Ballad of the Mountain Fox

장 한: Ode to a Hero

In a small town just outside Hanyang, which is nowadays called Seoul, a young scholar named Gong Il Woo was behaving decidedly un-scholarly-like as he tore through the market streets on the back of his new stallion, knocking over tables and nearly trampling anyone who got in his way.  The advancement of his destruction could be marked by the screams echoing through the streets, accompanied by the sound of thunderous hoof beats.

As the horse and its rider barreled past, the town magistrate looked on sadly and shook his head, powerless to do anything about the matter.  Since Il Woo was the son of a high-ranking military official, anyone who stood up to the bully would certainly regret it.  Anyone, except for perhaps one…

A murmur shot through the crowd of bystanders, and the magistrate eagerly craned his neck to get a glimpse of the far end of the street.  Hats and parasols partially obscured his view, but through the jumble of bodies and fabrics, he thought he caught a glimpse of a sky blue robe and a unique red-and-purple strand of gatkeun beads.

“It’s Park Young Min!” the whispers of the crowd announced, and the magistrate couldn’t help but allow a quick grin of satisfaction.

Yet the feeling was soon gone, replaced by one of anxiousness, as the magistrate realized that Young Min was standing in the middle of the narrow street and refusing to move.

“He’ll be trampled, for certain!” a nearby gisaeng muttered to her attendant.  She delicately adjusted the brim of her large hat to get a better view of the scene.  “There’s no room for the horse to pass!”

“If Il Woo kills Young Min, then Young Min’s father will kill Il Woo,” her attendant whispered back.  “Minister Park has more power and influence than General Gong.  Il Woo won’t be able to bully him.”

Despite the attendant’s assurance, however, it seemed that Il Woo had no intentions of stopping his horse as it continued to charge down the street.  Yet, it also seemed that Young Min had no intentions of moving anytime soon, and so continued to stand, feet slightly apart and hands clasped behind his back, staring down the approaching animal and its rider with a slight air of weariness—after all, this wasn’t the first time he had stopped Il Woo’s terrorization of the village.

The bystanders closest to Young Min began to draw back in anticipation of a horrible collision as the seconds ticked by, and still there was no change in either opponent’s actions.  The hoof beats drew closer, louder, and more ominous until it was the only sound that filled the air as a collective breath was held.

The horse charged forward.

Young Min held his ground.

Finally, Il Woo yanked hard on his stallion’s reins, and the beast slowed and reared, hooves churning the air where Young Min’s head had been only moments before he had stepped out of reach.

With a whinny, the horse landed back on all fours, snorting and stomping in irritation, but no longer wrecking through the village.

There were a few smattering claps from those who dared to applaud, but most of the crowd remained silent, unwilling to distract the glare currently directed at Young Min onto themselves.

Young Min simply looked back at Il Woo, unaffected by the hostile gaze, yet the tension between the two was more than evident to everyone watching.

“Please take good care of your eyesight,” Il Woo finally said, a sneer crossing his face.  “In the future, you might not be so lucky if you step out into the street and fail to see a horse galloping towards you.”

“I was more concerned for your safety,” Young Min replied steadily.  “Judging by your shouts, it seemed you had lost control of your horse and needed help in stopping it before you were thrown from the saddle.  I couldn’t let the son of such an esteemed military general be humiliated in that way.”

“My father gave me this horse just last week,” Il Woo replied, visibly fuming at the assumption that he had needed help.  “It is one of the best horses in all of Joseon!”

A small smile crossed Young Min’s face before he replied.  “A horse is simply a horse.  The true credit should be given to the rider.”

Il Woo’s face turned a dangerous shade of red, and the magistrate, who all this time had been biting his nails on the sidelines, decided that now might be a good time to step in.

“Gong Il Woo!  Park Young Min!  How good to see you both!” he laughed nervously.  “My, the sun is certainly bright today!  It’d be best to get inside and cool off as soon as possible, don’t you think?”

Young Min turned with a smile and nodded in agreement, but Il Woo, still glaring daggers at his opponent, gave no indication that he had heard the magistrate’s attempt at peacemaking.

“What a good idea,” Young Min said, stepping away to leave Il Woo and his horse standing rather forgotten in the middle of the street.  “A cup of tea does sound very refreshing at the moment.”

“Young Min–ssi!” a high-pitched voice called out from one of the nearby shops.  The thinning crowd parted to let a young woman and her maid through.  The magistrate, eager for more of a distraction from what had just occurred, quickly steered the young noble in the woman’s direction.

“Miss Oh Jimin!” he exclaimed.  “What a delight it is to see you!  I am sure the young master here feels just the same, after all, it’s been quite a few weeks—” Young Min held up a hand to stop the nervous chatter, and the magistrate broke off abruptly, though not without an apprehensive glance back at Il Woo.

“Thank you, magistrate,” Young Min said.  “Upon reconsidering, I think it might be a bit too warm for tea at the moment.”

“Of course!  Of course, yes, you’re right…” the magistrate babbled, taking the hint.  “Thank you, enjoy your day!”  He let out a relieved sigh as the couple walked away, turning to find the gisaeng from earlier once again talking to her attendant.

“Those two are perfect for each other.  They’re both very attractive, talented individuals from the upper yangban class.  Jimin is the daughter of a government official, and everyone knows that Young Min’s father is the Minister of Justice in Hanyang.  It’s just a pity he isn’t able to come visit more often and see how proud he should be of his son, standing up to Il Woo like that…”

A firm hand clamped down on the magistrate’s shoulder, making the man jump in surprise.

 “Tell me, magistrate,” the voice belonging to the hand said, and the magistrate turned to find none other than Il Woo staring him down, “What do you know about Oh Jimin?”

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All right, human.  I can see you’re confused.  Where to start?  Well, let’s get the first topic out of the way.  As this story takes place in Korea, there are, of course, not going to be characters named Bob and Sue (although there might be a Soo or two or three).

Now, obviously, there wasn’t such a thing as sunscreen back then.  Instead, a lot of Korean men went around wearing a type of black hat called a gat, and if they were especially important, they put a string of beads on the hat called gatkeun.  See that man over there?  He’s a great example.  As you can see, the beads really serve no other purpose than to be fancy, since it looks like a chinstrap, but the actual tie to keep the hat in place is just a plain black ribbon.

You want to know what a gisaeng is?  She’s a woman who works as an entertainer or courtesan.  Simple enough, right?

The suffix –ssi (no, it’s spelled s-s-i, not s-h-e) is a polite way of addressing someone, like mister or miss in English.

Finally, Park Young Min and Gong Il Woo are part of the noble class, or yangban.  There.  Now you have your answers.

 Goodness, all those questions have made me quite hungry…oh, come on, don’t look at me like that.  I made a promise, didn’t I?  You have nothing to worry about.