Produced by Barbara Tozier, Stephanie McKee, Bill Tozier
and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at
http://www.pgdp.net
THE RED MIRIOK
BY
ANNA M. BARNES
ILLUSTRATIONS BY
GEORGE A. NEWMAN
PHILADELPHIA
American Baptist Publication Society
1420 Chestnut Street
Copyright 1901 and 1902 by the
AMERICAN BAPTIST PUBLICATION SOCIETY
Published January, 1903
From the Society's own Press
INTRODUCTORY NOTE
Korea has been called the "Hermit Nation," as of all nations Tibet alone
has exceeded it in repulsing foreign influences. Only in 1882 did the
United States secure a treaty, and that opened the country to foreign
trade only in the capital, Seoul, and three ports. But in this treaty
Korea was treated with as an independent State, and its people are
distinct from either Chinese or Japanese and well repay study and
missionary labors. This little story is one of the first to present this
slightly known land and its customs, and therefore deserves special
attention from all who are interested in the Christianizing of Oriental
nations.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I
Mr. Kit-ze 9
CHAPTER II
A Hasty Desertion 19
CHAPTER III
The Lost Recovered 30
CHAPTER IV
A Stowaway 39
CHAPTER V
Before the Magistrate 49
CHAPTER VI
A Friendly Hail 61
CHAPTER VII
An Entreaty 71
CHAPTER VIII
The Story of Choi-so 81
CHAPTER IX
A Theft 90
CHAPTER X
An Arrested Sacrifice 102
CHAPTER XI
"One Soul" 115
ILLUSTRATIONS
"_Mr. Kit-ze's hat was moving across the organ_" 17
"'_Yes, only a little, for it takes nearly three thousand of
them to make a dollar_'" 28
"_Yes, it was the red miriok_" 38
"_He began to shake him vigorously_" 47
"_Cheefoo prostrated himself to the magistrate_" 54
"_The old man was bolt upright, despite his years_" 69
"_Then, extending his hands, entreated_" 79
"_He was permitted to look ... upon the priests at their
devotions_" 85
"_He forthwith ... proceeded to throw rice into the well_" 92
"'_Stop!_' _entreated Helen_" 106
"'_Sorry. Sorry. It was wrong. She showed me_'" 123
THE RED MIRIOK
CHAPTER I
MR. KIT-ZE
"There is one thing I forgot to mention," said Mr. Reid, resuming the
conversation. "If we do undertake our sampan journey, we must have Mr.
Kit-ze. I have already talked to him about it."
"Oh, father!"
The expression of Clarence's face so emphasized his protest that nothing
beyond the mere exclamation was necessary.
"Why, Clarence, what could be the objection to Mr. Kit-ze?"
"A good one, father. He is such an eel-like fellow. I know we couldn't
depend on him. Then it strikes me that his mind isn't right. He's always
muttering to himself and clutching his breast in such a queer way. Oh,
I'm sure it would be a bad step to take Mr. Kit-ze."
"That is just like a boy!" declared Helen, his sister, "jumping at
conclusions."
"You mean girls," retorted Clarence. "They fairly spring at them; yes,
reach out their arms to grasp 'em as they spring."
"Come, children, don't spar," warned Mr. Reid. "But, my son," turning to
Clarence, "I fear it is as your sister asserts, you have arrived at
conclusions too hastily with reference to Mr. Kit-ze. He is a little
strange in his manner, I'll admit; but his friends, some of whom belong
to the mission, tell me that he is a very good sort of fellow, honest
and well-meaning, though he is rather grasping as to money matters."
"He is well-meaning," asserted Helen; "and I think the reason he is so
close about money is because he has many who are dependent on him. Yes,
I like Mr. Kit-ze. Though some of his ways are strange, yet he is
good-natured and kind when you know him well."
"Guess, then, I don't know him well," admitted Clarence.
"No; and until you do, you won't like him."
Clarence whistled, and reached over to give the tail of Nam-san, the
monkey, a twist, which that quick-tempered little animal resented by
scratching at him and then springing away.
"I think I know what is the matter with Mr. Kit-ze," said Mr. Reid, as
though in sudden comment after following a line of thought. "He is a
religious enthusiast."
Helen looked at him quickly, a glad light over-spreading her face. "Oh,
father, I didn't know that Mr. Kit-ze had been converted. That _is_
news."
