her when he was successful with his quest - he managed to get to heaven and win back his wife's heart. He then returned to earth with his wife and son and stop by to marry the other Princess before returning with his new expanded family back to his country.

So yeah.... not only this was a school textbook but the content of the story also irritate the 'female' out of me - it is no wonder i didnt get high mark in my Malay Lit ^_^

The chinese have a similar version.