|
|
|
| Current Issue |
|
|
| Resources |
|
|
|
Choyong the Cuckold: A Korean Story of Betrayal and Redemption
| Article
# : |
10112 |
|
|
Section : |
CULTURE
|
| Issue
Date : |
4 / 1993 |
1,627 Words |
| Author
: |
Jong Yil Ra
Jong Yil Ra is dean of the Graduate School of Kyung Hee
University in Seoul, Korea. |
Choyong was an orphan. He did not know who his parents were, nor where he came from. Following the events recounted here, however, people began to call him a son of the mighty dragon--king who ruled the Eastern Sea of Korea (Sea of Japan), controlling the waves and marine creatures and the wind and weather over half the country. In other words, Choyong was no ordinary mortal. People started attributing to him the mystic power of exorcising evil spirits that spread fatal epidemics.
For more than a thousand years Choyong has been remembered for singing and dancing in most unlikely situations. A traditional song and dance are named after him: Choyong, or "dance of the Dragon of the Eastern Sea. "It is true that Choyong did what most of us would not have felt like doing in similar circumstances. For centuries, Koreans have believed that by imitating his song and dance, by putting on his mask, or even by hanging his portrait on the door, they could scare off evil spirits and expect something felicitous to happen to them as well.
I find it sad to see something worthwhile degenerate into banality when it reaches the masses. But there are things even more regrettable than the simple visions and wishes of common people. One example is those scholars, who, in the exercise of their ordinary wit but encumbered with so-called erudition, have ventured preposterous opinions on the Choyong legend. Their claims have included the theory that the event did not actually take place, that the tale is merely a metaphor for the political and moral decline of Shilla two hundred years after the first unification of the Korean Peninsula. Similar arguments hold that the story expresses the power struggle between local landed classes and the central aristocracy, and so forth. Others have decreed that Choyong was a shaman.
Such theories distort and pervert the perfectly obvious and simple truth. This is why I had to write this story, to give a correct account, according to the records, of what really happened a long time ago. I am convinced that if we could ask Choyong himself whether or not he was a son of the dragon--king, a shaman, or a man empowered to subjugate evil spirits, he probably would just smile and not readily oblige us with a comment. As the old a saying goes, "Just smiling as an answer, one feels so free." If obliged to answer , he perhaps would reply that what he did was simply the most proper and natural act. As for the power to stave off evil and bring beneficial results, he probably would add that all originates from inside the human self, from within our hearts and minds, and that by liberating ourselves from greed and the
...
Read Full Article
Look for this article in Ask.com
|
|
