<h2 class="label">XVI</h2>
<h2 class="main">THE MAN WHO BECAME A PIG</h2></div>
<div class="divBody">
<p class="par first">[Kim Yu was the son of a country magistrate who
graduated with literary honours in 1596. In 1623 he was one of the
faithful courtiers who joined forces to dethrone the wicked Prince
Kwang-hai, and place In-jo on the throne. He was raised to the rank of
Prince and became, later, Prime Minister. In the year 1624, when Yi
Kwal raised an insurrection, he was the means of putting it down and of
bringing many of his followers to justice. In 1648, he died at the age
of seventy-seven.</p>
<p class="par">In the last year of Son-jo the King called his
grandchildren together and had them write Chinese for him and draw
pictures. At that time In-jo was a little boy, and he drew a picture of
a horse. King Son-jo gave the picture to Yi Hang-bok, but when the
latter some years later went into exile he gave the picture to Kim Yu.
Kim Yu took it, and hung it up in his house and there it remained.</p>
<p class="par">Prince In-jo was one day making a journey out of the
Palace when he was overtaken by rain, and <span class="pagenum">[<SPAN name=
"xd21e1527" href="#xd21e1527" name="xd21e1527">86</SPAN>]</span>took
refuge in a neighbouring gate-quarters. A servant-maid came out and
invited him in, asking him not to stand in the wet, but Prince In-jo
declined. The invitation, however, was insisted on, and he went into
the guest-room, where he saw the picture of a horse on the wall. On
examining it carefully he recognized it as the picture he had drawn
when a lad, and he wondered how it could have come here. Kim Yu then
came in and they met for the first time. Prince In-jo told him how he
had been overtaken by rain and invited in. He asked concerning the
picture of the horse that hung on the wall, and Kim Yu in reply asked
why he inquired. Prince In-jo said, “I drew that picture myself
when I was a boy.” Just as they spoke together a rich table of
food was brought in from the inner quarters. Kim Yu, not knowing yet
who his guest was, looked with wonder at this surprise, and after
Prince In-jo had gone, he inquired of his wife why she had sent such
delicious fare in to a stranger. The wife replied, “In a dream
last night, I saw the King come and stand in front of our house. I was
just thinking it over when the servant came in and said that some one
was standing before the door. I looked out, and lo, it was the man I
had seen in my dream! so I have treated him to the best of hospitality
that I was able.” Kim Yu soon learned who his caller had been,
and <span class="pagenum">[<SPAN name="xd21e1529" href="#xd21e1529" name=
"xd21e1529">87</SPAN>]</span>became from that time the faithful supporter
of Prince In-jo, and later helped to put him on the throne.</p>
<p class="par">After In-jo became king he asked privately of Kim Yu
where he had got the picture. Kim Yu said, “I got it from Prince
Yi Hang-bok.”</p>
<p class="par">Kim Yu then called Yi’s son and inquired of him as
to how his father had got it. The son said, “In the last year of
King Son-jo he called my father along with all his grandchildren, and
showed him the writings and drawings of the young princes. My father
looked at them with interest, but the King gave him only one as a
keepsake, namely, the drawing of the horse.” In the picture there
was a willow tree and a horse tied to it. Kim Yu then recognized the
thought that underlay the gift of the picture, namely, that Prince Yi
Hang-bok should support In-jo in the succession to the throne.]</p>
<div class="div2 story">
<div class="divHead">
<h3 class="main"><i>The Story</i></h3></div>
<div class="divBody">
<p class="par first">A certain Minister of State, called Kim Yu, living
in the County of Seung-pyong, had a relative who resided in a
far-distant part of the country, an old man aged nearly one hundred. On
a certain day a son of this patriarch came to the office of the
Minister and asked to see him. Kim ordered him to be admitted, and
inquired as to <span class="pagenum">[<SPAN name="xd21e1541" href="#xd21e1541" name="xd21e1541">88</SPAN>]</span>why he had come. Said he,
“I have something very important to say, a private matter to lay
before your Excellency. There are so many guests with you now that
I’ll come again in the evening and tell it.”</p>
<p class="par">In the evening, when all had departed, he came, and the
Minister ordered out his personal retainers and asked the meaning of
the call. The man replied, saying, “My father, though very old,
was, as you perhaps know, a strong and hearty man. On a certain day he
called us children to him and said, ‘I wish to have a siesta, so
now close the door and all of you go out of the room. Do not let any
one venture in till I call you.’</p>
<p class="par">“We children agreed, of course, and did so. Till
late at night there was neither call nor command to open the door, so
that we began to be anxious. We at last looked through the chink, and
lo, there was our father changed into a huge pig! Terrified by the
sight of it we opened the door and looked in, when the animal grunted
and growled and made a rush to get out past us. We hurriedly closed the
door again and held a consultation.</p>
<p class="par">“Some said, ‘Let’s keep the pig just
as it is, within doors, and care for it.’ Some said,
‘Let’s have a funeral and bury it.’ We ignorant
country-folk not knowing just what to do under such peculiar
circumstances, I have come to ask counsel of <span class="pagenum">[<SPAN name="xd21e1549" href="#xd21e1549" name=
"xd21e1549">89</SPAN>]</span>your Excellency. Please think over this
startling phenomenon and tell us what we ought to do.”</p>
<p class="par">Prince Kim, hearing this, gave a great start, thought it
over for a long time, and at last said, “No such mysterious thing
was ever heard of before, and I really don’t know what is best to
do under the circumstances, but still, it seems to me that since this
metamorphosis has come about, you had better not bury it before death,
so give up the funeral idea. Since, too, it is not a human being any
longer, I do not think it right to keep it in the house. You say that
it wants to make its escape, and as a cave in the woods or hills is its
proper abode, I think you had better take it out and let it go free
into the trackless depths of some mountainous country, where no foot of
man has ever trod.”</p>
<p class="par">The son accepted this wise counsel, and did as the
Minister advised, took it away into the deep mountains and let it go.
Then he donned sackcloth, mourned, buried his father’s clothes
for a funeral, and observed the day of metamorphosis as the day of
sacrificial ceremony.</p>
<p class="par signed"><span class="sc">Im Bang.</span> <span class="pagenum">[<SPAN name="xd21e1559" href="#xd21e1559" name=
"xd21e1559">90</SPAN>]</span></p>
</div>
</div></div>
</div>
<div id="ch17" class="div1 chapter"><span class="pagenum">[<SPAN href="#xd21e364">Contents</SPAN>]</span>
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