The Big Book of Classic Fantasy

by The Big Book of Classic Fantasy (retail) (epub)

  He then put some fragrant medicine in Lady Jeong’s mouth, which allowed her to eventually regain consciousness.

  Unchi went back to Heaven Sent Young Master and asked where the woman he spoke of lived. The spirit gave him some magical medicine of transformation and directions to her house. Unchi bowed to him and went to the place, where he found a thatched hut on the verge of collapse. Inside, there was a woman sitting alone, drowning in depression.

  Unchi approached her and spoke in a consoling tone, “I know that you are in a difficult situation. You are still unmarried at the age of twenty-four, and so you live a lonely life. I have taken pity on you and will act as your matchmaker.”

  She bowed down her head in embarrassment, but Unchi fed her the medicine, threw water on her, and cast a spell that changed her face to that of Lady Jeong. Unchi then told her the story of how Yang had fallen ill because of his love for Jeong and gave her instructions on what to do. He then wrapped her in cloth and transported her in a cloud to Yang’s house. He put her in the outer chamber and went into the inner chamber to speak to Yang.

  “Lady Jeong’s sense of virtue is indeed so strong that I could not exchange a single word with her.”

  Yang lamented pitifully, “Even with all your skills, you could not persuade her, so how could I expect her to change her mind in the future?”

  Unchi tried to console him. “I could not bring Lady Jeong, but I did bring a woman who is ten times more beautiful than her.”

  “I have seen a lot of beautiful women, but there is none like Lady Jeong. Don’t joke about something you know nothing of.”

  “How could I joke around with an ill person? I put her in the outer chamber. Her beauty is truly incomparable. Go and you will see.”

  Yang was hopeful and skeptical in equal measure, but he was finally persuaded to go to the outer chamber, where he saw a woman in a white dress. The clarity of her face was that of a full moon on an autumn sky, and the brightness of her eyes was that of the morning star. Her beauty was indeed incomparable. As he continued to look at her, he saw that her appearance was that of Lady Jeong, who had been on his mind day and night. He felt so intoxicated with delight and affection that his illness faded away.

  * * *

  —

  One day, Unchi left home to pay his respects to a senior personage, taking with him a bolt of silk to present as a gift.

  At this time, the famed scholar Seo Hwadam*18 summoned a servant boy and spoke to him, “Today, at the Hour of the Horse, a man with the family name of Jeon will come. So clean up this cottage thoroughly.”

  Unchi came upon the entrance to a mountain path, which he walked through to climb up to a beauteous land, where he wandered leisurely to enjoy its scenery. The place was full of pine and bamboo trees, along with a calmly flowing river where deer looked for mushrooms and cranes danced about in joy. It was such a fair place that it appeared to be in a supernatural realm.

  Unchi noticed a door made of twigs among bamboo trees and knocked on it.

  A little boy came out. “Are you Master Jeon?”

  “How do you know who I am?”

  “My master told me this morning.”

  Unchi was greatly pleased, so he gave the boy the bolt of silk to present as a gift and asked to see his master. Hwadam invited him to his cottage, where they greeted each other politely before settling down to talk.

  Unchi spoke. “You lofty name is so renowned that I decided to see you even if I had to travel a thousand ri. So I bid you to allow me to learn from you.”

  “So Master Jeon wants to follow my learning. But what profound knowledge do you think I possess that you should praise me so profusely? I have heard that your magical powers are so great that there is nothing that is unknown to you. So I hoped to meet you one day as well. Now that you are here, I feel most fortunate.”

  Unchi expressed his gratitude for his words, and they spent the entire day conversing leisurely. Hwadam summoned a maid and had her bring some liquor and food. He then grabbed a sword and stabbed it into a wall, which made holy liquor that supernatural spirits drank pour out, filling a bowl in an instant. On the north wall was a beautifully painted image of a magnificent tower. Hwadam reached into the picture and opened a silk-covered window through which they could see a maiden in a colorful dress approach with a table bearing liquor cups. She stepped out of the picture and sat by Unchi to present liquor to him. Unchi drank it and found it wonderfully fragrant.