"I don't mean that, Helen. I wish that it were true, for I have been
working earnestly to that end for more than a year. What I have
reference to is that he is an enthusiast in his own religious belief."
"Why, I didn't know, uncle, that these people had any religious belief,"
said his nephew, Mallard Hale, who for a few moments past had not joined
in the conversation. "I believe, yes, I am sure I have seen it stated
that as a country Korea is practically without a religion."
"That is true in one sense, Mallard, but not in another. While Korea has
no established religion, what might be called a national religion, as
have China, Japan, and her other neighbors, yet such of the Koreans as
have not individually embraced Buddhism, Confucianism, and the like, are
given over wholly to ancestral and to demon worship, especially the
latter."
"What do you mean by demon worship, uncle?"
"They believe in spirits of all degrees, good, bad, and indifferent, but
principally the bad. They fill the air around them; they dwell in their
homes; they sit at their feasts; they even perch upon such portions of
the human body as suits them. They bring evil or good as they are
angered or appeased. To counteract the influence of the evil demons the
people carry about with them certain charms to frighten them away.
Around their habitations, especially in the country districts, they
erect these grotesque figures having resemblance to the human form, the
more hideous the better. They are called _mirioks_. In the cities, where
there is little space for such erection, the figures, considerably
diminished in size, are either kept in the homes or carried about the
person. In many instances this devotion to _mirioks_ amounts to
fanaticism of the most pronounced kind."
"Oh, yes, that is just what Mr. Kit-ze does!" exclaimed Joyce, the
younger son of the family. "He carries it around in his bosom. Sometimes
he takes it out and talks to it. I have seen it. Oh! it is the ugliest
little red thing!"
All eyes were now turned inquiringly upon him. "I believe, yes, I am
sure," he continued, "if I were to see it in the black dark, I'd run
from it."
"Why, how could you see it in 'the black dark'?" quizzed Mallard.
Joyce flushed as the laugh went around at his expense, then he answered:
"Oh, I mean if it were so I could see it even a little bit. I am sure I
could see its eyes, for they are made out of something that just
glitters and burns."
"It is as I supposed," said Mr. Reid; "Mr. Kit-ze is an enthusiast on
the subject of this _miriok_. This accounts for his strange behavior,
his mutterings, and the clutchings at his breast. He keeps the _miriok_
there in the folds of his gown. He believes that it wards away the evil
spirits and invites the good. On other subjects I am sure he is all
right. At any rate, if we are going to attempt that journey up the Han
we shall be almost dependent on him. He not only has the largest sampan
and is considered the safest boatman on the river, but he also knows the
way better, having ascended higher than any other, I am told."
"Then, uncle, we must have him by all means," said Mallard decisively.
"Yes," added Clarence somewhat flippantly, "red _miriok_ and all."
"Yes, even the red _miriok_ to get Mr. Kit-ze," declared Mallard. Then
he asked, "Isn't the journey attended by some degree of danger?"
"With considerable danger at some places, I understand, Mallard; and
this is why we should have a stout sampan as well as a sampan man who
understands both his business and the river."
The family of Rev. Mr. Reid, missionary at Seoul, Korea, consisted of
his wife, her widowed sister, his two sons, Clarence and Joyce, and his
daughter, Helen. Mallard Hale, an American youth of seventeen, had
recently come to make his home with his uncle. He was only a few months
older than Clarence, and the two cousins were very fond of each other.
Helen was nearly fifteen and Joyce twelve.
For some days they had been talking of this sampan journey up the Han.
Mr. Reid had long wanted to take such a trip into the interior for the
purpose of making observations of the country and of studying the
conditions of the people along the south branch of the Han. It was
reported to be a wonderfully attractive and fertile section, with a
people whose manners and customs, differing from those in the cities,
made them of deep interest to the traveler. They were described as quiet
and peaceful, given to hospitality, and fairly burning with curiosity.
The Mission Board, under the auspices of which Mr. Reid labored, had for
some time contemplated the establishment of a branch mission in the
interior. They were waiting for him to decide the point where it should
be located. He had hesitated a long time about undertaking the sampan
journey because as yet there had not been sufficient money to defray the
necessary expenses. But the coming of his nephew, Mallard Hale, had
quickly done away with this obstacle. For Mallard was comfortably fixed
as to income, and he insisted on bearing all the expense of hiring and
propelling the sampan, while his uncle was left to provide only for
provisions and equipments.
