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Yun Se-pyong, a MythSource painting
Korean

Yun Se-pyong

01Identity

Yun Se-pyong in Korean tradition

Yun Se-pyong is a man credited with supernatural knowledge in Korean Folk Tales: Imps, Ghosts and Fairies. His powers connect him to a family living far from his home in Seoul. When his sister dies in Chulla Province, he knows of her death before an ordinary messenger could arrive. He prepares help for her household and summons a servant of the gods to carry it. The servant's return brings a letter confirming both the death and the delivery. Yun's extraordinary awareness is paired with practical aid: the distant family receives the supplies it needs for the funeral.

SourceKorean Folk Tales: Imps, Ghosts and Fairies (Im Bang / James S. Gale, 1913): The Story (EPUB text block 13)· Korean Folk Tales: Imps, Ghosts and Fairies (Im Bang / James S. Gale, 1913): The Story (EPUB text block 14)· Korean Folk Tales: Imps, Ghosts and Fairies (Im Bang / James S. Gale, 1913): The Story (EPUB text block 15)· Korean 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)

Top questions

The quick answers

02The myths

The myths of Yun Se-pyong

1 myth, with sources recorded for each.

Yun Se-pyong Sends Help to His Sister

Yun Se-pyong was at home when he suddenly began to cry. His family gathered around him and asked what had happened. He told them that his sister had just died in Chulla Province. Knowing that her household was poor, he called his servants and asked them to prepare supplies for her funeral. He also wrote a letter and sealed it.

Yun sent an attendant outside the gate to find a man wearing a horsehair cap and a soldier's uniform. He said that the man was already waiting to be called. The attendant brought him inside. He was a servant of the gods, and he bowed before Yun. Yun explained where his sister had lived and gave him the letter and the bundle. He ordered the messenger to return that evening with an answer, warning that he would punish him if he failed. The messenger promised to arrive in time. He passed through the gateway and disappeared.

Before sunset, the messenger came back with a reply. The bereaved family confirmed that Yun's sister had died that day. They had been unsure how to manage the funeral until his letter and supplies reached them. After delivering their answer, the messenger went outside and disappeared again. Her home was more than ten days' journey from Seoul, yet he had carried the supplies there and brought the reply back in only two or three hours.

Yun Se-pyong Sends Help to His Sister, a MythSource painting of the scene