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Cheung Puk-chang, a MythSource painting
Korean

Cheung Puk-chang

01Identity

Cheung Puk-chang in Korean tradition

Cheung Puk-chang visits his paternal aunt while her servant is overdue from a harvesting journey. As they sit together, Puk-chang tells her where the servant is and describes the trouble he has met on the road. His aunt doubts him, but records the date. When the servant returns, she asks him what happened, and his answers match Puk-chang's account. The episode turns on the distance between the seated speaker and the event he describes, and on the aunt's later check of what he claimed to see.

SourceKorean Folk Tales: Imps, Ghosts and Fairies (Im Bang / James S. Gale, 1913): The Story (EPUB text block 16)· Korean Folk Tales: Imps, Ghosts and Fairies (Im Bang / James S. Gale, 1913): The Story (EPUB text block 17)· Korean Folk Tales: Imps, Ghosts and Fairies (Im Bang / James S. Gale, 1913): The Story (EPUB text block 18)· Korean Folk Tales: Imps, Ghosts and Fairies (Im Bang / James S. Gale, 1913): The Story (EPUB text block 19)· Korean Folk Tales: Imps, Ghosts and Fairies (Im Bang / James S. Gale, 1913): The Story (EPUB text block 20)· Korean Folk Tales: Imps, Ghosts and Fairies (Im Bang / James S. Gale, 1913): The Story (EPUB text block 21)· Korean Folk Tales: Imps, Ghosts and Fairies (Im Bang / James S. Gale, 1913): The Story (EPUB text block 22)· Korean Folk Tales: Imps, Ghosts and Fairies (Im Bang / James S. Gale, 1913): The Story (EPUB text block 23)· Korean Folk Tales: Imps, Ghosts and Fairies (Im Bang / James S. Gale, 1913): The Story (EPUB text block 24)

Top questions

The quick answers

02The myths

The myths of Cheung Puk-chang

1 myth, with sources recorded for each.

Puk-chang Sees the Missing Servant

Puk-chang visited his paternal aunt and sat talking with her. She had sent a servant to oversee harvesting in Yong-nam County, but he had not returned when expected. She feared that thieves, a fire or some other misfortune had delayed him. Puk-chang offered to tell her where the servant was and what was happening to him. She laughed, thinking that he was joking.

From his seat, Puk-chang looked towards the south. He said that the servant was crossing Bird Pass in Mun-kyong County and was receiving a beating from a passing official. His aunt asked why. Puk-chang described the official eating a meal at the top of the hill. The servant had ridden past without dismounting, angering him. The official's attendants had pulled the servant from his horse and struck his face with their rough straw shoes. Puk-chang spoke as though he could see the encounter, but his aunt still doubted him.

After he left, she marked the date on the wall. When her servant finally returned, she asked which day he had crossed Bird Pass. His answer matched the date she had recorded. She then asked whether he had encountered trouble with an official there. Startled that she knew, the servant told her what had happened. His account agreed with the details Puk-chang had given.

Puk-chang Sees the Missing Servant, a MythSource painting of the scene