The Story of Hong Gildong (14 page)

When the lord and the duke of Jae Island returned home, everyone from the palace came out to greet them and to mourn endlessly with
them.

In order to replicate the reading experience of
The Story of Hong Gildong
in the original language as much as possible, I have transliterated Korean words with no exact English equivalents (e.g., units of measurement like
ri
and
jang
). Their significances are fully explained in the notes below. I have also done the same thing for Chinese names and titles, transliterating them from Korean and identifying them in the notes. So the philosopher Kongzi (Confucius) is written in the Korean form as Gongja, the book
Zhouyi
(Book of Changes) as
Juyeok
, and the city of Nanjing as Namgyeong.

INTRODUCTION

1
.
On the universal figure of the heroic outlaw see Eric Hobsbawm,
Bandits
(New York: The New Press,
2000
); Paul Kooistra,
Criminals as Heroes: Structure, Power, and Identity
(Bowling Green, Ohio: Bowling Green State University Popular Press,
1989
); and Graham Seal,
The Outlaw Legend: A Cultural Tradition in Britain, America, and Australia
(Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press,
1996
).

2
.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_names.

3
.
The Joseon dynasty was founded in
1392
by General Yi Seonggye (King Taejo, r.
1392
–
1398
), who ascended the throne after completing his coup d'état of the Goryeo Kingdom. The dynasty came to an end in
1897
when the penultimate Yi monarch Gojong (r.
1863
–
1907
) changed the beleaguered nation's name
to Daehan Jaeguk (Empire of Korea) as part of his desperate and ultimately futile effort to strengthen it against foreign powers. The country lost its independence to Japan in
1910
with the forced abdication of Gojong's son Sujong, the last royal ruler of Korea.

4
.
Kim Taejun,
Joseon soseolsa
(Seoul: Doseo chulpan,
1989
),
71
–
78
. Kim published a new edition of the work in
1939
, under the title
Jeungbo Joseon soseolsa
(Enlarged History of Joseon Fiction), in which he adjusted the more flamboyant language of the original to make the text more scholarly. For comparison see Kim Taejun,
Jeungbo Joseon soseolsa
(Seoul: Hangilsa,
1990
),
81
–
91
.

5
.
Yi Sik,
Gukyeok Taekdang jip
(Translated Works of Taekdang), vol.
6
(Seoul: Minjok munhwa chujinhoe,
1996
),
236
.

6
.
Lee Yoon Suk, “Hong Gildong jeon
jakja nonui ui gyebo
” (The genealogy of discussion on the authorship of
Hong Gildong jeon
),
Yeolsang gojeong yeongu
36
(December
30
,
2012
):
381
–
414
.

7
.
Yi Myeongseon,
Yi Myeongseon jeonjip
(Complete Works of Yi Myeongseon), vol.
3
(Seoul: Bogosa,
2007
),
244
. On recent research into identifying the first prose work to be written in
hangeul
see Lee Pok-kyu, “
Chogi gukmunsoseol ui jonjae yangsang
” (The mode of existence of early Korean novels),
Gukjeeomun
21
(
2000
):
25
–
44
.

8
.
There, the following is found: “There are tales of old times that are widely known from town to town, about people like So Daeseong, Jo Ung, Hong Gildong, and Jeon Uchi. Each of those books was written in the
eonmun
script and narrates the life story of a single character.” Quoted in Lee Yoon Suk, “Hong Gildong jeon
wonbon hwakjeongeul wehan siron
” (Essay on the determination of the original text of
The Story of Hong Gildong
),
Tongbang hakji
85
(January
1994
):
247
–
85
,
271
.

9
.
For details on laws concerning the status of secondary children, see Martina Deuchler, “‘Heaven Does Not Discriminate': A Study of Secondary Sons in Choso˘n Korea,”
Journal of Korean Studies
6
(
1988
–
89
):
121
–
63
.

10
.
In addition to Deuchler, “Heaven Does Not Discriminate,” see JaHyun Kim Haboush,
A Heritage of Kings
(New York: Columbia University Press,
1998
),
94
–
95
.

11
.
On the role of secondary sons and people of other secondary status in late-nineteenth-century Joseon, see Kyung Moon Hwang,
Beyond Birth: Social Status in the Emergence of Modern Korea
(Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press,
2004
).

12
.
See Hobsbawm,
Bandits
,
42
–
63
.

A NOTE ON THE TRANSLATION

1
.
See Lee Yoon Suk, “Hong Gildong jeon
wonbon hwakjeongeul wehan siron
” (Essay on the determination of the original text of
The Story of Hong Gildong
),
Tongbang hakji
85
(January
1994
).

2
.
See Ho˘ Kyun, “The Tale of Hong Kil-tong,” trans. Marshall R. Pihl, Jr.,
Korea Journal
(July
1
,
1968
):
4
–
21
, and Peter H. Lee,
Anthology of Korean Literature: From Early Times to the Nineteenth Century
(Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press,
1981
),
119
–
47
. For another translation of the
gyeongpan
30
version, see
Hong Kil-tong chon / The Story of Hong Gil dong
(Seoul: Baekam,
2000
)—no translator is credited.

