The Tiger
OVERDOSE
Byeol woke up in the middle of a farmer's field in the early hours of the morning while it was still dark. It was a huge rice field and the whole area was surrounded empty land. Her clothes were covered in dried blood and tattered, and huge streaks of dried blood were smudged on her face and arms. She let out a breathy sigh and lay back down, she didn't know where she was and she couldn't remember what she did. After a few hours when the sun started to break into the sky, its orange and pink streaks painting the skies, she got up and aimlessly walked. She kept walking till the fields became just land and the tarmac became a dirt road, her shoes were wrecked but still had managed to stay on her feet through it all.
"Seon-ah... has omma ever told you about the Sun and the Moon?"
"No omma."
"Well, before there was the sun and the moon- there were only stars in the world. Once there was a peasant woman who had too children- a boy and a girl. They lived far out from the village and the mother walked to sell rice cakes. One day, when the mother was walking home, she met a tiger perched on a hill."
"A tiger?!"
"Yes a tiger. The tiger demmanded a rice cake in exchange for the woman's life. Of course, she gave him one and the tiger went away but she met the tiger again on the next hill."
"Again?!"
"Yes Seon, the tiger demmanded for more rice cakes. The mother gave the tiger two more. But then when she met the tiger on the third hill the tiger demmanded four more. Soon the mother ran out of rice cakes to feed the tiger. The mother pleaded, and told the tiger of her two children."
"What happened to the woman?"
"The tiger ate her, and took her clothes. He then went to her house where the two children waited."
"Omo."
"The children were worried that their mother had not come back yet, the boy said that they should lock the door but then they heard a voice from outside. The younger sister thought it was their mother but the boy sensed that something was not right. The tiger tried to convince them to open the door but the boy refused. The tiger then put some white powder from the rice cakes onto the its hand; making them ook white, and inserted its fingers through the door. The younger sister was conviced that this was their mother and she opened the door."
"Oh no!"
"The tiger chased them around and out the house until the children climbed up the safety of the tree. The tiger found an axe in the house and began to chop the tree down. The younger sister sent a prayer asking the heavens to send down a rope- a strong rope if they were to be saved or a rotten rope if they were to be dammned. A strong rope was sent down to the children and they climbed to heaven on it."
"What about the tiger?"
"The tiger also prayed, a rope was also sent down from the heavens but it was rotten. So when the tiger climbed the rope it snapped and the tiger fell in a millet field. Its blood stained the millet field and that's why millet stalks are red."
"So the children went to heaven?"
"Yes Seon, but the boy, Haesik became the sun and h
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