Once upon a time, an unmarried woodcutter lived with his mother without much hope of finding a suitable wife. One day the woodcutter was plying his trade in the forest when he came upon a deer with a hunter hot on its heels. The deer cried piteously for his help, so the woodcutter helped it to elude its pursuer. In return for his kindness, the deer told the woodcutter how he might find and win a beautiful bride, disclosing the location where fairy maidens from heaven bathed in the evening. If he were to take and hide the feather flying-coat of one of the fairies, she would be trapped on earth and willing to marry him. The deer cautioned the woodcutter, however, that he must never reveal the whereabouts of the feather coat—at least not before his wife had borne him several children—or the fairy would leave him and go back to heaven forever. The woodcutter followed the deer’s directions carefully, and soon he lived in his cottage with his mother and his beautiful fairy bride. The woodcutter and the fairy were very happy together, and soon his wife bore him a child. Not long after, they had another. The fairy proved to be a good wife and a loving mother, but she pined for her life in the skies and constantly lamented the loss of her feather coat to her husband. One day he took pity on his wife and showed it to her, but before he could do anything, she had donned the coat, taken a child under each arm, and flown away. The woodcutter was despondent and cursed himself for failing to follow the deer’s advice.
One day, however, the woodcutter had the good fortune to come across the deer again. After chiding him for his foolish behavior, the deer offered the man a chance to be reunited with his fairy wife. Although the fairies no longer came down from heaven each evening, they sent down a bucket to draw water. If he were careful and quick, the deer explained, the woodcutter might have the opportunity to leap into the bucket as it was being drawn back up into heaven. This the woodcutter did, and he joyously joined his family in their new home in the skies. The woodcutter was happy with his wife and children for some time, but then he began to worry about his mother and how she would be frantic because he had never returned. When he explained his anxiety to his wife, she firmly replied that he must never return to earth or he would be doomed never to regain the heights of heaven. The fairy suggested that he might peer down from the clouds and see how his mother fared. This was not good enough for the woodcutter, however, who insisted that he must speak to his mother one final time. The fairy wife then relented, offering her husband a magical flying horse for the journey. The horse could take the man down to earth and back, but only so long as the woodcutter did not set foot on the earth. If he did, he would be of this world for ever after and could never return to his family in the skies.
The husband quickly agreed to these terms and set off for his mother’s house. When he arrived his mother was overjoyed to see him but berated him for staying away for so long and for making his poor mother fear for his life. When the woodcutter explained where he had gone and that he could not stay, the old woman was heartbroken all over again. Each night in his absence, she told her son she had set the table and put out his food. Even now his place was set. When the woodcutter refused to dismount to come into her house one final time, the woman ran in to fix him a bowl of his favorite soup, piping hot from the fire. To please his mother, the woodcutter agreed to drink the soup on horseback before they said farewell forever. This act of filial obligation was his undoing, however, as the woodcutter spilled some soup on the horse’s back, scalding it and causing it to rear up violently. The woodcutter was thrown to the ground, the horse disappeared into the skies, and the poor man lived out his days with his mother, pining away for his fairy wife and children until he died of a broken heart.
This very traditional Korean folktale—also known as the “Woodcutter and the Angel” or the “Woodcutter and the Deer”—is very well known among Korean Americans and is the subject of a number of children’s books, YouTube videos, and even pop songs. The theme of capturing an otherworldly bride by stealing her totemic feather coat is common across cultures, calling to mind feather-robed maidens of Germanic and Scandinavian lore, and even evoking the sealskins of the Celtic Selkies. The star-crossed lovers theme is also universal, of course, as are the formulaic and strictly enforced conditions through which the woodcutter gains and loses his fairy bride. In some versions of the tale, the woodcutter is himself transformed into a bird: the cock who crows his grief to the skies each daybreak. Such devices are common folkloric ways of explaining natural phenomena.
Korean American Folk Drama
Traditional dramatic arts offer insight into Korean American heritage, as well as providing outlets for ethnic pride. Talchum is a form of Korean mask dancing, a dramatic style that includes singing and dancing in addition to highly stylized masks. Although traditionally designated by different names according to the region of origin in Korea, in the United States Talchum is the generic name used for this art form, which is a way of embracing and maintaining cultural links to the ancestral homeland. Mask dancing also is a vehicle through which Korean folklore is transmitted to new generations; in addition, mask dances often contain satirical elements, which call into question the hypocrisy and excesses of those at the top of the social hierarchy, such as aristocrats, monks, and overbearing husbands. Pungmul Nori, a type of drama with musical accompaniment, also lampoons powerful figures in order to offer social commentary.
C. Fee
A particularly Korean theme of this tale, however, is its foregrounding of the tension between marital love and filial obligation. The Korean imperative to show proper devotion and love to parents sets this story apart from many similar fairy tales from other traditions. This theme is emphasized even more starkly in another Korean folktale known as “The Woodcutter’s Family,” which concerns more directly the trials and tribulations—but also the long-term benefits—of elder care. In that story a shrewish wife who wants to rid herself of a cumbersome old father-in-law evokes the evil stepmother theme of many European folktales, while the son’s sudden realization that his children will treat him as they see him treat his own father offers a moment of clarity, which succinctly summarizes and emphasizes the importance of showing respect to one’s elders in Korean culture.
C. Fee
See also Fairylore; Storytelling
Further Reading
“The Fairy and the Woodcutter: Tragic Love, Korean-style.” 2014. Korea.net website. http://www.korea.net/NewsFocus/Culture/view?articleId=120797. Accessed October 20, 2015.
Fenkl, Heinz Insu. 2015. “The Heavenly Maiden and the Woodcutter.” The Sejong Cultural Society website. http://www.sejongculturalsociety.org/writing/current/tales/woodcutter.php. Accessed October 20, 2015.
Kim So-Un. 2005. The Deer and the Woodcutter: A Korean Folktale. Rutland, VT: Tuttle.
“Korean American: The Woodcutter’s Family—A Folktale on Aging and Eldercare.” 2011. In Encyclopedia of Asian American Folklore and Folklife, edited by Kathleen M. Nadeau and Jonathan H. X. Lee. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO.
Lee, Jonathan H. X., and Kathleen Nadeau, eds. 2014. Asian American Identities and Practices: Folkloric Expressions in Everyday Life. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books.