The Tiger and the Dried Persimmon - Korean

In a land of snowy mountains, there lived a big tiger with soft paws and stripy fur. Grrr! His name was Horangi, and he was the strongest tiger in the whole snowy mountain! One cold winter night, his tummy began to rumble. Rumble, rumble, rumble! Horangi was hungry. He decided to tiptoe into the village below to find a yummy snack. The moon was a bright, white circle in the sky. The little houses looked so cozy and warm. Horangi walked on his soft paws, quiet as a mouse. He did not want anyone to hear him. He was a very sneaky tiger.

Horangi peeked into a small house with a glowing window. Inside, a baby was crying very loudly. Waaah! Waaah! The tiger heard a mother say, “Shh, a big scary tiger is outside!” The baby just cried more. Horangi puffed out his chest. He felt very proud and very scary. Yes, he was a big, scary tiger! But then, the mother said, “Look! A gotgam! A yummy dried persimmon!” And just like that, the baby stopped crying. The tiger’s ears perked up. What was a ‘gotgam’? He had never heard of a gotgam before. It must be very, very scary if it could stop a baby from crying when even a tiger could not. Horangi started to shiver. He imagined a giant gotgam with big, pointy teeth and glowing red eyes, scarier than any tiger!

While Horangi stood frozen with fear, a thief snuck into the very same yard. The thief wanted to steal a big cow. It was very dark, and the thief could not see well. He saw Horangi’s big, stripy back and thought, “What a big cow!” The thief jumped right onto the tiger’s back. The tiger was so scared! He thought the scary gotgam had jumped on him. “The gotgam has me!” he thought. He leaped up and ran as fast as his tiger legs could carry him. He ran deep into the forest, with the surprised thief holding on tight for a bumpy, bouncy ride. Finally, the tiger shook the thief off and ran far, far away. He never went near the village, or a dried persimmon, again. This funny story, known as 'The Tiger and the Dried Persimmon,' shows that sometimes the things we are scared of are just silly misunderstandings in our own minds.