KOREAN FOLK TALES
IMPS, GHOSTS AND FAIRIES
TRANSLATED FROM THE KOREAN
OF IM BANG AND YI RYUK
BY JAMES S. GALE
London: J. M. DENT & SONS, Ltd.
New York: E. P. DUTTON & CO. 1913
TO
MY LITTLE SON
GEORGE JAMES MORLEY
THE DAYS OF WHOSE YEARS
ARE
TWO EASTERN SPRINGS AND AUTUMNS
PREFACE
To any one who would like to look somewhat into the inner soul of the
Oriental, and see the peculiar spiritual existences among which he
lives, the following stories will serve as true interpreters, born
as they are of the three great religions of the Far East, Taoism,
Buddhism and Confucianism.
An old manuscript copy of Im Bang's stories came into the hands of the
translator a year ago, and he gives them now to the Western world that
they may serve as introductory essays to the mysteries, and, what many
call, absurdities of Asia. Very gruesome indeed, and unlovely, some
of them are, but they picture faithfully the conditions under which
Im Bang himself, and many past generations of Koreans, have lived.
The thirteen short stories by Yi Ryuk are taken from a reprint of old
Korean writings issued last year (1911), by a Japanese publishing
company. Three anonymous stories are also added, "The Geomancer,"
to show how Mother Earth has given anxiety to her chicks of children;
"Im, the Hunter," to tell of the actualities that exist in the upper
air; and "The Man who lost his Legs," as a sample of Korea's Sinbad.
The biographical notes that accompany the stories are taken very
largely from the Kuk-cho In-mul-chi, "Korea's Record of Famous Men."
J. S. Gale.