"Then, uncle," said Mallard, after they had talked a little further,
"let us decide positively on going, also that we take Mr. Kit-ze and his
sampan."
"Yes, red----" began Clarence, but the words were cut short by an
exclamation from Joyce.
"Why," he cried, "here is Mr. Kit-ze now!"
Sure enough, Mr. Kit-ze was coming in. It was just after dinner, or
_opan_, as they would say in Korea, and Mr. Kit-ze was still caressing
his lips with his tongue, well pleased with the toothsome morsels that
had gone to comfort his stomach. He was a little stouter and taller than
the average man of his race, standing five feet six in his sandals,
weighing, perhaps, one hundred and sixty pounds, and was fifty years of
age. His complexion, originally of a bright olive, had now a deep tan
through the action of sun and winds. He had a straight nose, but rather
distended nostrils, the oblique Mongolian eye, while his hair, of a deep
russet-brown smeared with lampblack, was wound in a knot at the top of
his head.
Mr. Kit-ze had on the loose white robe of his countrymen, with flowing
sleeves, that fell just below the knees. It was belted in with a girdle
of straw. Beneath it showed his baggy trousers, gathered in at the
ankle. A _katsi_ (hat), in shape like a flower pot turned down over a
table, wadded stockings, and sandals of straw completed his attire. When
he removed his hat, on Mr. Reid's invitation, there was a little
tight-fitting skullcap of horsehair underneath, carefully placed on top
of his knot of hair. He seemed solicitous about his hat, not knowing
just where to place it. It was, indeed, a huge affair for a hat, the
brim being nearly six feet in circumference. At home Mr. Kit-ze had his
swinging case for his hat, but here he was at a loss as to its disposal.
Helen at length came to the rescue and placed it on top of the organ,
where it rested, one portion of the brim lying upon a large music book,
the other flat upon the surface of the instrument.
"Well, Mr. Kit-ze," said Mr. Reid, "are you ready to take another
journey with your sampan up the South Han?"
Instead of replying to this question, Mr. Kit-ze suggested: "Better go
up the North Han, honorable instructor. There are the Diamond
Mountains."
Clarence jumped up suddenly, shouting out his delight: "Yes, father,
let's go to the Diamond Mountains. Oh, won't that be glorious?"
"And pick up treasure," suggested Helen; "enough to build the new
mission chapel that is so needed," she added, her eyes taking on a
deeper glow as she glanced at her father.
"Why, are there really any treasures to be found in those mountains?"
asked Mallard, catching the excitement.
Mr. Kit-ze, who understood enough of the language to catch the drift of
the question, quickly replied: "Yes, honorable sir, there are treasures.
Two gentlemen from your country got a whole wallet full of diamonds in
the mountains last week. They say they can be picked up like bamboo
reeds after a freshet."
"Only Mr. Kit-ze's enthusiasm," said Mr. Reid in an aside to his nephew.
"Some one has been filling him with the story, which is vastly
exaggerated, I am sure. But later in the year, Mallard, if you desire
it, we can make the trip to the Diamond Mountains. Now my Master's
business calls me in another direction."
"All right, uncle, that Diamond Mountain trip can wait. Yes, we'll take
it later," he added after a pause.
"Is your sampan ready, Mr. Kit-ze?" Mr. Reid now asked.
[Illustration: "MR. KIT-ZE'S HAT WAS MOVING ACROSS THE ORGAN!"]
"Not quite, exalted master; but your servant can make it ready in a day
or so."
"Are you sure of that? We should like to start by Tuesday of next week;
and when we are ready we want the sampan ready. You understand?"
"Most learned teacher, it shall be as you wish," Mr. Kit-ze assured him,
with a bow that brought his forehead almost to the floor.
A full understanding was now had; the day set, arrangements perfected,
and the amount of Mr. Kit-ze's remuneration satisfactorily adjusted.
Mr. Kit-ze arose to go. All this time, having declined the chair offered
to him, he had been squatting upon his heels, his legs doubled back
under him. Considering the position, it was surprising how quickly he
got up. He had barely gained his feet when a sudden cry that startled
them all escaped him. He was gazing straight toward the organ, his
features growing rigid, his eyes dilating. Following his gaze, it took
them only an instant to discover what was the matter--Mr. Kit-ze's hat
was moving across the organ, moving as though it had feet and were
walking.