Prompt: What are the major differences or similarities between the ethos of the creation story or stories you are familiar with and the story King tells in The Truth About Stories?
Koreans do not have a unified creation story, differing by the regions and the cultures that told them, and we also have a handful of founding stories as well. This is similar to the story that King tells in The Truth About Stories, where he says it’s one of many Indigenous creation stories, and that it’s just his favourite. Since I can’t talk about all the stories, I thought I’d pick my favourite to tell as well. This story is called Changsega.
At first, the sky and earth were joined together as one, with no room for a world in between. One day cracks formed in between the two, separating them, and the giant god, Mireuk, seized this opportunity and erected four pillars to hold the heavens high above. He noticed there were two suns and two moons in that sky, making the days too hot and nights too cold, so he decided to crush one of each and decorated the sky with the dust, creating stars.
But even with only one sun and moon, his skin stung during the day and shivered by night. What was he to do? He could destroy the remaining sun and moon… no, he couldn’t possibly do that. So he took a stroll through the forest to think it over when he stumbled into a thick patch of kudzu. While covered head to toe in vines, he was struck with a brilliant idea. He took back a hand full of the plant back home and weaved it into hemp and fashioned it into a robe to protect him from the elements.
But… he still wasn’t happy, the nights were chilly and dark, not to mention that he was starting to get thirsty after working so hard. A passing mouse, seeing Mireuk’s troubled expression, told him to climb mount Geumdeong, promising that he would find what he is looking for at the top. So he did, and at the peak, he found pig iron which made sparks when struck with pebbles! Using this new tool he created fire, and with the new found light, he could see something simmering in the distance at mount Soha. He made the track over to that mountain and found a spring, which he used to create rivers, lakes, and oceans.
The world is ready, he thought, but he was lonely. So he prayed to the sky and it answered him with five golden insects and five silver insects that flew down to earth which turned into five men and five women to keep Mireuk company.
Under his rule, humans thrived and populated the world, but it attracted the attention of an evil god named Seokga. He was envious of the world that Mireuk had made, but didn’t want to do any of the work, so he challenged Mireuk for it. The task was this: to bloom flowers in one’s lap to show care, love, and patience. Seokga’s flowers, to no surprise, died quickly, but he hung around as Mireuk sat patiently. And one night, as Mireuk fell asleep, the flowers began to bloom. Seokga snuck next to him and replaced them with his dead flowers. Next morning, Mireuk woke to find his flowers dead, and Seokga celebrating the blooming of his flowers. Mireuk, being honourable, upheld his agreement and left the world, believing that the world would be better under Seokga’s rule, as he has proven to be a better god. However, this treachery had terrible consequences upon the creatures of the world. Seokga’s twisted victory twisted the world, unleashing upon it evil such as hatred, greed, envy, and war.
It’s interesting, isn’t it? Especially after reading King’s talk about creation stories, comparing Native stories to those of Judeo-Christians, this one feels like it has a bit of both within it. One of the consistent elements in Korean creation stories is that it takes place in a world that is already partially formed. We don’t have anything as dramatic as “let there be light”, but have a character making their way around an incomplete world, trying to make it more inhabitable. I found that to be the biggest similarity between Changsega and Earth Diver. Rest of the similarities are kind of between-the-lines. There is, of course, a talking animal that helps the protagonist, but animals don’t play as large of a role as they do in King’s story, the story is still mostly about Mireuk’s work. Additionally, he is flawed, not all-powerful, and requires help to form the world, but still, definitely above humans and other beings of the world.
The three large differences I wanted to discuss is the concept of creation of sin, the existence of a ruler, and man-made objects. When you read that ending, you might have thought about the ending to Genesis (I did), where through some evil action, sin was created. It seems like a weird concept thinking about it, but many cultures seem to be interested in it, as similarities exist in the Greco-Roman story of Pandora’s Box. My theory is that many of these people, who thought of great gods, wonder why they would create such thing as sin, and wanted to explain it away. I think Native stories manage to circumvent this by making their creators flawed in the first place, the concept of “sin” is just a part of the human/animal personality. Similar to the Bible and many other creation stories, Changsega places their god above human beings as a ruler. This can be explained pretty easily as Korea was a Monarchy, and having it displayed within creation stories as just the natural order of things helps people embrace the concept. The most interesting point for me is the focus on Mireuk’s creation of certain tools, like clothing and a fire striker. Most creations stories I’ve encountered only focus on the creation of nature, but Changsega decides to talk about the origin of certain tools as well.
The last point I’d like to discuss is also the reason I was drawn to this story. For me, this creation story ending in the way it did with an intruder ruling over the people, reflected the multiple invasions that Korea has suffered throughout its history, mainly from Japan, China, and Mongolia, but some from European nations as well. Perhaps stories like this have inspired people during those times to persevere and work to change the difficult situation they find themselves in.
Citations
Park, Jongsung. “Song of the Creation of the Universe.” Encyclopedia of Korean Folk Culture , National Folk Museum of Korea, 1 Feb. 2019, folkency.nfm.go.kr/en/topic/detail/5402#.
Geo Korea. “Cryptomeria: Korean Hemp, a Sacred Cloth.” Dailymotion, 2002, www.dailymotion.com/video/x16kyg.
“Pandora’s Box.” Myths and Legends, E2Bn, 2006, myths.e2bn.org/mythsandlegends/origins562-pandoras-box.html.