  “I have come to a place of supernatural beauty where I got to drink the liquor of holy spirits and partake in a sumptuous meal, so my gratitude toward you knows no bounds.”

  Hwadam laughed at that. “How excessively you praise such modest liquor and food.”

  They had been exchanging liquor for a while when suddenly a modestly dressed gentleman came in.

  “Who is your guest?” he asked Hwadam.

  “This is Master Jeon from the southwest.” He then addressed Unchi. “This is my younger brother Yongdam. He has never seen you before, and he has forgotten how to act politely before a guest, so please forgive him.”

  Unchi looked at Yongdam and saw that he possessed clear eyes and outstanding eyebrows. He was of such grand appearance that his aura of dignity was liable to startle people.

  Yongdam addressed Unchi in a polite manner. “For a long time I have heard of your great magical powers, so I have been wanting to meet you for a while. Could I possibly ask you to demonstrate your prowess?”

  “How could a lowly person like myself pretend to know such things?”

  But Yongdam made the request two or three more times until Unchi finally relented. He cast a spell, which turned Yongdam’s hat into a bull’s head with horns that stretched the length of six arms. It fell to the floor, twitched its eyes, and opened its mouth. Yongdam became upset and cast a spell of his own, which turned Unchi’s hat into a pig’s head. It fell to the ground as well, where it displayed its teeth and shook its ears.

  Unchi thought to himself, “This man seems to possess some skills, so I’ll take him on.”

  He cast a spell on the pig’s head, transforming it into a long, three-pronged spear. Yongdam also cast a spell, turning the bull’s head into a great sword.

  The long spear and the great sword clashed in the air, their blades shimmering as they reflected the light of the sun. Yongdam then threw his fan into the mix and cast another spell, turning the sword and the fan into a red dragon and a blue dragon. Unchi threw in his own fan and cast a spell, turning the spear and the fan into a white dragon and a black dragon. As the four dragons fought, the place became filled with clouds and fog while thunder and lightning struck. Yet no clear winner emerged.

  When Hwadam saw the blue dragon and the red dragon losing strength, he thought to himself, “If the two of them keep competing like this, it will come to no good end.”

  He threw down a water plate, which turned everything back to their original shape.

  Unchi put his hat back on, retrieved his fan, and spoke in a reconciliatory manner, which made Yongdam leave his hat and fan on the floor, all in good humor.

  Unchi then bowed down to Hwadam. “I insulted you by daring to display my talent before your superior skills, which is a grievous thing. I will return later to apologize properly.”

  Hwadam saw Unchi off before he reprimanded Yongdam. “You used a blue dragon and a red dragon, while Unchi used a white dragon and a black dragon. Blue represents wood and red represents fire, while white represents gold and black represents water. Among the five basic elements, gold wins over wood and water wins over fire. So how did you expect to win against Unchi? And why did you get into such a silly contest with a guest in the first place?”

  Yongdam pretended to apologize, but he bore a great resentment against Unchi, to the extent of wanting to do him harm.

  Three days later, Unchi visited Hwadam again.<
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  Hwadam spoke to him, “I have a favor to ask you, and I hope you will agree to it.”

  “What is it?”

  “There is a great mountain in the south sea called Hwa. There is wise man there who is known as Master Unsu. I studied under him when I was young, and he has sent me many letters since then, but I have been unable to reply to him. Could you possibly go there for me?”

  When Unchi readily agreed, Hwadam spoke to him, “Now that I think of it, Hwa Mountain is in the middle of the ocean, so it won’t be easy for you to get there.”

  “I may be modest in my talents, but I can go and return in no time.”

  When Hwadam expressed skepticism at that, Unchi began to think that he underestimated his powers.

  “If I do not return in good time, I will never leave this mountain again, even if I end up dying here.”

  “In that case, I wish you a good journey, but I still worry that you might make a mistake along the way.”

  When Hwadam gave him a letter to deliver, Unchi transformed himself into a hawk and flew toward the center of the ocean.

