The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1897-01-03
! THE MOON MOTHER, ;
Or, kim's Crimson Sandals.
A Corean Fairy Tale.
BY ]. CARTER BEARD.


Copyright, 1897, by S. S. Mcclure Coz
The Coreans do not, as We do, see a
man in the moon, but an old woman.
J Her name is Kiang-Ho, the moon
mother and it is her duty to wash
and brush and polish the orb of night
! and to trim and replenish the lamp
that lights it. until ii shines with it's
proper lustre. When the transparent
/ surface of the moon becomes dim and
furnished she daSheS water upon it
and scrubs it and folks say 1T rains, -
and When she sweeps off the dust that
gathers upon it it comes to us as snow
She is always represented as wearing
J a pair of crimson sandals and the fol-
lowing story is told of how they came
into her possession:
There was once a young man named
Kim who lived in Seoul the capital city
Of Corea. He was a scholar and be-
longed to the Yang Ban or gentleman
class, but he was very poor, so poor
in fact, that the very rats left the
ramshackle, tumble-down place he
lived in to seek more promising quar-
tiers. Kim, we are told, had once en-
joyed much better circumstances, but
great confiagration breaking out in
the district in which he lived, he had
left his own dwelling to be pillaged
and reduced to ashes by incendaries,
While he devoted himself to rescuing
the inmates of other burning houses,
especially the aged, the weak and the
helpless from the flames Had NOT
Kiang-Ho. the moon-cleaner, selected
that particular time for giving her
habitation a vigorous washing, the
whole district must have been con-
sumed and Kim inevitably lost his
life.
AS years rolled by, Kim's fortunes
did not improve He often lacked food
and at such times was fain to forget
his hunger beneath the fir trees on the
Mok-nam hills, south of the city walls
meditating and composing verses. One
day when a scant breakfast, consisting
of a cup of boiled rice and half a string
of fiat persimmonS, of which he had
partaken the day before, was all the
food that had passed his lips; finding
himself in very pOetical frame of
mind, he composed the following
stanza:
1T is a very good world this to live in,
To lend or to spend or TO give in,
But to borrow or beg, or to get a mans
1t is surely the worst world ever was
known"
KIM'S VISITOR.
There is more truth than poetry in
that, KIM" said a voice close by, and
Kim, turning, saw an old woman with
brush and lantern sitting near him.
1t will always be So" continued the
old woman. until you have learned the
secret of the crimson sandals
Kim was surprised. Although he had
composed his stanza, he had neither
written it, nor spoken it aloud; besides,
he had never, to his knowledge, seen
the old woman before, and yet she
called him by name.
What is the secret, mother?' asked
the young man.
Il cannot tell you now she said.
for forewarning you of the DEGREES of
heaven would prevent their proper ac-
complishment, and me, from aiding
you. This much, and this much only, I
may be revealed. After the worst /
comes the best: remember this, and do |
not yield to despair. When you have !
found a sweet-voiced golden bird once !
burned, often beaten, who will paint |
your sandals of straw crimson color /
for you-a bird whose beautiful eyes, |
nay, whose very name invites you to |
her side-this secret will be revealed"
Such birds are not, found in every |
tree, said the young man. eff know |
ing the secret depends upon my find |
ing one, the secret, l fear will remain /
in secret until the sea dries up" He
turned to her as he spoke, but the old .
woman was no longer by his side She
had vanished.
LIS NEGOTIATIONS.
Shortly after this Kim added to his
by falling in love, for as he
sat in his usual place one day he saw a
young girl pause at the public fountain
to quench her thirst. AS she drew aside
the robe and with modest haste with
drew the mist-like thing she used
for veil and bent to drink, her eyes
met those of Kim. Blushing, she re-
placed the robe and with modest haste |
AS for Kim, he stood for
dazed and bewildered; he