TRANSLATION

1
.
King Seonjong:
Korean kings of the Joseon dynasty are generally referred to by their posthumous “temple names.” When the fourteenth king of Joseon died in
1608
, he was originally given the temple name of Seonjong, but it was changed to the slightly loftier Seongjo in
1616
by the order of his son Lord Gwanghae. It is highly unlikely, however, that the reference here is to that monarch, who was known by the name for only a few years. The
gyeongpan
and
wanpan
versions of
The Story of Hong Gildong
identify the king in the narrative as Sejong the Great (r.
1418
–
1450
), while the Jo Jongeop
31
/
33
version refers to King Sejo (r.
1455
–
1468
). “Seonjong” may be a mistake, but since imagined locales also appear, it is likely that the author made up the king to create a fictional time for the story. That also has the advantage of avoiding problems of anachronism since government institutions like the Military Training Agency (
hullyeon dogam
, see note
83
) and the Office for Dispensing Benevolence (
seonhyecheong
, see note
96
), which are mentioned later in the narrative and other variants of the story, were created after the reigns of Sejong and Sejo.

2
.
Jangan:
One of several names used during the Joseon dynasty for the capital city of the kingdom (today's Seoul). In the course of the story it is also referred to as Gyeongseong and Gyeongsa.

3
.
mo
:
A placeholder term used instead of the real name of a person or a place. The personal name of the minister is not given here as if to protect the identity of an actual person, to make the narrative seem as if it is a historical account about real people.

4
.
high minister:
(
jaesang
) The word refers to someone who attained one of the three highest positions in the government at the State Council (
uijeongbu
): chief state councilor (
yeong uijeong
), state councilor of the left (
jwa uijeong
), and state councilor of the right (
u uijeong
). Whenever there were two positions of near equal ranks, they were differentiated by the terms “left” (
jwa
) and “right” (
u
), with the left higher than the right. The three councilors acted as the closest advisers to the king. Although the actual power wielded by the high ministers differed from one period to another, from the reign of one king to another, the status of
jaesang
always represented the apex of prestige in government service. Later in the narrative, it is mentioned that Minister Hong was once the
usang
(another name for state councilor of the right), the third-highest position in the state.

5
.
assistant section chief:
(
jwarang
) The hierarchy of state service positions, attained after passing the
mungwa
civil service examinations (see introduction) and then through promotions, was organized into nine grades (
pum
), each of which was subdivided into the senior (
jeong
) and the junior (
jong
) for a total of eighteen ranks, with the highest rank of senior first (e.g., the
jaesang
, the high ministers of the State Council), and the lowest of junior ninth. Assistant section chief (
jwarang
) is a position of senior sixth rank.

6
.
Ministry of Personnel:
The central bureaucracy of the Joseon government was composed of the Six Ministries (or Boards) of Personnel, Taxation, Rites, War, Punishments, and Public Works. The Ministry of Personnel (
ijo
), where Hong Inhyeon works, handled matters pertaining to appointments and promotions in state service.

7
.
jang
:
A unit for measuring length. Its value changed over time but through most of the Joseon dynasty period a
jang
measured a little over two meters (approximately
6
.
5
feet).

8
.
great happiness in his heart:
Traditionally, a dream featuring a dragon is a sign of a great fortune to come. It was important, however, to keep the dream a secret until the fortune came about, since revealing it could negate the prophecy.

9
.
inner chamber:
(
naedang
) Married couples of respectable
yangban
families slept and spent much of their time in separate quarters. The wife's chamber was known as
naedang
and the husband's
sarangbang
(outer chamber).

10
.
he made her a concubine:
During the Joseon dynasty, a man could have only one woman as his wife (though polygamy had
been allowed previously, during the Goryeo dynasty), but men who could support more than one woman in their household brought extra women in as their concubines. See introduction.

11
.
lunar months:
Prior to the modern era, the yearly calendar was reckoned by the twelve cycles of the moon (
29
–
30
days), with the new year beginning with the appearance of a new moon, usually in late January or early February.

12
.
hear only one thing to understand ten:
From “One who understands ten things from hearing only one thing,” a traditional expression of admiration for a particularly intelligent and astute person. The saying is of ancient origin, an example of which can be found in
The
Analects
, in a passage in which Kongzi (i.e., Confucius) asks his disciple Zi Gong about the intellectual capability of Yan Hui (Kongzi's favorite disciple). Zi Gong answers, “How dare I compare myself with Hui? Having learned one thing, he gives play to ten.” (Book
5
,
9
) Confucius,
The Analects
, trans. Annping Chin (New York: Penguin Classics,
2014
),
64
.

13
.
if he dared to call him Father:
“I cannot address my father as Father, my older brother as Brother”—the famous complaint of Hong Gildong that is repeated throughout the story. The expression encapsulates the frustrating condition of being a secondary child of a concubine with no legal standing in society.

14
.
Gongja and Maengja:
Korean names for the Chinese philosophers Kongzi (Confucius—traditional dates,
551
–
479
BCE) and Mengzi (Mencius—traditional dates,
372
–
289
BCE), the founding thinkers of Confucianism.