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TOKGABI
AND HIS PRANKS He lives
in the sooty flues that run under the floors along the whole length of
the
house, from the kitchen at one end of it to the chimney hole in the
ground at
the other end. He delights in the smoke and smut, and does not mind
fire or
flame, for he likes to be where it is warm. He has no lungs, and his
skin and
eyes are both fire-proof. He is as black as night and loves nothing
that has
white in it. He is always afraid of a bit of silver, even if it be only
a
hairpin. Tokgabi
likes most to play at night in the little loft over the fireplace. To
run along
the rafters and knock down the dust and cobwebs is his delight. His
favorite
game is to make the iron rice-pot lid dance up and down, so that it
tumbles
inside the rice kettle and cannot easily be got out again. Oh, how many
times
the cook burns, scalds, or steams her fingers in attempting to fish out
that
pot lid when Tokgabi has pushed it in! How she
does bless the sooty imp! But
Tokgabi is not always mischievous, and most of his capers hurt nobody.
He is
such a merry fellow that he keeps continually busy, whether people cry
or
laugh. He does not mean to give any one trouble, but he must have fun
every
minute, especially at night. When the fire
is out, how he does chase the mice up and down the flues under the
floor, and
up in the garret over the rafters! When the
mousies lie dead on their backs, with their toes turned upward, the
street boys
take them outdoors and throw them up in the air. Before the mice fall
to the
ground, the hawks swoop down and eat them up. Many a bird of prey gets
his
breakfast in this way. Although
Tokgabi plays so many pranks, he is kind to the kitchen maids. When,
after a
hard day's work, one is so tired out that she falls asleep, he helps
her to do
her hard tasks. Tokgabi
washes their dishes and cleans their tables for good servants. So when they wake up, the
girls find their work done for
them. Many a fairy tale is told about this jolly sprite's doings — how
he gives good things to the really nice people and makes the bad ones
mad by
spitefully using them. They do say that the king of all the Tokgabis
has a
museum of curiosities and a storehouse full of gold and gems and fine
clothes,
and everything sweet to eat for good boys and girls and for old people
that are
kind to the birds and dumb animals. For bad folks, he has all sorts of
things
that are ugly and troublesome. He punishes stingy people by making them
poor
and miserable. The
Tokgabi king has also a menagerie of animals. These he sends to do his
errands
rewarding the good and punishing naughty folks. Every year the little
almanac
with red and green covers tells in what quarter of the skies the
Tokgabi king
lives for that year, so that the farmers and country people will keep
out of
his way and not provoke him. In his menagerie the kind creatures that
help
human beings are the dragon, bear, tortoise, frog, dog and rabbit.
These are
all man's friends. The cruel and treacherous creatures in Tokgabi's
menagerie
are the tiger, wild boar, leopard, serpent, toad and cat. These are the
messengers of the Tokgabi king to do his bidding,
when he punishes naughty folks. The
common, every-day Tokgabi plays fewer tricks on the men and boys and
enjoys
himself more in bothering the girls and women. This, I suppose, is
because they
spend more time in the house than their fathers or brothers. In the
Land of
Rat-tat-tat, where the sound of beating the washed clothes never
ceases,
Tokgabi loves to get hold of the women's laundry sticks which are used
for
pounding and polishing the starched clothes. He hides them so that they
cannot
be found. Then Daddy makes a fuss, because his long white coat has to
go
without its usual gloss, but it is all Tokgabi's fault. Tokgabi
does not like starch, because it is white. He loves to dance on Daddy's
big
black hat case that hangs on the wall. Sometimes he wiggles the fetich,
or
household idol, that is suspended from the rafters. But, most of all,
he enjoys
dancing a jig among the dishes in the closet over the fireplace, making
them
rattle and often tumble down with a crash. Tokgabi
likes to bother men sometimes too. If Daddy should get his topknot
caught in a
rat hole, or his head should slip off his wooden pillow at night and he
bump his nose, it is all
Tokgabi's fault. When anything happens to a
boy's long braid of hair, that hangs down his back and makes him look
so much
like a girl, Tokgabi is blamed for it. It is even said that naughty men
make
compacts with Tokgabi to do bad things, but the imp only helps the man
for the
fun of it. Tokgabi cares nothing about what mortal men call right or
wrong. He
is only after fun and is up to mischief all the time, so one must watch
out for
him. The
kitchen maids and the men think they know how to circumvent Tokgabi and
spoil
his tricks. Knowing that the imp does not like red, a young man when
betrothed
wears clothes of this bright color. Tokgabi is afraid of shining
silver, too,
so the men fasten their topknots together, and the girls keep their
chignons in
shape, with silver hairpins. The magistrates and government officers
have
little storks made of solid silver in their hats, or else these birds
are
embroidered with silver thread on their dresses. Every one who can uses
white
metal dishes and dresses in snowy garments. Tokgabi likes nothing white
and
that is the reason why every Korean who can puts on clothes that are as
dazzling as hoar frost. Tons and mountains of starch are consumed in
blanching
and stiffening coats and skirts, sleeves and stockings. On festival
days the
people look as if they were dipped in starch and their garments
encrusted in
rock candy. Before we
tell of Tokgabi's Museum and Curiosity Shop and of his Aviary of birds
liked
and disliked, and his menagerie of popular and despised animals, we
must let
you know how and why Tokgabi used to be most busy between the hours of
nine
o'clock at night and midnight. In old
days, the Great Bell, in the centre of the city of Seoul, was struck at
nine
o'clock at night. Then, every man and boy must be in the house and off
the
streets, while every woman and grown girl, carrying a little paper
lantern, was
free to walk out in the darkness or moonlight. Woe be to any one of the
masculine gender caught outdoors! If
grabbed by the magistrate, he was severely spanked. Great wooden
paddles were
kept in the police office to be used on boys and men seen abroad. The
women
folk, dressed in white, in their turned-up shoes, and with their funny
little
green jackets over their heads, wended their way to call on their
female
friends for chat and gossip. Yet they must every one of them be home by
midnight, and then — if
Tokgabi had not hidden their beaters away — they
began again on the pile of starched clothes. Laying each garment over a
little
round log, they kept up a steady "rat-tat-tat," until near morning,
making the real Korean chorus, which Tokgabi loves to hear. |