The Sun and the Moon

    An old woman was walking home from her job at a rich man’s house. He had given her a box containing buckwheat puddings. She came upon a tiger and she gave him a pudding. The tiger reappeared again and again demanding more of the woman. Eventually she lost all of her puddings, both arms, both legs, and finally the last of her. Going to the woman’s house, the tiger tried to get inside to eat her children, a boy and a girl. The children had been warned about tigers so they asked questions until they found out that the tiger was pretending to be their mother. They ran away and climbed a tree by a well. The tiger looked in the well and tried to get the children. The tiger soon realized that the children were in the tree. The children prayed for safety and were taken up into heaven. The boy became the moon and the girl became the sun.

Animals Incorporated

Tiger

Origin

Korea

Zŏng, In-sŏb. Folk Tales from Korea. London: Routledge & Paul, 1952.