One of my students told me a very old, very popular Korean folk tale last night. There was this bird that would fly south every winter and return to Korea in the spring. After the migration, the bird always came back to the same location in Korea. It was a farm owned by a very honest and hard working man. The man was not rich, and he worked very hard to put just enough food on the table for his family. Often, his family went hungry.
One year in the spring, during a short break in the bird's migration back to Korea, the bird was bitten by a snake. The snake, while not poisonous, damaged the bird's wing so bad that it was very difficult to make the flight back to Korea. After an arduous journey, the bird finally reached the farm and its favorite tree, but could not stand up straight and fell to the ground in pain and exhaustion.
The farmer recognized the bird and saw that the bird was in trouble on the ground. The farmer wrapped the bird in a soft towel, repaired its injured wing and nursed the bird back to health during the warm spring months. The bird's wing was healed and it regained its strength in time to fly south again for the winter.
Upon the bird's return to the farm that next spring, it brought back a piece of fruit to the farmer and dropped it on the ground where it had laid injured only a year before. The farmer saw the fruit, and even though he did not recognize it, he picked it up hungrily and cut it open for food. Inside the fruit were odd looking seeds that the farmer planted into the ground.
That spring, the seeds from that odd fruit grew into a big tree. The big tree produced more odd looking fruit, and the farmer was happy to have more food for his family.
One day, when the fruit was ripe enough to be harvested, the farmer cut down a few pieces for his family to eat for lunch. Upon cutting open a piece of the fruit, he found that it was filled with precious gemstones. He became very excited and cut open another piece. It too was filled with precious, valuable, sparkling gemstones. The farmer became rich and never again had to worry about feeding his family.
Unlike the honest and hard working man, the farmer's brother was lazy and deceitful and dishonest. The farmer's brother, upon seeing the wealth provided by the bird, decided that he wanted to share in the same fortune.
The farmer's brother found the bird during the spring and injured the bird's leg with his bare hands. After breaking the bird's leg, he repaired it and nursed the bird back to health in time for the migration.
Just like before, that next spring, the bird came back to the farm and dropped a piece of odd looking fruit. The brother, greedily waiting for the package, ran over to the fruit and quickly cut it open for the fortune giving seeds. Instead of fruit and seeds, however, a tiny creature emerged from inside. The creature began to grow into a large monster with one horn and a hammer. The monster started to chase the farmer's brother and never stopped.