HELLO from KOREA

The Dangun Myth
Once there was a divine prince named
Hwanung, who was the son of Hwanin,
the God of the Heavens. Hwanung wanted
to help mankind, and asked his
father to grant him the Korean Peninsula
to govern. Hwanin granted his wish, and
Hwanung was sent to Earth with three
thousand followers.
Hwanung appeared near a divine
sandal wood tree on the slopes of
Mt.Taebaeksan. He took the title of
Cheon-wang, or Heavenly King, and
established Sinsi, the City of God. He
appointed three ministers to be in
charge of wind, rain, and the clouds,
and taught the people 360 useful arts
including agriculture, medicine, carpentry,
weaving and fishing. He also
taught them what was good and what
was evil, and set up a code of law.
In those days, there was a bear and
a tiger living in a big cave near the
sandal wood tree where Hwanung
became human, and everyday they
went to the sacred sandal wood tree
to pray to Hwanung to make them
human. Eventually, the Heavenly King
was moved by their prayers. He called
them to him and gave them twenty
bulbs of garlic and a divine spray of
mugwort, and said, "Eat these, and do
not seek the light of day for one hundred
days. If you do this, you will
become human."
The bear and the tiger ate the garlic
and mugwort and went back to their
cave. The tiger was too impatient to
survive this ordeal and left after a
short while. Meanwhile, the bear
patiently waited and after only twentyone
days, she became a beautiful
woman. She became known as
Ungnyeo.
The woman was overjoyed, but she
could find no one to marry her, so she
visited the sandal wood tree again
and prayed that she might be blessed
with a child. Hwanung again took pity
on her, and temporarily transformed
himself into a human. She conceived,
and gave birth to a son, who was
called Dangun.
He became the first human king of
the Peninsula. He established his capital
at Pyongyang and he gave his
kingdom the name Joseon. Later, he
moved his capital to Asadal on Mt.
Taebaeksan and ruled for 1,500 years.
After that, he abdicated and became a
mountain god.