She replied, "We have a servant living at Yong-san, and they are
having a witches' prayer service there just now, so I am going to
partake of the sacrifice."
"But," said the secretary, "we have sacrificial days, many of them,
at our own home, those of the four seasons, also on the first and
fifteenth of each month. Why do you go to a servant's house and not
to mine?"
The mother replied, "Your sacrifices are of no interest to me, I like
the prayers of the witches. If there is no medium we spirits find no
satisfaction. I am in a hurry," said she, "and cannot wait longer,"
so she spoke her farewell and was gone.
The secretary awoke with a start, but felt that he had actually seen
what had come to pass.
He then called a servant and told him to go at once to So-and-So's
house in Yong-san, and tell a certain servant to come that night
without fail. "Go quickly," said the secretary, "so that you can be
back before I enter the Palace." Then he sat down to meditate over it.
In a little the servant had gone and come again. It was not yet
broad daylight, and because it was cold the servant did not enter
straight, but went first into the kitchen to warm his hands before
the fire. There was a fellow-servant there who asked him, "Have you
had something to drink?"
He replied, "They are having a big witch business on at Yong-san, and
while the mutang (witch) was performing, she said that the spirit that
possessed her was the mother of the master here. On my appearance she
called out my name and said, 'This is a servant from our house.' Then
she called me and gave me a big glass of spirit. She added further,
'On my way here I met my son going into the Palace.'"
The secretary, overhearing this talk from the room where he was
waiting, broke down and began to cry. He called in the servant and made
fuller inquiry, and more than ever he felt assured that his mother's
spirit had really gone that morning to share in the koot (witches'
sacrificial ceremony). He then called the mutang, and in behalf of
the spirit of his mother made her a great offering. Ever afterwards
he sacrificed to her four times a year at each returning season.
Im Bang.