the sun for three times seven days. Then you will have your wish.'
"The tiger and the she-bear ate the garlic and crept in out of the sunshine, far inside a dark cave. Now the tiger is a restless creature, my little ones, and the time seemed very long. At the end of eleven days he could stand the waiting no longer. He rushed out into the sunlight. Thus that tiger, still having the form of a beast, went off to his hunting again, on all four feet.
"The she-bear was more patient. She curled up and slept throughout the thrice-seven days. On the twenty-first morning, she came forth from the cave, walking upright on two legs, like you and me. Her hairy skin dropped away, and she became a beautiful woman.
"When the beautiful bear-woman sat down to rest under the sandalwood tree, Han Woon, the Spirit King, saw her. He blew his breath upon her, and in good time a baby boy was born to them. Years later, the wild tribes found this baby boy, grown into a handsome youth, sitting under that same tree. And they called him 'Tan Kun, Lord of the Sandalwood Tree.' They made him their king, and they listened well to his words.
"The Nine Tribes of those times were rough people, my children. In summer they lived under trees, like the spirits; in winter they took shelter in caves dug in the ground. They had not yet learned how to bind up their hair, to weave themselves clothing, nor to shut their wives away from the eyes of strange men. They knew nothing of growing good rice, nor of making savory kimchee. Their foods were the berries and nuts, the wild fruit and roots they found in the forests."
Halmoni paused a little to take a drink of the sweet honey water she liked so much. Then she continued her story.
"Tan Kun taught these wild people to cut down the trees and to open the earth to grow grain. He showed them how to cook their rice and how to heat their houses. Under his guidance they wove cloth out of grass fibers. They learned to comb their hair neatly, into braids for the boys and girls, into topknots for the married men, and into smooth coils for their wives.
"Good ways of living thus came to this Dragon-Backed Land. Tan Kun ruled it wisely for more than one thousand years, so my father told me. Our people had already begun to grow great when our second wise ruler came. This was the Emperor Ki Ja from across the Duck Green River, from China beyond the Ever-White Mountains."
"What became of Tan Kun, Halmoni?" Yong Tu asked.
"Tan Kun was no longer needed then, blessed boy," his grandmother replied. "He became a spirit again, and he flew back up to Heaven. But men say that an altar he built to honor his grandfather, Hananim, still stands on the faraway hills to the north."
Yong Tu knew all about Ki Ja, who is often called the "Father of Korea." It was written in the boy's own history book that, more than three thousand years ago, Ki Ja was an important official in China. He was unhappy under the wicked rule of the Chinese emperor who then sat on the Dragon Throne there. So he set forth to found a kingdom where people might live more safely and in peace.
"Five thousand good Chinese accompanied Ki Ja," Halmoni told her listeners. "Among them were doctors to heal the sick, and scholars to teach the ignorant people. There were mechanics and carpenters to show how cities could be built, and fortunetellers and magicians who knew how to keep away evil spirits. Books, paintings, and musical instruments were brought with them, also the precious worms that spin silk. Ki Ja gave his new subjects the Five Laws that taught them their duties to themselves and their fellows.
"Those were golden days," Halmoni declared, shaking her head so that the silver-and-coral pin in the coil of black hair on her neck gleamed in the lamplight. "Travelers were safe from robbers on the roads. Gates could safely be kept open after nightfall. Everyone was polite and kind to his neighbor. He, it must have been good to live in those times.
"Ki Ja's tomb could still be pointed out, not far from the Peony Mountain near Pyeng Yang, the capital city that was built by Tan Kun. The pillar of rock to which people declared his first boat was moored and Ki Ja's well still stood, but they, too, were outside the city gates. Pyeng Yang was built in the shape of a boat, so it was said. Now everyone knows a boat will sink if a hole is bored in its bottom. That is why it was forbidden in those early times to dig wells inside this boat city. That is why the people there had to carry all their water such a long way."
"But what about Chu Mong, the Skillful Archer, Halmoni?" Ok Cha asked. The little girl liked his story best. And as her grandmother told it, Chu Mong's family name also had been Kim.
"Yé, Chu Mong, like Ki Ja, crossed the Duck Green River beneath the Ever-White Mountains. He, too, brought good ways to our land. From him came its ancient name, so my grandfather always declared. It all happened like this.
"In very early times, when Korea still was divided into many small kingdoms, there was a certain king to the north who wept because he had no son. One day during a hunt he knelt by a stream in the deep woods and prayed the Jade Emperor of Heaven to send him a son. When he rose to his feet and turned toward his horse, he was startled to see great tears rolling out of the animal's eyes. The horse was pawing and pawing at a huge gray rock at the side of the path. Suddenly the rock moved, and the horse rolled it aside.
"Beneath that rock, to the King's surprise and delight, there lay a small boy whose skin gleamed like gold. Because of this, and because of the fact that he had been lying under a stone, the King called the child 'Kim Nee Wa,' or 'Golden Toad.' And he cherished this son whom Heaven had sent him in such a strange way.
"Now it was this same Kim Nee Wa who succeeded his father on the throne of that northern kingdom. And it was in his courts one day that a marvelous happening occurred. One of his wives, sitting by a little stream in the garden, saw a tiny white cloud moving toward her. Gently it floated inside her dress, where it turned into an egg.
"When the cloud egg was hatched and a fine baby boy was presented to the King, he grew very angry. 'This child is surely the son of a demon!' he cried. 'Throw it among the pigs.'
"But the fierce boars did not harm the child. They grew gentle as cooing doves, and they blew their warm breath on the baby so that the night air should not harm him.
"'Throw the demon child to the hunting dogs,' the angry King cried. But again snarling beasts became quiet. The dogs licked the face and hands of the tiny boy and warmed him with their breath.
"'Put him amid the wild horses,' ordered the King, for he feared this strange child. The wild horses also breathed softly upon the boy, and the mares fed him with their warm milk.
"'At, it is the will of the Jade Emperor of Heaven that this boy shall live,' the King finally gave in. 'His mother shall bring the child up as our son.'
"All marveled at the beauty and cleverness of the boy. From his shining face people called him 'Child of the Sun' or 'Brightness of the Morning,' which are just ways of saying 'Light of the East.' Always kind to animals, he had a special gift for handling the horses in the King's stables, and he was made master there.
"But, above all, people wondered at the boy's skill with the bow and arrow. At your age, Yong Tu, he could bring down a flying swallow. At fifteen he could slay a swift-running deer or pierce the eye of a wild goose flying high in the clouds. His like was not known on all the eight coasts. More often he was called 'Chu Along,' or 'Skillful Archer.'
"Splendid and handsome, kind and skillful, he was. All in that kingdom preferred Chu Mong above any of the other sons of the King. Only his jealous brothers disliked him.
"One day Chu Mong learned from his mother of a plot they were making to put him to death.
"'You must flee, Skillful Archer. You must flee this night, my dear son,' she warned.
