Korean Mythology: Captivating Myths, Legends, and Folktales from Korea

by Matt Clayton

Have you ever encountered a noblewoman who was so beautiful that every time she walked by a body of water, the divine being who lived there kidnapped her? Or a mole who wanted to marry his beloved daughter to the wind? You will get to meet both of them in this book.

Long ago, Korea was divided into the three kingdoms of Koguryo, Silla, and Paekche. Each kingdom had its own culture, myths, and legends. Many of these myths were first written down in a collection called Samguk yusa, or “Memorabilia of the Three Kingdoms,” which was compiled by a Buddhist monk named Iryeon in the late thirteenth century.

Changes in religious belief across the centuries came to have an important impact on Korean mythology. The earliest religion was a form of shamanism, and the belief in gods and spirits who inhabit animals and mountains come to the fore in several of these tales. Buddhism was introduced in the fourth century, and several Korean myths have Buddhist monks or priests as their protagonists. Confucianism, which gained traction in Korea starting at the end of the fourteenth century, contributed to the concept of filial piety that informs the plots of several of the stories in this volume.

Some of these myths involve high-status people such as kings and government officials, or else tell of the activities of divine beings such as heavenly maidens or dragons, while others are amusing tales about the doings of cats and dogs and other animals. Myths such as “The Legend of Tangun” explain how kingdoms were founded, while “Kot’aji and the God of the Western Sea” tell the tale of how the archer Kot’aji saved a dragon and his family from the predations of a malicious demon, while other dragon stories are about people needing to be rescued from their long, scaly hosts who, despite having snatched people away from their families, are largely benignant beings who treat their guests well.

Here are just a few of the other amazing things you will encounter in this collection of Korean myths and
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Genres: Mythology, Nonfiction

104 pages, Paperback

Published April 17, 2021

Reviews

[Lauryn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Downloaded this book from Kindle Unlimited. I’m giving the book 3 stars simply because the book was a fast read and the folktales were very entertaining.

Most of the folktales themselves were so incredibly outlandish that I just couldn’t stop laughing. I can’t rate the “morals” of the stories since their ideas are so old-fashioned; but I will say you should read them for entertainment purposes, and not for actual life advice. Women seem to get stolen and/or tricked in almost every tale!

I’ve taken off points because the editing needs a lot of work. The punctuation isn’t used properly in many instances, which made it confusing sometimes.

I also want to note that in the story, “Why Cats and Dogs Are Enemies,” the cat is first described as a “she,” and then later on the storyteller changes the cat to a “he.” What gender was the cat? No one will ever know. Lol

Overall, definitely worth the read if you have KU.

[Kelsey · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was really interesting to me being that I have never really learned much about Korean Myths. I enjoyed the fact that these stories were similar to ones I have heard before which got me to thinking. Did someone take these myths as their own and use them for their own advantage. Specifically Cinderella and a princess and a frog scenario. Either way, these stories are still interesting of how one originally started or was meant to be and how over time have been tweaked. It is still amazing to me as to how no matter who told the story or stories, everyone's still relates in little bits and pieces. Especially with the foundation myths of the kingdoms and a 1,908 year old king. Overall, this book was an awesome read. I enjoyed learning the reason as to why dogs and cats hate each other. That particular story made me laugh. I also loved the closing section of the mythical beings. With that being said, go find this book and read it! Hopefully you will enjoy it too!

[Ulee ☄︎ · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Audible Audio version

I thought this would be a book that explained how mythology mixed with the culture and how it was used in people's daily lives. For example, if you want kids you went to a temple and prayed to god X or did some ritual. Another example would be how Mythology effected how the Kings ruled the land. Or even how Buddhism and Confucianism changed the way people practiced and accepted the old ways of living. Instead this was a book of selected Fairytales from the culture. It wasn't bad; it just wasn't what I expect. ANNNDDa, none of the stories contain a fox (with any number of tails), but dragons were mentioned. I appreciate that all 3 creation stories from the 3 kingdoms were told.

A downside, is that I questioned whether the narrator was AI. This is because I heard him read typos. The inflection and cadence in his voice didn't seem to be AI, but the fact that he read the typos instead of just fixing it when he spoke, baffles me.

[Juliette · Rating 1 out of 5]

When I heard the word mythology, this is not what I had in my mind.

I read some Egyptian mythology on online about how your moles are the places where the lover of your past lives used to kiss you, and how humans were initially born with four arms and four legs and two heads but one soul (or maybe heart). And then, from that one human, two humans were made by separating them and now we are forever trying to find our other half, and stuff like that.

I don't obviously believe any of them, but they were fun to read.

When I saw the book name, this is what I had in my mind. I thought I would get a series of myths like that about the beliefs that each culture used to have.

But this turned out to be a full-on history lesson. This is honestly just a sum of Korean fairy tales. And in my all K-Dramas and K-Pop, I have never seen any of the mates playing out in their life. I don't know if even Koreans themselves know their own mythology.

The book isn't bad. It did what it was supposed to, and I know many people like to know about other cultures. But it's not just what I expected. So it's not for me.

[Nihal · Rating 4 out of 5]

I never knew Korean Mythology existed, so I was really eager to read this book. After reading, I found out that Matt Clayton had gathered almost all the major myths, legends, and folktales to create an entertaining and informative book.

Even though the book had all the myths, it didn't have the Korean Gods. I know that Korean Gods are there, especially when some Korean heroes were 'Son of heaven'. I guess Korean Gods should have been included. Nevertheless, it was a good and interesting book. And I learn many facts which I didn't know before.

[Song Hangyeul · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m Korean, and I appreciate to author of this book for translating korea’s famous tales into English. I already knew about many stories in this book. But it was a new experience to read it in English. And there are stories I maybe forgot, which is not familiar with Korean(e.g. stories about giant frog). Family tales would help to understand the Korea’s traditional moral belief, based on family(In traditional Korean society, there were many town consists of people with same first name).

[Lani E. · Rating 3 out of 5]

I understand that this is simply a collection of myths, but the writing style did not do justice to the magic in these tales. Like it took me almost 2 months to finish such a relatively short book. It’s good reference material, at least.

[Scoozer · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the tales that were there, but was disappointed there weren't more. I was hoping for more legends of goblins, reapers, and the afterlife.

[N.Barber · Rating 3 out of 5]

A well-selected primer for Korean myths, although the commentaries prior to each tale are at times superfluous.