Kongji and Patzzi

Kongji and Patzzi is a traditional Korean romance dating from the Joseon Dynasty. The story depicts the process of overcoming the difficulties by a warm-hearted girl, Kongji. The moral of the story is that a good person who thinks positively and endeavors sincerely will be happy, as with the proverb "Heaven helps those who help themselves."

Features

This story is based on a traditional Korean legend. Originally, Korean legends were handed down orally so the story is a little bit different from region to region. The story of Kongji and Patzzi is like the Western fairy tale Cinderella. The first half of "Kongji and Pazzi" is similar to Cinderella but there is a distinctive feature added to the traditional belief, "Kwon seon Jing Ak“(권선징악). It means people are encouraged to practice virtue but try to punish vice. Most traditional stories make a happy ending with the marriage of two people; however, this novel continues the story after Kongji's marriage.

This novel increases the effect of "Kwon seon jing ak"(권선징악) by describing complete punishment on a bad person. The value of this novel is found in adding probable ethical theme and reconstructing novel.

etting

Though based on the oral narrative, this story has the real story background. The original background is assumed to be Dunsan village Kumgu myun Gimje si.(김제시 금구면 둔산마을) The father of Kongji, Manchun Choi and his second wife, the mother of Patzzi lived there. In this village, there is the patzzugi bank where Mr. Choi's descendants have used water for agriculture. The shape of Dunsan village is like a cow, which appeared in this novel. The story in which the turtle blocked a hole of a pot is related to the turtle rock in this village. People say that Kongji dropped her shoes in Duwol(두월) brook in front of Dunsan village.

Plot summary

First half

Once there was a kind and pretty girl, Kongji in a village. Her mother passed away when Kongji was 100 days old. When she was fourteen, her father married a widow who had one daughter, Patzzi. Her stepmother and Patzzi treated her very unfairly. One day, her stepmother got her to plow in a field with a wooden hoe. But her wooden hoe was easily broken and then she was crying because she was afraid of being scolded by her stepmother. There appeared a cow, "Don't cry and I'll help you. Help yourself to apples." Cows gave her a full basket of apples and plowed the field instead of her. She came back home with a basket of apples. However, her stepmother rather scolded "How can you bring so many apples? You must have stolen them." Her stepmother gave no food to Kongji and gave all the apples to her daughter, Patzzi.

One day the new mayor invited all the people in the village to a ball. As her stepmother and Patzzi were invited, they gleefully planned their wardrobes. Kongji was envious of her step sister, Patzzi so she said "Mother, I want to go." Her stepmother answered, "You have to fill up the pot with water, pound rice in a mortar and weave hemp cloth. If you finish work, you may go to the ball."

As her stepmother and Patzzi swept away to the ball, Kongji sighed in despair. Kongji brought a basket of water to fill up the big pot. She kept pouring water but the big pot was never filled with water because the big pot had a small hole. A big turtle came out and said "I'll help you. I'll block the hole of this pot." Kongji can fill the pot with water. A flock of sparrows came and said, "We will peel the grain of rice with my beak." A young fairy lady appeared, helped to weave hemp cloth and vowed to assist Kongji to attend the ball. She then turned Kongji's rags into beautiful clothes with a delicate pair of colorful shoes. Kongji hurried away with delight.

When Kongji crossed a bridge, she was surprised at the mayor's coming and tripped. So one of her colorful shoes fell into the stream. She was ashamed and ran away without picking up her shoe. The mayor was attracted by the beautiful and shy girl, Kongji. He ordered his servants to find the shoe's owner and vowed to marry the maiden to whom it fitted. The servant tried the shoe on all the girls in the town. Finally the servant came into Kongji's house. Patzzi tried in vain but Kongji fitted perfectly to her colorful shoe. As a result of finding the shoe's owner the mayor came to marry Kongji.

econd half

Patzzi was jealous of Kongji' and finally drowned her into a pond. Patzzi disguised herself as Kongji to live with the mayor. Kongji, who became a ghost, revealed her death truth to the mayor. The mayor was surprised to find Kongji"s body at the pond. Then suddenly Kongji came to be alive. The mayor sentenced Patzzi to death and had the servant make food (zut ggal) with the body of Patzzi. Knowing the death of Patzzi, the stepmother fell down in a faint. Finally she did not woke up since.

Adaptations

*"Opera"Composer: Kim Dai-Hyun (1917 ~) , 『 Kongji Patji 』 4 ActsFirst Performance :1951. 12. 20. Busan Theater. Length : 2hours 30minutes

*"Popular Music"Heavy-metal Kongji" by Cherry Filter

References

*Lee Kwanil (1971). Kongji and Patzzi. Kunkuk University.
*Kim Jakwon (1981). Kumku euipji. Dauheung Press.
*Lee Wonsu (1997). The Study of Kongji Patzzi. Kyungnam University.