Once upon a time long, long ago, in a land far, far away, there lived a beautiful young girl who was the daughter of the town uisa, Jung Chungnyeol.  The maiden was lovely in every way that mattered--solicitous to strangers, generous with the poor, respectful to the elderly, patient with children, hard working, humble, intelligent, and temperate.  It was because of her father’s steadfast love for his wife, Choi Aera--who died in childbirth--that he named his precious daughter Aeri, and every day she increased in gentleness and cheerfulness, further exemplifying her name.   Yet though the Jung clan was peaceable and agreeable, faithful and honest, there was one who wished them ill.  

For you see, an evil fairy, spurned by Chungnyeol’s late wife, had laid a horrible curse on the innocent young babe, even as she lay against her mother’s cooling .  This fairy, bitter from rejection, had resolved that if he couldn’t have Choi Aera, then he would have her daughter, and thus devised a plan to keep the young girl from falling in love with anyone else, until the day he decided to claim her.  

The curse that he cast was so insidious, so subtle, that no one could fight it, as no one even knew that it existed.  For this curse, virulent yet devious, was only experienced by the young maiden, who never thought to question its manifestation.  The curse was as follows.