Puk-chang, from where he was sitting, looked off apparently to the far
south, and at last said to his aunt, "He is just now crossing the hill
called Bird Pass in Mun-kyong County, Kyong-sang Province. Hallo! he
is getting a beating just now from a passing yangban (gentleman),
but I see it is his own fault, so you need not trouble about him."
The aunt laughed, and asked, "Why should he be beaten; what's the
reason, pray?"
Puk-chang replied, "It seems this official was eating his dinner at the
top of the hill when your servant rode by him without dismounting. The
gentleman was naturally very angry and had his servants arrest your
man, pull him from his horse, and beat him over the face with their
rough straw shoes."
The aunt could not believe it true, but treated the matter as a joke;
and yet Puk-chang did not seem to be joking.
Interested and curious, she made a note of the day on the wall after
Puk-chang had taken his departure, and when the servant returned,
she asked him what day he had come over Bird Pass, and it proved to
be the day recorded. She added also, "Did you get into trouble with
a yangban there when you came by?"
The servant gave a startled look, and asked, "How do you know?" He
then told all that had happened to him, and it was just as Puk-chang
had given it even to the smallest detail.
Im Bang.
V