やさしい英語会話 (334) Korean Mythology: The Bear Woman

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この夏、お隣の韓国への旅行を計画している人もいらっしゃるかと思います。今回は、韓国の人々に馴染みの深い朝鮮神話の世界を覗いてみましょう。神話上の古朝鮮の王で、以前韓国ドラマでも取り上げられたことのある檀君（だんくん）のお話です。タイトルの「熊女」と檀君はどのような関係なのでしょうか…？

　*** It's a Good Expression ***

（今回の重要表現）



mythology

神話



Eunmi

ユンミ　※韓国の女性の名前



reference materials

参考文献



briefly

手短に



supreme

最高位の



Hwan-Woong

桓雄（神話上の古朝鮮の王「檀君（Dan-Goon）」の父）



plead

嘆願する



freak out

驚く、ビビる



mugwort

よもぎ



make it till the end

最後までやり遂げる



endure

我慢する（put up with）



dynasty

王朝



descendant

子孫



That means you have bear’s blood flowing inside your body?

ということは、君の体には熊の血が流れているということかい？



claw

爪



*** Script ***



Korean Mythology: The Bear Woman



M: Hey Eunmi, I believe there’s mythology in Korea, right? I’m interested in it, but I couldn't find any reference materials, since it's not so famous.



W: Yeah, Sam, we DO have mythology! I’m so glad that you’re interested in Korean mythology and culture.



M: Hey, could you tell me about Korean mythology? Maybe just briefly?



W: OK. Here’s a famous story. A long time ago there was the Supreme Sky God and he sent his son, named Hwan-Woong, to earth to rule the humans.



M: So there's the image of the Son of God descending to earth? That sounds pretty similar to Jesus, in a way.



W: Ha ha. I guess, until this point it’s the same. But next, a bear and a tiger came to Hwan-Woong and pleaded to make them into humans.



M: A bear and a tiger? The Son of God must have freaked out if he wasn’t an excellent hunter. That’s interesting! Keep going!



W: Ha ha. Then Hwang-Woong told them that they should lock themselves in a cave for 100 days, only eating garlic and mugwort! If they passed his test, he would make them humans. Well, who do you think passed the test: the bear or the tiger?



M: Eating only garlic and mugwort sounds horrible! If I were one of them, I’d have never made it till the end.



W: Ha ha! Well, the tiger couldn’t endure eating them till the end, so the tiger gave up. Because of the tiger’s failure; the bear could automatically become a human! The bear became a beautiful woman, called Bear Woman.



M: Congratulations, bear! I always wanted the bear to win.



W: In the end, she got married to Hwan-Woong and their child, Dan-Goon, was the first king of the first dynasty of Korea. This is our mythology!



M: Hey wait! So you’re the descendant of the Bear Woman? That means you have bear’s blood flowing inside your body? Wait, you might have a bear’s claw? Please don’t eat me! I’m not delicious! Ah!



(Written by Kyoung Jo)