Korean Mythology

Cheonjiwang Bonpuri

Sumyeong Jangja sent out all of his horses, bulls and hounds at the Cheonjiwang, but with a wave of His hands, all the beasts suddenly found themselves atop the roof of Sumyeong Jangja's palace. With another wave of His hands, the iron pots in Sumyeong Jangja's kitchen launched themselves into Sumyeong Jangja's garden.

Sumyeong Jangja fought fiercely against the soldiers of Heaven, but he was finally forced to kneel before Him. He put an iron ring on Sumyeong Jangja's head (as in Journey to the West) and Sumyeong Jangja experienced extreme pain as if his head was exploding. Whatever he did, the iron ring did not get off Sumyeong Jangja's head. Finally, in despair, Sumyeong Jangja ordered a slave to ease his pain by decapitating him. The surprised Cheonjiwang murmured "Amazing" and took the iron ring off Sumyeong Jangja's head. He then continued on his way.

The Twins Apples

Cheonjiwang did not return to Heaven immediately, but spent the night in Grandmother Baekju's cottage. The bright-eared god heard someone brushing her hair with a jade comb in the next room and asked Grandmother Baekju who she was. She answered that it was her only daughter, Wise Girl. (Korean: 총명아기). Wise Girl was fairer than the heavenly fairies. Cheonjiwang asked both Wise Girl and Grandmother Baekju if he could have sexual intercourse with her and both agreed. Thus, that night, Wise Girl became Wise Wife (Korean: 총명부인).

Cheonjiwang stayed with his new wife for four days, then left. He gave Wise Wife two gourd seeds and advised her to name their children Great Star (Korean: 대별) and Small Star (Korean: 소별). The Rooster Emperor of the Sky then flew away on his golden, dragon-led chariot.

Wise Wife gave birth to two identical twin boys who she named Great Star and Small Star as the Rooster Emperor had requested. One day, when the twins matured, they asked their mother, "Who is our father?" (a child abandoned by their parents is one of the most common theme in Korean mythology) Wise Wife answered that their father was Cheonjiwang.

The twins planted the two gourd seeds. Gourd vines instantly sprouted from the seeds, and the vines finally grasped on the left armrest of Cheonjiwang's throne. They climbed up the vines until they reached the Palace of the Heavens, the abode of Cheonjiwang. But because of the combined weight of the two brothers, the left armrest of Cheonjiwang's throne had been broken. From that day, all thrones had no left armrest.

When Cheonjiwang found his sons, he admitted that they were his sons after a glance at them. Cheonjiwang informed them that he found it difficult to rule the heavens, the earth, the mortal world, and the netherworld all at the same time, and told the twins to try a contest between each other in order to aid him.

The first contest was riddles. Great Star would ask two riddles to his brother, who would answer it. If Small Star gave the right answers, he would rule the mortal world and his brother would rule the netherworld. However, if Small Star gave the wrong answers, his brother would rule the mortal world and he would rule the netherworld.

Great Star's first question was "Why do the leaves of some trees fall, while the leaves of other trees do not?" His brother answered that the leaves of trees that were hollow fell while the leaves of trees that were full did not fall. However, Great Star gave an example of a hollow tree that did not shed its leaves; the reed.

Great Star's next question was whether the plants in the high regions or the low regions grew better. Small Star answered that plants in the low areas grew better. However, Great Star refuted Small Star by saying that hair on the high areas (the head) grew better than on the low areas (the feet). Thus, Great Star won again and could rule the mortal world, but Small Star, who did not want to rule the netherworld, pleaded to have a new contest. The soft-hearted and kind Great Star agreed, and Cheonjiwang thought of a new competition.

The next contest was growing flowers for a hundred days. A hundred days later, the person with the better flower would rule the mortal world, and the person with the worse flower would rule the netherworld. Cheonjiwang gave them two flowerpots and two seeds, and let them grow their own flowers.

As time passed, the victor was obvious. Great Star's flower was full of life while Small Star's flower was dried up. But in the ninety-ninth night, Small Star only pretended to go to sleep that night and thus secretly switched the flowers, planting his flower in Great Star's pot and planting Great Star's flower in his own pot. The next day, Small Star proudly cried out that he was the victor. Thus, Great Star was forced to rule the netherworld, and Small Star went to rule the mortal world.

Rectifying wrongs

The first thing Small Star did when he came to the mortal world was to kill Sumyeong Jangja. Small Star defeated all of Sumyeong Jangja's beasts and personally captured him, forcing Sumyeong Jangja to kneel before himself. Small Star ordered his soldiers to rip Sumyeong Jangja apart into four pieces, and to throw his flesh and bones into the air. Sumyeong Jangja's cadaver turned into swarms of flies, mosquitoes, and bed bugs, which still plague the mortal world.
Small Star exterminated Sumyeong Jangja's children as well. Sumyeong Jangja's daughter turned into a bean weevil, and his son turned into a kite. Finally, Small Star burned down Sumyeong Jangja's palace.

But after the execution of Sumyeong Jangja and his family, Small Star came to be shocked at the mortal world's chaotic state. Grass, trees, fish, birds, beasts, and humans all had the power of speech, making the mortal world extremely loud. Humans could not converse with each other because whenever a human tried to talk to another person, it was not a fellow human but a gwisin (ghost) who answered it. Moreover, there were two suns and two moons in the sky. Every day, many people burned away, and every night, many people froze to death. Finally, humans were extremely aggressive, promiscuous and injust and were great liars and tricksters.

Small Star pleaded to his brother, Great Star, to rid the mortal world of this chaos, and the twins headed to Small Star's realm. Great Star prepared the Cheongeunsal, his two arrows, and five sacks of pine dust. Each of the Cheongeunsal weighed 600 kilograms, and were made purely of iron. With the first Cheongeunsal, Great Star shot down one of the two suns. The remains of the destroyed sun became the stars of the east sky. The next night, Great Star shot down one of the two moons. The remains of the destroyed moon became the stars of the west sky. Only since then were there one sun, one moon, and countless stars in the sky.

Great Star then sprayed his sacks of pine dust upon the world. Whenever the pine dust touched a grass, tree, fish, bird, or beast, it rendered these plants and animals incapable of speech. Finally, Great Star sorted out the ghosts and humans. The lighter beings became ghosts, and the heavier beings became humans. Great Star then returned to the netherworld.

However, Small Star forgot to tell Great Star about the chaotic habits of the humans. Thus, humans remained aggressive, promiscuous, and injust, and were still liars and tricksters, and Small Star could not prevent this chaos because his power was lesser than Great Star's.

Meanwhile, Wise Wife was given the title of Bajiwang, the earth goddess, and thus, the four realms of the heavens, the mortal world, the netherworld, and the earth each came to have a ruler.