  Suddenly a great net appeared out of nowhere and blocked his path. When Unchi tried to fly over it, it grew to block him further. No matter how high he flew, its size matched him to the extent of touching the sky. And its bottom knots were tied to ropes that were submerged in the water. When Unchi tried to fly around it, it spread wide as well, preventing him from reaching Hwa Mountain. After ten days of trying to break through, he had no choice but to return to Hwadam and relate the strange event in the middle of the ocean.

  Hwadam spoke to him, “You boasted so much before but you failed in your mission, so why don’t you try leaving the mountains now?”

  Unchi, in great trepidation, tried to run, but Hwadam, predicting his action, transformed himself into a wildcat and attacked him. Unchi hurriedly turned himself into a hawk to escape, but then Hwadam became a blue lion and took Unchi in his mouth before knocking him to the ground.

  Hwadam reprimanded him, “You used such measly magic to trick the king and cause mischief without thought. For your lack of manners, you deserve to die.”

  Unchi replied in a plaintive tone, “I was ignorant of how great your powers were, so I did act in defiance of your high dignity. I do deserve to die for that, but I have an elderly mother to take care of, so I ask that you spare my life.”

  “If I let you live just this once, you must promise never to act in an unrighteous manner again. Take care of your mother, but once she passes away, what do you say we go up to the holy mountain of Yeongju together and study the ways of heavenly spirits?”

  “I will do as you say.”

  He bowed down to him before returning home. After that, he stopped using his magical powers and spent his time taking good care of his mother.

  After time passed like the flowing of water, Unchi’s mother passed away. He performed all the proper rituals as he buried her in a grave on a mountain. He then went through the three-year mourning period.

  One day, Hwadam came to visit and Unchi hurried over to meet him. After they exchanged greetings, they went into his house and sat down.

  Hwadam spoke to him, “We have made a promise before, so I came despite knowing that you are still in mourning. I have come to take you away, so prepare your travel gear.”

  Unchi, with great happiness, distributed his wealth to his servants. “This is my final farewell, so I bid you all to live well and perform proper rituals for my ancestors.”

  After Unchi bowed down before the graves of his ancestors, he and Hwadam got on a cloud and flew in the direction of Yeongju Mountain. No one knows what happened to them after that.

  *1 Goryeo dynasty: The kingdom that ruled over the Korean peninsula from 918 to 1392. It is unknown why the author of this story set it in the period, since there are a number of references to Korea during the subsequent Joseon dynasty (1392–1910), including the main character who is a fantasy version of a historical figure with the slightly different name Jeon Uchi, a scholar famed for his magical knowledge who lived in the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries. There is also the mention of Gyeongseong, which was the capital city of Joseon, rather than Goryeo, and a fantasy version of the historical figure Seo Gyeongdeok (1489–1546).

  *2 Gusipja: Unchi’s family name Jeon is signified by the Chinese character 田, meaning “field,” which is a combination of the character for “opening” 口, which is pronounced “gu” in Korean, and the character for the number ten 十, which is pronounced “sip” in Korean. “Ja” is Korean for the character 子, meaning “son.” So the name Gusipja is a rather elaborate way of signifying “son of the Jeon family.”

  *3 Yi Taebaek: Korean for the great Chinese poet Li Tai Bai (701–62), one of the seminal figures of the literary golden age of the Tang dynasty (618–907).

  *4 Wang Huiji: Korean for the great Chinese calligrapher Wang Xizhi (303–361).

  *5 Third watch: Traditionally, a day was divided into twelve units of roughly two modern hours each. The five units of nighttime were called gyeong, or “watch.” The third watch fell into roughly eleven o’clock at night to one.

  *6 Gyeongseong: Capital of the kingdom, today’s city of Seoul.

  *7 Ri: A unit for measuring distance, a little under 450 meters (around 0.27 miles).

  *8 Hour of the Horse: Roughly eleven o’clock in the morning to one in the afternoon.

  *9 Cheok: A unit for measuring length, a little bit over 20 centimeters (0.218 yards).

  *10 Chon: A unit for measuring length, a tenth of a cheok.

  *11 Hour of the Dragon: Roughly seven o’clock in the morning to nine.

