Traditional | Korea
The Tiger and the Dried Persimmon
A hungry tiger, mistaking a dried persimmon for a fearsome creature, flees in fear after a confusing encounter.
Once upon a time, in a peaceful little village surrounded by mountains, there lived a fierce tiger. This tiger stayed on a mountain just behind the village, and his roars from the top made everyone very afraid.
One cold winter night, as snow covered everything, the tiger felt extremely hungry. He hadn’t eaten for days. So, he came down from the mountain to find food and ended up near a house in the village. Inside, a light was dimly shining, and suddenly, he heard a baby crying loudly.
The tiger, both curious and careful, was about to go inside when he heard the baby’s mother. She said to the baby, “Be quiet, or the bear outside will hear you.” But the baby kept crying.
Hidden under the window, the tiger found it strange that the baby wasn’t afraid of a bear. He was very hungry, but he stopped to listen as the baby cried on. Then, the mother warned, "Look, a tiger is right outside our window!" The baby still cried.
The tiger was surprised and scared, wondering how the mother knew he was there. He waited and then looked inside again. The baby was still crying, not scared of even a tiger. The tiger, who thought all creatures were afraid of him, was confused and worried by this brave baby.
Then, the mother spoke again, "Now, be quiet. Here are some dried persimmons." The baby stopped crying immediately, and everything went quiet. The tiger wondered, “Who is this Persimmons, more powerful and frightening than me?”
Just then, something heavy landed on the tiger's back. Panicked, the tiger thought it was the terrifying Persimmons and ran away as fast as he could. But in reality, it was a thief who had mistaken the tiger for a cow in the dark and jumped on his back.
The thief was also terrified when he realized he was on a tiger, not a cow. He held on tight, afraid of being attacked if he fell off. Both scared, they ran until the morning came. When it got light, the thief grabbed a tree branch, climbed up, and hid in the leaves, happy to be safe from the tiger.
The tiger felt relieved too. “Thank goodness,” he thought, “I escaped from the terrible Persimmons.” He hurried back to his mountain home, still believing that Persimmons was a very scary creature.