Hi J.T.,
Thank you for sharing your favourite Korean creation story. It was such a nice change to hear about a creation story that wasn’t about Adam and Eve. I also appreciate your last comment, about how the reality of historical events is reflected in the ethos of a creation story.
One parallel that I have noted is that in Changsega, there seems to be a dichotomy of good and evil, right at the beginning of creation, similar to that of the Judeo-Christian creation story. However, the Native creation story about Charm, the woman who fell from the sky, does not show evil in any regard. Rather, it shows all the animals and beings collaborating together in perfect harmony. Why do you think that the latter does not involve any regards to the notion of evil?
Hi Simran,
That’s an amazing observation. The lack of defined evil is one of my favourite things I’ve noticed within much of Indigenous storytelling. I just find it trivializing how much nuance goes into making something “evil”, it creates distrust in people and prefers permanent labelling rather than understanding and recognizing the fact that people change. Perhaps, as we mentioned, history plays into much of it. Maybe it was wise to be untrusting for Koreans as they were surrounded by hostile nations on all side. Perhaps these wonderful ideas of acceptance and harmony from the Indigenous were exploited by the colonizers. But these thoughts are coming to me just talking to you, not researched in any way. Still, it seems like something that would be interesting to look into.
Hi J.T.,
Thank you for this lovely story and for providing a glimpse into the Korean cultural stories. I really liked Mireuk and his flawed but honorable character. I liked the idea that although he was not a perfect being, he was able to bring a world to life by “making [his] way around an incomplete world, trying to make it more inhabitable.” Like you said, it wasn’t anything dramatic, but it seemed to connect more realistically to the lives we lead as well- stumbling around, and trying to find ways to make life more pleasant for ourselves.
Your comment about how the creation story ended with an invader ruling over the people brought on an interesting perspective. That is quite a way for a creation story to end, from life and promise to death and destruction. It made me think about the relationship between creation and destruction. Just how closely are they interlinked, and can they even be separated at all?
Hey Anna,
It is a weird ending, I agree, and it is one of the large similarities Changsega shares with Genesis, both ends in a very pessimistic manner. I think rather than creation/destruction, the biggest questions lots of people had in the past–where religious worship was a central part of existence and, disease, war, crime, famine were common–is how unfair life can be. And if there is a god, how can they let this happen? I think both stories maintain the fact that there is a benevolent god out there somewhere, but both explain away why there is so much suffering. More importantly, they seem to put to perogative into the people’s hands, not the god’s (this is especially blatant in Adam and Eve). I suppose when these creation stories were made, they were made with the purpose of not only of telling a story but to give people a reason for their existence and a reason for their suffering.
Hi J.T!
Thanks for your blog, I love being able to read about creation stories from other cultures. It’s interesting how in all of the creation myths that you’ve chosen to look at, there is a reoccurring theme of animals and nature being a harmonious duo before humankind messes everything up (especially with Pandora’s Box). I know that there is a Chinese myth that regards a monkey who has sinned and is subsequently punished by having to undergo several trials, which I thought was an interesting take on personifying animals and the nature of evil.
You mentioned God as being a stand-in for the monarchy, which leads to my question; do you think that creation myths are solely stories? Or, in your opinion, do you feel that they are meant to be didactic and serve as warnings that lower classes should not rebel against their leaders?
Hey Katrina,
Thanks for reading again! Are you talking about Journey to the West? I’m just guessing here, as it is one of the only Chinese myth I’m familiar with, and it is a story that is told in Korea as well. Let me know if it is something else, it would be fun to do some reading.
I definitely do not think creation stories are just stories. Through learning about Thomas King’s work, I think he has shown me the power and impact stories can have within a culture. So it makes sense in cultures centred around monarchy like Korea and Judeo-Christian nations, the god is above human beings. I think rather than a warning to the lower classes, it is more of a show of worldly difference between the king and the normal people, that a king is chosen by God, that no normal person could challenge that position. This can be seen a lot more clearly in our founding stories, in many of them, the originator of a king’s bloodline literally comes down from the heavens to rule the land.
Hi J.T
Thank you for sharing about the story of Changsega. Although I am Korean, I was not too familiar with the story although I know that it exists. I agree that most Korean creation stories take place in a world that is partially formed. There is the always something that gets born or magically and mysteriously appear but do great things to change the world. For example, there is the story of Hyeokgeose of Silla who magically was born out of an egg from a white horse. It is said that a strange light shone from the sky and large egg was discovered where a boy came out from the egg and when bathed, his body radiated light and birds and beast danced. Later this boy becomes a King of Silla. I think as you mentioned Korea has suffered a lot through history and to look for a solution and something to rely on, people created this legend where something comes to save the world. Instead of like the Genesis story where powerful authoritative creates the human it is the other way around, where the humans create a powerful figure to rely on and follow for guidance and hope for a change through their difficult situation.
Hey Cathy!
Thanks for reminding me of Hyeokgeose, as I’d forgotten about it. Koreans have some whimsical stories, and I debated on choosing more of the fun ones but decided to go with Changsega because most of the really fun ones are founding stories, not creation stories. Like the founding story of Heokgeose, I love the story of Dangun Wanggeom which involves a tiger and a bear coming to the king to ask him to turn them into humans. He tests them, only bear succeeds, turns into a lady, and marries the king… absolutely love that story because it is so different, and kind of reminds me of Greco-Roman mythology, which I’m a huge fan of. I love your interpreted difference between Genesis and Changsega, I agree, I like to think many stories were created to relieve people of suffering, and creation stories are no different.
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