Read Online Tales of a Korean Grandmother by Frances Carpenter - Free Book Online
Authors: Frances Carpenter
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the secret of Tong and his charm use this way of making sure of protection from evil spirits. It does not keep them from going to the Heavenly Kingdom when their time comes, but it drives many bad spirits away from their courts. Find me a house in all this street of ours without such a gate charm, and I'll show you a family with whom bad luck dwells."
A
FORTUNE
FROM
A FROG
Yong Tu and his cousins were getting ready to take part in the New Year kite flying contest.
B RING a gift for our guest, Yong Tu," the Master of the Kim household called to his son, clapping his hands to summon him to his side. For the hundredth time in this first week of the New Year, the boy ran to the heap of guest presents laid out in his father's library. This visitor was an important guest, and at his father's suggestion Yong Tu brought forth a roll of fine silk.
What an exciting season the New Year was! Visitors constantly came and went through the Kims' bamboo gate. Sedan chairs, bringing Halmoni's guests, were escorted into the Inner Court. There, when the bearers had gone away, the women could safely crawl out from behind the chair curtains without fear of being seen by any strange men.
The Kim houses looked very fine with the new paper on their walls, on their floors, and in the panes of their latticed windows. The paper flowers the little girls had made brightened the rooms. The best embroidered screens were set out, and the finest wall poems were hung. Each member of the family had on his shining new silken clothes.
The children felt important because, on the New Year, each had become a whole year older. It was good to have two birthdays, Ok Cha thought, her own birthday in summer, and this New Year birthday which belonged to everyone.
"Bring cakes and honey water for our guests, Ok Cha," Halmoni said again and again during these days. The golden drink with delicate pine nuts floating upon it was a favorite in the Inner Court. The sweet cakes made of rice flour or bean flour were decorated with bits of popped rice, colored bright pink and green. There were little raven cakes, too, so called because of the old story of the raven which warned the King that a robber was hiding inside the Queen's zither case.
Ok Cha and the other children liked best of all the candy made of pine nuts and honey, this was the only sweetening Koreans knew in those long-ago times before sugar was brought from over the sea.
"Eat! Eat!" was the invitation on all sides at the New Year. Koreans always like food and a great deal of food, but especially at the New Year season everyone ate as much as his stomach could possibly hold. That foretold the plenty he would have throughout the year.
"Drink! Drink that your ears may be sharpened in the months to come!" people said. Even the small children then took a cup of the "good-hearing" wine.
There were guest presents in the Inner Court as well as in the reception room of the men. Halmoni looked with satisfied smiles at the huge piles of gifts, ready for the giving. There were hairpins of silver with their designs picked out with sky-blue kingfisher feathers and dotted with coral. There were boxes of shining black and red lacquer, bits of embroidery, and pieces of silk. There were gay ornaments for the headdress of a bride, as well as candies and cakes.
"Our gifts are worthy this year, Ok Cha," the Korean grandmother said to the little girl one afternoon early in the New Year season, while they sat waiting for the next visitor to appear.
"How many there are, Halmoni! Oh, I do think they are beautiful!"
"Yé, child, they are beautiful, and they are many. They remind me of the presents Lah and his wife received from the frog, but of course those were even richer."
"Is that a story, Halmoni? Tell me about the frog and his rich gifts," the little girl begged, sitting down carefully so as not to harm her new skirt.
"Yé, it's a story, Jade Child. It's a story fit for the New Year, for it tells of good fortune.
A
FORTUNE
FROM
A FROG
Yong Tu and his cousins were getting ready to take part in the New Year kite flying contest.
B RING a gift for our guest, Yong Tu," the Master of the Kim household called to his son, clapping his hands to summon him to his side. For the hundredth time in this first week of the New Year, the boy ran to the heap of guest presents laid out in his father's library. This visitor was an important guest, and at his father's suggestion Yong Tu brought forth a roll of fine silk.
What an exciting season the New Year was! Visitors constantly came and went through the Kims' bamboo gate. Sedan chairs, bringing Halmoni's guests, were escorted into the Inner Court. There, when the bearers had gone away, the women could safely crawl out from behind the chair curtains without fear of being seen by any strange men.
The Kim houses looked very fine with the new paper on their walls, on their floors, and in the panes of their latticed windows. The paper flowers the little girls had made brightened the rooms. The best embroidered screens were set out, and the finest wall poems were hung. Each member of the family had on his shining new silken clothes.
The children felt important because, on the New Year, each had become a whole year older. It was good to have two birthdays, Ok Cha thought, her own birthday in summer, and this New Year birthday which belonged to everyone.
"Bring cakes and honey water for our guests, Ok Cha," Halmoni said again and again during these days. The golden drink with delicate pine nuts floating upon it was a favorite in the Inner Court. The sweet cakes made of rice flour or bean flour were decorated with bits of popped rice, colored bright pink and green. There were little raven cakes, too, so called because of the old story of the raven which warned the King that a robber was hiding inside the Queen's zither case.
Ok Cha and the other children liked best of all the candy made of pine nuts and honey, this was the only sweetening Koreans knew in those long-ago times before sugar was brought from over the sea.
"Eat! Eat!" was the invitation on all sides at the New Year. Koreans always like food and a great deal of food, but especially at the New Year season everyone ate as much as his stomach could possibly hold. That foretold the plenty he would have throughout the year.
"Drink! Drink that your ears may be sharpened in the months to come!" people said. Even the small children then took a cup of the "good-hearing" wine.
There were guest presents in the Inner Court as well as in the reception room of the men. Halmoni looked with satisfied smiles at the huge piles of gifts, ready for the giving. There were hairpins of silver with their designs picked out with sky-blue kingfisher feathers and dotted with coral. There were boxes of shining black and red lacquer, bits of embroidery, and pieces of silk. There were gay ornaments for the headdress of a bride, as well as candies and cakes.
"Our gifts are worthy this year, Ok Cha," the Korean grandmother said to the little girl one afternoon early in the New Year season, while they sat waiting for the next visitor to appear.
"How many there are, Halmoni! Oh, I do think they are beautiful!"
"Yé, child, they are beautiful, and they are many. They remind me of the presents Lah and his wife received from the frog, but of course those were even richer."
"Is that a story, Halmoni? Tell me about the frog and his rich gifts," the little girl begged, sitting down carefully so as not to harm her new skirt.
"Yé, it's a story, Jade Child. It's a story fit for the New Year, for it tells of good fortune.
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