Kongjwi (콩쥐)

FolktaleKorea · East AsiaFolktaleFear 4/10

Description

A kind girl abused by her stepmother and stepsister Patjwi. With help from supernatural creatures and animals, she overcomes impossible tasks and finds happiness. Often called the Korean Cinderella, embodying themes of virtue rewarded and evil punished.

Origin & Background

The story of Kongji and Patji is one of the famous domestic novels of the Joseon Dynasty and is a folk tale of the Cinderella type. The author and date of this work are unknown, and it is transmitted in the form of printed editions of Korean classical novels, such as the Daechang Seowon edition (1919) and the Taehwa Seogwan edition (1928).

The Legend

Kongji loses her mother as she becomes an adult, and her father remarries a stepmother. The stepmother has a daughter named Patji, who is one year younger than Kongji but has a wicked heart. The stepmother makes Kongji do difficult household chores, and Kongji endures various hardships. However, with the help of various animals and the mother from the heavenly realm, Kongji is able to attend the village feast and marries Kimssi Gamsa. Later, Patji and the stepmother try to drown Kongji to kill her, but Kongji comes back to life, and eventually, Patji and the stepmother are punished.

In Popular Culture

This story is a widely spread Cinderella-type tale around the world, containing the theme of rewarding good people and punishing evil ones. The story of Kongji and Patji, while based on folklore, is evaluated as a work that transcends simple folklore by depicting various events after marriage and is recreated into an ethical theme.

This article is based on the Wikipedia article "콩쥐팥쥐전" (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Wikipedia