영어로 읽는 삼국유사

Part 1 Folk tales
1. A Beautiful Woman Called Suro
2. A Turtle’s Gift
3. The Conquest of Woosanguk
4. A Sad Folk Tale about Emillejong
5. Kim Daeseong and the Bulguks
6. A National Treasure and Dragons
7. Park Jaesang and his wife
8. The Origin of Hwarang
9. Ureuk
10. Buryerang and Ansang
11. Like Father, Like Son
12. Great Buddhist Monk Hyegong
13. Biryeongja and His Son
14. The Battle of Hwangsanbeol
15. An Old Man
16. Kim Inmun
17. A Muralist, Solgeo
18. A devoted daughter
19. Baekgyeol
20. A Great Present
21. Hyangdeok
22. A great archer: Geotaji
23. A strange dream

Part 2 Stories about Kings
24. The Morning of Seorabeol
25. Seok Talhae
26. A myth of Kim Alji
27. Seodong and Princess Seonwha
28. Kim Yusin
29. The Good Relationship
30. A story of Seolchong
31. A Father’s Karma
32. Resuscitated King Aejang
33. Kyeon Hwon

Part 3 Stories about Monks
34. The Propagation of Buddhism
35. Venerable Wolmyeong
36. Venerable Wonhyo
37. Venerable Uisang
38. A Hunter
39. A Valuable Lesson for King
40. Venerable Wonkoang
41. Abijee
42. The Stone Buddha
43. A Monk Who Bowed to His Own Clothes

Turtle’s Gift
One day, King Wonseong3 summoned the Buddhist Great Master Jeehye to pray for his people for 50 days in his palace.
The Venerable had a little assistant monk called Myojeong, who always guarded and helped him like his shadow. While his master was reciting Buddhist Scripture, part of Myojeong’s job was to burn incense on the altar and to wash the dishes.
Myojeong was, as usual, washing the dishes at the well while humming a song. As he was looking into the well he saw a turtle repeatedly break the water and disappear along with the rhythm of his humming. As soon as he finished singing, it hopped towards him. Myojeong greeted her warmly.
“Hi, Little Turtle! How are you?”
From that day on, they continued to greet each other at the well three times a day.
He started to become more attached to this little cute creature with time. Something mysterious started to happen
to Myojeong, though he didn’t know from when or why it started to happen. He often found himself hurrying to meet her. Feeding her some rice became part of his routine. He got into the habits of always setting aside a little rice for her from his rations.
On the last day of the praying event, Myojeong rushed to the well to say goodbye to her and while serving her last meal, he said to the turtle playfully,
“I have fed you some food three times a day for almost 50 days. How can you repay me for my kindness?”
The moment his last word ended, the turtle suddenly disappeared from his sight.
After a while, she came back with a bead in her mouth.
She gave him a gesture as if to say that it was for you.
“Take it? Thanks. How pretty it is! Every time I see it, I will always remember you forever.”
Then, whenever he went out, he always carried it around on his belt.
It was around this time that strange things started to happen to him. He fell into favor with the king unexpectedly. When it was time for his master to leave the palace, the king suddenly asked Myojeong to stay behind.
He was wise enough to live up to4 the king’s expectation.
Several months later, Myojeong was sent to Tang as a Silla’s envoy. As soon as he arrived in Tang, he was immediately favored by the courtiers as well as the Emperor.
His luck seemed to be with him for good. In time, he began to hold his nose in the air.5
People started to notice his continuous good fortune and some close to the emperor commented and questioned Myojeong’s ongoing luck. Those who had the gift of foretelling the fate of people going by their facial expression started to talk to the emperor.
One of them said,
“Your Majesty! I can’t understand what makes everyone love this man without a lucky appearance. It is really mysterious. I think he must have something strange inside his clothes.”
The emperor said, “What a curious thing it is”.
So he ordered,
“Search inside his clothes.”
At last, they found the small bead on his belt. The king looked confused and slightly perplexed,
“Isn’t that the bead I have been looking for? In fact, I have four beads like it, but one of them disappeared for no reason several months ago. How was it that you obtained it?” asked the emperor.
Myojeong suddenly realized that he was in a bad situation. He must do whatever it took to get himself out of it. Myojeong explained to the emperor how the bead came to be in his possession.
Oh, my God! The day when the turtle presented it to him coincided exactly with the day the emperor had lost the bead.
The emperor said,
“What a strange coincidence that it should have happened to the both of us!”
However, his accounts were not enough to save him. The emperor deprived him of everything including the bead and deported the poor man back to Silla.
After then, he had to live as a common monk for the rest of his life.