South Korea ( Korea) 3

 There are always legends and myths in all cultures and so even in Korea. The story of Tan-gun is something every Korean seams to know.

If you have never heard of this Tan-gun don’t worry. To be very honest I did not hear about this before I started to get more interested in the history of Korea, and some things have I already forgot about, since I last wrote it down, and now reading it through I get reminded.

Once upon a time there was a king named Hwang-ung. He was the son of the heavenly God. Hwang-ung wanted to help the people on earth and asked his father for advice and together with 3000 helpers he step down on earth on the mountain of “Taebeack”. He renamed himself as Chonwang, “God of Heaven”, and established a city named Shin-si. He founded 3 leaders who were responsible for the wind, rain and the clouds. He thought the people different professions and even thought the people what was good and evil. He created laws and made sure that people lived by them.

In these days there were a bear and a tiger that lived in a cave. They really wanted to become humans. Hwang-ung was deeply touched over their prayers and told them that he wanted to fulfil them. He gave them garlic and wormwood and told them to eat this and just that and not go out in the sunlight during 100 days. If so, they would become humans. The tiger and the bear eat this food and stayed inside the cave, but the tiger become anxious and went out. Failed!

However the bear stayed faithfully inside the cave and after just 21 days was transformed into a beautiful woman who got the name Ung-nyo. Ung-nyo was very happy but after a while she felt lonely and wanted to have a baby. Hwang-ung felt sorry for her and became human and marries her. She gave birth to a son who got the name Tan-gun. Tan-gun became the first human king on this peninsula and gave his great kingdom the name “Choson”. He ruled for 500 years and after that became a mountain god.