  *12 Nyang: Traditional currency.

  *13 Hour of the Snake: Roughly nine o’clock in the morning to eleven.

  *14 Gil: A unit for measuring length, a little over 2 meters (6.5 feet).

  *15 “Jang Jabang” is Korean for the Chinese strategist “Zhang Zifang” (aka Zhang Liang, ?–189 BCE) who helped Liu Bang establish the Han dynasty in China. “Cho” is Korean for the “Kingdom of Chu,” and “Gyemyeong Mountain” is Korean for “Jiming Mountain” in China.

  *16 Gangdong: Korean for the Chinese region Jiangdong.

  *17 Fourth watch: Roughly one o’clock in the morning to three.

  *18 Seo Hwadam: Hwadam was the literary name of the historical figure Seo Gyeongdeok (1489–1546), a revered Confucian philosopher who was famed for his brilliance, erudition, and commitment to scholarship.

  Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804–1864) was an American writer born in Salem, Massachusetts. The Salem witch trials were an influence on his life, even though they had taken place decades earlier, as one of his ancestors was an unrepentant judge in those cases. The Scarlet Letter, his most famous novel and in many ways an anti-puritan response to society, was one of the earliest books mass-produced in the United States and quickly reached bestseller status. This may be hard to believe today, given the number of high school students who have had to suffer through it. He flirted briefly with transcendentalism, even living on Brook Farm for a short time, although this was more for financial reasons than for any strong feelings in support of its utopian community. As a matter of fact, much of his later writing showed a negative side of this philosophical experiment. Hawthorne became close friends with Herman Melville while Melville was writing Moby-Dick. Melville later dedicated the book to Hawthorne. Not all of his contemporaries appreciated his work. Edgar Allan Poe was quite critical when writing reviews of Hawthorne’s fiction. The story included here, “Feathertop,” was very well received when it was first published in 1852 and later became the inspiration of an opera and theater, film, and television productions.

  Feathertop: A Moralized Legend

  Nathaniel Hawthorne

  “DICKON,” CRIED MOTHER RIGBY, “a coal for my pipe!”

  The pipe was in the
old dame’s mouth when she said these words. She had thrust it there after filling it with tobacco, but without stooping to light it at the hearth, where indeed there was no appearance of a fire having been kindled that morning. Forthwith, however, as soon as the order was given, there was an intense red glow out of the bowl of the pipe, and a whiff of smoke came from Mother Rigby’s lips. Whence the coal came, and how brought thither by an invisible hand, I have never been able to discover.

  “Good!” quoth Mother Rigby, with a nod of her head. “Thank ye, Dickon! And now for making this scarecrow. Be within call, Dickon, in case I need you again.”

  The good woman had risen thus early (for as yet it was scarcely sunrise) in order to set about making a scarecrow, which she intended to put in the middle of her corn-patch. It was now the latter week of May, and the crows and blackbirds had already discovered the little, green, rolled-up leaf of the Indian corn just peeping out of the soil. She was determined, therefore, to contrive as lifelike a scarecrow as ever was seen, and to finish it immediately, from top to toe, so that it should begin its sentinel’s duty that very morning. Now Mother Rigby (as everybody must have heard) was one of the most cunning and potent witches in New England, and might, with very little trouble, have made a scarecrow ugly enough to frighten the minister himself. But on this occasion, as she had awakened in an uncommonly pleasant humor, and was further dulcified by her pipe tobacco, she resolved to produce something fine, beautiful, and splendid, rather than hideous and horrible.

  “I don’t want to set up a hobgoblin in my own corn-patch, and almost at my own doorstep,” said Mother Rigby to herself, puffing out a whiff of smoke; “I could do it if I pleased, but I’m tired of doing marvellous things, and so I’ll keep within the bounds of every-day business just for variety’s sake. Besides, there is no use in scaring the little children for a mile roundabout, though ’t is true I’m a witch.”

  It was settled, therefore, in her own mind, that the scarecrow should represent a fine gentleman of the period, so far as the materials at hand would allow. Perhaps it may be as well to enumerate the chief of the articles that went to the composition of this figure.