|| A Korean folktale ||
Mr. Kim, who lived at the foot of the mountains, was a lazy man. He had a family to support, but he did not like steady work. He preferred to smoke his pipe—as long as a yardstick—and to wait for something to turn up.
One day, his wife, tired of trying to feed hungry children from empty dishes, gave her husband a good scolding and sent him out to get something for the household. Their household consisted of father, mother, and four little folks, whose faces were not often washed, and one a little dog.
So Mr. Kim went out to the mountains to find something—a root of ginseng, a nugget of gold, or some precious stone, perhaps, if he were lucky. If not, some berries, wild grapes or pears might do.
Meanwhile at home, his wife pounded the grain that was left in the larder for the children’s dinner.
Mr. Kim rambled over the rocks a long time without seeing anything worth carrying away. When it was about noon he came to one of the mighty mir-yeks, or giant stone Buddhas, cut out of the solid mountain. The colossal statue rose in the air many yards high.
Ages ago in the days of Buddhism, when monasteries covered the land and Buddhist friars and nuns chanted Pali hymns to the praise of Lord Buddha, devout men, laboring many months, chiseled this towering mountain into human form.
Its nose stood out three feet, its mouth was four feet wide. On its flat head was a cap, made of a slab of granite and shaped like a student’s mortar-board, on which ten men could stand without crowding one another.
Long gone and forgotten were the monks, and the monastery had fallen to ruins. The forest had grown up around the great stone statue until it was nearly hidden by the tall trees surrounding it. In front, from the ground up, the wild grape-vines had gripped the stone with their tendrils and spread their matted branches and greenery until they nearly covered the image up to its neck.
But out of a crevice in the head of the figure grew a pear tree. And, oh joy! at the end of the outer branch was growing a ripe, luscious pear nearly as big as a man’s head.
What a prize! It would, when cut up, make a dessert for the whole family. Happy Kim! He blessed his lucky star.
Seizing hold of the bushes and wild grape-vines, by dint of great effort Mr. Kim climbed upward and got as far as the chin of the great stone face. Above him protruded the big nose, the nostrils of which gaped like caverns. Yet although he was standing with his foot on the stone lips and holding on to the nose, despite all his exertions, he could get no further up the granite face.
The nose, being polished, was slippery and the ears were too smooth to climb. What could he take hold of? It was too smooth and slippery for him.
A bright thought entered his head. He would crawl up into the right nostril and hope for an exit to the top. So, thinking he might find his way, he began to enter the hole of the nostril like an insect and soon the man Kim disappeared from sight, as with hands and feet he climbed into the darkness.
Wasn’t it disrepectful to tickle the nostrils of the great stone man in this way?
But Kim dismissed these thoughts and kept going on, determined to get that pear, come what might.
Suddenly a blast loud enough to shake the mountain was heard.
Hash-ho!
Had an earthquake or thunderstorm taken place? Was this rolling thunder?
No, the giant statue had sneezed. The stone Buddha got rid of the intruder.
The first thing Mr. Kim knew, he was flying through the air, and he tumbled upon the bushes. His wits were gone. He knew nothing. This was about one o’clock in the afternoon. Mr. Kim lay asleep or unconscious till near sun-down.
Then he woke up and realized what had happened. The Stone man and his nose were over him far up toward the sky.
Oh no! Would he have to climb all the way up again?
He was almost going to give up and go home when he looked around him. Luckily, in sneezing so hard, the giant statue had shaken its head also and the big pear had dropped off. Kim found it lying by his side, and picking it up went on his way rejoicing.
At home the little dog barked welcome, and a right merry supper they had over the big pear cut into slices, as Mr. Kim told the story of his adventures.
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