Korean Folk Tales: Imps, Ghosts and Fairies

About this book

A ghost comes demanding justice. A mischievous creature humiliates someone who thought himself clever. Strange visitors upset the settled order of a household in these Korean tales collected from older written traditions.

James S. Gale translates stories associated with Im Bang and Yi Ryuk. Many are short enough to end with a single sharp reversal, and their moral judgments can be unexpectedly severe. The collection preserves an early English-language encounter with Korean supernatural storytelling, complete with the translator's period assumptions. Its beings often act less like distant mythic figures than troublesome neighbours with an uncanny advantage.